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unsuspecting people. Besides, Brent will think I’m flirting with him. He loves that.”
    “Does he?”
    “Yeah. I’ll tell you all about it later.” She paused. “Darren doesn’t have any lunch plans. I’ll tell him to meet you in the lobby in twenty.”
    * * *
    I’d barely walked out of the elevator when Darren hugged me and spun me in a quick circle before we walked outside. He might have been Stephanie’s friend since they were teenagers but I adored him as if I’d known him for years and years. His sunny disposition always put a smile on my face.
    The cafe wasn’t too far from our building. Timid rays of autumn sunshine poked their way through some clouds, then had second thoughts and were eventually swallowed up.
    “I hear this place has one hell of a mozzarella and tomato panini,” Darren said, holding the door open.
    The cafe was so warm and cozy I thought we’d mistakenly walked into someone’s home. Several patrons were ordering at the mahogany counter while others were chatting at various tables spread throughout the dining area. The aroma of freshly baked bread filled the air. Darren motioned for me to grab a table and offered to place our orders. I found a table by the dark brown brick wall and people watched.
    “So,” Darren said, placing our sandwiches down, “how’s everything at the new job? Is Archer on your nerves yet?”
    I chuckled to myself. “Not yet. Ask me again next week.”
    “Steph says you went for cocktails with him last night. You should have thrown a drink in his face.” The sour expression Darren employed shocked me. I’d never heard him talk so negatively about someone.
    “Alright. Spill it MacCourty. What did he do aside from being an overzealous, loud mouth TV guy?”
    “My ex-girlfriend used to work for him as an associate producer. He likes to get friendly with the ladies on his staff. A little touching here, a little bum slap there. She didn’t like it and when she called him out on it, he fired her. The twat.” He took a large bite out of his sandwich and stewed in the anger of his distant memory.
    I was shocked but not overly surprised to hear this. Julian did like the hands-on approach when he talked to me. I didn’t think much of it because it never went further than a shoulder squeeze but I made a mental note to keep an eye on him.
    “Sorry that happened to her,” I said, sympathizing. “What does she do now?”
    “She moved to France and works on some detective show there. I haven’t talked to her in a couple years but she was really turned off by Archer. That guy is a massive knob. I’d—” He stopped and stared at my left hand.
    I held the sandwich in front of my wide open mouth and stared back at him. We both must have looked like mental patients.
    “You
are
engaged,” he said with a smile. “That’s brilliant, Lia. Congratulations.”
    “Thank you.” I put my sandwich down and showed off the ring. “He gave this to me the other night but we haven’t said anything publicly yet. Well, he actually asked me to marry him in July when you guys were in Orlando but we’ve kept it quiet.”
    “July? How have you both managed to keep it quiet?”
    “Well, you know Alastair. He’s a man of few words.”
    “True that. But if I scored a looker like you I’d shout it from the mountain tops.”
    I laughed. “It hasn’t been easy not saying anything, trust me. We both decided after the summer we’d had that we just wanted to have something for ourselves.”
    Darren studied me with astute eyes. “The press over here is going to love you. You’re pretty, smart and loads of fun to be around. They’re so fascinated with Alastair and every little move he makes. He dodges them pretty well though, only giving his requisite face time and then disappearing from sight.”
    That had been Alastair’s M. O. for years. He lived as private a life as one could, being the heir to a billion dollar mega corporation. When his grandfather retired and he was