He hadn’t said anything or even hinted at revisiting our amazing chemistry. That just meant I was going to list him in the category of good life experiences and move on. He was still willing to help me with my investments. That was the original intention of us interacting beyond him looking into the situation with Justin, so our night, and morning, together were just a bonus.
When I got into Nick’s office, I noticed a couple of changes. The decorations on the receptionist’s desk had had a refresh, and some new furniture had taken up residence in the waiting area of the lobby. The biggest change was the new face behind a simple desk in a tiny office halfway down the hallway. I hadn’t even realized that room was an office during my other visits. I’d assumed the closed door was a closet.
But there he was, a fresh-faced young man in a suit and grown-up version of a little boy’s first day of school haircut. He gave me a wide smile and waved as I walked by. I waved in return and made my way to Nick’s office.
The door was standing partially open. I stopped outside and drew in a breath, readying myself for seeing him again. With any luck, my clothes would stay on and I wouldn’t just crawl across the desk into his lap.
When I felt like I had enough control over myself, I knocked on the door and peered around through the gap. Nick looked up at me, and his eyes widened.
“Hey, Bryn,” he said, gesturing for me to come in. “Come on in.”
I opened the door, purposely leaving it several inches further open than it had been as another layer of insurance against my desire. “Hi. I hope you aren’t busy.”
“No,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “Not at all. What’s brings you by?”
I reached into my purse and pulled out the check I had already written him. Holding it out to him, I smiled. “There you go.”
“What’s this?” he asked.
“My seed money,” I said.
He took the check and looked at it, his expression impressed. “Really? That’s fantastic. From what you were saying, I thought it was going to take a lot longer for you to have it.”
“I thought it would, but a few of my best clients really came through for me. With the idea of investment in front of me, I was able to really focus and buckle down. And I did it,” I said.
“Yes, you did. Congratulations.”
“Thank you. So, now what? What comes next?” I asked.
He gestured to the chair across from him, and I sat down. “First, we sign some more papers. Just agreements that you are investing a set amount and what you are investing in. Some permission and release forms.” Nick took out a folder and opened it to reveal several forms. He slid it across the desk toward me. “Go ahead and go over these, and we’ll get everything underway.”
I read through the papers and signed them. When I was done, I gave a resolute sigh and slid the folder back toward him. “There we go. All official.”
“Perfect.” He looked up from the papers to me. “Want to stay for lunch?”
“I actually can’t. I have another appointment. But thank you.”
I stood up and he followed. There was a look on his face I couldn’t quite interpret. It looked like it might be something close to regret.
“Okay, well, I’ll update you on everything,” he said.
I nodded and left quickly before my resolve failed. I needed to get out of there and to the doctor’s office.
22
Nick
Darren flew over the finish line, the other bikes trailing behind him. The family and crew gathered at the pit by the side of the track shouted and jumped in celebration. We wanted to run right out to him, but we had to wait for the rest of the riders to finish up the race and the machines to get off the track. Now wasn’t the time for any of us to get crushed or to be the reason for a massive pileup on the track.
When we were finally able to get to him, we rushed out to the finish line and gathered Darren up in an excited celebration. The win was huge, the third in a streak that was pushing him even further ahead of the rest of the pack. He had already made a major name for himself in the industry and was just getting more popular with every race.
Merry’s tailgate parties before the races had become lovefests for Darren. Fans swarmed the space ahead of the race to buy merchandise, compare race stories, and hope for an appearance from their hero. It was strange and amazing to watch. To me, Darren was just my baby brother. The youngest, quietest, and most reserved of the brothers. But these people were in awe of him.
The funniest part was watching Kelly’s reaction to the women who threw themselves at Darren. There wasn’t a bit of jealousy in her. She knew he was totally wrapped up around her finger. He barely even noticed the other women, and when he did notice them, it was because they were asking for his autograph. They were so invested in trying to get his attention they didn’t even notice Kelly in her mechanic overalls.
And Kelly loved making fun of him for it. None of us would ever forget her sitting at the bar laughing until tears streamed down her face because a woman tried to slip him her hotel room key. Apparently, Darren thanked her for it and reassured her he didn’t need a hotel room because his house was only half an hour from the track. We made fun of him for a good long time for that one.
Now I watched as Kelly ran up to him and he scooped her up in his arms, spinning her around happily. He was careful setting her down on her feet and rested a gentle hand on the slight bump of her belly. The family had just gotten the news that another new baby was on the way. And I was pretty sure it wasn’t the only one. If I knew my best friend as well as I thought I did, I was all but positive there would be another announcement soon.
All in all, there was a lot of celebrating going on for my family. It was a good time in our lives. And to top it off, Cynthia was healing up better than ever and Peter, the junior investor we’d hired, was great. He fit in immediately, and we were all getting along well.
But there was something missing. Even with all the happiness and excitement all around me, I didn’t feel completely like a part of it.
Two months ago, I wouldn’t have felt like this. I would have been ecstatic for my brothers and enjoying the celebrations that came after the race wins. I would have thought everything was perfect. But that was before Bryn. Before she walked in and out of my office like she owned it and totally upended everything. I decided to try to be her knight in shining armor and fix everything for her.
That was a month ago. A full month since I told her I would help with her investments. I honestly wasn’t expecting her to be able to come up with the seed money as quickly as she did. She warned me at the beginning it might take her a while, which was why it was such a shock to have her show up at my office again, but this time with a check.
It probably would have been less of a surprise had she not pulled back from me the way she did. I didn’t know what happened. Things seemed to be going so well between us. Even if I put our spontaneous night together aside, it seemed like we were at least forging some type of friendship. But then she all but disappeared. All that was left were the occasional emails updating me on her progress.
It made me realize I must have been wrong about what was building between us. At least I had decided not to try to pursue anything with her. Her completely withdrawing from me proved it would have been awkward for both of us had I tried to make anything more out of what happened between us. At least this way, we still had our professional relationship. And that had to be enough.
Maybe if I said it to myself a few dozen more times, I would believe it. But as it was, I had taken her money, congratulated her on getting together the seed money she’d been working toward, and watched her walk away. That was three days ago. Since then I hadn’t been able to even look at her file. It was like I was stopping myself because as soon as I opened it up and started her investments, it would be that I had resigned myself to there never being anything else between us.
Which was maybe exactly what I needed to do.
So, t
he next morning, I went into the office with a new resolve. Accepting it was just business with me and Bryn, I sat down and pulled up all the information about her. I got to work, shoving away any feelings or thoughts about her, because, really, that was what I was good at.
In the end, she came to me for advice. She didn’t even think she was going to get any investment assistance out of it, definitely not without condition. She came here because of something awful that happened to her and wanting to do something about it. It was purely a business from her perspective, and that’s how it was going to stay.
The spark of attraction and chemistry between us was something that just happened. It didn’t need to define the rest of our interactions with each other. I would do what I was meant to do, which was handle her Investment portfolio for her. I would work hard, and if there was a pang in my heart when I saw her name… well, I just didn’t have time to worry about that.
I pushed myself so deep into working on Bryn’s investments, I didn’t even realize how much time had passed. By the time I looked up, I had already missed lunch. Putting everything aside, I headed for the kitchen to assuage my growling stomach. When I got there, I found Peter standing at the refrigerator, staring into it.
I watched him for a few seconds, and he didn’t move. He just kept staring like he thought something he wanted to eat would spontaneously appear.
“Worked through regular lunchtime, too?” I finally asked, walking the rest of the way into the kitchen.
The younger man startled slightly and looked over at me. It took him a second to process what I’d asked him, but then he nodded. “Yeah. This one client kept me on the phone for three hours. I tried to convince him to just come into the office to meet with me because it would be easier for both of us, but he wouldn’t do it. Said he was too busy and needed to maximize his time.”
I chuckled. “You’ll get a lot of that.”
“But I’m pretty sure I heard bowling in the background,” he said.
“That’s better than when you can hear them golfing. Keeps things interesting,” I said.
He looked back into the refrigerator. “I wish I had enough money that I could think of going golfing as being too busy to meet with an investor.”
I didn’t want to break his heart by telling him I had the money his clients did and had never in my adult life been golfing. Something told me he wouldn’t count the kind with the brightly colored balls and animals on the holes.
He let out a sigh as he took out a container of takeout and closed the refrigerator door.
“You know, if we were at my family’s compound, this whole place would be full of food,” I said.
He looked at me quizzically. “Compound? Are you part of a cult? I’m sorry. Is that offensive? Are you part of a cooperative community based on shared principles and sheer terror of the outside world?”
I laughed at the earnest expression on his face. “Not that kind of compound. We don’t live there. It’s where the family business is run. We own Freeman Racing.”
“I didn’t realize you were from that Freeman family,” he said. “I figured the whole family was involved in that.”
“Yep. That’s me. The black sheep of the Freemans,” I said with a laugh. “My three brothers stayed to work with the company, but I wanted to do something else.”
“Your family owns a motorcycle racing company and you left for the high-thrills world of investing? Yeah, I can totally see that,” Peter said.
“I’ve heard that a lot. But that was what I wanted. And I’m happy with it. I like that I have my own career, my own business. And I’m still involved with the family company. I help with the races and whatever else they need me for,” I said.
“It didn’t upset your parents that you didn’t want to stay?” he asked.
“No,” I said, pulling my own food out of the refrigerator and bringing it to the microwave to warm up. “They wanted me to go my own way if that’s what made me happy.”
“Sounds like you’re close,” Peter said.
I nodded. “We are. All of us. We still get together at least once a week for dinner. It used to be just the six of us, but my brothers have families now.”
“All of them?”
“Yes. Quentin and his wife, Merry, have a baby girl. Darren and his wife, Kelly, have a little girl and are expecting their second baby. Vince is actually with my best friend, Lindsey. They’re raising her son, and I’m pretty sure they’re having a baby of their own soon. I’m the only one left,” I said.
“And I’m sure you don’t ever hear a word about that,” he said.
“Of course not,” I said with a laugh. “My parents are totally fine with that. Actually, I think my father probably is. He doesn’t really push about things like that. He always says he just wants us to be happy. Which, now that I think about it, is probably his way of telling me I need to find a woman.”
“Which one of them cooks?” Peter asked.
I gave him a questioning look as I brought my hot food to sit down at the table with him “What?”
“You said that the whole kitchen would be full of food if we were at the compound.”
“Oh. Right. My mother. She bakes, mostly. When she’s stressed or thinking about something, she does it more. So, you can imagine with all the weddings and babies and everything, she’s been making a lot recently. Sometimes she brings things by here. I’m sure you’ll get a chance to eat some soon,” I said.
“It must be great having a big family like that.”
He sounded almost sad, and I noticed him poking at the salad in front of him with his fork.
“What about you? What’s your family like?” I asked,
Peter shook his head. “Nothing much to tell. I’m an only child. My mother died when I was just a kid, and now Dad lives all the way across the country. So, it’s pretty much just me.”
“No, it’s not,” I said. “You’ve got all of us. And you’re coming to the bar tonight to meet everybody. We usually celebrate a race win the night of the race, but Lindsey rented out the bar last night for a private event, so we’re doing it tonight.”
Peter’s eyes lit up, and he nodded. “That sounds great.”
That night I met Peter outside the bar. Throwing my arm around his shoulders, I brought him inside and up to the bar. We hopped up onto the stools, and Lindsey turned around with a grin.
“Hey, Nick,” she said. “You’re the first to get here. Vince just called and said everybody is on the way.” She eyed Peter. “Who do we have here?”
“This is Peter. Peter, this is Lindsey, my best friend,” I said. “Lindsey, we’d like a pitcher of the IPA please.”
“Sure thing.”
She turned around and filled a pitcher, then put a beer mug in front of each of us. I poured the beer into each mug and handed one to Peter. Just then, the door opened, and Vince, Quentin, and Darren poured in. Merry and Kelly came in after, followed by Darren’s best friend, Colby, helping Greg, the team’s other rider. He was still recovering from a horrific accident during a race, but he was doing much better, and it was great to see him out and about again.
“Hey,” Vince said, coming up to the bar and pounding me on the back. He leaned across the bar toward Lindsey. “Hey, babe.”
They kissed, and everybody rolled their eyes but laughed.
“Good timing, guys,” I said, holding up my mug of beer. “Everybody, this is Peter. He’s new at the office, and tonight, I am making him an honorary Freeman brother.”
Peter’s eyes widened and his mouth opened, but no sound came out. My brothers cheered and welcomed him, while Colby and Greg, two men who had been given the same honor, patted Peter on the back and introduced themselves. That night, I took Peter under my wing, determined he was never going to feel alone again.
23
Bryn
For all the extra work I was able to pack into last month, it looked like this month was going to be a close call to whether I got my usual workload finished.
At least, if the last few days were any indication of my productivity. I had gotten next to nothing done. My computer sat on my table, waiting for my next brief bursts of actually doing something.
There was very little chance of that happening anytime soon. I hadn’t touched it in more than an hour. Like I had been the last three days, I was curled up in the armchair next to the window, clutching the papers I had read probably a thousand times by that point. I memorized every single word on those papers, but I couldn’t stop myself from going over them again and again.
Maybe I’d missed something. Maybe if I just read it one more time, I would find where it had somebody else’s name. I would find that it was a mistake and they had given me the wrong paperwork.
Of course, that wouldn’t make any sense. It wasn’t the paperwork that broke the news. It was my doctor who stood beside the examination table and gave me the diagnosis. That afternoon after seeing Nick, I went straight to my doctor’s appointment and told her I was still experiencing the same types of stomach ailments and fatigue I was when I came in the month before.
I told her about my call with Sandy, the after-hours nurse, and assured her I was doing my best to find as many ways as I could to reduce my stress. I didn’t elaborate. At that moment, I didn’t figure she needed to hear the gory details about how the situation was unfolding with Justin, or about my intense feelings for Nick. Especially after we spent the night together.
My night with Nick. Maybe that was a detail I should have shared with the doctor earlier in the appointment. It would have saved me a whole lot of conversation and the lab a bunch of different tests. The doctor could have just gone straight for the pregnancy test and it would be over with.
The Freeman Brothers: A Secret Baby Romance Collection Page 75
