Once the helicopter reached the landing pad on the top of Mitchell and Associates’ Howard building, Alex confirmed that his driver was waiting to take us to Stone Company’s offices.
As much as I appreciated the offer, I was in desperate need of fresh air and alone time before I met with Theo. With Stone’s building being only a block away, I chose to take the short walk to stabilize my thoughts about today’s disastrous revelations and events.
Instead of feeling weak, mortified, and broken, I felt a wave of confidence overrule all of that. I’d love to say my change of attitude was fueled by the cocky poise that Alex displayed from the moment we stepped on the yacht and up until we landed, but I knew that wasn’t it.
At first, I didn’t believe the man when he started throwing out accusations about my employees, but as much as I appreciated Ryan Miller, I’d noticed the man’s attitude toward me change a while back. He went from being a fun, friendly, and admirable architect to a cocky bastard who spoke to me like I were an ignorant child. I was never overly familiar with the man, but he was a respectable employee, which made me question what I’d done to piss him off. The only time I’d ever asked him why he’d talked down to me, he quickly apologized and blamed his uncouth behavior on personal issues. I should’ve kept my eye on him then, and that’s why it all clicked into place when Alex laid the truth bare.
I owed Alex a debt of gratitude for not judging my character after all of the embarrassing shit he’d witnessed since we first met. Instead, he asked the one question that only Theo cared to know—was I happy running this company that I inherited after Dad’s passing?
If I hadn’t known that Alex was on my side after seeing the Nazaris and Danny exchanging their smug glances at my expense, I probably wouldn’t have trusted the man with my answer. Instead, Alex ran significant interference by obnoxiously ordering drinks and cutting off Danny’s lies about my company and me. That slimy bastard had intentionally underbid, and then he underhandedly placed flaws in all of my final concepts so that Sphere wouldn’t trust me.
What a fucking unbelievable son of a bitch to have the audacity to pull that shit off in front of my clients and me. I had no idea—nor did I give a damn at this point—why Danny had the nerve to do what he’d done. The man would answer to my lawyers for his actions. I had to wash my hands of all of this and move forward with Alex. God only knew what the man’s genuine opinion of me was, but after I loosened up and began to appreciate my new partner, it seemed we were on the right path.
In the presence of the ridiculously handsome man all day, I held my own against his sexy appearance and the enticing tone of his voice. Not once had I gawked or lost myself in Alex’s deep green eyes, not until his tone changed and he grew sincere about the one thing Theo knew too well about me. He understood that I wasn’t programmed to run the company while dealing with bullshit, but I was primed to immerse myself in designing concepts that blew our clients’ minds when I captured their visions.
When Alex said that he’d handle the administrative stuff and allow me to do what I do best, my love for being an architect came rushing back to me, and this time it was without the threat of a merger stealing my company away. I didn’t know what Theo was about to tell me, but thank God I had the renewed hope of wholeheartedly appreciating my job again.
I rolled up to Theo’s place around seven in the evening and walked into his pristine Beverly Hills home. The only thing that was different about his and Stanton’s mansion was the For Sale sign that’d been planted near their curb.
“Honey,” Theo used his usual nickname for me, “get your ass in here and tell me everything.”
I walked through the open foyer and into the den where Theo had candles lit and my favorite lavender tea was steeping in a glass pot. He poured me a cup and sat in the bend of his sectional, eyeing me for all the dirty details. Without hesitation, I offered up all the specifics from the minute I left the office this morning until I parted ways with Alex.
“So, that’s everything from Daniel Kyle openly revealing how he’d undermined us to Alex delivering the behind-the-scenes dirt on half of our employees stealing from us,” I said, finishing off my second cup of tea and dropping my head back against the leather sofa. I turned my head to him. “All right, you’ve kept me talking about this for at least an hour. It’s your turn to tell me what is going on with you.”
His lips turned down, and he glanced over at his unique black and white cat sculpture. “I want to say I would have gone to you before Alex on this matter,” he looked back at me, “but your head hasn’t been in the right place since the merge was announced.”
“For that, I’m so damn sorry.” I felt tears stinging my eyes for behaving like such a selfish bitch about the merge. “I don’t have the right words to apologize, but I love you, Theo, so much it hurts.”
Theo rose and walked over to me. It took the familiar fragrance of one of my best pal’s cologne and his firm embrace for me to finally come to reality. I’d been too absorbed by my issues to check in with those who mattered most. Poor Theo never had a chance to talk to me about what was going on with him because I’d been dodging just about everyone.
I pulled up and brushed my hand over his soft, cotton shirt. “Damn it. This shirt must’ve cost you a hundred bucks, and I’ve ruined it.”
He smiled, offering me some tissue from a box. “And from what Alex has uncovered, it seems you can’t afford to replace it either.”
I chuckled. “That’s the damn truth.” I dried my wet cheeks and sniffed. “All right, spill it. You have to tell me what’s going on.”
“Stanton was offered an amazing opportunity to model in France for a huge agency.”
My eyes widened, knowing this was a profound dream come true for Stanton. “Oh my God! How long have you known?”
“He’s been working with agents, the agency, and numerous others to secure a six-figure deal per shoot on this. They wanted him, and Stanton made them pay for it.” He grinned proudly.
“Well, with a body like that man has combined with his good looks,” I poked Theo in his chest, “you’re lucky he’d rather have you instead of me.”
He chuckled, and I nestled securely in his side.
“So, that’s why the house is up for sale, I’m guessing.” I paused, unprepared to say the next words. “You’re moving?”
“To Paris, my darling. The city of love and fashion.”
“And what will you do while your man is posing for all the camera peeps to drool over?”
A smile spread on his face. “I spoke with Alex about resigning my position, knowing Alex already had an amazing VP, and there was no need for a company with two VPs. Alex came back the next day with an offer I couldn’t refuse whether or not Stanton had gotten the job in Paris.”
“What?” I asked with a bashful smile, thinking that maybe Alex Grayson was starting to shed the devil horns, and a halo was about to replace them. “An offer? Was this before or after he found out that everyone we’ve ever known has been stealing from Stone?”
“It was after he and I discussed things, and I sat in on that snake, Ryan Miller, as he confessed.” He held a finger to my lips when I went to speak. “You weren’t going to learn about any of this until after you finalized Sphere, and I told you I was moving. The last thing Alex and his sexy-self needed was you blowing up like a volcano over nonsense.”
“I was in a bad place.”
“And it took you finally behaving like Alex’s partner for you to appreciate him and this merge?”
“Pretty much,” I said.
He shook his head and smiled. “Well, after I declined Alex’s offer in the Brooks Architectural Firm London office, Alex nearly grilled my ass and raked it over hot coals.” He smirked. “In a good way. He wanted to know all of my history with Stone, your dad, and you,” he gave me a playful wink, “and I gave him my credentials. So, now, it looks like I’ll be replacing the VP of Brooks Firm in London while they prep to merge the London offices with Stone down the road.”
“They’re merging us with Brooks in London?” I said with shock. “That’s quite the commute from Paris. How will you manage that?”
“Stanton and I have kicked it around, and it’ll be easiest if we live in Paris. I can spend a few days per week in London for work. It’ll be long hours and one hell of a commute, but we both adore Paris, and—”
“Won’t that put a strain on your relationship? Only seeing each other on the weekends?”
“The perk of having a top model as my boyfriend is that Stanton can travel to London and stay with me there if he only has a couple of days of shooting, and there are sister agencies he can book shoots for in London anyway. We’re both pretty flexible, not to mention there are plenty of things I can do remotely on a swing day here and there.”
“Alex understands that you’ll live in Paris and not London?”
“Alex wants Brooks and Stone to get their hands dirty in Paris too,” he said. “I’ll be heavily involved in opening doors for us to begin designing in France. It’s something Alex said that John Brooks was throwing around before he passed. Brooks lost their fire after that, and Alex saw something in me to help reignite those passions while he busies himself with you out here.”
“This has to be a dream come true for both of you.” I hugged him and held back my tears, feeling that this was worse than Theo leaving the company—he was moving out of the damn country. “I’m going to miss the hell out of you,” I said. “As Alex’s partner,” I playfully crossed my arms and smiled at his beaming expression, “I’m going to insist that I visit you to make sure you’re not, you know, embezzling company funds and things of that nature. It’s going to be imperative that I keep a close eye on you.”
“God, I will miss you and your adorable Jen Aniston style, girl,” he chuckled, referencing the celebrity he always compared me to.
“You better quit comparing me to her. What will the people of Paris and London think when I show up to visit, and I’m nothing like that lovable actress?”
“My darling, you’ve got nothing but lovable energy surrounding you. You get emotional if I swat a fly, and your heart is always overjoyed for other’s happiness as if it were your own.”
“You think you have me all figured out?”
“I’ve known you for twenty years now; you’re practically my sister. I know I have you figured out. Though I have to say, it’s nice to have you back. This bitchy-Bree business was hardly tolerable for the last month.”
“More like over-dramatic Bree,” I teased. “Gosh, so you’re really going to leave me, huh?”
He started humming Somewhere out There as if we were in the cartoon, An American Tail, with the two mice living under the same sky but still being worlds apart. The man always knew how to get an unexpected laugh out of me at the drop of a hat.
I continued to smile at Theo’s humming, and I determined that any crying I might do for the remarkable life change that awaited Theo and Stanton would be here and now. It would be reasonable tears of happiness and not me losing it again. Sure, I’d let the tears rip when I saw them both off at the airport, but I wasn’t going to allow this to deflate me.
It was time for all of us to turn a corner in the right direction, and I planned to do just that. Tomorrow night was Cass’s birthday, and we were going to spend it at the exclusive club, Tobias, where all the little socialites loved to come out to play.
Life moved forward, and I understood that well. It was time to move forward with open sails and welcomed breezes.
