CHAPTER 8

LEXIE

The smell of bacon and eggs woke her up, she didn’t have dinner yesterday —her appetite was gone, because of what happened— but this morning she was starving.

Wait.

She bolted up, remembering where she was.

She looked down, realizing she wasn’t wearing anything, I can’t believe I fell asleep like this!

She grabbed the sheets and covered herself, looking for her undies.

There.

They were in the corner, beneath the desk set against the window.

The curtains were open, she had to walk across the bedroom to get her clothes, effectively flashing the whole city before she reached them.

Goose bumps filled her skin. Why did she do that? She was almost mugged and then ended her day fantasizing about two guys at the same time? This is karma. Plain and simple.

She crawled to the edge of the bed and slid to the floor. This was the tallest building around, if she kneeled, no one would be able to see her.

She moved to the desk, just three more feet, when someone knocked on the door.

She froze.

“Lexie, may I come—”

“Yes?” she replied when she heard her name, but the door opened. She yelled and snatched the purple sheets from the bed and covered herself up just in time.

Lucian stood still, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.

Neither said anything for a second, then he regained some composure.

“I’m sorry, I thought—”

“No,” she said, “my bad.”

“I’ll give you some space,” he said, closing the door.

Oh my God. Oh my God, look what you did, you ass!

“Are you okay?” Lucian asked from outside.

“Yes, sorry, didn’t want anyone to see me.”

“What do you mean?”

Well, he saw her, all right. She should have been angry, but she really wasn’t. She was embarrassed.

“People outside?” She replied.

“Oh,” a brief silence, “the windows are not see-through.”

Of course.

It was obvious. Did she actually believe that anyone outside the building could just pick up a pair of binoculars and see inside the apartment? Was she that naive?

Apparently she was.

She stood up, grabbed her clothes and put them on.

I’m never coming out of this room.

“Breakfast is ready,” Lucian said.

She felt like crying. Completely frustrated. Never in her life had she been so clumsy. Seriously, she was smart. She was the manager of the Premium Shoe Factory. The budget shoe store she worked at. Not that it meant much, but still…

Her stomach grumbled, the smell of bacon was too alluring.

“Are you okay?” Lucian said, his voice had a hint of worry in it.

“Yes. Yes, I’m coming, just give me a minute.”

She looked around. Her bra, where was it?

Outside, with the rest of your clothes.

She took them off yesterday, they were soaked. Lucian told her he’d put them in the dryer, giving her a sweater.

But you can’t put a bra on a dryer so she set it against the window, hoping that it would dry by itself during the night.

She sighed. Okay, no worries.

She opened the door and her stomach grumbled again. To her left, in the kitchen, Crow, the big, mean-faced brawler, wore a dark blue apron with some Japanese writing on it.

He was serving scrambled eggs on a plate.

He and Lucian turned to her. They were dressed to kill. Lucian wore a dark gray sweater, and lighter gray pants. The sky blue shirt he wore under his top contrasted perfectly with the neutral colors. His light, almost blonde hair and perfectly shaved jaw made him look like a TV lawyer or something.

Crow wore a pair of fitted black jeans, white sneakers and a tight, untucked grey shirt, his muscles pressed against its fabric as if trying to free themselves. He looked fashionably casual.

They stared at her in silence, their eyes scouring her body for a second before stopping on her eyes.

She’d get defensive about any man looking at her like that, but how could she, when she did the same thing to both of them?

She blushed, suddenly aware of her lousy outfit, biting her lip and lowering her head in embarrassment.

“Good morning,” Crow said, “orange juice?”

“Sure,” she replied with a smile.

He grabbed a big jar poured her a glass.

She felt as if she knew these guys for years. Lucian finally looked back to his laptop, and compared some numbers with the sheets they were looking at the day before.

Crow served the rest of the eggs on Lucian’s plate, then placed a sausage in everyone’s plate, followed by bacon, and hash browns.

He looked completely focused, but then she realized he was also baking pancakes.

“Let me help you with that,” she said, going over to the kitchen’s side of the bar.

“No, you’re our guest—”

“Sorry, won’t take no for an answer.”

She walked behind him and caught the scent of his cologne, an oceany, dark, masculine smell.

He towered beside her, his square jaw and blue eyes so dreamy she almost fainted.

If Lucian looked like a modern, clean cut version of Thor, Crow was like a darker and edgier version of Superman.

“Thank you,” he said.

She snapped out of it and turned the pancakes over.

“We’re leaving for work,” Lucian said, “you can stay here for as long as you want—”

“Actually,” she said, “I have to go to work soon, I just need to take my clothes and—”

“Wait,” Lucian said, “I thought you were going to help us with the accounting.”

“Well, yes, of course…”

She arranged her hair, “I am, but—”

“I mean,” Lucian interrupted, “I’m not saying you have to do that. You’re free to do whatever you want…”

“It’s not that, I was going to do that after work.”

“Listen,” Lucian said, “you understand this better than us. You can save us thousands. Are you into consulting?”

Consulting? She never—

“You could check this out for us, you’ll earn a lot. We’ll take care of you.”

“I can’t take your money guys,” she said without missing a beat, “I want to help you but I won’t charge you, I’m not an asshole.”

“You should stay,” Crow said, “see if you like the job. Take a risk.”

She smiled. This was so ridiculous she had to resist the urge to look around for a camera.

“You were working late, yesterday. You could call your boss. Just tell her you’re sick, and see what you can do about our little problem with the IRS.”

She rolled her eyes, trying to stop smiling. Crow was right, I have to take a risk, it’s only a day, this might be opportunity knocking at my door.

“Okay,” she said, “but only because you guys made breakfast.”

“Awesome,” Lucian said, Crow just smiled and kept on serving the food.

She put the pancakes on a plate and took one for herself, the rest of them, fifteen in total, were wolfed down by the guys.

She’d never seen anyone eat so much. It was at the same time astounding and funny.

After they finished eating, she walked them to the door, Crow behind her, Lucian ahead.

“If you need anything, just press 9 on the telephone, someone at reception will bring anything you need. They’ll put it in our tab, so don’t worry about payment.

“Okay?” She replied, not knowing what she could possibly need.

“See you,” Crow said, and they just left.

She had their numbers, in case she needed them. It was an excuse really.

They wanted hers and she wanted theirs and this business-like transaction made it easier on everyone, zero awkwardness.

They left her everything she needed to work. She’d take a look at the numbers in general, and from there she’ll go into specifics. It would probably take her all day.

Two hours passed.

She had bunch accounting entries highlighted when her phone vibrated, taking her out of the zone.

She unlocked it and saw it was a text message from Lucian.

“Hey there, how are you doing?”

“Pretty okay,” she replied, “still looking at the entries.”

“Do you need anything?”

“Well… do u think I could use the PC in the guest’s room? Tried to turn it on but it’s not working.”

“You can’t.”

Whoops. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked.

“It’s an old server, we use it for emergencies. What do you need? Excel?”

“Oh. Ok. Yeah. That would help a lot.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Okay.”

“Gotta go. Work. Crow says hi. I think he’s jealous.”

“Shut up.”

“Work. Bye!”

He went offline. Jealous. Yeah right. Those guys were way out of her league. She wished they were jealous. They were just nice.

And are absolutely, unbelievably hot. Yeah, that too. But even if they weren’t, she would do this. After all, she owed them her life.

Her chest tightened.

Was she doing this because they were good looking? She didn’t know herself. Not after yesterday. They say brushes with death like that can change your outlook on life, but—

Shut up, Lexie, stop it with the drama. You’re cool, they’re cool. Just enjoy this for what it is.

She, helping a couple of friends, on a high rise building she never thought she’d see from the inside.

Life wasn’t so bad.