by Leslie North
No one said anything as he rose from the table. When he was gone, Stephen shrugged. “At least I can enjoy my dinner now.”
A fork clattered loudly on a plate, and Stephen looked up sharply. Nathan was glaring at him. “Why am I here?”
“You’re not concerned about the company?” Stephen said softly.
“No. And neither are you. So why are you here?”
“Gabe asked me,” Stephen said simply. After a moment, they all went back to eating. They chatted idly, but no one offered anything personal. And when their plates were cleared, Stephen felt a huge sense of relief when he got up from the table. He didn’t even know if he could call it a family dinner. It had felt more like a battle.
How had things gotten this bad?
Angie hung up the phone with a sigh. She’d drawn herself a bubble bath and it had grown cold, as she had listened to Duncan. All three sons under one roof. She had no doubt that was a sight to see.
She’s seen pictures of course and heard the rumors. Stephen was the tallest and most responsible. Not that he seemed very responsible to her. After all, he had abandoned his father and the family company. And then there was Nathan. The youngest, shortest, although six foot wasn’t exactly short; he was different from the rest of the family. He’d adopted the laid back western traditions that Duncan hated. Of all three, Angie really only had any respect for Gabe. He’d stuck around, tried to do right by his father and the company. He was the golden boy, and she knew without a doubt that Duncan didn’t give him nearly enough credit.
But Gabe wasn’t the issue. Duncan’s orders were clear. Change Stephen’s mind and the board will follow suit. While she didn’t love the idea of working with Stephen, she’d couldn’t help but feel a delicious shiver go through her when she thought of him. It was odd. All four men were similar in looks, but those Maxfield blue eyes were simply devastating on Stephen.
Still, she had to focus. CEO was the prize, and Stephen was her obstacle to getting there. And she’d do whatever it took to make it to the top.
She slept poorly that night.
The next morning, after slathering on some make-up to hide her dark circles, she put on her nice suit and pushed her shoulders back. She had no doubt that Stephen Maxfield would be in the office, and she needed to start wooing him.
Professionally of course. Not romantically.
Her cell rang just as she started the car, and she cradled it in the crook of her neck. “Angie here,” she said automatically.
“Carlo is supposed to take the kids next weekend, but he’s claiming that he only has to take Carlita, and I’ve got an expo that I need to go too.”
The shrill voice made her wince, but Angie was practiced at keeping her true feelings out of her voice. Her youngest sister, Carolina, was going through her third divorce, and while Angie understood that it was a difficult situation, Carolina was always inclined to be a bit melodramatic.
“Lina, that makes sense. Tamara and Julio aren’t his kids,” Angie said in a patient voice as she pulled the car out of her neighborhood. Carolina’s other two kids belonged to her other ex-husbands.
“He’s been raising them for the past year,” her sister said in a disgusted voice. “And now suddenly it’s not convenient for them to be his kids. It’s not as if I’m asking him for child support. Angie, you have to help me out. Please tell me that you can take them next weekend. I need to make sure that Maria’s gets a spotlight in the food expo.”
Angie took a deep breath. She’d been taking care of her three sisters and her two brothers for as long as she could remember, but now that they were all adults, she was finally trying to carve out a life for herself. “Did you ask Bonita?” Bonita was a stay-at-home mom.
“I tried that. Joe and Jesus are getting her to cook a few things for the expo.”
“Wait, you’re competing with the twins at the expo? Lina, why would you do that? Their restaurant is doing so well.”
“There are going to be hundreds of restaurants at this expo. I hardly think Maria’s is going to put them out of business. And with Bonita cooking for them, they might put me out of business.”
“Lina, you don’t own Maria’s. I’m still not sure how you even got involved with them. You’re a writer. You’ve always been a writer.” Angie took a deep breath and finally said what she’d been holding back these past few years. “Sweetheart, I think maybe you need to take some time and reevaluate your life.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” her sister snapped.
“I’m simply pointing out that three marriages and multiple career changes well before you’re thirty is a lot. You have a chance now to figure out what you want.”
There was a silence on the other end, and Angie held her breath. She loved all of her siblings, and when her mother was in a car accident and wheelchair-bound, Angie stepped in. But it was time to quit babying her family. They needed to grow up at some point. Carolina needed to grow up.
“So I guess you won’t be helping me,” her sister said coldly.
Angie exhaled slowly. Her sister was going to play the guilt card. “All the Maxfield brothers are in town, and I have important plans that I need to see through in the next month, Lina. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”
“Fine, but so you know, this is what I want. I always thought you would be here to support my dreams.”
She heard the phone click on the other end, and she slumped her shoulders. Was she really being that harsh on her sister? Maybe if she got a lot done today and tomorrow, she could take the kids. Tamara and Julio were fine, but the toddler was such a handful. Still, she wanted to see her sister succeed. She wanted to see all of her siblings succeed.
5
She had tired eyes. Stephen had no doubt that underneath all that make-up, he'd find dark circles. But as she stared stoically across the desk, he knew that she'd deny it. She was presenting a mask to the world. The mask that clearly stated that she was putting everything into the company. But that couldn't be true. Surely, there was another side to her? And Stephen was oddly determined to find out what that other side was.
"Who's the lucky guy?" he asked softly as he sidled up to her desk. She blinked, clearly lost in thought, and turned those beautiful eyes towards him.
"What?"
"The lucky guy who kept you up all night?" Although he was teasing her, he suddenly felt a touch of jealousy. It hadn't occurred to him until that minute that there might be another guy in her life. Of course, there would be another guy. She was smoking hot, successful, and one of the most confident women he had ever met. How could there not be another guy?
"Typical," she said as she rolled her eyes. "You think a male is the only thing that can keep a woman up at night?"
He lifted his eyebrows in surprise. What was she implying? "Was it a woman that kept you up?"
"Please go away," she murmured. "You're making things worse."
Relief swept through him. No man. And definitely no woman. That was a good start. "Well, if it wasn't anything fun, what did keep you up?"
Her eyes hardened. "That fact that you swoop in after years of absence to block my plans to save your family's company," she hissed. “Remember that teeny little thing?”
Well. He certainly wasn't expecting that. He could immediately see the regret in her eyes as her head dropped. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "Lack of sleep makes me cranky. I didn’t mean to snap at you."
"I've only been here a day," he reminded her softly. "And I'm not blocking anything. I simply want to make sure that we explore all of our options." He swept his hand through his hair. She obviously didn't think he was qualified to voice an opinion and maybe she was right. But he wasn't about to let Gabe down. "Maybe we could work on trying to find a compromise rather than going behind each other's backs and talking to board members."
"I'm not going behind your back," she bristled.
He snorted. "Of course you’re not." If she was in the position to make CEO, and this was the only thing hold
ing her back, Stephen had no doubt that she was all over it.
"I'm not," she snapped. "Believe it or not, I want what is best for this company. And if I needed to push something through, I don't need to do it with secret meetings behind closed doors. That's not my style."
More than anything, he wanted to ask her exactly what her style was, but he had a feeling that she wouldn't appreciate it much. Instead, he pulled a chair up to her desk and sat down. And just to piss her off a little bit, he leaned back in the chair and propped his feet up on her desk. "Great. So let's talk about these plans of yours. You do realize that cutting off two arms doesn't make a third grow."
She got up and leaned over. As she shoved his feet off her desk, he got a quick peek down her shirt. He struggled to keep his face calm, but she saw his eyes wander and quickly straightened. She directed a hard look at him. "Get. Out."
This wasn't exactly going the way he had planned. Grimacing, he stood and put his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry. That was inappropriate. Look, I really do want to make this work. Can we start over?"
"Am I supposed to believe that it's possible for you to even try to act professionally?" she demanded.
A little bit of guilt hinged on him. She wasn't wrong. "I can act professionally. I'm at a loss at what to do here. I'm not even sure why I'm here," he admitted.
"That makes two of us."
That set his teeth on edge. "No. Of course, you wouldn't know. The only thing you know is what Duncan lets you know. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe we can't work together," he said harshly.
She didn't stop him as he turned on his heel and stormed out. He immediately went to Gabe's office. Without bothering to knock, he flung open the door and stormed in. "Why am I here?"
Gabe stared at him. He was holding the phone up to his ear. "Daniel, I understand that you want us to make a decision soon, but we're talking about a huge makeover here. We want to ensure we've looked at all the angles before we sell two-thirds of the company. And if you're not comfortable with that, you're welcome to sell your shares and move on."
After a few more moments, he hung up the phone. "I see you still don't quite understand how to knock," he said.
"Gabe, what the hell are you doing? If board members start selling shares, Angie could get the upper hand. Is that really what you want?"
"I want the best for Duncan Enterprises, and I won't let board members rush me into a premature decision." He calmly stood and straightened his tie. "Why are you so angry?"
"She's impossible," he hissed.
"Yes, well perhaps that stubbornness is why she's getting the CEO position instead of me."
There was no anger in Gabe's voice, and that alone deflated Stephen's rage. After all was said and done, Stephen intended to leave, but this was Gabe's baby. He would stay whether he ran it or not. "Why am I here?" he repeated, more gently this time.
"I already told you. You're here to help me find another way to save the company."
"You don't need me for that. And you don't need Nathan."
Gabe shrugged. "Like it or not, you're still a part of this company. Now if things had stayed the same, I wouldn't care if you and Nathan never showed your faces around here. But cutting off two-thirds of this company is a helluva lot like cutting two brothers out of a family. And for some strange reason I thought maybe you'd want a say in that. But if I'm wrong, feel free to go back to whatever miserable life you were pretending to lead."
"My company is just fine," Stephen argued. He'd never heard Gabe speak so harshly before. What was going on?
"We outbid you for seventy-five percent of the projects that come in. I doubt your company is doing ‘just fine’." Gabe checked his watch. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to go too."
"Why isn't Duncan here?" Stephen asked.
Gabe shrugged. "Maybe he figures we'll kill each other, and save him the job."
Stephen slipped past his brother as he held the door open. With an uneasy feeling, he watched Gabe stride down the hall. When had they become strangers? Gabe and Nathan had been the best men at his wedding, and now he didn't even feel comfortable giving him more than a handshake. Of course, his marriage hadn't lasted either.
But maybe, just maybe, he could do one thing. Maybe he could repair his relationship with Gabe. Feeling more determined, he retraced his steps back to Angie's office. She was on her way out. "What now?" she grumbled.
"When you're finished with your meetings tonight, we're going to sit down and go over the reports," he said easily. "And you're going to explain to me why you feel this is the only viable option."
"That's going to take hours," she said, as she stared at him.
"Make whatever arrangements you need to," he said stiffly. Her jaw dropped, he turned and walked away without another word. If everyone wanted him to act as if he was part of this business, then that's how he would act. He was more like Duncan than he liked to admit.
6
The last employee had left hours ago, and Angie thought regretfully about how she’d skipped lunch. One thing had led to another, and her thoughts kept roaming back to her family and then back to work, and she’d never gotten a chance to go down to the deli on the corner. The oatmeal she’d had for breakfast hadn’t lasted long. Her stomach growled loudly, and she flushed.
“Sorry. I skipped lunch.”
Stephen sat back and sighed. “It’s fine. We’re not getting anywhere anyway,” he said, and threw himself back in his chair. In that brief moment she realized the cool, confident man had slipped away, replaced by a vulnerability she hadn’t noticed before. She felt as though she were seeing beneath his customary poised façade for the first time, and now what she saw was a disappointed boy. He wasn’t getting what he wanted, and she half expected him to start pouting.
“I tried to tell you that this makes sense,” she said quietly.
“But it doesn’t make sense. This sharp decline in profit doesn’t make sense. You can blame the economy until you’re blue in the face, but Duncan Enterprises had a solid backing. It would have taken a hit, but it shouldn’t be anywhere near this bad. There’s nothing I can see that explains it.” He sighed and rubbed his face. Then looking up, he said, “But you’re hungry and so am I. Let’s take a break. Dinner?”
“That would be awesome,” she said, relieved, as her stomach growled again. “I was starting to think I was going to have to gnaw on this desk.”
Stephen smiled. “That might be difficult to explain on an expense report. Chinese? There used to be a place right around the corner that had some amazing shrimp with lobster sauce, and I’ve never found anything close to it.”
“Made in China? That place is so good.” She was already salivating at the thought of some Crab Rangoon. Her phone rang, and Stephen tossed her a curious look.
“You’ve been avoiding your phone all night.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to be distracted,” she lied. The truth was that it was the third time that Duncan had called, and she didn’t want to talk to him while Stephen was right there. No doubt, Duncan wanted a progress report, and Angie didn’t have one to give him yet.
She also didn’t want to admit that she was curious to see what Stephen would come up with.
“My treat,” Stephen said as he stood and stretched.
“Dutch,” she said automatically. He gave her another quizzical look, and she faltered. She’d always made the decision to pay for herself on dates, but she’d just had to remind herself that this wasn’t a date. Which meant there was even more reason not to let Stephen pay for her. Still, he didn’t say anything as he held open the door.
Twenty minutes later, they had their food in bags and were riding the elevator back up to the office. She had a sudden flashback to when they first met in the elevator, when she thought he was a construction worker. She hadn’t been lying when she said she had a thing for guys in hardhats. All he had to do was wrap one hand around her and lift her so that she could wrap her legs around his waist and… �
�So I heard your youngest brother is here,” she said quickly as she tried to distract herself. What the hell was wrong with her?
“Was he in the office?”
“Gabe mentioned it,” she said hastily. Immediately, she colored. What was wrong with her? She was lying left and right. Why was it so important for her to keep her phone conversations with Duncan a secret?
“He should have been in the office,” Stephen grumbled. “But Nathan has always been more of a free spirit. I don’t think he’s ever going to grow up.”
They stepped into the office together, and Angie smiled. “My youngest sister is like that. She’s a talented writer, and she had a promising career as a reporter, but she’s completely tossed it aside to get in bed with a restaurant. She’s going through divorce number three, and she’s only twenty-four. She has no idea what she wants in life, and rather than focusing on that, she keeps flitting from one thing to another and, even worse, from one man to another.”
“Wow. Three husbands. Nathan’s actually had a long-time girlfriend, and I’m not sure he’s ever going to marry her. I don’t have a problem with that because I think the girl is bad news, but Nathan won’t commit. He’s incredibly passionate and talented, but he’s so unfocused. I’m not really sure why Gabe called him back, but if I have to be here, then so does he.”
Angie popped a wonton in her mouth and nearly moaned with pleasure as the crab and cream cheese exploded with flavor. For a moment, there was nothing in the world except the delicious fried pastry in her mouth. When she swallowed, she saw Stephen looking at her with a dark intensity. “What?”
He leaned over suddenly and brushed his finger along her chin. Her heartbeat sped up until she realized that he was brushing crumbs off her face. Embarrassed, she immediately grabbed a napkin. “Sorry. I’m so hungry.”
“For a moment I thought you were having an orgasm,” he said quietly. The tension in the room thickened when she realized that he wasn’t joking.
