And so very fucking wrong.

  But he’s here. Not with her.

  It’s me. Not her.

  I look at him, swallow my pride, and act like she doesn’t exist.

  In this moment, she doesn’t.

  “Then I guess you should have brought the girl who would’ve worn the sapphires.”

  He belts out a low chuckle and shakes his head. “I guess so.”

  FORTY-EIGHT

  Holden

  “Another, please,” I say to the bartender.

  He eyes me cautiously. “You take a wrong turn or are you looking for trouble?”

  “Does it matter? My money’s good all the same, right?”

  He nods. “Yeah, but guys like you don’t come into places like this.”

  I look around the hole in the wall. It smells of stale liquor and years of cigarette smoke that has seeped into the walls. The customers have a familiarity with each other that says this is their daily haunt.

  And a guy like me, with clothes like this, sticks out like a sore thumb.

  “Sometimes it’s good to remember where you came from.”

  He lifts his brows and purses his lips as he nods, clearly surprised by the comment. “Or to punish yourself for making it.”

  “That too.”

  But I’m grateful that he accepts my response and serves me up another cheap scotch that tastes like shit but whets the palate nonetheless.

  I wanted to go to her house tonight. To sit on her porch and wait for her. To explain who Mallory was and the why behind me bringing her to the barbecue.

  But isn’t that the whole reason Audrey invited her to be my date? Because I do want to explain? Because it’s obvious to the person who knows me best that Rowan is getting closer than I’ve let someone get before?

  It was Audrey’s shot over the bow. A shot I understood, that I needed to see, but I’m not liking the taste it left in my mouth.

  My cell rings.

  I look at it.

  I debate answering.

  “Knight here.”

  I’m met with Rowan’s silence. Silence that oozes emotion—if that’s even possible.

  “The ‘no touching what’s mine’ thing? That goes both ways,” she says resolutely. “I don’t know what stunt you tried to pull today, but if you plan to keep doing whatever it is the two of us are doing, it won’t be happening again.”

  “Is that so?” My grin widens. Christ, she’s sexy when she’s assertive.

  “That’s so,” she says. “I can’t have a conversation with Chad without you going all caveman on me, but you can bring a fucking date to my family barbecue? Not cool, Knight. Not fucking cool.”

  “What are you saying, Sunshine?”

  “You’re a smart man.”

  “Yes but you’re making me fucking hard talking to me like this with all that authority.”

  “Let’s get something straight. I’m not a doormat.”

  “No one would ever claim that about you.”

  “I’m not sleeping with you because I can’t get someone else. I’m with you because I want to be. Because it’s great fucking sex. So don’t let whatever it was today fucking happen again. Understood?”

  I chuckle. I can’t fucking help it.

  “I’m waiting for an answer.”

  “Understood.”

  “Good,” she says and hangs up the phone.

  Fucking hell. This woman is something else in the best kind of ways.

  Most women would have called me up and whined. Asked a million questions. Thrown a fit and demanded answers.

  Not Rowan.

  No.

  She stood her ground. She put us back where we are supposed to be—just sex. And left me without having to answer a damn thing.

  And fuck if I don’t like her more because of it.

  It backfired, Audrey.

  Fucking backfired.

  FORTY-NINE

  Rowan

  Days are ticking by.

  One after another after another.

  At the start of this whole takeover, I had figured I’d have a game plan by now. No, it wouldn’t be finding some poor sap to marry so that I could meet my gran’s impending timeline. Although, yes, that would prove handy and allow me to eventually gain the money needed to buy out other minority owners (after the two-year “stay married” statute took hold), it would do nothing for me in the immediate future.

  I can’t buy out other people’s holdings and add to my growing majority if I don’t have the kind of cash it takes to do that. A cool thirty mil would solve a lot of problems, problems I never envisioned I’d ever have, but that’s not going to happen.

  But I’ll take the board seat and the 1 percent that Holden is granting me. That percentage, added to mine and the amount Gran has, will make me the second largest shareholder of TinSpirits. With Holden on my side, Rhett will have no other option but to kowtow on decisions or be overruled.

  Both scenarios will bruise his fragile, entitled, unchecked ego. And I’m all for it.

  The name on my screen when my cell rings brings a smile to my face. I hastily rise from my desk and shut my office door before answering it.

  “Rowan here,” I answer in my most businesslike voice.

  Holden’s rumbling chuckle over the connection has goosebumps on my skin. “God, I love when you talk to me in that professional, prissy tone, Sunshine.”

  “Good morning … or I guess it’s afternoon where you are,” I say, looking at the clock and realizing the time difference in London, where he’s currently off conquering the world.

  “It is. I’m jet-lagged as fuck though.”

  “Poor baby,” I coo.

  “I’m not complaining in the least,” he murmurs. And I know what he’s thinking about. The night before last. My Jacuzzi. Then his mouth driving me insane as I lay out on the pool deck until the stars I was seeing outshone the ones in the sky.

  A little pre-trip pussy were his words.

  I called it another day in his make-up-to-Rowan tour.

  “Good. You shouldn’t be.” I smile.

  “The office is good? No one is going off the rails?”

  “You already know the answer to that. Audrey’s anywhere and everywhere.”

  “That’s what I like to hear.” He pauses. “And the paperwork? Your lawyer received it?”

  “She did, and she’s made a few changes to it,” I say.

  “Of course she has.”

  I can’t tell if he’s irritated or not by what my lawyer redlined. Just seeing the legal documents naming him as the majority owner of TinSpirits—even when I knew it was coming—was hard enough. The newly added addendum naming me as a recipient of a board seat and an allocated percent of ownership when the deal closes even more so.

  My dream of being the CEO one day now feels nearly impossible.

  I shove down the emotions, blink away the tears, and nod in resolve.

  It may not be exactly what I’ve always dreamt of, but I’m at least securing a better position for myself.

  “Someone has to look out for my interests.”

  “There are a lot of your interests that I’m looking out for. Just in other respects,” he teases.

  “So when will Rhett see this? Just want to be prepared for the fallout.”

  “When we close the deal. Like I said, I’m sure there will be some last-minute bargaining on each side. I’ve found that to be a normal part of the process. It’s a game of chess. Each move has a countermove that will eventually lead to a checkmate.”

  “And the timeline? A week? A month? More? I’m sure you have to have a guestimate.”

  “Not sure yet. Due diligence is still happening.”

  “But you’ll let me know when it’s getting close.”

  Holden chuckles. “Don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of time to gloat.”

  “Good.” I cross my arms over my chest and lean back in my chair.

  “Good,” he mocks me.

  “You never answered my question the other night.” And one that I’ve been thinking too much about lately.

  “Which question was that?”

  I glance out the window of my office, hesitant, as if I’m afraid that someone might be there to hear my next question. A question I shouldn’t even be asking while I’m here but am going to anyway. “Why it is that we never go to your place?”

  “Ah. Yes. That question. I believe I got distracted with my face buried between your thighs. I found pleasuring you to be a way more pressing matter than talking.” Another chuckle. Another subtle pause that leaves us both thinking back.

  And leaves me suddenly feeling ridiculous for bringing it up again. Like some clingy, needy woman—the type of woman that makes me cringe—when this is supposed to be sex. Just exclusive, monogamous sex.

  “I wasn’t complaining. I was just curious is all.”

  “Let’s see. My answer is that I live in a very populated area in the heart of downtown. An area frequented by many of your lovely Westmore Country Club members who pay way too much attention to what I may or may not be doing. No matter if I’m coming or going and regardless of what time of day or night, I almost always run into one of them. And considering your rule on this is that it stays on the down-low to preserve your reputation with the board, I just assumed that it would be best if we use your place since it offers more privacy.”

  Completely logical. So why did my mind make more of it?

  “Why? Is it that important to you?” he asks as my mind overthinks.

  “No. Yes.” It’s just sex, Row. Just physical. “Your answer makes perfect sense.”

  “You can stop overthinking it now.” He chuckles, and I startle at his comment and how right he is. I guess we’re starting to get to know each other better than I thought.

  Who am I kidding? How can we not know each other as much as we’re around each other?

  There’s some kind of commotion down the hall that has me rising from my seat to open my door and see what it is.

  “Everything okay there?” Holden asks, clearly able to hear what sounds to me like Rhett losing his temper over something.

  “Uh, not sure. Rhett’s upset about something. Talk later?”

  “Of course.”

  I end the call and stride down the hall to the closed conference room door. Employees glance up and then avert their eyes, as if they think they’re going to be in trouble for being as curious as I’m being.

  But I can’t be fired for being nosy.

  I open the door without knocking to find Rhett staring out the window. His hands are on his hips and there’s clear tension in the set of his shoulders. Chad is sitting at the other end of the conference room, his eyes on my brother before looking over to meet mine.

  “Do either of you want to explain why you’re making a freaking scene in here so that everyone out there is wondering what in the hell is going on?” I demand.

  “Just go away, Row. It’s nothing,” Rhett says without turning to face me.

  “Doesn’t sound like nothing. In fact, it sounds like a whole hell of a lot of something.”

  “Go.” He shoves a finger in the direction of the door. His errant dismissal has me gritting my teeth.

  I turn to Chad, whose eyes are wide and body is just as tense as my brother’s. “What the fuck is going on?”

  He shifts in his chair. Clearly uncomfortable. “It’s nothing. Just some bad news. Rhett—uh—was trying to make a deal with someone—”

  “A deal?” I ask.

  “Yes. A fucking deal,” Rhett spits out as he turns to face me. “I was trying to do what Holden asked. Make a deal with someone—some new supplier—and it fucking backfired.”

  Chad blanches at Rhett’s explanation and I don’t know what to make of it. Not in the least. He seems way too upset over a deal falling through. Then there’s the fact that Holden is having me do the same thing. Is he pitting us against each other? Is he playing both sides to see who wins and then will take that person and give them what he’s promised—a seat on the board for me or another vote for Rhett?

  My stomach churns at the thought. At the worry that I’ve put my trust in Holden when maybe I shouldn’t have.

  Jesus. You’re sleeping with the man. Now you think you can’t trust him?

  “Is that all?” Rhett demands. “Because you’re standing there looking at me with your jaw on the floor and it’s not a very good look for you.”

  “Fuck you, Rhett,” I say with every ounce of disgust that I have. “Fuck you and your mood swings. Whatever this is that you’re pissed about, just remember that you brought it on yourself. All of it. So no one in this office should have to hear your tantrum over one thing gone wrong when you’re throwing all of their lives in an upheaval with this sale. If they acted like you are right now, you’d fire them. So figure your shit out and grow the fuck up.”

  I storm out of the conference room and back to my own desk, but I’m too irritated to sit. I pace from one corner to the next, hating the uneasiness churning inside.

  When my phones buzzes with a text, I already know who it’s going to be.

  Holden: Everything okay?

  I stare at the text for the longest time, almost as if staring at it will erase the doubt I feel crawling its way up my spine. Might as well just go for it.

  Me: Are you playing me against my brother?

  Holden: Explain

  Me: Did you make a deal with my brother like you did me?

  Holden: No. You have the deal in writing. You said your lawyer has it. That’s it.

  Me: Did you promise Rhett anything other than what’s in the documents?

  Holden: Why would I do that?

  Holden: Rowan? Why are you asking?

  Holden: Answer me!

  I want to believe him. I stare at the texts, can hear his voice in every single word he types, and I want to believe him.

  And is it sad that I do in fact believe him over my own flesh and blood’s answer?

  My phone begins ringing in my hand. Not surprised he’s calling, but I push it to voicemail.

  Me: Forget I asked. All is good here.

  But it isn’t.

  Far from it.

  Either Rhett’s telling the truth, or he’s pissed off about something.

  And neither is a good thing.

  The question is, what’s he so upset about?

  I hate that the questions still linger long after the last text. So much so that when there’s a soft knock on my door, I groan inwardly when I see it’s Rhett.

  The look I give him says I’m anything but thrilled he’s standing there.

  “Hey,” he says softly and moves to take a seat opposite me. “C’mon, Row. Don’t ignore me.”

  With an exaggerated sigh, I drop my pen and lean back in my chair to meet his eyes. “I have every right to kick you out of my office after the way you’ve treated me. And I’m not just talking about earlier. I’m talking about the whole fucking situation going on here.”

  “You’re right. You do.”

  I do a double take. Those were not the words I expected. I stare at my brother and see a glimmer of the boy I used to know and look up to.

  “Go on,” I say, refusing to give him an inch.

  “I apologize—”

  “Holy shit.” I make a show of looking out my window. “Is hell freezing over?”

  “C’mon. Don’t be an ass.”

  I snort. “I’m pretty sure that’s your forte.”

  His sigh is one of frustration. “Look. I apologize. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately. A lot of things are happening all at once. Coming to fruition all at the same time and—”

  “Like what?”

  He grimaces. “I can’t, Row. There’s an NDA and the repercussions if I break it, if any of the board members breach it, are … they’re fucking terrifying.” He runs a hand through his hair. “If you thought we had a good legal department, it’s got nothing on Holden’s.”

  I nod. Still not completely comfortable with this conversation and what he’s implying. That there are a million more secrets out there that I don’t know about.

  Games upon games upon games.

  “Truth be told, the only person I can count on right now is Chad. It’s been … fuck, it’s been brutal.”

  “Uh-huh,” I say. “Don’t expect me to feel sorry for you.”

  “I don’t, it’s just, I think we all need to stick together.” He sounds defeated and the emotion confuses me. He’s getting what he wants. A cash buyout. Responsibility off his back while he gets to retain his cushy title.

  “Why do you say that?” I ask.

  “No reason in particular. I think Holden’s a great businessman but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to have each other’s backs.”

  “Maybe you should have thought of that before you blindsided me, fired my whole team.”

  “Blood is thicker than water, Rowan.”

  “I’m not falling for that bullshit, Rhett. It’s admirable but I’m not falling for it.” I shrug. “It’s perfectly fine to get cold feet and back out of the deal. You’d have more than just my support on that if you did.”

  “Like whose?” He narrows his eyes.

  “It’s not my place to say, but just know you would,” I bluff.

  He stands abruptly, his eyes never leaving mine. “You don’t have to accept my apology, but just know I mean it. Truly, I do.”

  My brother walks out of my office, his shoulders slumped and his head down.

  The problem is I’m so jaded, I don’t know if I believe him or if this is just another act in his smoke-and-mirrors show.

  FIFTY

  Holden

  “How’d they take it?”

  “The real estate agent? The owners? Who?” Bob asks as noise clatters on in the background.

  “How about all of the above?”

  “Furious. Livid. Threatening this and that for reneging on the deal. Their agent has called no less than three times a day begging for you to reconsider on his client’s behalf.”

  “Mmm,” I murmur, preoccupied with avoiding whatever altercation is happening in the intersection in front of me. People out of cars. Rough characters looking about to fight.