Page 36 of Secrets, Scandals and Baby Shoes

“Do you really want to know?” Elliot looked surprised. “Cybersecurity isn’t the most exciting field if you aren’t a computer nerd.”

“I want to know everything about you,” Lucy said simply. As soon as she said it, she realized that it was a little too gooey-romantic, much more something she would have said back in college than something she would usually have said now, but it was too late. And Elliot didn’t seem to mind. A smile spread across his handsome features.

“I think you already know almost everything about me,” he said. “You know where I grew up. You know that I’m an only child. You know about my parents, my college days, my childhood obsession with basketball, and my love of facts and figures.”

“It’s true.” Lucy hesitated. “And I know a lot about what you’ve been doing for the last ten years, too. But there is something thatI don’t know.” Lucy wasn’t sure she did want to know, even now, but her curiosity pushed her to ask. “Did you have… someone special in your life?” Dominic had always been vague on that subject when he mentioned Elliot.

Elliot took a sip of his tea, seeming to consider his answer carefully. “No,” he said. “You know that, in college, before I met you, I played the field a bit. After you, I picked that up again, but it didn’t feel the same as it used to. And I never found anyone else I wanted to have a serious relationship with. There’s no one else like you.”

Lucy’s heart stirred at his words. She reached across the table and took his hand. “I didn’t find anyone like you, either. I tried to date, but I was never very invested. It always felt more important to spend time with Dominic, and I never found someone I connected with the way we connected.”

“Well.” Elliot smiled. “It’s good we have this second chance then, isn’t it?”

“It really is.” They looked at each other across the table for a long moment, Lucy’s heart fluttering again at the look in Elliot’s brown eyes, before turning back to their food.

“The dumplings are getting cold,” Elliot said.

“Horror.” Lucy grinned. “We’d better eat. Have you tried the red bean steamed bun?”

“I haven’t.” Elliot took his chopsticks and grabbed one of the small white buns. “Have you tried the soup dumplings? They’re great.”

The conversation meandered through their food and other, easier topics, but Lucy couldn’t stop thinking about what Elliothad said — that he’d never met anyone like her again. She felt the same way about him, but to hear Elliot say the words she’d been thinking felt good. Very good. It really felt like things were going to be different this time — different and better.

After dinner, they strolled back to Elliot’s apartment, hand in hand. Lucy had practically been living in his rented apartment for the last few weeks since her two roommates probably wouldn’t have been thrilled to have a guy sharing their one small bathroom.

“What do you think Dominic would say if he saw us today?” Lucy asked.

“I think he’d say, ‘What are you doing to my sister?’” Elliot told her. “Then he’d say, ‘How dare you!’ And then, after about five minutes, he’d say, ‘Good for you guys.’”

Lucy smiled and squeezed Elliot’s hand. “I’d like to think so.”

“I wish he’d told me.” Elliot sighed. “I wish he’d just told everyone that he was sick. Then I could have understood what happened with you, and I would have made those last years the best they could be. Instead, I didn’t find out until two years ago.”

“Would you really have done anything differently?” Lucy asked. “I wish we’d been together, but other than that, I have no regrets. And Dominic didn’t either. He loved the time you two spent together. And he loved the time he spent with me and our parents. I don’t think he would have changed a thing.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Elliot brought their clasped hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of Lucy’s hand. “That’s why I—” He hesitated before continuing, “That’s why I like being with you so much. You always think about things in the best possible way.”

“Meanwhile, you bring your keen business sense to the arrangement,” Lucy joked, though her heart had skipped a beat when Elliot cut himself off. Had he been about to say something else?

“And my dashing good looks,” Elliot added, running his free hand through his hair.

“I think we both bring dashing good looks,” Lucy said, tossing her own hair. They smiled at each other. “You know, I was thinking… remember how we were talking about expanding our current clients’ business? Maybe we should visit a few clients in person to make the pitch.”

“I like that idea.” Elliot nodded. They skirted around a little girl who was bending down to examine a small flower growing between the cracks of the sidewalk and passed a man in a suit with a briefcase. “Where should we go?”

“Well, there is that glamping place in Arizona.”

“Sure, but I’m not sure outdoor adventures are exactly what I had in mind.”

“Well, there’s also a great little bed and breakfast in the French Riviera,” Lucy suggested.

“That’s more like it. I also heard that we work with a Finnish ice hotel.”

“That’s true.” Lucy’s eyes lit up. “Maybe we could do a circuit around Europe? That would give us a chance to connect with a few of the clients we don’t see as often.”

“I like the sound of that. Let’s just give it a week or two so we can make sure Borderless will be stable while we’re jet-setting around the world.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Obviously. Maybe we could go next month? That would give us plenty of time to arrange meetings and develop a strategy.”

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