by Natalie Ann
But now she knew why Brody took everything with Craig to heart. It wasn’t just himself that he let down, or even his siblings, but the trust his parents had in him. The pride they had in him.
For someone with as strong of a personality as Brody, that was probably the biggest blow to his ego that he could handle.
She put it from her head, though, and went into work. Everyone would know she was dating Brody by now. It would be the first time she’d see them all and she was prepared for some tension. Time to have her game face on.
There was a bit of disappointment when she walked into the bar at eleven and was the first one there. There was no reason for her to think Brody would show up the same time she did just because she knew he was up when she left. There was no reason to think he’d have her back when facing his family alone.
A few minutes before opening the doors for business, Aiden walked in. He didn’t normally show up this early and she couldn’t help but accept it had something to do with the news Brody had shared with his family.
“Morning, Aiden,” she said, trying to act like nothing unusual was going on. That he wasn’t aware she was sleeping with his brother. Praying he never looked at the security tapes from weeks ago when she and Brody closed that one night. Oh man, things could get really embarrassing.
“Morning,” he said back. “I worked up the specials for the week and thought I’d drop them off.”
“You don’t normally do the whole week at once. Is this something new?”
He tilted his head. The five of them looked alike, but not exact. She could tell them apart easily enough. If not by their looks, then by their mannerisms. Each of them was pretty unique, like she’d told Brody once before.
Aiden had a confident walk, made direct eye contact, and spoke with a firm voice. She’d heard it plenty when he was in the throes of creation in the kitchen. He demanded—if not expected—respect from his staff. And he got it.
He was both tough and fair, but being employed and mentored by him was a privilege in itself that many were begging for. She didn’t need potential employees asking her advice before interviews to know how intimidated they were.
“Mason and I were talking last night. More like planning. I’ve got a few ideas and thought I’d squeeze them in on the daily specials to get a feel for the demand before I move forward with using his brew with similar stuff.”
She took the menu from him and looked over each day. Most of it was familiar with little tweaks here and there, but each day there was something she’d never heard of.
“Are they in French?” she asked.
“French items, you could say. I’ll bring out a sample of everything once it’s prepared so you can try it. I know you like to taste everything.”
Her face turned red, probably reading more into it than she should, but he was holding her stare harder than normal.
Should she broach the subject of her and Brody, or not? She went with her gut. He’d respect her more if she was direct about it. At least she hoped so.
“I’d like that. Now about Brody and me,” she said. He lifted his eyebrow and smirked, but she continued on. “I understand that not everyone might like the fact we’re seeing each other, but it won’t affect my job one bit. I’m no different than I’ve been the entire time I’ve been employed.”
He laughed. “You’re different. So is Brody.” Her heart sank, but he quickly said, “I’m good with it, Aimee. No worries. I’m glad you said something, though. It’s out there, so I’d take the direct approach with the rest of them too, if I were you.”
“Not everyone feels the same as you, I’m thinking?”
“I haven’t talked to anyone other than Mason, and it was just in passing last night. I’m sure you will find he feels the same way I do.”
Twenty minutes later when Mason personally delivered a few kegs, she suspected it was to feel her out. So she went with Aiden’s advice and repeated the same thing to him that she had to Aiden.
“You work for Brody, not me. It takes a special person to do that alone,” Mason said, smirking just like Aiden had. “Dating him—well, good luck to you—you’re the first to attempt it in years.”
She laughed. There was no reason not to, not with him smiling now. “He’s not as hard to crack as you all think,” she said.
“That statement alone is funny. But if you think so, then more power to you. Either way, I’m good with it, Aimee.”
Two for two and she was starting to feel some confidence. She couldn’t wait to tell Brody.
Instead, Cade walked in. Swaggered in. He had the most confident walk, which was surprising to her. Brody was the biggest, next came Mason in size—in terms of muscles. Aiden screamed “boss,” but Cade shouted “look at me.”
“I just stopped in to gather the forms staff have been filling out for ideas,” he said, staring at her harder than necessary. All of them held a person’s stare long enough to make them squirm. Too bad for them, she’d learned to stop squirming years ago.
“I’ll get you the ones from the bar staff,” she said, opening the filing cabinet and handing them over. “I hope you don’t mind I looked them over.”
“Did you?” he asked, his voice cooler than normal.
“Yes. There were some good ones and some not-so-good ones,” she said, laughing.
“We’ll see. That’s my area of expertise; yours is the bar.”
She crossed her arms, not backing down from him. Standing her ground might not be wise, but her pride would still be intact.
“I’ve spoken with Aiden and Mason this morning about my relationship with Brody and so far you’re the only one giving me the cold shoulder. Am I somehow offending you? Insulting you? Not good enough for your taste?”
That damn Fierce smirk on his lips. They all had it and it was starting to annoy her.
“It has nothing to do with my taste. You aren’t dating me. You don’t work for me, either.”
“I thought I worked for all of you,” she said.
“At a high level, you do. But you report to Brody. So if things go south, he has to clean up his own mess.”
She was getting frustrated, more so when someone sat at the bar. “Don’t leave, we aren’t done talking,” she told Cade and walked over to the end of the bar, filled a beer up, and returned.
“The only one allowed to order me around like that is my mother,” he said.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have come in here with an attitude without getting all the facts.”
“What facts are those? I know you’ve worked here a couple of months, and in that time you’ve started sleeping with your boss.”
She sucked a breath in. She wanted to slap him, but didn’t. “Brody told me how you were the only one that didn’t trust Craig.” His eyes narrowed, but she continued. No use backing down now. “So that tells me deep down you have a good sense for reading people. I’m going to ask you to forget about the fact that Brody and I are in a relationship, and tell me what you see when you look at me. Can you honestly answer that without making assumptions from what you heard yesterday?”
He didn’t say a word, but finally uncrossed his arms. “You sure you want to hear this?”
“Why not? I’m positive you aren’t about to say anything to me I haven’t heard before.”
He snorted. “I didn’t trust Craig. There was something too polished and smooth about him. They’re the ones you have to really watch out for. He was too perfect.”
“I know the type,” she said.
“You’re far from perfect,” he said, his lips twitching just enough.
“I’ve heard that before,” she said grinning, knowing he was warming up to her.
“The fact that Brody told you about Craig, and even went into details, tells me that he trusts you right now. Brody doesn’t trust a lot of people, and that he trusted Craig is why everyone took that loser in.”
“Why do you think Brody trusted Craig when he hadn’t other people?”
�
�I’m pretty sure I know, but the question is, do you?” he asked.
“He wanted something with someone that he didn’t share with his brothers.”
“Did he tell you that?” he asked, looking stunned.
“Partially. He said that he wanted something separate. Something that gave him his own identity that wasn’t tied to the rest of you.”
Cade pulled out a bar stool and sat. “I can’t believe he told you that.”
“Why?” she asked. “Want a drink? You look like you could use it.”
“Yeah. Just give me a half a glass of what’s closest to you.” She did what he asked, then put the glass in front of him. “I always suspected that. I guess you could say we all wanted something similar and experienced it when we went to school. He didn’t.”
“How did it work out for you?”
“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” he said. “I get along with most people, but I’ve never had a high level of trust with anyone other than my brothers and Ella. I learned that early on. Brody learned the hard way.”
“Then don’t blame him for something you got to experience earlier in life.”
“You’re right.” He finished his glass and stood up. “I need to get going. For what it’s worth, Brody seems happier in the last few weeks than he’s been in a year. That’s really all that matters.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“Don’t thank me yet. He isn’t the easiest person to share close quarters with; I know that first hand.”
“He isn’t as messy as I thought he’d be.”
“It has nothing to do with being messy. He’s never been a slob,” Cade said.
“Then what?” she asked.
“I’ll let you find out all those quirks yourself.”
Aimee watched Cade walk out and shook her head, glad he was gone. Now she could actually feel her heart racing. That was tougher than she thought it was going to be. Thankfully, there was only Ella and Brody’s parents left. Surely they wouldn’t be as bad as that.
Ella’s was short and sweet. She walked in and said, “I like you. I adore your daughter. You make my brother happy, and I’ll like you even more. You mess with his head, then you’ll deal with me.”
“Understood,” Aimee said, watching Ella give the smirk she was coming to hate. Then the two of them started to talk about work as if Ella didn’t almost threaten her. All five feet four inches of her.
Wished Me Well
Brody had every intention of showing up at the bar the same time as Aimee. He knew darn well his siblings were going to approach Aimee the first chance they could, and he wanted to be by her side. He refused to leave her hanging to fend for herself when they did.
Only when he went to leave, he noticed he had a flat tire. After putting the spare on, he went to the garage hoping to get the tire plugged but found out he couldn’t. Then he had to sit there while they put a new tire on. The damn car was barely six months old.
By the time he left the garage and parked behind the bar, he was ready to rush in and see her.
He didn’t care that she just left his house a few hours ago. He didn’t care that he’d be by her side for the next few hours. All he could think of was when he could spend time with her outside of work next.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t as soon as he hoped with the way their schedules were.
He opened the back door and was stopped by his mother. Seriously? What was she doing here? “You’re late,” she said to him.
“I’m actually early for my shift by an hour,” he said, moving to walk past her.
“Come upstairs with me,” she said, and walked away from him.
He sighed and turned to follow her…because he’d never disobey her. Not even as an adult. It wasn’t worth finding out what kind of punishment she’d inflict on him without his knowledge.
“Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?” he asked when she walked into the empty office next to Ella’s. He saw Ella sitting behind her desk, then heard her laugh just like she did when one of them was going to get in trouble and she wanted to watch.
“How dare you let Aimee come here by herself knowing your siblings were going to talk to her? I thought I raised you better,” she said, her hands on her hips. “That was completely irresponsible of you.”
“I had every intention of being here, if I hadn’t spent the last two hours dealing with a flat tire. Who said something to her?” he asked, his fingers starting to clench.
“They all did. You should have known that.”
“What did they say?” he asked. It had to be something for her to pull him aside the minute he walked in the door.
“I have no clue. You’d have to ask Aimee that yourself.”
“Then why are you looking like that?”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Like you want to strangle me?”
“I do,” she said. “You shouldn’t have let her do it alone.”
“I told you what happened.” What was he missing here? “You don’t even know if it went bad and you’re still reaming me out like I ate a dozen of the cookies you’d baked for a party without you knowing.”
“I’m never going to forget that either,” his mother said, pointing a finger at him.
“Don’t try to figure her out,” Ella yelled from the other room. “When will you learn, Brody? Tell her she’s right and she’ll let you leave.”
“Ella,” his mother shouted back. “Don’t you get involved.” Then his mother turned to him. “Well?”
Might as well take Ella’s advice. “You’re right, Mom. I’m sorry. I should have been here.”
“Fine,” his mother said, walking out of the room.
He shook his head and walked down the stairs to the bar. Nothing this morning was making sense to him.
It was busy, as he expected. It would continue to be busy for what was left of the summer, but Aimee was holding her own along with another staff member who had come in at one.
“Hey,” he said. “Sorry I’m later than normal. I had a flat tire and have been sitting at the garage.”
“That stinks,” she said, sliding by him, her chest brushing against his back. He’d left her enough room—and liked how she didn’t use it.
“Couldn’t be repaired. It’s all set now. How’s the combo selling?”
“Awesome. I picked Aiden’s test item. He wanted to try something new, so I figured I’d push it along a bit more and see how it went.”
“How does it taste?” he asked, knowing she would have tried it.
“Good. I’m not a big crab person, but I think that since it’s an appetizer rather than a lunch entrée, people are more willing to give it a try.”
“Aiden is smart that way when he wants to try something,” Brody said, filling an order for the waitress. “Did anyone give you a hard time this morning?”
“It’s all good,” she said, moving by him again, not brushing against him this time.
“That didn’t answer my question,” he said, reaching his hand out and stopping her.
“Everyone is just concerned for you, but no one gave me a hard time.”
“I don’t believe you,” he said.
She sighed. “Two people were a bit more concerned than the others, but it wasn’t a big deal. No one raised their voices, no one threw anything, and everyone wished me well with you.”
He didn’t like the tight grin she was sporting, but decided to let it go. He’d talk to Cade and Ella himself, because he was positive it was the two of them. Mason and Aiden stuck together like a peanut butter sandwich on the roof of your mouth.
When the opportunity presented itself, he took a break and went upstairs to see Ella. “What did you say to Aimee this morning?”
She looked up from her computer screen. “I told her I liked her and adored her daughter. If she continued to make you happy, I’d like her even more. If she hurt you, she’d have to deal with me.”
It sounded exactly like something Ella
would say. “What was her response?”
“She laughed and said she understood and then we talked about work. Why, what did she tell you I said?” Ella asked, narrowing her eyes.
The last thing he wanted was his sister against Aimee. “Nothing. She said everyone was good, but I didn’t believe her. The most I got out of her was that two of you were more concerned than others, but it was fine.”
“And she said I was one of them?”
“Nope. I put it together that it’s you and Cade. Mason and Aiden are too laid back to care that much.”
Ella shifted in her chair. “They care, Brody. We all do. But they understand your need to make your own decisions.”
“And you don’t?” he asked. He was never going to be able to get out from under the disaster with Craig.
“No, I understand, too. But you’re my big brother. All of you are. You’ve all tortured any guy I’ve dated my whole life. Don’t think I’m not going to do the same to any woman you guys bring home.”
“Fair point,” he said, feeling better about things now. “What was up with Mom this morning?”
“No clue,” Ella said. “I thought she was going to send you to timeout again. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. To be honest, I think if you were with Aimee when we all talked to her, it would have lost the effect. She’s a tough one, and just proved it to all of us without having you standing right there holding her hand.”
“She is tough. Tougher than I’d like at times, but I understand the reasons why.”
“That’s all that matters then. And if you’ll excuse me, these books aren’t going to balance themselves.”
He walked out and into the conference room, then called his father. “Hey, Dad. Is Mom around?”
“No. She ran out for a minute. Something I can help you with?”
“Nope. I actually wanted to talk to you without her around.”
His father’s sigh was loud in his ear. “What did she do this time?”
Brody chuckled. “She gave me a hard time for not being here when everyone talked to Aimee this morning about our relationship. I planned on it, but ended up with my car in the garage for a few hours. It didn’t seem to matter when I explained that to Mom, though.”
