Groaning, she dropped her forehead into her palm. “I apologized for that.”
“And for saying you liked me, I heard. Thing is—” he pulled her hand away from her face “—I don’t believe you were overcome with grief. I believe you were pissed off that I said I wanted nothing to do with you personally, physically. Sexually.”
He paired the word “sexually” with the arch of one eyebrow and she had the irrational urge to dive under the tablecloth.
“At the time, I was trying to reassure you since I overheard you and Taylor talking at work. You said I was ‘nice’ which is the equivalent of you finding me as attractive as the calamari over at that table.”
“Nice isn’t an insult.” But she had lied when she said she wasn’t interested in him romantically. “I don’t think you’re calamari.”
He ignored her awkward compliment. “We’re in neutral territory here, Ad. This isn’t work. I’m not your boss. Not here.”
She swallowed thickly, her nerves jangling... It’d be so easy to say yes.
“We have the weekend. Why not?”
She blinked at him, pretty sure she was having that out-of-body experience she’d wished for a moment ago.
We have the weekend.
His wasn’t an offer to explore their friendship and beyond, it was an offer for sex. At least she was pretty sure it was. And wasn’t that what she wanted? Sort of. She wanted him, yes—she’d just wanted...more than his man parts.
Still, how could she turn down the offer for those?
She was so confused. And overheated. She shouldn’t consider what he was offering—what he was sort of offering—but her brain was too busy throwing a party to hear her over the noise. “We, uh, work together.”
There. That was logical.
“We work together well.”
“Wouldn’t this...” God. She couldn’t say it. “This weekend change that?”
“It wouldn’t have to.” He watched her with a steady gaze, fork in hand.
She shakily reached for her wineglass. Sleeping with Brannon Knox would change everything for her. But not for him. He was suggesting they sleep together out of convenience, but she wanted something deeper than convenience.
“I’m not the kind of woman who texts pictures of my cleavage,” she said, setting her glass aside.
He frowned.
“You can’t swap me for her like we’re interchangeable.”
“I know.” His head jerked on his neck like she’d genuinely surprised him.
“You shouldn’t go to Joe’s wake. You weren’t invited, and you being there will make things awkward.” She stood abruptly, drawing attention from the surrounding tables on the balcony. “Thank you for dinner.”
She dropped her napkin onto her plate, grabbed her clutch and weaved her way through the crowded restaurant. She didn’t look back.
“Way to go, Addison,” she mumbled to herself as she punched the button on the elevator. She’d wanted Bran more than anything, and then when he offered himself to her, she turned him down?
Sanctimonious, Joe’s voice announced in the back of her head.
“Shut up,” she whispered as the doors to the elevator opened. The older couple inside gasped. “Not you,” she reassured them as she stepped inside.
She could swear she heard Joe laugh.
Nine
She didn’t spot Bran the next morning when she ventured out of her hotel room for breakfast. Nor did she run into him at the pool in the afternoon. There was no sign of his shiny red sports car from her window, but then again she only had a partial view of the parking area.
Evidently he’d changed his mind about staying the weekend, which ushered in feelings of relief and regret simultaneously. She knew turning him down was the right thing to do, but her hormones didn’t.
She’d lain awake last night and thought of how she could have handled their conversation better. She could have talked to him about it—logically. She could have discussed parameters. She could have politely said she wasn’t interested and then finished her dinner. Instead she’d overreacted, stood and stormed out.
God, she might have lost her job...
Not that Bran would fire her for turning down a weekend tryst. He’d never technically mentioned sex. He’d told her he wasn’t her boss here. Which meant whatever happened between them happened outside of her contract at work.
Yes, definitely she could have handled last night better.
She chose the understated knee-length black cocktail dress for the somber gathering tonight. Joe wouldn’t like it, but then again, he wasn’t here. So there.
She blinked back tears, wishing he was here. He’d know what to say to her about this mess with Bran. Hell, he’d said it last Christmas when she’d shared in passing that she had a crush on her hot boss.
Go get ’im, Addi. Life is short.
Remembering those words made her suspect that she really had screwed up last night.
The wake was held in the Violet Ballroom. After passing the Clover Room and the Poppy Room, she’d figured out the ballrooms were named for flowers and not for colors. The decor in the Violet Ballroom wasn’t purple but an understated and masculine navy and gold. A wide chandelier cast warm lighting over patterned carpet and the well-dressed crowd, mostly in black attire, milled around with drinks in hand admiring the photographs dotted throughout.
Joe’s handsome, smiling face, surrounded by a gilded frame, welcomed visitors at the front. A table with candles and memorabilia and more photos stood at the back.
She’d arrived a few minutes before they were scheduled to start and the room was already packed. Some people she recognized as Joe’s friends or family, others she’d never met.
His parents emerged from a small group and spotted her. The last time she’d seen Elsa and Randy Hart Addi had been packing up her desk at Hart Media. Since then, her parents had shared that the Harts didn’t think much of her leaving them in a lurch.
“Beautiful Addison.” Elsa Hart extended her arms and pulled Addi into a brief hug. Addi embraced Joe’s mother, taken aback by the affection. “It’s been too long.”
“Yes. Yes, it has.”
“Addi, Addi. Oh, we’ve missed you.” Randy kissed her lightly on the cheek.
“I’m so sorry about Joe. I was honored to be included on the guest list.”
“As if there was any doubt. You meant the world to him.” Elsa’s smile was warm. “He had it all planned, paid for and arranged.” She blinked away fresh tears.
Randy wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist in support.
“Are your parents coming?” Elsa’s voice went flat, clearly hinting there was some love lost between them.
“No. Not yet.”
“Well, do send them our way. It’s been too long since we’ve spoken. And help yourself to a cocktail,” Elsa added, cheerier than before.
“I’m told the emcee will be making some sort of announcement soon.” Randy grunted. “After all that boy put us through, he’s springing a surprise emcee on us, too?” He winked to show he was joking, his own eyes misting over. They all missed Joe so much.
Addi moved to the back of the room and meandered along the table stacked with trophies, ribbons and report cards Joe’s parents had displayed. She smiled back at another large photo of Joe. His cheeks were healthy and full instead of skeletal like they’d been when she’d seen him last. Next to the framed photo was a memory board filled with photos from his life.
She traced her fingertip over the photos of her and Joe—one of him kissing her cheek, eyes closed while she grinned at the camera. That was Joe’s twenty-first birthday. And another from a few years later, of them dancing at his parents’ wedding anniversary party. The photo showed a scene more intimate than she remembered. Addi’s eyes were focused across the room, but Joe’s gaze was unmistakably pinned to her.
<
br /> She’d never seen this photo before, and now that she was older and wiser, she saw something there she’d never seen before. Longing.
Joe was looking at her the way she looked at Bran. She watched Bran with a similar want. Meanwhile Bran lived his life in ignorant bliss.
Heart thudding, she turned away from the photo to catch her breath. It couldn’t be true...could it?
She replayed her conversations, emails and text messages with Joe over the years. She recalled the final time she’d seen him. She’d sat with him on the couch at his parents’ home. He was weak, but refused to let her see him lying down in his hospital bed.
“Promise me something,” he’d told her, taking her hand in his colder one.
“Anything.”
He glanced at their intertwined fingers before locking gazes with her. “Live a beautiful life, Addison. Not an acceptable life. Not an okay life. A beautiful life. One where you have the desires of your heart and leave none of them behind—including that boss of yours you’re in love with.”
A sad smile crossed her lips.
“Go get ’im, Addi. Life is short.”
She’d been more concerned about keeping her tears inside than she’d been about reading between the lines of his speech. Had he left his desires behind? Had he wanted her but never told her?
“Oh, Joe,” she whispered to herself.
She lifted a glass of bubbly from a passing tray and took a fizzy gulp, remembering how she and Joe had laughed any time his parents or hers had insinuated they should be together. Joe hadn’t taken them seriously. Or so she’d thought.
Tears balanced on the edges of her lashes, she started at a voice behind her. Joe’s brother, Armie, stood next to Joe’s framed photo, speaking into a microphone.
“Good evening, everyone.” Tall, with thick, dark hair, Armie looked like his younger brother. He waved an envelope in the air. “The outside of this envelope literally reads, ‘Do not open until my party or else I’ll cut you out of the will.’”
The crowd laughed softly. Addi couldn’t find her laugh yet, even though she did send an eye roll to the heavens.
I saw that, Joe seemed to say. Funny, he’d been stone silent on the revelation she’d had a moment ago.
“I’m the mystery emcee, by the way. Another of Joe’s surprises.” Armie’s eyebrows jumped. “Let’s start, shall we?” He read from the paper in his hand, “To my beloved parents...”
Yes, Joe had plenty of surprises in store for this evening, she thought as she finished her glass of champagne.
* * *
Bran had already been to the Violet Ballroom. He’d introduced himself to Joe Hart’s parents. When they’d asked how he knew Joe, he told them the truth. He didn’t. He told them he was here in support of Addison, but hadn’t seen her yet today.
He then visited the table of memorabilia and perused the photographs on a board. Addi was younger in the photos and still drop-dead gorgeous. There was litheness to her frame, as if her womanly curves had come later. She was polished and regal, like she was now, but her smile was brighter and wider in those photos than it had been lately.
In the one of her and Joe dancing at what appeared to be a formal event, Bran didn’t miss the way Joe was looking at Addi. Like he wanted her to be way more than a friend.
Poor guy.
Bran had never longed for a woman he couldn’t have—that he wouldn’t allow himself to have—until recently. Addi had captured his attention. If not the same way as Joe’s, damned close. She’d left last night asking him not to come tonight, but when he finished up his dinner and paid the check, he decided he wasn’t going anywhere.
She was used to doing things by herself, but maybe she shouldn’t be. And at a venue like this one, definitely she shouldn’t be alone. Sometimes being strong meant leaning on someone you could trust.
He was a man she could trust.
Back at the entrance of the ballroom, he paused to let a couple walk in ahead of him.
The crowd was facing front, where a man on the stage read from a sheet of paper. “To my brother, Armie,” he started, his voice wobbling. Joe’s message to his brother was funny and heartfelt, and by the time the emcee sniffed and made a joke, it was obvious that he was Armie.
Bran sidled along the edge of the group before spotting Addi. She stood, hands gripping a forgotten champagne flute, her face twisted with sadness.
“The last message I have from Joe reads as follows,” Armie said into the microphone, “Addi, you’re the one woman I loved for as long as I can remember.” Armie’s eyebrows raised in surprise as he scanned the crowd. “We, um, we never made it down the aisle, but you have my undying devotion. Even though I’m dead. Go, beautiful girl, and grab ahold of that incredible life we talked about. Go get him, honey.”
Addison’s expression could only be described as shell-shocked. Every eye in the room swiveled to her. She blinked a few times in quick succession, her fair skin turning an impressive shade of rose. Bran could practically see the question marks over Joe’s parents’ heads.
Bran wasn’t surprised even a little.
She turned to slip from the crowd and he moved to intercept her, but an older couple blocked her escape before he could reach her.
“That’s quite the announcement,” came the man’s stern tone.
“Hi, Daddy.” Addi’s shoulders curled in and Bran frowned. He’d never seen her withdrawn before.
The band in the corner started up the music again as the crowd dispersed and mingled. Bran hung back, close enough to overhear Addi and her parents, though she hadn’t spotted him yet.
“Joe was in love with you? How could you walk away from him knowing that?” asked an older blonde woman.
“I didn’t know, Mother.” Addi’s tone was less subservient, more impatient. “Joe and I were friends. I had no idea he felt that way about me.”
“And who is this ‘man’ you’re supposed to fetch?” Her father’s bushy eyebrows were so low they obscured his eyes. “He’d better make a good living. God knows you don’t.”
“Is this mystery man the reason you quit working for Hart Media?” her mother squawked, hand to her chest. “Think of the life you could have had if you’d stayed! An amazing career. A marriage to Joe.”
“And after all we did for you, placing you in that company. You could have been a millionaire by now! Never listens,” her father grumbled to her mother.
Addi’s chin began to tremble. Bran had seen enough. He walked up and slipped a hand around her waist. “Sorry I’m late.”
Three sets of eyes were on him and he wasn’t sure who looked more surprised—Addi or her parents.
“Hi, I’m—”
“Brannon Knox,” Addi’s mother breathed, stars in her eyes.
“Yes, actually.”
“My boss,” Addi interjected.
“And her date.” Neither of her parents offered their hands, which was fine with him. He suddenly wanted nothing to do with them.
Addi’s face flooded with alarm and gratitude simultaneously. She looked like she wanted to slap him and then hug him.
Or kiss me.
Sounded good to him.
“Missed you,” he said and then he bent and pressed his lips to hers.
Ten
The entire building had burst into flames.
At least that was what it felt like the moment Addi finally, finally sampled Brannon’s delicious mouth.
The kiss couldn’t have lasted longer than a count of three. He hadn’t ravished her while onlookers gasped. It was a simple kiss hello, but for her, there was nothing simple about it. For her, it was a slo-mo climax in a sweeping romance. Her senses were filled with the warmth of his mouth, the enticing scent of his soap and the low hum in his throat as he ended the kiss with a soft “mmm.”
Hand on her back, he ste
adied her where she stood and she schooled her expression.
He pulled her flush against his body and having nowhere else to put her hand, she rested it over his taut abs. Just for a second, then she decided it was more appropriate to dangle her hand at her side. God. He smelled amazing.
“Glad to hear we have Joe’s blessing,” Bran said. “He was very special to her.”
“The love of his life,” her mother said. She smiled at Addi’s suitor, appearing less disappointed that she’d failed to splice the Hart and Abrams family trees than before.
Addi’s family didn’t come from money, but they had it. They partnered with the right people, kept their wealthy alliances strong. Addi had heard so many behind-the-scenes conversations about how to “align” with wealthy people that she’d sworn never to use someone for her own financial gain.
Perhaps she’d course corrected too much.
Her job at Hart Media was fine, it was. But it was also not her calling. She wanted to work her way up, not be handed a position because of her status.
Her parents encouraged her to exploit their connections, to “get rich quick” rather than slow. Addi, frankly, didn’t gave a damn if she was rich or not. She only wanted to be loved. Love in her family came at a steep price.
“ThomKnox is a very prestigious company,” her father said to Bran, cheeks turned up into a plastic grin.
“Addi is exceptional, is she not?” her mother chirped.
“She is.” Bran gave her a squeeze. She liked his arm around her way too much. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
“And now you’re together,” her mom cooed, “which I’m sure will mean advancement in the near future.”
“Well...”
Before Bran wasted his time being polite, Addi spoke. This was one relationship she wouldn’t allow her parents to exploit. “I’m executive assistant for the president of ThomKnox. That’s pretty advanced.”
“She’s more than that.” Bran squeezed her waist again, his eyes warm on her. Not only had he not gone home, he didn’t seem the least bit upset over her leaving him to eat dinner alone.
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