Chapter 17
Two weeks later…
“Knock, knock.”Bones appeared in Garrett’s office doorway.
“I’m busy, Bones,” Garrett lied. “What do you want?”
“Nothin’ much,” the Texas native drawled. “Just that there’s a smokin’ hot brunette out front, and for reasons I will never understand, she’s asking to see you.”
He shot up out of his chair so fast the damn thing flew back and smacked the bookshelf behind him.
“That’s what I thought. But I should tell you—”
“Out of my way,” Garrett muttered as he pushed past the other man and headed down the hallway toward their office reception area.
“Falcon, wait!” Bones hissed as he caught up to him. “It’s not who you—”
“You.” A smokin’ hot brunette who was most definitelynotAvery Webb stormed toward him. “You’re Garrett Morgan, correct?”
She looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her. “Yes, I’m Garrett. How can I help you?”
“You can start by telling me why you haven’t called my sister.”
Oh, shit.
“Alex,” he spoke her name out loud. He remembered her from the picture Avery had shown him. “You’re Avery’s sister.”
“Damn right, I am.” The pissed off woman crossed her arms and shot daggers at him from across the room. “Now are you going to answer my question, or try to BS your way through having ghosted her for the past two weeks?”
The handful of clients—actual insurance clients—who were sitting in the seating area waiting to be seen were staring at him as if they, too, wanted to hear his answer.
Behind him, Bones whispered, “I think I’m in love.”
Clearing his throat, Garrett held out his arm and motioned back to the way he’d just come from. “I think we should talk in my office.”
“I think that’s a fabulous idea.”
Storming past him, Garrett couldn’t help but see what Avery had meant about them being different.
Physically, they had similar attributes. Alex was petite and lean, but curvy in an attractive, feminine way. She had dark hair like Avery’s, but it was cut short in a sharp, straight bob.
The white blouse and gray pencil skirt she wore was conservative, but they’d been paired with a set of red stiletto heels that looked like they could be used as a deadly weapon.
He was reminded of another set of heels.
On an entirely different woman. One he missed with every breath of air his lungs pulled in.
Focus, dickhead.
A blaring difference between the women was how they handled their anger. Back on the ship, he’d known Avery was angry with him, but she hadn’t come at him guns-a-blazin’ like Alex was now.
She’d been almost quiet. Withdrawn. And it had broken his fucking heart.
Alex followed Garrett into his office. He’d hoped to meet her at some point. Let her see what a nice guy he was and how much he cared for Avery. All that ‘meet the new boyfriend’ stuff people did when they first started dating.
But this…this wasn’tquitehow he’d imagined that first meeting would go.
“Please.” Garrett shut his office door. “Have a seat.”