5. Look The Part

Lilian wasn't normally late for her lunch, but the one day she didn't want to be, Stella needed something from her.

It's not like she even had a way to reach Braylon and tell him either and she didn't want him to think she was standing him up.

She was rushing round as fast as she could and just when she was about to give up hope that she could get the work done on time, Stella caught her at the copier. "I'm leaving for the day. Have that on my desk first thing in the morning."

"Will do," she said and let out a breath.

She wanted to snarl and ask why she was told to have it done by lunch if Stella was leaving at one and not returning.

At least it'd give her the afternoon to complete it easily.

She grabbed her copies and laid them on her desk, looked at her watch and saw she had two minutes to get to the lobby and meet Braylon.

He seemed like a guy with an important job and she didn't want to keep him waiting.

She was all but running out the door in her heels and hoped she didn't trip and make a fool out of herself. She walked to and from work in flats but changed to heels in the office. Might as well look a little nicer today.

When she whipped open the door to the lobby, she didn't see Braylon and let out a sigh. At least he wasn't waiting.

But five minutes later, she realized she was the one that was most likely being stood up.

She'd give it another five minutes and then go back to her desk and eat one of the granola bars that she kept there.

When the elevator doors opened, she saw him standing in the back behind six other people. Being tall worked in his favor.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, bugging his eyes out as he waited for people to get out of his way. "I got held up on a call and when I finally got off the phone, there was a backlog at the elevators."

"Which is why I take the stairs. I find most are returning from lunch or going at one. It's not a good time."

"Now I'll know," he said. "I don't normally leave for lunch exactly on the hour or even close to it. If I leave at all."

"Bet you have food brought up more than anything," she said.

Lots of people had food delivered in her office. It wasn't always easy to leave.

"There is a small cafe in our office," he said.

"That's convenient," she said. "There are a few cafes not that far from here. You pick."

"You just lead the way," he said. "I'm more interested in the company than the food."

She felt the heat fill her face. It was on the sweet side and no man had ever said that to her.

"Maybe I'm thinking the same," she said.

They walked out together and to the first cafe they came to and got seats off to the side. They were seated quickly like most places around here during lunch.

Once their orders were placed, he said, "I'm going to guess you're new to the area."

She wasn't surprised he led with that. "What gave it away? The fact that men seem to come onto me like fresh meat on display?"

He grinned. "I don't know I'd say it that way. But a lot of young women come to the city to find some kind of a dream. You're younger and if you grew up around here, you'd have a different air to you."

Since the air she had to her in a bigger city wasn't the one she'd want to be portrayed to Braylon or anyone else, she'd keep quiet.

"Guilty," she said. "I moved here from Lake Placid."

"Oh wow," he said. "Never been there but always wanted to. For a short visit. My family would say I love the noise and people around me. They might be right. Plus, I'm not much of a skier in a place like that. I'm lucky I've finally adapted to the colder weather in the past several years. I'm recently, or lastly, from North Carolina."

"You don't have an accent," she said.

"No," he said. "I'm an Army brat. We moved around a lot so we were only there a few years before my father passed."

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's fine. My mother is still there along with a few of my siblings. We are kind of spread out."

"I've got three siblings. I'm the baby," she said. "How about you?"

"I've got seven. I'm the second oldest."

He didn't seem put off by her not volunteering more as he was keeping it simple too. It was for the best right now.

"Eight kids," she said. The way his eyes softened talking about his mother and father, she was going to assume they'd been married when his father died. "Your parents were busy."

He laughed. "They were. Every leave my father had, he left my mother with more than goodbye kisses."

It was the way he'd said it that had her smiling. "How old is the youngest?"

"My sister is twenty-two. Eleven years younger than me."

She cringed. That was only two years younger than her. She hadn't realized Braylon was almost ten years older than her.

"Since you shared your age, I'm twenty-four." He was still grinning at her. "By your look I'm sure you figured as much."

"A good guess that you weren't much older. I know where you work but not what you do."

"Well, not what I thought I was going to do when I took the job," she said drily.

"I think that is normally what happens to people when they move here."

"So I'm learning. I went to college in Plattsburg for communications. I applied for an assistant communications manager position. What I got was an assistant to the communications manager."

No reason to lie or make her job out to be more glamorous than it was. He'd seen her at her worst being a gopher.

"We all have to start somewhere," he said.

"What do you do?" she asked. Their sandwiches were brought over. This was going to be a fast lunch. And though she could take more than an hour being salary and no one would notice or care, she wouldn't take advantage of things.

Besides, she knew Braylon was a busy man.

"I'm an attorney," he said.

Figures. Way out of her league and Lilian wasn't sure why she was even thinking otherwise.

"You look the part."

He choked on his bite of sandwich and then covered his mouth when he coughed. "How is that?"

"The suit," she said. "You're classy but in an understated way. I bet you're a business attorney."

"Because they dress boring?" he asked.

There was humor in his eyes.

"You don't dress boring in the least. You're just not flashy. A lot of attorneys from my experience since living here are flashy in their clothing choices."

Her eyes drifted to the watch on his wrist. Nothing expensive. Just an iWatch. She bet it was for convenience so he could check a message without always pulling his phone out.

Though she'd bet his suit cost more than her biweekly paycheck, he wasn't trying to brag about wealth either.

"I don't think I"m much of a flashy person," he said. "I come from a pretty humble background."

Which she liked. "Maybe that is why you were nice and helped out rather than adding to what was going on in the cafe."

"My mother raised me right," he said.

"You still talk to her a lot, don't you?" she asked. She wouldn't know what that was like. In her eyes, her mother didn't exist anymore and shouldn't. She had Quinn instead.

"I do. She called me the other night," he said. "But with eight of us, she spreads her nosiness—love—around."

Lilian giggled and put her hand in front of her mouth. That was an immature sound for sure. She wasn't sure the last time she giggled over anything.

"That's kind of sweet," she said.

"I guess," he said. "So how long have you been in Manhattan?"

"A few months," she said.

"Is it everything you thought it'd be?" he asked. She liked he wasn't being intrusive with his questions. Maybe he wasn't interested in anything more than this thank you lunch now that he knew her age.

"I'm not sure what I thought," she said. "Living here is. I expected the small cramped place. But it's close by so I can walk. I sold my car before I moved here. No reason to keep it and pay insurance and storage on it when I wouldn't use it."

"Makes sense. Not many like taking public transportation."

"I don't have a problem with it," she said. "I like to walk, but if it's too far away, then I'll get on a bus or the subway. I bet you always take a taxi."

"I do," he said. "Usually. Sometimes I walk, depending on where I'm going, but it's a ten to fifteen minute taxi ride to work so not something I want to walk, more so if it's hot, cold or raining."

"Yeah, I've experienced the heat and the rain. The cold won't be fun, but I could take the subway if I need to. Although I probably could still get there faster walking. I'll figure it out when the time comes."

He nodded and they continued to eat their lunch for a few minutes.

His phone rang and he looked at his watch and then ignored that. When hers rang, she did the same, but it kept going off.

"Do you need to get that?" he asked.

"It'd be rude. I'm on my lunch."

"It might be your boss," he said.

"She left for the day. I'm not too concerned that I have to stop everything to answer it right now." She pulled her phone out and saw two missed calls from Stella and rolled her eyes when she saw the text that followed. "I stand corrected. It was her."

"Leaving instructions for you?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "No reason to call her back. She's at the spa anyway."

He chuckled over that. Their bill was brought out and their plates cleared away.

"Guess they want us to move on," he said.

She barely got her last bite in before it was taken away when the bill landed.

She grabbed her wallet to get her card out and pay, but Braylon already had cash on the table. More than was needed.

"I've got it," she said. "I asked you."

"I never had any intention of you paying. I was just glad you asked."

"Why?" she asked, putting her wallet away.

"Maybe I wanted to get to know you more," he said.

He had a little dimple on his chin with a smirk on his face. "Did you find out what you wanted?"

"A little," he said. "There is more I'd like to know, but you've got to get to work."

"And your phone is ringing again too," she said.

He hadn't even looked at his watch this time, but she saw it light up.

"It's always ringing. They can wait."

The two of them stood up and walked back to the building.

"Thanks for lunch," she said.

"You're welcome. Maybe we can do this again?" he asked.

"I'd like that," she said. Before she could ask for his number, his phone went off again and he looked at his watch.

"Crap," he said, opening the door for her. "I need to run. I know where to find you. I'll be in touch."

"Bye, Braylon," she said as he hopped on the elevator.

"Lilian."

She turned her head and saw Evan stepping out of the elevator Braylon just got in.She started to walk to her office as Braylon was heading up.

"Hi, Evan," she said. It would be her rotten luck she'd see someone who knew her just now.

"I saw you having lunch with Braylon Carlisle."

"So," she said.

"He's an attorney," Evan said.

"I'm aware," she said. Thankfully she just found that out.

"He's your fiancé?"

She didn't want to lie so it was better not to answer at all. "Why the face? Am I not good enough for him?"

Evan looked her over one more time and smirked. Like he knew what she might have had to offer and it just pissed her off.

"If you're engaged to Braylon, I'm not sure why you're working here and doing what you are."

The thought that Evan knew who Braylon was slipped from her mind in her frustration over that comment.

"I don't need someone to take care of me," she said.

Evan held his hands up. "I get it. But really. Anyone who dates a Carlisle...not sure why they even need to work. I mean seriously, he's his brother's attorney." It must have been the blank look on her face that had Evan frowning. "The guy who owns this building."

"So?" she said, waving her hand. She had to play along like she knew that information. "That has nothing to do with me."

She turned and walked to her little cubicle to get back to work and wondered how much of a fool she was.

How could she have not realized that when Braylon had given his name? Most women would have looked into the guy, but not her. She didn't want to know that information just like she wouldn't want anyone to look into her.

But now that she knew where he worked, she might have to give him a heads up about what just occurred.

Talk about a disaster waiting to happen.