Best Friend's Brother

Chapter Two

My cell rang at quarter to four so I let it ring through to voicemail. I was making a significant dent in the work I had left to do before I could even think about leaving for the day and I didn't want to waste the tiny bit of time I had left to get work done by answering a silly phone call. Everyone important in my life knew that I wouldn't pick up my cell phone during the work day so they called my work number. When my phone rang again I glanced at the screen to see if I recognized the number and when I didn't my attention went back to the manuscript as it rang through to voicemail again.

Five minutes later Hilary was at the door. "Miss Rayne, there's a young man here to see you."

I marker my place with my finger and glanced up. "Send him away. I'm about to leave for the day and I need to get this chapter finished before I go."

She hesitated a minute and then looked over her shoulder. "He says you're expecting him."

I allowed myself to be annoyed for a moment but then reined the annoyance in. I was expecting someone, just not so soon or in my office. "Does this man have a name?"

She stuck her head out the door and I heard her speaking to someone. A semi familiar voice replied and she stuck her head back in, cheeks slightly flushed. "His name's Matthew, Miss. Matthew Da Villa."

I marked my place with a sticky note and leaned back in my chair. "Send the boy in."

Hilary nodded and disappeared. A moment later Matt strolled into the room looking more than a little annoyed. "Claire."

I refrained from glaring back at him. "You're early."

He snorted. "Hardly. I called five minutes ago to tell you I was on the way but you didn't answer."

I pointed at the clock on the wall. "As I said, you're early. Whitney said four, and it is not four yet. Some of us have to work."

"Come off it, Claire. I'm ten minutes early, it's not much. What did you want me to do, wait around until it was four?"

I rolled my eyes and stood up, tired of giving him the advantage of height. Standing up I still wasn't as tall as him but at least the difference wasn't so great. There was nothing I could really do about it since I was an average height at best and he was tall. "Matthew, that's exactly what you should have done. I'm leaving early as it is which will not go over well with my boss while I have a large project underway. Those ten minutes as you've said could cost me a lot. You may not be used to a job where you can't leave early but in the real world that's just how things go."

He threw his hands up and then collapsed into Whitney's chair. "Fine then, work for another ten minutes. It's not like I have anything else to do."

I sighed and walked around the desk to perch on the edge closest to him. "Sorry. It's nice to see you."

It was actually very nice to see him. Sure he was my best friend's little brother but that didn't mean that he didn't look good. Standing over six feet tall and well-built it was easy to see why he was such a lady's man. His easy nature didn't hurt either.

He let a half smile slip onto his face. "It's nice to see you, too."

"How's school?"

He shook his head, his smile growing. "Un-uh. I did not leave campus to talk about school with my sister's best friend. Try again."

I rolled my eyes but changed the subject. "How's Paige?"

He laughed. "Does Whitney not keep you caught up? We broke up three months ago."

I tried not to let the shock show. The two of them had been going out since tenth grade and last I'd heard they were still happy together. "Well that's too bad."