Chapter Thirty-three

When they got back to the apartment, there were two skinny little guys and Rose standing at his door. She gave that same big smile from before, winking at them as they walked up. “I was told you needed some assistance. Tyler was too busy to come himself. So, when he called my department, I couldn’t help but jump at the chance to come and help with the set up.”

She was wearing the same maroon shirt and dark skirt with lace trailing down as earlier. “Hey, Rose. You’re going to get the game Devon bought working?”

“That’s right. I’m looking forward to seeing him play his first game. I did say there would be a small team to assist.” Bram opened the door, letting everyone in, but Izabella ran downstairs to grab her things. Rose and her team were already in Devon’s room, setting up the virtual reality system.

“One suitcase, huh. Do you want me to send someone to pick up the rest of your things?” Bram asked as he followed her into the spare room, which she decided to use for now.

“This is everything.” She looked up at him in surprise. She could see the confusion in his eyes, but he was choosing not to say anything. “So, my apartment will be downstairs? Do I go down after you get back? Are you usually home by a certain time?”

“This spare room is yours too, you can stay up here. He can stay down there. Whatever the two of you decide. I do often have late night meeting. I can keep you updated on the expected scheduling from week to week, but I can’t promise there won’t be sudden changes made at any given time. We’ll do our best to accommodate you and make it as painless as we can.” Bram went to the kitchen taking his computer out, his fingers flying over the keyboard as he responded to emails, made notes, and eventually went and grabbed his brief case to go over some reports. “Make yourself comfortable.”

Standing behind him, she watched him work for a while, and leaned in, “I thought you wanted to watch a movie.” He smirked, not looking at her.

“I do, but I figured if I was going to get any time to look at what’s going on with work, now was it. Devon’s distracted with Rose, and you brought up your things. Why don’t you make yourself at home?” He turned to her, resting his arm over the back of the chair and caressed the inside of her wrist. “Once Devon’s all set up, we’ll find that movie.” She kept peeking at him and then looking away. “Just ask whatever it is that’s on your mind. I can tell there’s something.”

“Did any of the nannies just use the spare room?” She asked finally.

“No. They all liked having their own living space. It’s not like I want boyfriends coming into my house, or anything like that.” His eyes traveled her, he didn’t want a single person near her with that title.

“Pfff…” she frowned, “I’ve never had a boyfriend so that’s not a problem. And I don’t have any close girlfriends. It doesn’t make sense for me to take up a whole apartment.” She was thinking aloud.

Giving her a skeptical look, he propped his head on his hand. “I dunno about that. Johnnie seemed to be a wrapped around your little finger.”

“Oh, stop. We’re just friends.” Her hands went to her hips, looking annoyed.

“Yeah, right. If that boy had thought for a moment you would say yes, he would have dropped down on one knee and asked you to marry him right then and there.” She argued with him but eventually he put up his hand. “Then you’re clueless. I’m telling you, that boy is head over heels for you.”

Izabella waved her hand at him, sitting beside him at the table. “Would it be okay if I just stay in the spare room? That way you can leave early or come back late, and I don’t have to worry about what I’m doing with Devon. He can wake me up if I’m still sleeping, or if something happens in the middle of the night, he knows exactly where I am.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. If there’s any reason for me to put anyone up for the night, I may have to use the apartment then. Are you okay with that?” Izabella nodded. “If you get yourself a boyfriend and decide you want to change it up, just let me know.”

“I’ve got enough boys to try to figure out in my life. Let me learn how to deal with you and Devon. I’m too young to start thinking about anything serious with anyone anyway. I want to save enough money up to try and get some student loans to accept me so I can go to college. Until I figure out what I’m doing with my life, I don’t have time for silly boys.”

Bram was okay with that, he didn’t want her to have any interests beyond him anyway. “What do you want to do for a living?”

“Ultimately? I want to work for a non-profit. I want to feel proud of what I do, and I want to be able to know I’m making a difference. I’ve also thought that I should be a social worker. It’s probably a cheaper and easier degree than going into business anyway.” Leaning against the table, she looked at him, “What kind of degrees does someone like you look at when you’re deciding who you want working for what company?”

“I prefer knowing they have some experience, more so than caring where they went to school or what degrees they have. Though, there are exceptions to certain titles. What we could do is get some one-on-one shadowing time with some of my VPs at DAS. It would actually give me the exact excuse I need to do some much-needed snooping into what they’re doing behind the curtains, so-to-speak.” Bram was back to paying more attention to his work. For a while, he seemed to be jumping from one thing to another, but as she watched, she realized he was methodically work from a list that was on his phone, slowly checking off the objects he’d taken care of.

“I would love to follow you around for a day and see what it is you do.” She stood up, stretching. Bram watched her from his peripheral vision, trying to be nonchalant about it. “I’m going to shower and change. Hopefully you’ll be done when I come back out.”

“I should be, as long as I get these last few things taken care of, I should be free to spend the rest of my night with you, Devon, and a movie or two. Do you want me to order food?”

“We ate a late lunch. We should just get fat on snacks instead. I hope you have popcorn.” Izabella spoke as she started rummaging through the cupboards.

“We can take a quick stroll to the corner store and get whatever you want. I think I’d like a beer.”

“You have beer in the fridge.” She looked over her shoulder, “At least a few, I think.” She padded over, opening the doors and sticking her head in. “Oop, you only have one. Do you want it now?”

Bram chuckled, “You know, I may have hired you to help with Devon, but you don’t have to act like a servant. I can get up and get my own beer.”

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed the bottle opener and popped the top. “I already have it in hand. I’m just putzing around, may as well make myself useful. And if you don’t have to keep getting up and doing other things, you’ll finish that up sooner.” She placed the beer beside his computer. He thanked her as she disappeared to grab her pajamas and take a quick shower. He heard her speaking with Rose, and that they would be done soon.