I’d arrived at work early, and while I was sifting through potential renters for my condo, the scent of Alex’s cologne announced that he was on the top floor before seven in the morning as well. I tucked the papers away as soon as I heard him talking with our vice president Jacey, and their voices were getting closer to my office door.
“Good morning, Bree,” Jacey said with a smile. “How’s it going?”
As usual, our shared vice president seemed always to ask questions, and before you could answer her, she was out of sight. I smiled, and I noticed Alex was trailing her, head down and face in his phone. Before I started talking business with anyone this morning, I needed to call Nat about this list of renters she’d sent over.
“Nat,” I whispered when my best friend picked up, “this is all we have? I don’t want the place to go public. Not after what happened yesterday.”
“You woke me up to ask me about renters? I sent that over last night. I’m sure I can ask around. I do not doubt that some corporate suit will need a temporary rental anyway.”
“I woke you up because I know what you’re trying to do.”
“Oh. My. God,” she grumbled. “Goodbye, Bree. Oh,” she suddenly perked up, “and don’t forget about tonight.”
“How could I?” I smiled into the phone. “Do you think Robert proposed?”
“I know he did,” Nat’s voice was her usual tone of excitement. “And that’s why you’re living with me until your bills get caught up.”
“I thought I was only living with you so that Alex could bring one of his friends over,” I softly laughed.
“That too, and you’re eventually going to give up the dirty details about you two in Malibu.” She yawned. “Don’t think that you going to bed prematurely last night went unnoticed. I’d bet good money that you were sexting Mr. Sexy-lips last night.”
“Goodbye, Nat,” I said.
I nearly threw the fifty pages of real estate off my desk when I saw Alex standing in my doorway in a nicely pressed white shirt, suspenders, and black slacks.
He folded his arms and eyed the papers floating slowly around me after I’d panicked for some stupid reason.
“And here I thought we worked all the secretive kinks out of your system.” His closed lips pulled up on one side. “Which new lie is in the documents wafting around you?”
“No lies, just paperwork.”
“Come on, Bree.” He seemed more annoyed than anything as he walked into the room after closing the door behind him. “Who are these people?” he asked, looking at the list I’d been sifting through.
“It’s a list of renters that I’m considering for my place.”
He sat across from me and crossed a leg over his knee, thumbing through the papers. “Would you like my opinion on this?”
“No.”
“Too bad. I’m giving it,” he responded.
“I’m not moving in with you.”
He grinned. “You will in time. For now, I have a better candidate for your place.”
I folded my hands together and placed them on my desk. “Oh? Is Dr. Brandt interested in a short-term lease?”
“Brandt’s not interested in short-term, so he’s out.”
“This is news.”
“Not really,” Alex said dismissively, then set the stack of papers he’d put back together neatly on my desk. “Out of all the people in that paperwork, the one who’s in for the short-term lease has a smoking-hot boyfriend, who still has the battle scars to prove how much he wants her after he wasn’t finished with her over the weekend.”
I felt heat rush to my cheeks and saw Alex’s grin in response to me, giving myself away.
“Oh, that’s my renter?”
“Correct. She even had me write a check for her first and last month’s rent. Let’s just say the deposit should take care of everything for a year’s rent, and that is if she doesn’t get married and move out like she insisted she would.”
I looked at the six zeros on the check and narrowed my eyes at Alex’s unwavering expression. “Looks like she just broke it off with her boyfriend or her future fiancé.”
“Her future fiancé is going to break it off with her if she wants to be stubborn and argue.” He leaned his elbow on the armrest and rested his face against his chin.
“This is all very adorable, but come on,” I said, done with speaking about myself in the third person.
“This isn’t charity, nor is it me helping you out. It’s me giving you a head start out of this financial strain and keeping you in your home because I’m simply in love with you.”
I sighed. “Alex…”
“Knock that Alex shit off,” he said, standing up. “You’re keeping your place, and once we become more serious, and you finally trust how much I love you, that’s when I’ll pay the rest of it off—that’s if you’re still buried in debt. Until then, you have a year to keep the condo up and running. That check covers all your utilities, what a renter would pay you per month, and gas for that piece of shit car I bought you on Saturday.”
“I love that car now. I might keep it too.” I blushed. “Well, would you look at me?” I let out a breath with a laugh. “I admitted the truth to you.”
“It’s because you’re admittedly in love with me,” he winked. “All right. Now that’s all settled; I have a meeting with HR in an hour. You want in on it, or do you want to wait and hear the highlights at lunch with me?”
“Damn it. I promised myself I wasn’t going to dodge the BS part of the job.” I tapped my fingers on my desk.
“Don’t worry about it. Jacey will be sitting in on it anyway. I’d rather you share your vision for the pediatric wing with the architects on the Saint John’s job. We already decided you’ve got what it takes to make this place stand out as it used to when John Brooks was running the show. I just wanted to inform you in case HR meetings were an easier way to give you the excuse to stare at me with lustful eyes.”
“Hey,” I said after he turned to leave, and the mask of Alex, the businessman, had replaced the man I’d fallen in love with. I was a bit uneasy that I didn’t argue with him after his nonchalant proposal of offering me help. Still, I was done trying to act like I had any other options, and it was time to start being grateful and stop being bullheaded. Not everything needed to be so difficult, and after everything, I knew I needed to get out of my own way.
“What, dimples?” He smiled in response to my vibrant one. “I have to get my ass out of here, or people are going to talk,” he dramatically mocked my request to keep our so-called relationship between us, “and we can’t have them talking, especially after they notice that badass car that you’re set on keeping. You know I couldn’t give a damn if I tried about what people think, right?”
“Get your snarky and sexy butt over here,” I said, coming around my desk only to be met with an overzealous kiss that pulsated throughout my body.
Alex gripped me, pinned me against the wall, and an array of delicious tastes thoroughly assaulted me. It was his hair styling products that reminded me of the expensive shampoo at his Malibu place, his robust yet woodsy cologne, and the delicious taste of his natural scent that could only be found in a heated kiss like this one.
His lips went below my chin, and then he stopped when laughter erupted from his chest. “I love the guard you’ve put up to prevent me from bruising your neck again.” He pressed his lips against mine after his lips couldn’t reach my neck because of the high-collared dress I wore to hide my hickeys. “I’ve been thinking about that and how to make it up to you since I enjoy devouring your body.”
“Oh, yeah?” I said as I brushed my thumb over his moist lips. “What’s your bright idea?”
“You’ll find out tonight at your home. There, I plan to show you exactly where I’ll be devouring your flesh, and that location won’t bruise as easily.”
I gulped, knowing what he was implying. It was too early for me to get worked up and wet over Alex, yet my body felt like we should be sharing a bourbon at his place and reliving sunrises in Malibu.
“Oh, no. I have plans after work,” I said. “I have to go out with the girls tonight. We think my friend Sammy is announcing that her boyfriend proposed to her. Do you know Robert Kinder?”
Alex turned to open my door after Jacey knocked. He looked back at me. “Bobby Kinder? Is he Julietta and Thomas Kinder’s son?”
“Please, God, tell me you don’t have bad blood with him. He’s like a big brother to me.”
“No, not at all. He’s a good guy. I didn’t think he lived here anymore, though. The bastard didn’t tell us he’s back and dating my lady’s girl.”
“What?” Jacey croaked hoarsely, and she looked at me as if Alex had run over her cat.
“Do you know him?” I questioned the beautiful woman.
After what’d happened with Max getting caught before our wedding day, I’d inwardly hoped sweet Jacey wasn’t going to be the wedding-wrecker in my best friend’s worst-case scenario. It was apparent to all of us that an engagement announcement was happening tonight, especially after Sammy tried to hold us off from prying questions.
“No.” She shook off her suddenly odd vibes when Alex looked at her questioningly.
“You sure about that?” Alex asked. “Because you’re sure as hell acting like Breanne or I just said something that’s about to make you lose your breakfast all over my expensive shoes.”
“I thought she was talking about another Kinder. I mean, um…” She readjusted her glasses, cheeks red as she looked at Alex, then exhaled when she looked at me. “Listen, I’m getting everything ready for the meeting, but I’m not feeling very well. I’m probably going to go home unless you need me today.”
For the first time since meeting Alex, I saw the man look as confused as I felt. “I swear to God, Jacey, if something’s up, you’d better tell me,” he said in a soft tone. “Jesus, you seriously look like you could use some water or something.”
I walked over to her, eyeing Alex’s shocked expression, and led her to my desk. “Your hands are clammy,” I said, sitting her in my chair, “and you’re as white as a ghost. This has to do with something we were just talking about, doesn’t it?”
Her eyes filled with tears, then she smiled at me. “It’s nothing. I sort of had this lame crush on Bobby Kinder. I met him when he waited on my table. I didn’t realize he was in a relationship.”
“Did he lead you to believe he could return your feelings for him? How long ago was this? He’s lived here for at least a year, so I’m not sure why Alex hasn’t been in touch with him if they’re friends like that.”
“As I said, it’s nothing, and no, he’s not cheating on your friend.” She smiled at me. “Damn, I guess all the good ones are taken.”
“I used to say that all the time.” I eyed Alex standing with concern on his face behind her. “Trust me when I say that when the right one comes along, you’ll be thankful the others were taken. Or, in my case, you’ll be happy you got cheated on, and you broke it off before you ruined your life with the wrong one. You’ll find your man. Nothing to get this upset over.”
“I’m sure I will.” She fanned herself. “I’m going to splash some water on my face or something and pull myself together. That was kind of weird.”
She rushed out of the room, leaving Alex and me to stare at each other more confused than anything.
“Kind of weird?” Alex said. “Not to be harsh, but up until now, I didn’t think that woman could be shaken.”
“Oh, shit.” I sighed and shook my head. “This wasn’t about Bobby Kinder; it’s about you—about us.” I narrowed my eyes at Alex. “This is why we’re not telling anyone about us. Good God, we almost killed Jacey with you saying your lady’s girl.”
“You know what? This is precisely why they need to know,” Alex became firm. “Fucken-A. Now, I have to deal with this shit, and I’m not in the mood for it.”
“You think I am?”
“I didn’t say you were, Breanne,” Alex snapped.
“What happened to you mocking me and saying you couldn’t give a damn what people think? Obviously, Jacey being upset made you worried.”
“Not about us. If she wants to cry at a bar tonight because she magically believed I would entertain her as anything more than my vice president, then that ridiculous shit is on her.”
“You can be such a prick; you know that?”
“It’s not grade school, Breanne,” Alex shot back. “How am I the bad guy in this?”
“You most likely led her on. Christ, how can you not see that she thought you probably felt the same way about her?”
“As I said,” Alex’s expression was dark and searing, “I did absolutely nothing to lead her on. Fuck me for being a nice owner and allowing a young woman to work as my next in line. Jesus, I’m not the bad guy here.”
I could sense this was something more significant to Alex. It was about more than Jacey losing her shit about us being together. He was acting too dickish to make me think otherwise.
“Did something happen between the two of you before we merged the companies?” I asked, wondering if that could’ve been the reason Jacey was so easily triggered.
Alex’s leveling glare made me swallow the lump it’d conjured in my throat. I wasn’t backing down, though. What if he’d had a fling with her? He was known for dating Jim Mitchell’s former secretary. I was trying my hardest not to judge him, but sometimes the past sneaks up and bites you in the ass when you least expect it.
“No, and though she was tempting to my callous and asshole self before I met you and found I wasn’t a doomed-dick after all, I wouldn’t allow that. She’s like my fucking little sister, and that’s why all of this is so goddamn disturbing. You judging me, yet again, doesn’t help either.”
“I’m not trying to, Alex,” I said, crossing my arms, “but face it, you’re an extremely attractive man. You must not have meant for this to happen, but it did. I’ll try and talk to her. We can’t lose her.”
“I’ll talk to her,” he insisted.
“In this mood? You might as well have a detective grill her about being wrongfully attracted to you.”
“Do what you have to do,” he said. “I have a meeting to run and a job to go over. Lunch is still on unless you’d rather spend that time nursing Jacey’s broken heart back to health.”
“We’ll see how the day goes. For now, get some coffee or something. Your attitude sucks.”
“My attitude is reflecting the fact that Jacey has made me out to be some office man-whore, and that pisses me off. If she quits, she quits.”
Alex was out of the room before I could respond to him. How the hell were we to manage this? I was officially in agreement that we should not keep the fact that we were together a secret, but I felt like shit for throwing Jacey’s situation on Alex. What I’d asked him was presumptuous and shitty. He hadn’t set out to hurt her, and I trusted that he knew nothing about the fact that it would crush her if she learned he was with me.
I desperately wanted to find a way to keep her around. Sadly, before noon, she’d sent her resignation letter, and even though I tried, I couldn’t get her to stay. Now, I was pissed at her for storming out on an excellent job, whether her excuse of missing home in New York was valid or not. She admitted that she thought Alex and she had a thing, and finding out it was all in her imagination was enough for her to reach her limit. She was packed up and gone before I could even say good-bye.
“I need the sales and marketing teams in conference room B in five,” Alex announced while I worked with the architects to start in on the 3D scale of the butterfly gardens at Saint John’s.
“What’s going on?” I asked, following Alex out of the room.
“The meeting is in five minutes if you’re curious,” he curtly said.
“Don’t be a dick to me. I didn’t know.”
“You wouldn’t, though, would you? We’re back to judging me again, so that throws me back to proving myself. I don’t have time for that. Our VP walked out in tears today, and I’m sure that after you saw her letter and watched her leave, you allowed her to cry on your shoulders about how it was my fault, yes?”
“I’m not dignifying that with a response.”
“Of course, you’re not. The meeting is in four minutes. I expect those teams in that room.”
I watched him walk off, and Alex seemed to be more of an enemy now than ever. The worst part was that I felt like shit for accusing him. We’d have to talk later, and I would sit in on that meeting.
Within five minutes, we were all sitting in the room with Mr. Iron-Fist himself. His face was black with anger, and the mystery of what these teams did to put this expression on his face was about to be revealed.
“Who sold the Fittyship property?”
I eyed the room and saw that most people were sitting here as if they were waiting for Alex to fire them at a moment’s notice.
“Am I sitting at this table talking to cardboard cutouts of my employees, or have you all lost your voices?” he questioned. “Who sold that property?”
“I did, Mr. Grayson,” a young woman said. “It was a fantastic deal, and it works for the Fittyship family. They’re having their home built in that location.”
He pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at her. “Did you visit the site? Who was the agent who offered such a fantastic deal?”
“Brendan Straight.”
“I thought we were working with Natalia.” Alex looked at me as if I were the reason that we’d bought a property that could never be developed without thousands of rocks being blasted out of the hillside in an area that was prone to mudslides. This was a washout. We’d never get the permits for this place.
“We are,” I answered.
“Then why did you go outside of our exclusive agents and work with some random person I’ve never heard of before? He sold you a property that cannot be developed. Did you know that? Was Tish your manager before this?”
“No. David Hudson is,” she answered, looking at the man sitting next to me.
“Why would you approve this?” I asked him. “This is a complete loss for our company, and good luck trying to sell the property to anyone.”
“How much are we under with this, and was there an architect working with you?” Alex directed his question back to the woman who’d purchased the property, and from what I saw on the cut sheet, she was using the firm to buy it with the promise to build on it.”
“I believed I could entice the Fittyship family to work with Brooks and Stone by purchasing the property in good faith,” she responded.
“So, you didn’t run this past any of us? Unless you knew about it, Mr. Hudson?”
“I told her to use it as leverage,” David responded.
I sucked in a breath of anger while Alex’s expression didn’t change—but anyone would’ve been a damn fool to think he wasn’t fuming.
“Do I look like a man who wears a clown suit to work?” Alex asked. “Do I appear to be handing out cotton candy like I work at the goddamn circus?”
“This is inexcusable,” I said. “David, you will find a way to recover the losses.”
“David, you will turn in your resignation letter, or you’ll be fired for negligence, costing this firm 1.3 million dollars in useless land.” Alex pulled out another piece of paper. “Why is it that we’re suddenly trying to develop every last inch of real estate on Southern California’s coast? Here’s another piece of shit purchase from Rachelle Sanders. Again, rock blasting and mudslide land. Who was your agent? David,” he stopped the man from leaving the room, “did you approve this as well?”
“I approved everything that you’re firing me for, Mr. Grayson.”
“Without looking at any of this?” Alex questioned him. “Why would you be so trusting of a sales agent we never approved?”
“I wanted to bring in profits before the quarter is out,” the man answered.
Alex didn’t falter with the man’s broken response. “Well, your profits have thrown my margins in the red. Now, I’m up to 7.5 million in property that people get to stand on, or perhaps they can have a picnic lunch on the side of the road as the waves crash into the rocks below them that we can’t blast. These are just two examples of our deficit in sales this month. Your negligence has taken this firm’s profits by forty-five million dollars. Are you trying to bury us?”
“No, sir.”
“Then how do we sell an ocean-front property without it being worth anything more than staking a claim on it?” He reached for his phone. “Call Natalia Hoover,” he commanded his cellphone, saying Nat’s name as if she were in trouble for this too. “Natalia, this is Alex Grayson, and I need you as our exclusive agent. No sales will occur by my team unless they go through you. I have no idea what happened to the man you recommended, but I need to know if you will sign an exclusive agreement to work with my sales teams.”
Jesus Christ, Alex was on the warpath and not letting up anytime soon. He was handling shit, but this was the second time I’d seen the dark edge of the man that everyone feared—the guy I had previously referred to as Satan in a suit. I didn’t think there was any rebounding from this, but what I did know was that Nat wasn’t one to be shoved around, and if she felt Alex was too pushy, she wouldn’t hesitate to hang up on his ass.
“All right. Well, if Monroe is here,” it was the first time I’d seen Alex smile since the devil washed over his personality, “then you and I both know he’s seeing what he’s missing out on after hours. You too.”
He set his phone down and eyed the room. “David, sit your ass back down,” he said to the man he’d pretty much fired five seconds ago. “You have two options. You can walk out of here and hope you land a job to match what we overpay our employees for their work, or you can work with Natalia Hoover to dump these properties and replace them immediately with properties that your clients can build on. We don’t do cheap. Ever. I am not impressed with cheap shit. I’m impressed with the best and nothing less than that. In everything, even in my personal life and preferences,” he looked at me, his eyes darker than the night, “you will find that I only entertain the best whatever the cost. I’m an extremely picky man, so whatever I see in your purchases better be more impressive than the Taj Mahal. Am I clear on this? I swear I will lose my shit with the next faulty purchase any of you make. If you have one in mind, Natalia has agreed to work with us and will be in at three this afternoon. Speak with her and handle this trash. That’s all.”
Alex left the room in a rush as if he were taking his pissed-off mood to his next victim. I followed him out, annoyed that these people didn’t seem to get it the first time we had a meeting like this.
I still felt like shit for calling Alex out for Jacey’s broken heart. That was a low blow, and I knew it. I knew he wasn’t happy about her leaving. He was as upset about it as I was—maybe even more.
“Alex?” I said, walking into his office to see him staring between the three monitors on his desk.
“Bree,” he absently said. “What do you need?”
I sat across from him. “To apologize. I did it again, and I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong.”
“I made it seem like it was your fault for Jacey quitting. And I agree, we shouldn’t hide our relationship.”
Alex subtly smiled while he clicked around on the monitor he was looking at. “Thank God because I’m not the best liar,” I finally heard humor in his voice. “I know you’re an expert in the art of lying, but I’m not.”
“I can see that. You were pretty clear in that room.”
“I was just handling things as usual. David can thank you for still having a job,” he said with a smile. “All I needed was to see your face, and it saved him from the fact that I know he doesn’t deserve the job for being as careless as Tish was.”
“My face.”
“Yep, and the fact that we’re exactly where I want us to be,” he finally glanced at me and flashed a sexy smile.
“Where’s that?”
“In love, and I think I’m going to take advantage of this apology you’re giving me and use it as an opportunity to call for make-up sex.”
“Ah,” I grinned, feeling my tight nerves soften from being tense since Jacey wigged out on us today. “So, I guess we had our first fight, and make-up sex is the only natural progression.”
“You recall what our make-up sex is, correct?”
“I recall what our angry-sex was. Maybe I’ll keep you pissed off at me.” I smiled at the softer expression he wore.
“I was never angry with you.” He glanced back up from his computer monitors. “I was more upset with myself. I’m not guarded enough, and even though I pride myself in reading people, I got it all wrong with Jacey. Jim and Monroe are going to speak with her.”
“You really think she’s moving to New York?”
“I know she wanted this firm to advance her career, so who knows? Maybe she’s headed back to Manhattan to make some miracles happen.”
“Could be.”
“Perhaps we try out angry sex?”
“Depends on who’s mad?” I teased him. “Am I climbing the walls or just getting it good from behind?”
“If you keep talking like that, you’re getting that here and now. Otherwise, when do you think you’ll be done with dinner tonight?”
“I have no idea,” I answered truthfully. “You’re more than welcome to wait for me at the condo you’ve helped me keep, though.”
He smiled at me. “Text me if you’re up for it. Otherwise, tomorrow night, we’re doubling up on angry sex, make-up sex, and you-made-me-wait, sex.”
“You’re just horny.”
He chuckled, doing math or whatever on his computers. “As I said, I never got to finish what we started at sunrise.” He looked at me. “The one who should be sorry is me. Let’s just move on.”
“I’ll get you a key to my place. We both know you’re paying to stay there anyway.”
“I’ll have a bath drawn, candles lit, and wine brought over.”
“Make sure to warm the chocolate,” I teased. “Because after all those various types of sex we’re going to have, I’m going to have to lick chocolate off your sexy dick,” I mouthed that word, now having Alex’s full attention, “and ensure it gets a delicious massage while I curb my chocolate craving.”
“I just might allow you to give me that unique massage,” he grinned. “All right, I have to finish pulling more numbers, or I’ll be working on this until tomorrow night.”
“I’ll text you when I’m heading home after dinner,” I said as I turned to leave.
“I’ll make sure your chocolate dessert doesn’t let you down.”
