Page 8

Story: Perfect Three

A ctually, looking back , Lucy wasn’t sure who got the biggest surprise—her or those two gorgeous men in front of her.

Sebastian and Jack stared at her, both open-mouthed.

Sebastian recovered first. “Lucy!”

She could only grin at them while her twitchy stomach did loop-de-loops, her racing heartbeat thumping hard against her chest.

“Lucy!” he repeated. “Oh my god, we thought we’d lost any chance of seeing you again.” Shaking his head, he added in disbelief, “And now you’re here!”

Sebastian grinned at her like a maniac, then Jack burst out laughing, grabbed her around the waist, and twirled her around in the confined office before setting her on the ground in front of the two of them.

“We found you! What happened to you on Saturday night?” Jack stared down into her face while his wore a look of sheer delight.

Sebastian shook his head. “No, hang on. Better get work out of the way. Did you get things ready?”

Lucy inhaled deeply, trying to ease her surprise. “It’s all done. Everything’s ready for your accountant.”

The unexpected sight of her two hotties had her rapid breathing almost match her heart’s swift tattoo. Plus, it was impossible to miss the looks of relief washing across both men.

“Oh, you wonderful woman! I may have panicked a bit when Roger told me they’d sent Gordon home. I knew he was so ill but trying to cope. He was the one who suggested the agency we rang, said they’d have someone just for us, and boy was he right!”

Sebastian looked at the desk. “Is this everything?”

“Yes.” Lucy pushed aside her shock and spent the next ten minutes showing him what was in each folder.

Then he bundled them up, handing some of them to Jack. “Can you take them over now, please?”

“Of course. You can stop panicking. I told you it would work out okay.”

Sebastian gave Jack a grin that seemed more than just between two co-workers.

“Make sure Lucy doesn’t leave,” Jack warned Sebastian as he stood in the doorway.

“Don’t worry, Jack. I intend to hang on to her very tight.”

“Perfect.”

Sebastian looked at Lucy. “Can you wait here while I help Jack get these down to the car?”

Still rocked by seeing these two, she nodded ‘yes’, certain her heart missed the odd beat or two.

Of all the people she could have imagined meeting today, Sebastian and Jack were nowhere on that list. On top of that, both of them seemed genuinely happy to see her.

She dropped onto the desk, trying to settle herself.

The bombshell of seeing them, then the nearness of them both, had given her a shot of adrenaline.

Slowly taking deep, calming breaths, Lucy managed to settle her heart, but still in shock, her body trembled.

A few minutes later, Sebastian strode back into the office. Shaking his head, he looked at her, and the smile that lit his face set her just-calmed heart galloping again.

“When we couldn’t find you on Saturday night, Jack and I asked some of the people you were with where you were. They told us you’d had to leave for some family emergency. Was everything all right?”

“My grandson. My daughter rang me. He was ill and she needed help.”

She heard the concern in his voice as he asked, “Is he okay now?”

“It was fine, just normal baby teething. He’s eleven months and he had a cold on top of it. She admitted she panicked. Her husband was working nights over the weekend and so she rang me.”

“Your friends wouldn’t give us your number, only right I guess, but we thought we’d never see you again. We were both disappointed. I can’t begin to tell you what a shock it is to find you here!”

Lucy grinned. “It’s a shock to me as well. I had no idea you were the owner when I accepted the job. I’d resigned myself to not seeing either of you again.”

“Does that mean you’d like to?”

Lucy’s face burned. Blood rushed to her cheeks as she nodded her agreement. Sebastian grinned down at her then sat on the desk alongside her. He picked up her hand. “So, Ms. Lucy, I hope you haven’t anything planned for this evening. I’m not letting you get away this time.”

“No, no, I’m free.”

“Not any more, at least I hope not. Would you like to have dinner with Jack and me?”

Pulse zooming, Lucy wondered if it would ever settle down as she replied, “I’d like that.”

“Perfect. It will have to be here this time because of work. We’ve been away all week and I needed to check on everything when we first got back. Jack won’t be back for about an hour, so how about a coffee while we wait for him?”

“Thanks.”

Sebastian stood and held out his hand.