Page 53 of Iron

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Iron

I wouldn’t have said that I was counting down the seconds until I rode over to Petra’s place, but that wasn’t far from the truth. Today had been pretty uneventful and if it wasn’t for Laurel dropping Catherine off for a couple of hours, I might have even been a little bored.

I stepped off the elevator like any other time.

There was no clicking of her heels as she came to me.

And no sight of her standing somewhere nearby.

A quick walk-through of the place told me that her penthouse was empty.

I didn’t think it was odd right away because I knew that she wouldn’t hesitate to go downstairs if she was needed.

With a shrug, I headed down to the fourth floor, figuring I’d find her in her office.

I opened the back door to her office to find a redhead standing behind the desk. She looked over at me with a raised brow but didn’t seem taken off guard by my presence. Still, the last thing I wanted to do was frighten her, so I stayed close to the door for a moment.

“Hey,” I said with a nod of my head.

“Hey,” she returned with a wide smile. “You were the one with Petra at my wedding.”

I chuckled and nodded.

“You were the one that got hitched,” I joked. “Congratulations, by the way.”

“Thank you,” she said with excitement. I could tell she genuinely meant that and I knew she was truly happy because her smile grew even more.

“I’m surprised you saw us all the way out by that tree.”

She let out a throaty laugh.

“I knew Petra would be there but I alsoknowher, so I had an idea where I’d find her.” She gave a little shrug like it wasn’t a big deal.

“So you’re the one she has watching the place for her?” I asked because Petra told me things but not in great detail.

“Yes. I’m Rowan.” She moved around the desk and held out her hand. I took wide steps so that I could shake her hand.

“Rowan. That’s an interesting name. I like it though.”

She smiled but it was like I was missing out on something.

“It means little redhead. Guess Petra named me appropriately.”

My head jerked back at her words.

“Oh, God, no,” she said with wide eyes as she silently laughed behind her closed mouth. “Petra is not my mom. Wow, that’s a terrifying thought. We all have new names in this place. She gives them to us. I think it’s more of a color coding thing for her. Don’t ask me, because most of Petra’s brain I don’t understand, let alone know how to explain.”

I chuckled.

“Anyway,” she went on. “She gave me Rowan and the color I got to wear all the time… red. How flattering for a redhead, right? No, not at all. But I made it work.” She winked at me.

I wasn’t going to lie, Rowan had a lot of damn sex appeal oozing off of her. She was a hot package and her bright attitude only amplified that. There was something about her and I would bet that a lot of men could easily get caught up in a woman like her.

Yeah, I could easily notice other women, I wasn’t dead. But the big thing was that I wasn’t interested, not even a little.

Not that I was mistaking her friendliness and thinking she was hitting on me.