Chapter 5

Brook

Brook and six of her friends had moved into her grandmother’s Brooklyn condo for the summer. Grace Davenport had hired them all to help start the New York branch of Holistic Wealth Management. Brook had wanted to travel—maybe see Europe—for the summer. But her mother, Ava, had called and asked her to spend the summer in New York.

Brook couldn’t say ‘no’ to her mother because Ava had agreed to manage the new branch after her divorce had become final just a month ago. Ian, Brook’s father, had left for California, where he had accepted a position as a political science professor at Stanford. She planned to visit him later this summer, once he got settled.

It hadn’t been hard to convince her sorority sisters to join her because they were offered top dollar and the promise of many résumé-building experiences. Well, that, and staying in a penthouse condo located in the heart of DUMBO—short for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

The condo was situated right on the water’s edge. The floor-to-ceiling windows offered NYC skyline, East River, and bridge views from almost every room.

Keira stuck her head into Brook’s bedroom, looking a bit overexcited. Today was Holistic’s board of directors meeting. They’d all gotten a chance to help prepare presentations and coordinate everyone’s arrival.

While the board meeting was a big deal, what had Keira and the rest of Brook’s roommates excited was that David Dawson was attending. They were teasing Brook because her ex had admitted that she was one of his true loves. It was all well and good until the paparazzi showed up and staked out their building.

Her roommates had dragged her to see David’s latest movie last night. After the shower and towel scenes, the consensus was that Brook needed to have her head examined for dumping such an outstanding specimen of manhood.

She thought back to that scene and his half-naked, glistening body. Flexing muscles, yum! Brook bit her bottom lip. If she kept her eyes closed and didn’t move, she was afraid that her desire would become all too real.

She could almost picture David performing his model walk toward her, a nice, easy gait where his muscles rippled with each step. She could practically feel his breath on her neck as he leaned down to kiss it. Her mouth parted slightly. She licked her dry lips.

“The car is downstairs. You need to get a move on,” Keira said to bring her out of her fantasy.

“How do I look?” Brook asked, trying to cover that she was flustered.

“Way too professional for meeting your ex. You should wear that black dress with the slit up the front. You want to remind David what he’s missing.”

“Give it a rest. He got over me a long time ago,” Brook reasoned. “Besides, I’m seeing Bastian now.”

“Please. Bastian went home for the summer, and everyone knows his ex is lying in wait to pounce on him the first chance she gets. And after seeing your ex, there’s no way Bastian measures up,” Keira said with a look of mischief. “Be honest: which one was better in bed?”

Brook had refused to share any personal information about her relationship with David. This was just another ploy to get her to spill details. She gave Keira a look that communicated her feelings on the topic.

“Okay, fine. Just tell me this. Is he as good-looking in person as he is in the movies?”

“Better,” Brook said.

Keira fanned her face with her hand like some Southern belle having the vapors.

“Do me a favor and talk me up to him,” she begged. “Oh, and don’t let the others get near him. We don’t need a repeat of what Mallory did at our last party.”

They’d had a little get-together after finals that had gotten out of hand. Brook’s sisters had to get rid of all their alcohol, so someone had gotten the bright idea to make the ‘kitchen sink’ of sorority-girl drinks: Long Island Iced Teas. The trouble started when the syph boys showed up.

There was a fraternity next to their house that had a bad reputation. The girls had started calling them ‘syph boys’ because the rumor was they’d all gotten syphilis over spring break from a bunch of skanks going to Wellesley College.

Mallory had started early and made some bad decisions. They’d had to save her from herself when she decided to climb this poor freshman boy in the middle of the party room. The funny part was she denied it ever happened and insisted that all the pictures they took were Photoshopped.

Brook had to chuckle because that little stunt would have ended up far differently if she’d climbed up David and stuck her tongue down his throat. He wasn’t some ordinary nervous freshman.

Truth be told, David would never have done anything with Mallory because she was drunk. That was something Brook missed about him. While he wasn’t really a ‘good boy’ in the sense of saving it for marriage, he had a solid moral code.

A good example was a New Year’s Eve party where David had lectured some men that you didn’t take advantage of a drunk girl; you took her home. Brook had learned the hard way that not many guys followed that code. It was one of the main reasons she’d joined a sorority. The sisters at least kept an eye on each other to prevent anything that would be regretted the next day.

Brook grabbed her bag, and she and Keira rushed out the door to go to work. She groaned when they reached the lobby and saw the sidewalk full of paparazzi. She would be glad when her fifteen minutes of fame were over.

When Brook had reached work, she’d gone to her mom’s office and promptly been told that she and Mallory were picking up David and his entourage at the airport. They each checked out a town car and drove to New Jersey and Teterboro Airport.

They were almost there when Brook received a text from her grandmother, letting her know they were on the ground and giving her directions where to pick everyone up. Brook was familiar with the airport since it was the closest general aviation airport to Manhattan, and thus a routine destination for private and corporate flights to the city. She’d picked up a few of their wealth-management clients there over the past week.

She spotted David’s mom standing curbside. Brook pulled up and got out of the car to greet Carol.

“Brook!”

The two women hugged.

“How was London?” Brook asked.

“It was a lot of fun. I even got to meet all the men who played James Bond.”

“What does Rob think of that?”

Carol rolled her eyes to let her know that her husband didn’t get why she had a crush on James Bond. The two of them caught up until Brook spotted David pushing a cart loaded down with bags.

“He’s not seeing anyone,” Carol whispered.

David saw Brook and grinned, which caused her heart to skip a beat. Not fair at all. His smile should be licensed as a lethal weapon.

“Mister Dawson!” Mallory called out to get his attention. “Let me help you with your bags. You’re supposed to ride back to the city with me.”

Carol snorted out a laugh when she saw Brook’s reaction to her fellow employee’s attempt at catching David’s attention. Brook had to hide her own smile when David let Mallory take the cart to load their luggage into her vehicle.

“You know Frank,” David said. “And this is my temporary PA, Kristen. Everybody, this is Brook Davis, Grace Davenport’s granddaughter.”

Brook would have to dig into the ‘temporary’ comment about his PA. She noticed that Kristen had caught it and looked concerned.

Mallory was a bit out of breath when she came back after hoisting all their bags into the car. Brook introduced her to David’s group.

“Mom, you and Frank go with Mallory to the hotel and get us checked in. I’ll ride with Brook to the meeting and call you when I’m done,” David said, taking charge.

“Adrienne’s partner, Tyler, called, and we made plans to go shopping,” Carol said. “She said that Adrienne is working with Jill Lacier and Kara Tasman today, and they all want to have dinner with you tonight.”

Brook slugged David in the arm when she caught his look of lust as his mom listed their names. He really was a ‘stupid boy’ sometimes. He glanced over at Brook and raised his eyebrows, which caused her to remember that he was her ex, and she had no say in who he spent time with.

“Sorry, that was a knee-jerk reaction,” Brook admitted as she heard the words tumbling out of her mouth, faster and faster, as if she needed to reassure herself.