20. More Qualified

20

MORE QUALIFIED

Z ander was torn between wanting to yank Regan back to their table, and giving her a kiss for ending this wild goose chase he’d been on for months.

He’d get to the kiss later. For now he wanted her to know he didn’t appreciate the risk she took.

And it only reiterated in his mind he had to tell her what the Fierces were doing and that she was most likely part of the plan.

She was smart enough to add the clues up and if they both knew, maybe they could play with their employees a little too.

The last thing he wanted was Regan to accuse him of hiding something from her and she’d be smart enough to know he was aware of what was going on.

At some point, he wanted people to know they were dating and not be referred to as her brother.

Sure, she was good on the fly and he’d give her credit for that, but the last thing he needed to worry about was her putting herself in harm’s way because she thought it was fun.

Regan was quiet while she ate half her meal. “Go on. Lecture me. Get it over with.”

He lifted his head and saw her smirk. “It’s not funny. You don’t know what I do. You don’t know how to handle yourself in situations.”

“I did pretty well just now,” she pointed out. “In an open restaurant with my PI boyfriend right behind wearing his concealed gun that he thinks I don’t know he has on most times. I’m not reckless.”

He never made a point to hide it from her, but she hadn’t said a word about it once either.

“Fine,” he said. “You put some thought into it.”

“That’s right.” She held her finger and thumb up. “Just a little. And I got you the answers you’ve been trying to get by playing on his emotions that I could see in his eyes. Give me some credit for being able to read people well. He would have never opened up to you if you tried to do that.”

She was right there too.

“I never said you couldn’t,” he said. “But you don’t know about this case as I do.”

“I knew enough. I was able to see what was going on by not even talking to Tricia and just being in a woman’s place where she could let her guard down.”

“Good point,” he said.

“And Scott was young enough that I was able to fool him. If he’d acted like I was bothering him I would have apologized and said I was mistaken and come right back to you. I’m positive he wouldn’t have drawn attention to himself to begin with and even less when he saw the size of you.”

He was trying to calm his racing heart, but she was making valid points. “You got lucky this time,” he said.

“Lucky enough that now you can tell Justin what you discovered and you’ll have to pay for dinner with me on your own dime going forward.”

She was laughing at him. He squinted one eye. “Not funny.”

“It kind of is. I was fine. I wasn’t worried in the least. I think you’re worked up over the flowers and then this tipped it for you. Maybe it was bad timing.”

“Not so good timing for you to bring it up again.”

“We need to talk it through,” she said. “I told you about it. I will absolutely tell you about it if I get anything else, which I’m not sure I will. Miles is already compiling a list of clients I saw this week and making his own personal opinions next to them.”

“And you’re going to pass that list to me,” he said.

“No,” she said. “I can’t. That would be violating patient doctor confidentiality. I know you know that and that just tells me that you’re speaking emotionally and not logically. What is going on, Zander?”

He was actually embarrassed she pointed that out to him.

He wanted to get annoyed that she seemed so calm about this but it was only words. What she was doing was logical and she wasn’t brushing it off. In a way, it was better she wasn’t hysterical over it because then he’d want to be shielding her left and right when she walked out of her office.

Again, no thoughts that had ever crossed his mind in the past with another woman.

He was going to have to put the flower issues aside because otherwise he’d drive himself nuts tonight. “If you’re ever in trouble or worried or concerned for your safety and can’t call, I want you to bang on the wall in your office.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” she said. “I’ll scream too, but I’m not sure that will help. The walls are pretty soundproof.”

She was smiling, but he knew she was serious at the same time.

“I’m going to take a detour here. Bear with me.”

“The crisis has passed?” she asked, picking her fork back up and putting some of the fish on it.

“It has. For now. Let’s start with Trent and Roni. You said you know they met at work. The building, right?”

“Yes,” she said. “Miles told me.”

“The Fierces set them up.”

“Really?” she said. “That’s sweet. It obviously worked out well when trying to set people up on a blind date rarely does.”

“You don’t even know the half of it. It wasn’t so much of a blind date either. Moving on. My best friend, Royce. His wife, Chloe, is an engineer for the Fierces.”

“What a small world.”

“She worked with Royce when it came to setting this building up.”

“Makes sense,” she said. “Two people in close proximity to each other sharing a common bond or space. Kind of like us.”

At least she was getting some of it.

“They were a secret setup too. Just like Grant, Garrett, Caroline and Diane did to all their kids and several of their kids’ friends and employees.”

“You’re kidding me,” she said. “That sounds like something I could do better. I’m definitely more qualified than them to match people up and even then it’s a crap shoot.”

He laughed. “Not for them. They are batting a thousand and brag about it. When they want people to know they are actually on the target list for them to be set up.”

“Target list,” she said. “Ohhhh, sounds mysterious.”

“You think this is funny?”

“I think it’s adorably intrusive, but I happen to know all their children are happily married with lots of kids. Diane mentioned how her youngest son is having a baby next month.”

“Ryder,” he said. “Yes. Ryder’s wife’s brother is married to another employee at Fierce. They met at the Fierce New Year’s Eve Party.”

“Sounds as if they’ve got themselves a nice little hobby.”

He couldn’t believe she wasn’t bothered by this. “They want to set me up,” he said.

That got her attention. “And you’re dating me and if they knew they’d leave you alone. How do you know they want to?” she asked.

She didn’t even act jealous over this. Was it possible she didn’t have the same feelings as him?

Was she more detached or emotionless?

No, he wasn’t going to think that. Dr. Regan Philes had plenty of emotions and he got to see them when the two of them were together.

Just like her humor in this whole night.

“They’ve told me. To my face. At Royce’s wedding, they were joking about setting me up with Royce’s sister, Elise. Mind you, I’ve known Elise my whole life. She’s like a little sister to me. It was never going to happen and they knew it. It was just their sneaky way to get Elise to admit she was dating Gabe McCarthy.”

“Gabe, as in one of the other owners of the building?” she asked. “Did the Fierces know the two of them were dating?”

“Yes,” he said. “But Elise had no clue her father and the Fierces were trying to match her up. Gabe knew. Gabe figured it out right away and asked them to back off and let him handle it on his own so Elise didn’t get upset. She didn’t like the idea of anyone setting her up.”

“I find that very sweet he cared for her enough to stand up for her. I’m going to assume they are a couple now?”

“They got engaged in July,” he said.

“Good for them,” she said. “I’m sure you’ve got no problem telling the Fierces you aren’t interested.”

“I have and I will continue to. Did I tell you Janine was in on it with Trent and Roni? She was their inside source and reporting back with any bit of information she could find?”

“No,” she said. “That’s funny.”

“Your smile just dropped. What’s wrong?” he asked.

“They don’t know me,” she said.

“They know enough,” he said. “Do you get where I’m going with this? How much are they talking to Miles?”

She pursed her lips. “More than I realized. I didn’t think much of it before.”

He wanted to laugh at her reaction now. “They talk to Betsy all the time. I know it. I just play along and she knows I do.”

“And Miles and Betsy are close. Those two talk all the time. Have these SOS meetings in the hallway a few times a week.”

“What is an SOS meeting?” he asked.

“I know something you don’t. Situation Outside. That is what they call it and text each other to catch up. Miles tells it like it’s gossiping about people in the building. They’ve sussed out someone having an affair in the building on different floors but meeting and using the bathroom on our floor.”

He laughed. “Betsy loves her job. She’s good at it.”

“She’s got Miles in on it.”

“I believe they are in on it a lot more than you realize. You said Miles brings my name up a lot.”

She ground her teeth and he laughed. “Now it’s not so funny and cute.”

“No,” he said. “It’s not. But the good news is. We started to date before I realized this.”

“Are you positive?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “They’ve never said your name to me before other than one day asking if there were any noise issues. But it was also the same day Grant asked me to do some work for him.”

Which he realized had been part of their plan.

They probably weren’t getting anywhere with him and nothing from Betsy that they sent Diane over to work on it.

Regan all but walked into Diane’s lap being in Trent’s office today.

One of those stupid fate things he didn’t think much of in life.

“So now you’ve got the back information. How fast can you process things?”

He could see her doing it while she ate. She was listening more and thinking.

“Fast enough. What is it you would like to do? What was it you wanted out of telling me this?”

Oh yeah. Her doctor hat came on. He wouldn’t be offended either.

“I’d like to keep this quiet for the time being from Miles, Betsy and the Fierces. If you’ve got family or friends you trust to stay quiet, go ahead and tell them.”

“Meaning you want to let people know we are dating?” she asked.

He hadn’t thought much of it until she got flowers from another person.

“I can trust Royce if I told him. He’d think it was hilarious, as he and Chloe did the same thing. Maybe I’d like you to meet them.”

She smiled. “I’d like that. I don’t have a lot of friends. Especially female friends.”

He’d store that thought away for another time. “Then maybe we can work on that one night.”

“It’s a start,” she said. She finished her dinner and pushed her plate away from her. “And an end to these spontaneous dinners. I do enjoy them, but I’d like it better if we went to my place.”

He smiled. Not only wasn’t she mad at him for lecturing her over her actions tonight but she also wasn’t upset to find out she was part of a matchmaking setup.

She was a much better sport than he gave her credit for.

But he was learning there is more to Regan than he first imagined.