by Linda Kage
He held up a finger as he keep his attention on my sketches and continued to browse through them. “I prefer the term Handbag department, if you will,” he answered. “Sounds more gender-neutral. And anyway,” with a shrug, he explained, “they offered me Undergarments when all the departments were reconstructed last year, which I would’ve totally rocked.” He finally glanced up to wiggle his eyebrows lasciviously. “But alas, Purses was the last department left under your sweet, wonderful Ezra’s domain, so I snagged it while I could.”
I sent him a short scowl. Even though I’d just mentally thought of Ezra as mine, I said, “He’s not my—”
A sharp rap at the entrance of Brick’s office diverted my attention that way, where I found Ezra framed in the doorway. My insides instantly seized with awareness and whatever I’d been about to say was gone. Because, yes, yes, he was mine. He was definitely mine.
“Hi!” I said, maybe a bit too quickly and definitely too perkily. “Good morning. How are you? Are you here to see Brick? What am I saying? Of course you’re here to see Brick, since it’s, you know, his office and everything. So… I’ll just… I’ll go sit at my chair right over there and… And let you talk to Brick now.”
Ezra grinned, mute to my rambling as he remained standing in the doorway, so I felt frozen in place, unable to sit at my own desk as I’d just said I was going to do.
And so I stood there, staring at him… Like a weirdo.
Groaning, Brick shaded his hands over his eyes as if watching us was too much. “Jesus,” he muttered. “You two are so freaking obvious. Get in here and shut the door already, man.” He waved Ezra into the room, which Ezra did, quietly shutting the door behind him and still looking at me.
“Just so you know,” Brick went on, “if my mother catches you guys within ten feet of each other, she’s instantly going to realize what’s up.”
Well there went our dirty, tawdry secret. Thirty seconds in, and the stepbrother was already onto us.
“We’re not—” Ezra started, but Brick cut him off with a sniff.
“Yeah, don’t even bother trying to feed me that bullshit. The fumes from the chemistry wafting off you two is making me freaking lightheaded and nauseous.” He pinned a scowl on me. “Didn’t I tell you how dangerous it would be to start anything with him?”
I winced. “Yeah, but that’s why we decided to keep things, you know… On the down-low.”
Another disgusted sound exited Brick’s lungs. “Down-low? Yes, because this here is so stealthy.” When he waved his hand between me and Ezra, Ezra growled out his displeasure.
“Hey, stop attacking her. I’m the one who walked in the room, and I’m not even here to see her, anyway. I’m here to talk business with you, Carmichael.”
Brick didn’t seem convinced. He lifted a single eyebrows. “Is this a business question you could’ve asked me via email?”
Ezra’s return stare darkened as he refused to answer.
Making a humming, knew-it sound in the back of his throat, Brick nodded. “Then you’re here to see her. Not me.”
“I just needed to know if you ever heard word back from the leather company or not?” Ezra demanded, forcing the conversation to business and refusing to answer to my stepbrother about such a personal matter.
After a moment to pause, Brick said, “I don’t know. I gave the task to my new assistant to take care of.”
Both he and Ezra swung simultaneously my way.
I jumped, realizing I needed to enter the conversation.
Okay, then.
“Actually, not completely,” I answered. Clearing my throat, I hurried to my desk to bring up some email correspondence to better respond to Ezra’s question. “I made contact with our representative yesterday, and we’re still going back and forth on prices. Also, I wasn’t sure if we wanted goatskin or calfskin, because both are perfectly durable for… Handbags.” I glanced at Brick, making sure to use the word he preferred.
“The lambskin they kept trying to sell me made a smooth finish, but it tore and scratched way too easily for anything of good quality, not good enough for any purse over the size of a wallet. And I didn’t even consider the pigskin, because we’re not selling footballs here. So…” My fingers flashed over my keyboard as I called up the email I wanted. “Ah… Here. They just sent a new quote.”
I opened the file and lifted my eyebrows. “Wow, they must really want our business. After only just a little haggling, they’d already dropped their offer thirty percent.”
Ezra set his hand on the back of my chair and leaned over my shoulder to read the figures on my computer screen. “Holy shit,” he blurted a moment later, unable to hold in his surprise. “That’s not a bad price.”
I grinned up at him. “I know, right? All I did was talk a little about how important purses are to the people who use them and how this was for such a worthy cause. I mean, my entire life can be found in my purse. I swear, they’re like little treasure chests into a person’s soul, and they should be protected like such. So I gushed a little about how awesome and important their leather was going to be for providing the very fabric of people’s lives, and boom…” I splayed a hand toward the screen. “Thirty percent off their original quote.”
When I looked up at Ezra again, he looked down into my eyes, and something glittered in his expression. “You’re good at this,” he murmured, seeming impressed.
Heat stole up my face. I was torn between the urge to kiss him and burst into tears over such a heartfelt compliment.
“I just…” Motioning with vague, indiscernible gestures, I sucked in a sharp breath. “I just wanted them to know we actually care about the satisfaction of our customers; we’re not just, you know, looking at price tags.”
He nodded. “Well, that was a smart move.” When his gaze dropped to my lips, I couldn’t help it… My tongue darted out of its own accord, wetting in preparation for—
“Seriously,” Brick groaned, snapping me out of my Ezra trance. “Cut it out already. I swear, you two just got me pregnant with that little eye-fuck from merely being in the same room as it. You both are going to have to learn a little restraint, or—”
“Shit!” At the beginning of Brick’s rant, Ezra had jerked his attention from me to scowl moodily at my stepbrother, but now his eyes were going wide as he glanced past Brick and out the windowed wall of the office. “Get down.”
Suddenly, his hand was palming the top of my head as he shoved me toward the floor behind my desk.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I yelped my surprise, while across the room, Brick stood up from his chair, growling, “What the hell, man?”
Another second passed, and then Ezra let go of my hair only to grasp my arm and help me back to my feet. “Sorry, sorry,” he gushed, his eyes full of contrite apology. “I just saw Elton walk by. I’m not sure what he was doing on the third floor. Are you okay? I can’t believe I just pushed you down without any warning. I’m such an ass.”
Brick nudged him aside so he could get a look at me and check me over.
I was fine. Totally fine, just surprised. To settle my nerves, I brushed at my knees and said to Ezra, “You think he was looking for me?”
He didn’t have a chance to answer because Brick was too busy butting in. “Wait. We’re hiding from Elton now? Christopher Elton? Why?”
I let out a sigh. Both men were a good head taller than me, and with them crowded so close, looking concerned, I felt a little overwhelmed. I took a step back, and focused on Brick. “Ezra and I decided he’s one of Lana’s spies.”
He cocked his ear my way. “Say what?”
So I filled my stepbrother in on the scene with Christopher in the elevator and how Lana had stormed Ezra’s office soon thereafter.
“No shit?” Brick blurted while Ezra furrowed his brows. “I’ve always wondered who her spies were. I can’t believe you finally ferreted one out.”
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to tell him this?” Ezra stepped closer to ask
me, his voice lowered, even though Brick was standing right beside him and could hear the question clearly.
I nodded and patted his arm. “It’s okay. I trust Brick.”
He merely sucked in a breath like he wanted to disagree, but he ended up nodding his faith in me.
A knock came at the closed door. This time, Brick was the one who pushed me down out of sight.
“Hey!”
But it wasn’t Christopher Elton who opened the door and stepped into the office.
Hayden paused when he saw the three of us, me kneeling between the two men.
“Oh. It’s you.” Brick let go of my head, so I could scowl at him and push back to my feet, wiping imaginary dust from my thighs.
Hayden blinked in confusion, his gaze skimming over Ezra before moving to me and then settling on Brick. Holding up a single sheet of paper in his hand, he said, “Who really came up with this shoe design?”
Brick sniffed, acting innocent. “What’re you talking about? I told you in the email. I did.”
“And I know when you lie, Broderick.” Hayden narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t make this.”
“Yes…” Brick stepped closer to Hayden, widening his eyes as if trying to convince him with his big-eyed stare. “I did.”
“No. You didn’t. And what the hell is Kaitlynn doing in your office?” He glanced toward Ezra with slightly narrowed eyes, but didn’t question his presence.
“Oh, I hired her as my secretary after our dear mother fired her.”
Hayden shook his head, flashing surprise. “Lana fired her?”
Brick wrinkled his nose. “You call her Lana?”
Hayden turned from me to blink at his younger brother. “Of course. What do you call her?”
Brick shrugged. “I don’t know. Mother?”
“Hmm.” Hayden made a disinterested sound from the back of his throat. Then he waved a finger in my direction. “Does Lana know she’s working for you?”
“Not yet. Not that I’m aware of anyway.” Brick leaned against his desk. “Did you know Mother never paid her?”
“Of course.” Hayden scowled my way as if he blamed me for that fact, when… Yeah, okay, it totally had been my fault—er, suggestion—that I’d be unpaid. “Since you’re not aware if she knows,” he went on, still scowling at me as he spoke. “Then I’m sure Mother doesn’t know yet. Just warn me the second she finds out. I’d like to be out of the country that day.”
Brick shrugged. “Whatever. She doesn’t intimidate me.”
Hayden snorted his disbelief, only to waggle the sheet in his hand again. “So who really drew this?”
Throwing his hands up, Brick growled, “Why don’t you believe I did?”
“Because I’ve known you your entire life, and I can tell when you’re lying. You did not make this design.”
I wrung my hands, wondering if I should step forward and confess my involvement only for Ezra to cause a shiver of longing to race down my arms when he leaned toward me.
“You were right about Hayden,” he murmured in my ear. “He really doesn’t smile often, does he?”
I grinned up at him, and we shared a smile. He was just so freaking beautiful and likeable and… And too perfect to be true.
Hayden suddenly stopped talking and pointed between me and Ezra. “What the hell? What was that?”
I turned to look behind me, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Ezra was similarly glancing around before he blinked at Hayden. “What was what?”
“You two,” Hayden said, stepping toward us, his eyes narrowed with warning. “What was that look you shared? Are you two dating? I didn’t even know you knew each other.” He zipped a glare to Brick. “Are they dating?”
Brick snorted. “No.”
Hayden’s eyes grew big and worried. “Holy shit. They are?”
“No.” Brick frowned. “I just told you they weren’t.”
“And I just told you, I can tell when you lie, you idiot.” Hayden whirled to us, his frown as frosty as ever. “Are you insane? You realize how dangerous this is, don’t you?” His gaze pinned me with accusation. “Lana wants him for herself. She won’t let you get away with trying to take him.”
“Hey, can we stop talking about me like I’m some kind of possession?” Ezra growled.
“See, I told you she had the hots for you,” I taunted. “Even Hayden sees it.”
“Of course I can see it,” Hayden roared. “Everyone can see it.”
“I don’t see it,” Ezra muttered under his breath.
Hayden pointed a finger at him threatening. “This thing with you and Kaitlynn stops right now.”
Ezra lifted his eyebrows. “Did you just give me an order, Carmichael?”
“If you insist on putting my stepsister in such a dangerous position, then hell yes, I am.”
I blinked at Hayden, not quite able to believe what I was hearing. But, oh my God. Was he… Was Hayden trying to protect me?
No. He didn’t care that much about me. He didn’t care at all.
Did he?
I was suddenly confused, because he was sure acting like he cared about my safety.
“Why does everyone seem so convinced a relationship between Kaitlynn and me would spark the wrath of Lana? Even if it did upset her, what the hell can she really do to us?”
Chuckling out a low, knowing laugh, Hayden only shook his head and sighed. Narrowing his gaze on Ezra, he said, “Let me give you a little rundown on Lana Price-Carmichael-Judge and her past relationships with men.” He ticked up one finger. “First guy she ever fell in love with didn’t want her back, so what did she do to him? She married his father, ruined the relationship between the two, and made it so the son was completely cut out of his father’s life… And will. Which brings us to the father, also known as husband number one.”
The second finger went up as he glanced at Brick before turning back to me and Ezra. “What happened to him? Well, he’s dead.”
I gulped at Hayden’s clinical, monotone voice since he spoke of his own dad. I’d heard about the existence of Hayden and Brick’s older half-brother on their dad’s side, but I’d never heard that story before. It made a strange dread flare in my stomach, so much so that I actually jumped when he flipped up the third finger.
“The next guy she got involved with ended up being married already, but we can’t ask him how his relationship with Lana ended because both he and his wife are still missing… Twenty years later. So Lana moved on to husband number two.” His eyes were hard as they slid to me. “And we all know what happened there, don’t we?”
His voice was so quiet and ominous I shivered. For a moment, I swear he was suggesting it was Lana’s fault my father was no longer alive. I even felt the need to shake my head and murmur, “That was a heart attack.”
Wasn’t it?
Hayden just stared at me, making dread pool in my stomach. Then he glanced away, settling his gaze on Ezra. “Doesn’t matter,” he murmured. “Once Lana fixes her attention on a man, he either ends up dead, destroyed, or missing.” His lips quirked smugly. “Where do you think you’ll land, Nash?”
Instead of growing intimidated, Ezra merely narrowed his eyes right back. “I guess I’ll have to create an option four: none of the above.”
Hayden let out a degrading little laugh. “Yeah, good luck with that.” His attention skimmed back to me and the smirk died. “Just make sure my sister doesn’t get caught in any of the crossfire. She’s already survived enough brutality at the hands of Lana. Now…” Turning back to Brick, he held up the piece of paper in his hand. “Are you going to tell me who designed this shoe or not?”
When Brick merely scowled at him, saying nothing, I sighed. “I did.”
Hayden whirled toward me, the shock on his face evident.
I gave him a timid little wave, but he still said nothing, so I asked, “What? You’re not going to deny it and say you can tell when I’m lying, too, are you?”
After another moment
of staring, he slowly shook his head back and forth. “You’d have to actually lie first before I could tell the difference.”
Warmth corralled a happy buzz in my stomach. Hayden believed me! That was… That was actually pretty humbling and awesome. Until he scowled and glanced at his brother. “This won’t work. She’s screwed no matter what she designs.”
“Excuse me?” Ezra growled, stepping forward just as Brick demanded, “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means…” Hayden motioned toward me as he glanced between Brick and Ezra. “I can’t take a portfolio of design options with her name on any of them to the next presentation. Both CEOs are too biased. Lana will hate and reject anything she comes up with while this guy…” he narrowed a frosty gaze on Ezra, “will automatically love it, no matter whether it’s crap or not.”
“I wouldn’t automatically—” But before he could fully deny the claim, Ezra glanced toward me and sighed his defeat, conceding, “Okay, I see your point.”
“Exactly,” Hayden muttered, still frowning at Ezra.
Brick shrugged. “Then we go back to the original plan and keep Kaity’s name off it.”
“I can’t present an unaccredited design. It’s against policy. You know that!”
“Then put someone’s on it,” Brick cried. “Jesus. Say you designed it. I don’t fucking care. We’ll still know it’s hers.”
“I’m not going to give Kaitlynn’s idea to someone else. She deserves the credit.”
I glowed at his adamant support of me. Squeezing my hands together at my chest, I couldn’t help but ask, “So you think it’s actually good enough to show the CEOs?”
Hayden zipped me a glare before his gaze settled. With a shrug, he glanced away, mumbling, “I think it has potential.”
