“Should we let them in on the little fact that you were CEO when Carter Energy failed? Wouldn’t take much for them to connect that a ride to the top is much more comfortable on your back.” His words raised the hair on my neck. “It’s no wonder we went down. After all these years in the business, one would think you’d know how to procure funding for projects. Or maybe you were too busy lining your own pockets.”
My mouth and left eye twitched. Turned out Easton was right about my reactions when I was angry. And those slippery words told me everything I’d not believed until my talk with Easton last night. It was Drew. Easton hadn’t been fucking with me all this time. Because that wasn’t his character. Drew had somehow ensured Easton didn’t get to my project requests when I needed them done. Asshole. Slimy asshole. But why?
“Stop. Talking.”
We were in a stare off. I waited for him to move out of the way instead of shoving him, but he didn’t.
“Come on, sugar. You don’t have to play games with me,” he said. Every time he called me sugar I had the urge to knee him in the balls. Letting him know it bothered me had been my mistake. Once he found out, he never stopped.
“Is there something you wanted?” I asked irritably.
“I have to hand it to you. I’ve never seen anybody quite so good at job security. We had to lay off—how many people was it?—and you managed to keep your position. Pretty obvious why that is.” He looked at me like he knew a fat, juicy secret.
I balled my blouse in my hands and willed my racing pulse to calm. The asshole was baiting me. Knowing that didn’t make it any easier to take.
“Just say what you really want to.”
He stepped closer, to the point I felt claustrophobic. “That if you want real job security, you picked the wrong brother.”
“Don’t start shit you don’t intend to see through.”
“Lucky for you, I don’t mind sharing. You like that kind of thing, don’t you?”
My heart stopped beating for a long moment, and when it started again, it pounded so hard it hurt. He was truly repulsive. It was hard to believe he and Easton were brothers.
“Wouldn’t you like that?” I turned on the seduction, trailing my fingers across his chest as I skirted to the side. Interest sparked in his eyes. When I had the angle I needed, I reared back and kneed him in the stomach. He doubled over. “All that pile of garbage you just said stays right here, sugar.”
“You’ll be on your knees begging me for mercy,” he wheezed, still bent in half.
I paused in the doorway, not bothering to hide my disgust. “That’s impossible when you don’t have a thing I want.”
I flexed my hand and rubbed my knuckles. Nobody in the office seemed to have a clue as to what had just taken place. Begging, my ass. The only thing I’d ever consider asking him for was to disappear from my life. I might hit my knees for that. But then I felt shaky as the adrenaline left me. It had been Drew screwing with me all this time. He’d been the one to hold up my funding and make me lose important projects. I owed Easton an apology.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Easton
“Nice digs.”
I glanced around the suite at the Four Seasons. The opulence was impressive, but I’d take the hominess of Muriella and Stone’s apartment any day.
“It’s all right.” Drew poured a tumbler of whiskey and offered it to me. I shook my head. “How’d you end up at Stone’s place anyway? Must be nice having a buffet of whatever you want whenever. Did you know his wife offered me a full meal when I came over last night?”
“Speaking of, Muriella wants you to come over for dinner.” I skipped over the fact that if he’d come to Burdett for Christmas, he’d very likely have a place to stay with them too.
“I won’t turn that down.” He sat on the sofa, and I took the opposite end. “What do you think of SPE?”
I scrubbed my face. “Like it was a hostile takeover. Isn’t there usually some culture left from both companies when they combine?” Today had been one endless meeting about how things were going to be done, even though we were supposed to be operating separately. The way SPE conducted business certainly wasn’t my way.
“I know, right?” Drew slugged back some of his drink. “Look, I hate to pile more on, but did you get a chance to look at those figures I sent you?”
“Some.” From what I’d seen, it didn’t look good for the exploration department. “I also found some reports I’d saved. The numbers are all over the place. I can’t figure out what’s real.”
“Do you know if the funds withdrawn match any projects? If we find that, at least we’d know whether or not she was just careless.”
“It appears that some do, and some don’t. I’m tempted to hire a forensic accountant, but what’s the point? I have no idea what data is accurate.” I closed my eyes and let my head fall to the back of the sofa. My stress level climbed at an unhealthy rate, no matter how I tried to relax. Instinctively I reached for the heart-shaped stress ball in my pocket and gave it a squeeze.
“Why do we need one of those when we’ve got you?”
Drew’s faith in me bolstered my spirits. “I’m not infallible.”
“Have you told Dad?”
I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. “I haven’t been able to reach him today.”
“Really? I’ve talked to him twice.” Drew moved over to the wet bar and replenished his glass. “I didn’t mention it either. I don’t want to break the bad news to him about his sweetheart.”
I sat up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Drew looked at me in disbelief. “Oh come on, Easton. Don’t act like you don’t know.”
“I really don’t,” I insisted. What little control I’d had over my blood pressure failed.
“Dad. Mulaney.” He raised his brows expectantly. “Everybody knows.”
“Everybody knows what?” I drummed my fingers on my thigh.
“That they’re together. Don’t tell me you haven’t caught them kissing before?”
I bolted to my feet and glared at Drew. This was complete and total bull crap.
“Oh shit. You really didn’t know.” He took a long swallow of whiskey. “I can’t figure out why Mom puts up with it, but they must have something worked out between them.”
Our mother would never tolerate our father stepping out on her. Never. Our father would never cheat on her, and it was maddening my brother would say such a thing about the man who’d taught us by example. And there was no way in hell Mulaney would do anything like Drew was suggesting. He had just rocketed me to some alternate universe where I’d been roughed up and couldn’t get my bearings.
“When?” I growled.
“When what?”
“When did you see them?” I couldn’t utter the word kissing let alone think about the two of them together.
Drew cocked his head to the side and ran a finger back and forth over his mouth. “I can’t remember exactly, but I’d say the last time was a few weeks ago.”
No.
He had to be mistaken. Mulaney wouldn’t do that. Dad wouldn’t.
Images of the two of them huddled together, the way they communicated almost without speaking sometimes, hugging, kissing cheeks. My father beaming at her with love I thought was the kind he felt for Drew and me.
My brother stood and put a hand on my shoulder. “You see it now, don’t you?”
No. I didn’t see it at all. I didn’t want to see it.
“If she and Dad”—I swallowed the rest of that sentence down and pumped the stress ball a little faster—“then why would she screw with the company like it appears she did?”
He shrugged. “The evidence is pretty damning. She never should have been CEO.”
“She was the right person,” I insisted, irritated he’d think otherwise and that I’d even entertained the idea of this nonsense he was spewing. “And there’s no way she and Dad are having an affair. You have to be mistaken.”
“
Ask Holly.”
More thoughts of Mulaney and my father inundated me. Drew was clouding my judgment, trying to make me see things in a different way when I knew better.
“I have to go,” I said, feeling disoriented as I stumbled toward the door.
“I’m sorry, Easton. I know you like her.”
Like her? That didn’t even begin to cover it.
“Mr. Carter? Miss Jacobs isn’t here.” Mulaney’s assistant stood in the doorway, looking as dishelved as I felt.
“I’m here to speak to you.”
“Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter.” A streak flashed from behind Holly and appeared at her side.
I held up my hand, and we high-fived. “Hey, Gabriel. How’s the new place?”
“It’s awesome. Wanna see my new room?”
The longing for kids intensified as I witnessed his innocence. I’d missed out on this because I’d been too busy.
“I’d like that.”
“Baby, give us a minute and then you can show him,” Holly said. “Come in.” She opened the door wider so I could step inside.
Gabriel bolted toward the back of the apartment.
“I know you’re trying to get settled—”
“We didn’t bring much, but I appreciate the day to get acclimated. I’ll be at work tomorrow.”
“Is there something going on between Mulaney and my father?” The question had gnawed at me since I’d left Drew’s. He wouldn’t lie to me, and even though I knew in my gut it couldn’t be true, I was here instead of going home.
Holly darted her eyes in the direction her son had gone and back to me. “Shouldn’t you ask her?”
She wrung her hands, her cheeks turning pink. Where was the definitive no I’d been expecting?
“I didn’t mean to put you on the spot.” I pulled at my tie. “I-I need to know.”
Something on her face turned to pity. “They spend a lot of time together.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“Please don’t make me answer,” she pleaded.
The desperation in her tone didn’t help my confidence, though everything in me screamed she and my brother were wrong.
“Let’s go see Gabriel’s room.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mulaney
“Love you too.”
Easton yanked on his tie as he entered our room. I set my phone on the chair.
“Your mom and dad are coming up tomorrow,” I said.
“Was that my father you were speaking to?” His tone was pure acid. He tossed his tie aside and his suit jacket landed on the bed beside it.
“Yeah. What’s crawled up your ass?”
“Since when do my feelings concern you?” He unbuttoned his shirt as he moved toward the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
Oh hell no.
I followed him in, nearly hitting him with the door. “They’ve always concerned me.”
He snorted. “Save your nonsense for somebody else.”
I gripped the edge of the counter when he dropped his pants and boxers to the floor. His shirt was already gone.
Naked Easton Carter.
Didn’t matter his age, he had the body of a man half of it, well defined, yet with that something only a life lived could bring. There was a scar on his knee, a fresh cut on his hand, and he was perfect.
“Stop staring.”
He stepped into the shower and turned on the spray. In no time, steam filled the room.
“You keep up this attitude, and you’ll be out on the couch,” I said.
He grunted something I couldn’t hear and didn’t particularly care to. The glass hadn’t fogged yet, leaving me an unobstructed view of the rain head cascading water over his body.
The urge to turn my back was strong, but my desire was stronger.
Naked wet Easton Carter.
Every protest I’d had about living together evaporated. I wasn’t going anywhere. I couldn’t. I had no idea why he was so pissed off, though, so I tried to focus on that.
“Where’d the money go?”
What. The. Hell?
“I wanted to talk to you about that—”
“But you were too busy with my father.”
“Actually, you disappeared earlier.” I pulled off my earrings and set them on the counter, past ready to change into more comfortable clothes. “I looked over everything I have and it all lines up.”
“I’m sure it does.”
I opened the shower door. “I didn’t take any money I wasn’t supposed to.”
“Except for the project in Ector County.” He lathered shampoo in his hair as if I weren’t even there.
“How did we go from me having unfiltered access to bank accounts to now I’ve misused company funds? Was I or was I not supposed to find us oil?”
This had gone too far. I didn’t know why the accounting was haywire on my part. I did my job, and I did it well.
“You weren’t supposed to take us under.”
“Me?” He squirted body wash into his palm. I knocked the bottle out of his hand. It clattered to the stone floor between us. “I made us the money. You were in charge of it.”
Ice-cold eyes met mine. “I appreciate you clarifying our roles. Any others you care to tell me about?”
His tone gave me pause. Were we talking about something else entirely now?
“That about sums it up,” I said scathingly. “Mark my words. I did not screw with Carter Energy.”
I slammed the shower door.
“The lady doth protest too much,” he called.
“Nobody’s ever accused me of being a lady.”
A string of curses left my mouth as I marched down the hall in search of my brother. What in God’s name had caused Easton to jump ship and stop believing in me? We were a team. Fuck.
“Stone Jacobs. You unlock those doors to your spare bedrooms this instant,” I said when I entered the kitchen.
“Stone ran upstairs.” Muriella lifted a kettle from the stove.
In my haze of anger, I hadn’t even bothered to see if he was in the room. “Then you can unlock them. I know there are extra beds in there. This funny business has gone on long enough.”
A frown line marred her forehead. She searched in a drawer until she found whatever she was looking for. In the doorway, she looked back at me. “Are you coming?”
She opened the first of the closed doors and the lights came on automatically. Drop cloths covered the floor. Paint buckets, trays, and brushes were stacked in the center next to a ladder. There wasn’t a speck of furniture in sight.
“Everybody will be here tomorrow,” I pointed out, some of the hot air knocked out of me.
“I know that,” she snapped. She let out a long sigh. “Sorry. I think I might have undertaken a bit too much.”
“What’s in the other room?”
“Are you sure you want to see?”
When she revealed the other bedroom, it was full of clothes. They were stuffed on racks along the wall and piled in heaps everywhere.
“You running a department store out of here I don’t know about?” I asked, a little overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of clothing. My sister-in-law was fashionable, but this took the term clothes horse to a new level.
“They’re donations. For Paths of Purpose.”
“What’s that?” I fingered a bag from Saks Fifth Avenue.
“A women and children’s shelter. They recently moved to a new facility, so I was storing this until they were ready for it.” She winced when she took in the room again. “They’re going to have to be now.”
“This is designer,” I said, noting the bags of name brands.
“Some of it is. We have some amazingly generous donors.” Genuine pride etched her face.
“The Jacobs boys will help you take this to them when they get here,” I volunteered.
“I’m sure they would, but we’ve made arrangements to move it before they arrive. If you have time to drop by you’ll be amazed to see how
they’ve utilized the space.”
“I thought you didn’t want anybody to see this?”
We turned to find Vivian coming toward us.
“I had to prove we had no spare rooms available,” Muriella said by way of explanation.
“Things not working out with the roommate?” Vivian winked at me.
I grimaced. “I’m moving in with you.”
“Sorry, no room at the inn.” She didn’t look sorry.
I pointed between the two of them. “Whatever you think your meddling is going to do, it won’t.”
“I actually came to see you,” she said, glazing over my threat. “We have guest speakers every month at Paths. Usually professional women, leaders in their industries who we hope can impart some encouragement and wisdom to the ladies. The one I have lined up day after tomorrow isn’t going to be able to make it. I need you to do it.”
Public speaking wasn’t my favorite thing, but I was no stranger to it. My problem was time.
“That’s a wonderful idea.” Muriella clapped her hands together. “We haven’t had anyone like you speak.”
“Should I take offense to that?”
“Don’t be silly. I only meant someone in your field,” she said, and I relaxed a fraction. I was still rattled by Easton’s fury. Directed at me. “You’ll be incredibly inspiring.”
“I inspire all right, but I’m not sure it’s the kind of thing you want.”
Vivian smacked me in the arm. “It’s starts at nine, so you’ll need to be there no later than eight thirty. We can go over together. I’ll show you around.”
“I wish I could go,” Muriella lamented. “I have to be at church.”
“You won’t be missing much.”
“I’m glad you agreed to do it.” Vivian pulled me in for a side hug.
“Actually, I didn’t.” I awkwardly patted her back. “But I’ll be there.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Easton
Heartbreaker: A Workplace Friends-To-Lovers Romance (Paths To Love Book 3) Page 14
