Millionaire Hero (Freeman Brothers Book 4)

by Natasha L. Black

  “But?” I asked. I had already gone down the uncomfortable path. I might as well go all in.

  “But I also didn’t feel that spark. That sense that I couldn’t imagine my life without him, or that I didn’t even want to think about sharing the most important moments of my life with anybody but him. Does that make sense?” she asked.

  “Honestly? I don’t really know. But as long as you’re good with the way things have turned out, that’s all that matters,” I said.

  “Well, I wish he hadn’t stolen all my money on the way out. But, yeah, I’m happy with him being out of my life. I don’t even miss him. Not at all. And I figure if our relationship was as good as I wanted to think it was, it would be harder to not be with him. Even with the crap he pulled, there should still be that little bit of me that misses him. Yet, there isn’t. I think that says a lot.”

  I laughed. “Sounds like it does to me.”

  After breakfast, I reluctantly left and drove straight for the office. I was hoping to be able to slip into place without anybody noticing, but when I walked in, I found Gabe sitting behind my desk, his feet propped up on it as he leaned back in my chair and clapped slowly.

  “Well done,” he said. “You look good doing the walk of shame.”

  I shook my head and playfully pushed his feet down off the desk. “There is no shame here.”

  “Fine, but I’m going to want to know some details,” he said.

  “Then you’re out of luck,” I said. “I’ve got to get to work, so you can just use your imagination.” He stood up and I plopped down into my chair, making a face at him as I did. “Actually, don’t use your imagination.”

  He laughed and walked out of the office. I had gotten there just in time for my first video conference of the day. Work was busy for the next couple of hours, but after lunch I had a break. Instead of going to the kitchen to eat, I headed to my place. I took a quick shower and changed into fresh clothes before going back to the office. I finished out my workday with a grin, which evidently earned even more of the trust and enthusiasm of the brand-new client who came in just before closing.

  19

  Bryn

  “Bryn, this is my sixth message to you. I know you’re getting them. Why are you ignoring me? Did I do something? I don’t think I did anything. What could I have done? Maybe I did do something. I hope I didn’t do anything. If I did do something, I’m sorry. I didn’t do anything, then why are you ignoring me? Call me.”

  I sighed as I erased the voicemail and tossed my phone onto the table in front of me. Rubbing my eyes, I shook my head. Trish was a lot. Not that that voicemail was actually her sixth one to me.

  It was her eighth.

  She had been calling me over the last couple of days, trying to make plans to hang out again. I felt bad ignoring her. I didn’t at first considering how crazy my brain felt. But as the calls kept coming in and I kept not answering them, I started to feel guilty. Maybe I really should give her more of a chance. She wasn’t what I would usually look for in a friend, but maybe that was exactly why she was good for me.

  It wasn’t like I had an abundance of other people in my life. If I had a posse of good girlfriends, Nick probably wouldn’t have been the first person who popped into my head when Justin showed up to my house. Actually, he probably still would be. But there would have been somebody else for me to talk to about it, too.

  My brand-new, fresh life was calling, so I decided it was about time to consider a call with Trish. I realized I had closed myself off so much since Justin and I got together. Everything was about him and his friends. Everything we did was wrapped up around him and them. I couldn’t even remember the last time I just started and maintained a friendship that was about me.

  Finishing up the line of code I was doing, I picked my phone up and called Trish back.

  “Bryn!” she exclaimed without even saying hello.

  “Hey, Trish,” I said. “I’m sorry I missed your call.”

  I figured I would just gloss past all the other calls I’d missed, too. Maybe she wouldn’t mention them. And if she did, then I’d figure out how to deal with it then.

  “I was starting to get worried about you,” she said.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve been sick,” I said.

  It was the truth. Trish and I hadn’t seen each other since the stomach virus hit me.

  “Oh, no! I hope you’re feeling better,” she said.

  “Much. Thank you.”

  “Good, because I want to get together again. What are you doing?”

  “Right now?” I asked. “I’m working.”

  “How about tonight?” she asked.

  “Tonight works,” I said.

  I gave her the information for Lindsey’s bar, and we made plans to meet up. I hung up and went back to work, trying to pick up my pace so I could get ahead again. I was more motivated than ever to do as much extra work in every month as I possibly could so I could make the money for my investments. Seeing Justin again didn’t hurt me like I would have expected it to. It infuriated me, but it didn’t make me sad or upset. It fueled me, and I wanted even more to feel that sense of vindication when my bank account was full again and I knew he couldn’t get his hands on it.

  I worked longer than I usually would, and by the time I looked at the clock. I realized I didn’t have much time before meeting up with Trish. I jumped in a fast shower, got dressed, and headed over to the bar. She was already there when I walked in and waved at me enthusiastically from a barstool.

  “Hey, Bryn,” Lindsey said as I slid onto the barstool beside Trish. “How are you doing tonight?”

  “Doing pretty well, Lindsey,” I said. “How’s business been?”

  She gestured around at the already dense crowd filling the space. “It’s a good night. Burger night always is. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the Freeman boys came in tonight. Nick isn’t the only one who can’t resist my burgers.”

  “You make your special burger for all the Freeman boys?” I asked, teasing her.

  “Of course not,” she said. “That special is just for Nick. Unless Vince is around, then I have to make one for him. But that’s only because I see him naked on a regular basis, so I figure he deserves it.”

  I laughed as she walked away. Trish was staring at me when I turned to look at her.

  “Remember I told you Nick brought me to his best friend’s bar the night he wanted to get together to talk about Justin?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Trish said.

  “This is it,” I said. “Isn’t it great? I really like it here.”

  Trish looked around, taking in the atmosphere, and then her eyes came back to me. “It’s a good bar. It would be a whole lot better if some of those Freeman boys were already here.”

  I giggled and shook my head. “You are shameless.”

  “Of course I am. Why shouldn’t I be?”

  “Because other than Nick, they’re all spoken for,” I said.

  Trish shook her head. “No law says I can’t appreciate the scenery.”

  We were still laughing when Lindsey came back up with two glasses of wine. She sat them down in front of us, then handed us menus. “What can I get for you?”

  Trish and I glanced over the menus and ordered a couple of appetizers, then the burgers that were on special that night. Lindsey nodded, took the menus, and disappeared again. Her interactions were brief because of the crowd, but even being so busy, she managed to be friendly and charming. I took a sip of my wine, then turned to Trish.

  “So, I should probably tell you, Nick and I are now officially working together,” I said.

  “Officially?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “He’s helping me make back the money Justin lost.”

  She let out a sigh and drained the rest of her wine. “That’s all? You’re just working on getting your money back? I’m telling you. This is ridiculous. You have this exceptionally gorgeous, influential, rich man who is being so sweet to you and you’re
talking about investments? I would have already thrown myself at him. At least once. Just in the name of womanhood.”

  I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. Even if I had tried, I’m sure it would have slipped through. She stared at me for a second, and then her eyes grew wide and she let out a squeal so piercing and loud, Lindsey came running over to check on us.

  “Trish,” I hissed, half scolding her, half laughing at her reaction. She covered her mouth with one hand, but her eyes were still sparkling.

  “What’s going on?” Lindsey asked, her eyes flickering around at all the other customers who were now firmly invested in our conversation.

  “I’m sorry,” Trish said, pulling her hand down away from her mouth. “It’s just that my friend… who just went through a really awful breakup with the jackass from hell, by the way… got laid!”

  My head dropped and I covered my face with one hand. I couldn’t believe she just did that. Actually, I could completely believe she just did that. That was so Trish. And in that moment, I realized I kind of loved her. She was big and crazy and ridiculous, but she was unapologetically her.

  I was shrinking down in my stool, trying to escape everybody around me staring. There was plenty of laughter, and I heard a few comments I couldn’t decide if I wanted to find flattering or offensive. So, I just decided to ignore them. Lindsey patted me on the shoulder and walked off laughing. I looked over at Trish.

  “Remember when I said Nick’s best friend owned the bar?” I asked.

  Trish gasped. “Oh. That’s right. You did say that. She’s her.”

  “Yep.”

  “She’s going to tell Nick we were in here talking about him,” Trish said.

  “She’s probably on the phone with him already,” I said, noting she had gone off toward the office at the back of the bar rather than going into the kitchen.

  “Shit. I’m sorry,” Trish said.

  I looked at her, trying to muster up being mad, but all I could do was burst into laughter. “It’s fine. It’s not like he doesn’t know we had sex. And we’re not kids. I’m pretty sure he’s going to talk about it, too.”

  Moments later, Lindsey reappeared and dipped into the kitchen. She came out with our food and brought it over to us. I waited for her to say something about Nick while she sat the plates down on the bar, but she didn’t. Maybe she was just waiting for Nick to mention it.

  Oh, well. There was no reason to be embarrassed about it. Nick was sexy and successful. I was going to go ahead and consider him a good score.

  Trish and I laughed and chatted throughout dinner. By the time I got home, I was in a pretty good mood. I took a shower and checked my email one last time for the day. I went to bed feeling fantastic. Not just because of the amazing sex, though that definitely didn’t hurt. But also because one of my best clients had come through and sent me a good bit of extra work. It would really boost my income for the month and move me closer to the investment seed money goal.

  20

  Nick

  “Is there anybody promising in the pool of applicants?” I asked, walking into Gabe’s office.

  The work week had suddenly taken off like a shot. As much as I thought having Gabe back in the office on a more regular basis would cut down on the workload and make things seem less busy, it actually somehow had the opposite effect. Almost like him walking back in signaled to everybody in the area who had interest in investment that we were open for business, our phones were ringing off the hook, our email inboxes were overflowing, and there were so many people trying to get an appointment with us we had booked weeks out. We were definitely going to need that junior investor we were talking about.

  By Tuesday, we had finalized the job listing and posted it on a local job site, and by Wednesday morning, we had more respondents than I expected.

  “A couple,” he said optimistically. “None that immediately jumped out at me as being who we have to hire. But definitely some that I’d like to call in for an interview.”

  “Hey, that’s something,” I said. “Definitely the beginning of the battle done. Go ahead and narrow down the options to the ones you find most likely to fit the position, then get in touch with them and start setting up interviews. I know we’re really busy over the next couple of weeks, but we need to carve out some time to find the right person so we aren’t completely crushed.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Gabe said. “Especially with all the new clients who’ve been getting in touch with us, having a junior investor around will make it a lot easier. They’ll be able to take on the initial work and even help with some minor investments.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “We can focus on our existing clients and more aggressive new clients.”

  That settled, I went back to my office to take on the challenging day ahead of me. With everything going on, I managed to make it all the way until Thursday afternoon before the constant thoughts of Bryn made it back into my mind. But when they did, they came on with a vengeance. I wasn’t just thinking about her or musing about our time together.

  I desperately wanted back in her bed.

  The thoughts were particularly inconvenient when one of my longest-standing clients came in for his appointment looking drawn and exhausted. I’d been working with Jeffrey Adams since even before I opened my own firm. He was one of the clients who jumped ship with me.

  Fortunately, my former boss had been very understanding about me wanting my own firm. He didn’t throw a fit when the clients I had been working with agreed to come along with me. He said I was the one who had put all the work into building their portfolios, so they deserved to maintain me as their investor, and I deserved to keep gaining the benefits.

  Jeffrey was one of the clients I’d started working with at the very beginning of his interest in investing. Unlike some of the people who came to me just starting out and wanting to dip their toes into the idea of investment, Jeffrey was ready to dive in headfirst.

  I was able to keep Bryn out of my mind for the rest of the workday.

  She ended up right back in it when I went to my favorite rock-climbing spot after leaving the office. With as much stress and pressure as had been on me all week, I needed something to let off steam and help me relax. Rock climbing was always that activity for me. I was away from everybody, surrounded by the beauty of the cliffs, having to push my body hard let my mind clear so it seemed to be able to work through things more easily.

  That was definitely what was happening as I pushed myself up one of the more difficult areas of the cliff. I hadn’t really had the time to dwell on Bryn, but now I couldn’t stop thinking about her and what was going on between us. If anything was going on between us. And that was the real sticking point with me. The morning after our spontaneous night together, I hadn’t wanted to talk about anything. I didn’t want that uncomfortable, stilted conversation people tried to have when they unexpectedly found themselves tumbling into each other.

  But now after several days of not hearing from her, and not reaching out to her myself, I couldn’t help but wonder what would have been said if we did have that conversation. Obviously, I didn’t think it would include any dramatic declarations of love and longing. That was going a bit too far. Just talking about how we were feeling and what it might mean moving forward, though, would have been nice.

  Even if we had gone through with that talk, I wasn’t even sure I would have been able to answer that question. The incredible chemistry between us, not to mention the mind-blowing sex, was enough to completely fog my thoughts. The night together was spectacular, but was that it? Could we consider it just me helping her out when she was stressed out and worked up over her ex showing up at her house?

  It was something I hadn’t really thought about. By the time I got to the top of the mountain, it was all I could think about. And I knew how I felt about it. I wanted more. The only problem was that was as far as those thoughts went. I wasn’t exactly sure what I meant by wanting more. It was uncharted territory for me, and I
wasn’t positive where I landed. Or where Bryn did.

  From everything she’d said about her relationship with Justin and how she saw her future, she struck me as a woman who put a lot of significance on commitment. That made me think she might not be okay with a fuck-buddy sort of arrangement. But I still wasn’t sure if I was ready for a solid relationship. That would be something new and strange for me, and the thought kind of scared me.

  All I could do was leave it up to her. She was going to have to be the one to make the final decision about where we were going to go. It wasn’t just about me being confused and conflicted, or not knowing where she stood. It also wasn’t lost on me that we were in kind of a tenuous position.

  If I decided to pursue her, it could make things uncomfortable and awkward between us. We were still in a business relationship, and if things didn’t go my way in terms of wanting more from her, it could create massive tension. And not the good kind that would have us toppling into bed together again.

  Not helping her with her investments wasn’t an option. She was obviously looking forward to the idea, and I was still pissed about how she was swindled and wanted to help her. I wasn’t going to just tell her the plan was off or transfer her over to Gabe so I could try to start something up with her. That would look even worse.

  Leaving whatever future we might have up to Bryn took away the pressure. I wanted her. That wasn’t even a question. And if she wanted me in return, I hoped she would make it known. I wouldn’t pressure her or make anything weird between us. If she didn’t seem interested and didn’t bring it up, we’d just stick to investments and I’d chalk up our night together as fantastic memories.

  Feeling good about my decision, I turned my thoughts back to the cliff I was climbing. When I was done, I went home and fell into bed exhausted and ready to sleep in late Saturday morning.