by Lexy Timms
“Deal,” Jamie said, and then they were both done with words, the only sounds between them the sounds of their bodies moving together, the sounds of the pleasure they gave each other and took from one another.
This was what Jamie had been missing. More, even, than the physical aspect, although she had missed that, too. But this closeness. Alex all around her and inside her, as near as another person could ever be. And she knew that he’d missed it, too.
She wasn’t going to let fights drag out like this again. It was terrible for both of them. Sex always seemed to fix things between them.
But she wasn’t going to think about that anymore. She was going to think about Alex, his hands on her skin and his breath warm against the curve of her neck, his body under her own. She shuddered with the pleasure of those things, and felt it building to a slow peak. It was softer this time, slower and gentler, and when she came it was like light washing through her, chasing out any lingering bad feelings. She felt Alex follow her over the edge, his hands squeezing tight for just an instant before he relaxed and they both sank back to the bed.
Lying on his chest, Jamie lifted her head and brushed the tousled hair back from Alex’s forehead.
“I love you,” she said, leaning down to press her lips to his jaw. His cheek. His mouth. “I love you so much, Alex.”
One of his hands lifted to curl gently around the back of her neck, and Alex kissed her again, lazy and exploring. “I love you, too,” he said when he pulled back. “More than anything, Jamie. I swear.”
This time she believed him. Whatever else might come, they had each other again, and the rest of the world couldn’t touch that. Content in the afterglow, they curled up together under the blankets and slept.
***
When the phone rang, Jamie was making dinner. The twins were sitting in their high chairs, scribbling on paper in an attempt at coloring. Jamie reached for the ringing phone, turning it over with one hand to check the caller ID while she stirred reheating pasta sauce with the other. When she saw the name, she picked it up and swiped across the screen to answer.
“Mark,” she said. “Hey.”
“Hey, Jamie,” Mark's voice said on the other end of the line. He sounded subdued. “Sorry to call you right around dinner time, but this is the first minute I've been able to get away today. Things are always crazy over here.”
Jamie thought he sounded like he was tired, too. Like the constant work of the business was maybe too much for him. She didn't say that. He probably didn't want to hear it. “That's okay. I'm still making dinner, and Alex won't be in to eat for a little bit yet.”
He was down in the gym, working out some of his frustrations on the exercise equipment.
“That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about,” Mark said. “Alex. I don't know how much you've heard but we had a fight, and he's basically decided to disown me.”
Jamie's hand tightened around the spoon she was holding. “I know that you fought. He came home in a terrible mood that night, and Christine said something about it when I was out with her recently. But I didn't know that.”
“Well, I understand why he did it, I guess. But it's not—” Mark cut himself off with a sigh. “I don't want to lose what we've been building together, Jamie. I didn't let Nicholas play golf here to hurt Alex. I just didn't think letting some rich guy none of us like spend his money on my business was going to do anyone any harm. I guess that I didn't think it through.”
Jamie took a moment to consider her next words, eyes on the pot of pasta sauce. “I think,” she said carefully, “that maybe for some people it wouldn't have been. But Alex hates Nicholas after everything that happened, and your relationship with him is still fairly new, no matter how strong it's grown in that time. The combination of those things means that he didn't feel as secure with you, and seeing you entertaining someone who has tried to undermine him every step of the way kind of hurt him, Mark.”
“I know,” Mark said. “I know it did. Fuck. That wasn't what I meant to do.”
She thought he sounded like he was pacing, breathing a little too fast.
“But, listen, Jamie. I've got a plan, okay? One that will help Alex. And once he sees what it is I'm sure that he'll listen to me again. In the meantime, could you at least talk to him? Tell him that I'm really not trying to betray him? That I care about him?”
“Of course I'll talk to him, Mark. I don't like this separation.” Jamie paused, lifting the spoon to her lips to blow on it carefully so that she could taste the sauce. Just about done. “What is this plan you're talking about?”
“I can't tell you,” Mark answered. “I know that seems kind of silly, but trust me. You'll know when you know.”
It wasn't so much silly as worrying, but Jamie didn't push the issue. Both of the Reids could be rock- stubborn when you pressed them, and she didn't really want to spend half an hour trying to break through Mark's defenses.
“I'll talk to Alex,” she said, because that was really the only thing to say.
“Thank you,” Mark said. “Really, Jamie. Thank you for everything. We wouldn't have a relationship at all if it weren't for you.”
“Just... be careful, okay, Mark? Because I don't want you to get hurt.”
“I'm not going to get hurt, Jamie. I promise. Things are just going to get better. For all of us.”
The call ended. Jamie set her phone down and stood looking at it for a moment, eyebrows drawn together. Whatever Mark was planning, she wasn't sure that it was actually safe, and she was a little worried. She turned off the heat under the pasta sauce, and then started serving pasta up out of the other pot on the stove, filling up a bowl each for her and Alex, and then two little ones for the twins, setting them where they could cool before she gave them to Benton and Lilli.
When that was done, she picked up her phone again and shot off a quick text to Christine, asking her to keep a bit of an eye on Mark. At least that way she would know if he did anything obviously stupid.
Alex appeared in the kitchen doorway, hair still tousled from towel-drying it after his shower, dressed in a T-shirt and an old pair of jeans. Jamie resisted the urge to lick her lips as she looked him over, but he must have seen her desire on her face because when he smiled it was wicked. Later, she promised herself. Later they would have all the time in the world.
She set the bowls out on the table, and she and Alex took their places on either side of the twins.
“Workout go well?” she asked.
“Went great, actually,” Alex answered as he ladled sauce over his pasta. “I forgot how good it could feel to get physical like that. Things have just been too busy lately to let me.”
“Well,” Jamie said, smiling sweetly at him across the table. “We'll just have to make sure that you have a chance to get physical more often.”
Alex laughed, and Jamie took the ladle for the pasta sauce, spooning some over her own dish, and grinned at her husband. The twins giggled because their daddy was laughing, and all was right with the world.
Chapter 13
The more Mark had thought about it, the more he’d felt like maybe Erica had a point after all. Nicholas may not have been breaking any laws, but he knew what he was doing was wrong. If he was going to try to ruin someone’s life, Mark wasn’t going to shy away from making sure that he could stop Nicholas’ machinations.
Even so, he bought the recording devices with cash. He wasn’t an idiot. A dummy maybe, but definitely not an idiot.
Since the argument, Erica had been kind of avoiding him. But after he went out and picked up the bugs, Mark told her that she had been right. The law didn’t mean as much as his brother did. Helping Alex was more important. And he’d held her, and told her that she was important, too. Since the club had gotten popular their relationship had been suffering, the threads of it fraying the same way that he was worried that Jamie and Alex’s were. He wished he had had talked to Alex about that, made sure that everything was okay, but he hadn’t exactly had
the opportunity, and he wasn’t going to have one again until he did something that got his brother’s attention.
When he’d spoken to Jamie, she had promised that she would talk to Alex, but he didn’t hold out much hope for the results of that. He of all people knew exactly how stubborn his brother could be. Which meant that he had to get something good on Nicholas.
The recordings were mostly a lot of meaningless chatter between different guests. Mark didn't listen to more than a few minutes of any of them that didn't contain Nicholas. He wasn't going to violate anyone else's privacy if he could help it. But he didn't really know what he was looking for with Nicholas either, and that was the problem.
During the day, he still took care of the country club. The work load hadn't gotten any lighter. If anything, it had increased. But he'd started interviewing new staff, including a manager who could deal with a lot of the everyday emergencies that were starting to run him ragged.
It had actually been Erica's idea. She seemed to have a lot of them lately. Not that Mark minded. He was using all the help he could get.
At night, Mark sat up too late and went through the recordings they had. Over the last week, Nicholas had only been in three, and all of them had been completely useless. He didn't talk about Alex or Reid Enterprises. He didn't even really talk about business, and Mark started to wonder if he used the business meetings angle as an excuse. Maybe he just wanted to come out here to golf and get away from the things he was supposed to be doing for his business. Mark had the same urge sometimes. Although not to golf. Golfing wouldn't really take him far away from his responsibilities.
He was starting to give up hope on getting anything at all when, about two weeks after he'd installed the mics, he picked up a conversation and heard his brother's name. He hit rewind.
“So,” Nicholas was saying when he started playing the recording again, and Mark turned the volume up just a little. “Alex Reid is determined not to let me get my hands on his company. Which is undoubtedly admirable. He's bought enough stock in his own company that no matter who I buy out I'm not going to have a majority.” He laughed and the sound of a ball being hit echoed in the recording. “That doesn't mean that I won't be able to influence his board of directors. At least sway them in the direction that I want them to go.”
“And what direction is that?” an unknown voice asked.
“I think that’ll become clear once it's happened,” Nicholas answered.
That was it. There wasn't anything else, and Mark closed the laptop a little too hard, standing up and stalking away from it. So Nicholas was obviously planning something. Erica had been right about that, and about how to catch him. The question was, what was he planning?
The answer to that question came a sooner than he'd expected.
***
Three days after finding the conversation that finally had some proof that Nicholas was up to something, Mark walked out onto the golf course to find the dark-haired man there with a small group of people. He didn't immediately recognize all of them, but he recognized enough. They were members of Alex's board of directors. Maybe not the whole board, but enough to make a big difference in any vote or question that was put to them. And whatever they were here for, Alex would have to deal with the consequences unless Mark could stop it before it started.
“Hello,” Mark said, making his way over to them. “How are you all doing today? Anything I can get you?”
“No,” Nicholas said, “we don't require anything, but thanks for the offer. We're just here to take advantage of your golf course, as usual.”
And to take advantage of my brother. Mark didn't let that thought show on his face. Instead, he smiled. Very professional. Very polite. “I'm glad to hear that. It's always good to see one of our best golfers back.”
“You run the kind of club that keeps people returning, Mark,” Nicholas said, and Mark curled his hands into fists at his sides. He hated the way the man said his name. There was just something off about it. Something that seemed to imply that Mark was somehow lesser than he was.
“We try.” Mark smiled again. “Let me or a member of the staff know if there's anything that we can do for you at any point. Good luck with your game.”
“Of course,” Nicholas answered. “Have a good one, Mark.”
Mark turned and walked away. He hadn't greeted any of the men and women with Nicholas, but he knew that some of them had met him before, and even the ones who hadn't would know who he was. He hoped that his presence had given them all a twinge of guilt that would stop Nicholas from swaying them over to his side on whatever thing he was manipulating them over.
Instead of going back to deal with the guests and the restaurant and whatever else needed to be dealt with, Mark went to the front desk and asked Christine to please hold calls for him for a short while. She frowned at him, her expression a little suspicious.
“Everything okay, Mark?”
“Sure,” Mark answered. “It's just fine. Just need a little bit to get something done in privacy, and phone calls would distract me from what I'm working on.”
She didn't look like she bought it, but she still nodded. “Okay, then. I'll hold the calls for you.”
“Good,” Mark said. “Thanks. I'll call down when I'm ready to have them start again.”
“I'll be here.”
Mark turned and walked away from the desk, heading back into the kitchen and from there up to his rooms. They were empty this time of day; Erica was still out teaching. He walked over to his laptop, and opened it, turning on the program that ran with the bugs. Usually he listened to past conversations, but today he was going to listen to the one Nicholas and the board of directors were currently having. If any of the information was time- sensitive, he would have it in time.
“So you see, gentlemen,” Nicholas was saying when the sound flicked on, “and ladies, there are many factors to consider in the running of a business, as I'm sure you already know. And one of those factors is whether the person at the top is right for the job.”
Mark’s fingers curled around the edge of the chair he was sitting in, squeezing hard. Did Nicholas really think that he was going to talk Alex’s board into running him out of his job? Could they even do that?
“And you’re saying that the person currently running Reid Enterprises isn’t right for the job?” a man’s voice asked.
“Not at all,” Nicholas answered. “I wouldn’t presume to tell you what to think. All I’m saying is that you maybe need to give it a little more consideration.”
“Mr. Reid built the company from literally nothing,” one of the two women in the group said. “He’s been running it for years and it’s only ever gotten more profitable. What reasons could we possibly have to take issue with the way that he’s running his business?”
Mark heard Nicholas sigh.
“Clearly,” he said, with an air of long-suffering, “I'm not explaining this well.”
No, Mark thought that he was explaining it perfectly. He just didn't want the people he was trying to manipulate to know exactly what he wanted.
“As you know, Mr. Reid's life circumstances, and therefore his priorities, have changed drastically in the past few years. And even more so since his children were born. Before now—” There was the sound of a club cracking against a ball, “he was totally devoted to Reid Enterprises. Fully prepared to work himself to death, I think, to keep his business going.”
“And now he's not?”
“And now he has a wife and two babies to think about. And when he's spending all of his time at work he's not spending time with them, which I'm sure is distressing for his wife. Jamie wants him home.”
There was a moment of silence, and Mark wished that he could see what was happening, but installing cameras had been out of the question.
“I happen to know,” Nicholas went on, “that they've been fighting recently, and that the last fight was pretty nasty.”
How the fuck could he know that?”
“He fought with his brother, too. Everyone at the country club knows that. They don't know what exactly about, but they know that he stormed out and hasn't come back since. Mark and I have a great understanding. He knows how his brother is. He agrees with me.”
Mark took a breath and let it out slowly. Of course Nicholas was going to say shit like that. Of course he was.
“So what I'm merely suggesting is that Mr. Reid has to be torn between his business and his family. And eventually he's going to have to make a decision. If he chooses his business, he could lose his wife. If he chooses his family, then he's not going to be bringing in the kinds of results that you are all used to. Either way, someone loses out.” Another pause. “It's not that I think he's doing anything wrong. Anyone in his position would be struggling. It's that I don't think it's fair to him to have all of the pressure of the company on his shoulders when he also has a family to raise.”
Oh, right. That was exactly what Nicholas thought. Slimy bastard.
“So what you're saying,” a voice Mark vaguely recognized said, “is that Mr. Reid has too much on his shoulders.”
“Exactly.”
There was another clack of club against ball, and then Mark heard their footsteps. They were moving down toward the green.
“And what do you propose to do about that?” a woman asked.
“I'm proposing that we take a little bit of the weight off Mr. Reid. He needs to be free to spend more time with his family, without being worried that his business will suffer. If you unanimously vote to bring someone in to help with the running of the company, then he'll have to comply with your wishes, majority owner or not.”
“He already has Zander,” one of the board members said. “Who, as far as I can tell, is excellent at his job.”
There was a quiet laugh that Mark was sure had been Nicholas.
