by Alina Jacobs
Why are all of these men so tall?
He approached me, and I resisted the urge to step back. Owen extended his hand.
"Thank you," he said. "I think you just saved us billions of dollars."
"And some jail time," Parker piped up.
"I'm glad you like it," I said as he shook my hand, "but why do you look so mad?"
"Because Mace should have hired you to do marketing instead of wasting your talents serving coffee."
30
Mace
As soon as I saw Josie's presentation, relief flooded through me—and desire. Seeing her standing up there, dominating the room and being so authoritative, showed me a different side to the klutzy girl who was hell-bent on destroying my car.
I liked her, and while I found the klutzy girl endearing, this woman I needed. I wondered why she wasn't working at one of those hyper-creative, super-cool New York City marketing firms. What was she doing out here?
"When did you have time to put this together?" I asked her after we had spent hours in the meeting going over more of her vision for the marketing campaign and the rollout at the conference.
"I have a confession to make," she said, turning to look up at me. "I still haven't organized the CEO's supply closet or inventoried the snacks or—"
I wanted to kiss her to silence her, but I settled for holding a finger up to her mouth.
"None of that is in your job description. You're marketing full-time now."
She wrinkled her nose. "You haven't seen the state of the supply closet."
I wanted to push her against the wall, kiss her, stroke her, make her mine. Instead I watched her return to her desk. I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration and tried not to plaster my face against the glass wall separating our offices and stare at her like a creep.
I patted my hair back into place. Josie was eroding my self-control. But I had to act professional. I didn't want to be like my father. He would get so infatuated with his newest wife, then when she moved out to the desert with him and had a few kids, he'd ignore her for the next one.
But Josie was in my brain. It was like all the frustration and annoyance I'd felt toward her had flipped one hundred eighty degrees and turned into desire. I didn't know what to do. She was all I could think about.
The ironic thing? I had an excessive number of brothers and none I dared ask for advice about this.
I was assured that Josie had a handle on the gene therapy. But I still had another problem. The next day we had another meeting with Meghan about the factory. For that, I didn't think Josie would have a solution.
"Why are you here?" I asked Archer the next morning when I saw him sitting in my office, eating a bowl of gnocchi.
It smelled like the dinner Josie had made yesterday. I needed to talk to Jack about how he kept trim eating all of Chloe's food. If Josie was going to stick around, I needed to change my workout regimen. Would she stick around? Did I really want her to? I knew I needed her to.
"Where did you get that?" I asked my twin, pushing his feet off my desk.
"I made Adrian bring me some. He was raving about it on the group chat."
"Josie does make great food," I said, sighing happily.
"Holy smokes," Archer said around the mouthful of food. He jumped up, set the bowl down, and snatched my jaw, peering into my eyes. "You like her."
"I don't," I protested, trying to push Archer off me.
"Yes, you do! This is too much," he crowed. "You can't keep anything from me." He lowered his voice. "We're the same person."
"We are not."
"Tell the truth!" Archer thundered, pointing at me with the spoon.
"Fine. Yes, I think I like her."
"Mace has a girlfriend! My baby is all grown up." Archer wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me into a half headlock, half hug. "Your first crush. You're a late bloomer, but—"
"I'm not a late bloomer! I'm never telling you anything ever again," I complained. "Why are you even here?"
"Mike wants me to sit in on the land-use meeting. He wants us to have a better heads-up on what happens when we go for the new conference center."
"Did you find a location yet?" I asked him. "There are a lot of old industrial sites around here, especially near the river, that would probably make really cool conference centers."
"We have a few on our short list. When is Meg coming by?"
"Not until this afternoon. We're meeting to strategize first though. The last meeting went poorly."
"I would have paid good money to see Meg punch Hunter in the face. Greg was appalled when he found out," Archer cackled, leaning back in my chair.
I shook my head.
"He's used to those planning meetings in New York City. A brawl would never break out in one of those," Archer said, chuckling.
"That's how we roll here in small-town America," I replied, gathering up my notes.
Of all of us at our strategy meeting, Archer, because of all the hotels he'd had to secure approvals and permits for, was probably the most knowledgeable. Though my twin could be annoying, he could dominate a public meeting like no one else.
"You guys need to promise something," he said when we went over our strategy. "The community wants to see that they're not getting pushed out. That's why all my hotels have a publicly accessible restaurant on the ground floor or something like a high-end bodega. One hotel has an Italian grocery store that sells imported goods. It was smart because it also tied in with the history of the neighborhood, which historically had a strong Italian immigrant population," Archer explained.
"We're offering to build a park," Liam said, tapping his pen on the table.
"Ah, yes, the good old transfer of development rights," Archer said, rolling his eyes. "That's fine if you need to fulfill some legal requirement, but you need to have something directly related to your new building."
"The residents are mad about the amount of land we're going to be tearing up and the meadow and forest," I told him. "I'm not sure another restaurant is going to help that."
"It can help drum up more support from younger people," he said. "You can use your cute marketing genius."
I kicked him under the table. I could see my twin struggling to keep his mouth shut. I shook my head at him.
But Archer blurted out, "Mace has a girlfriend."
"I don't! I told you that in confidence!" I yelled at him.
"Wait what?" Liam asked. "Greg said you hated her."
"Hate is a strong word," I replied.
"He's embroiled in passion for her." Archer snickered. "And in typical Mace fashion, he's imagining worst-case scenarios and way overthinking things."
"You're terrible," I grumbled.
"Just make sure you go down on her first," Archer said. "A helping hand helps her first and all that."
"That is inappropriate!"
Archer ignored me. "You should ask Hunter for some tips." Hunter's face said that if for some reason I was dumb enough to ask him, it would be the last thing I ever did.
"If we could get back to the meeting…"
"So you can get back to Josie?" Archer waggled his eyebrows.
I did want to go back to Josie, but after the meeting was over, Hunter grabbed me.
"Don't get involved with Josie," he said, face serious. "It can only end badly. Trust me."
31
Josie
My infatuation with Mace was at a simmer. I wanted it to boil, but I also didn't want to screw it up. My friendship with Anke had progressed fast too. When I liked something, I went all out. I was worried that my desire for Mace was overriding the minimal amount of good judgement I had left.
At least I had the excuse of working on the marketing campaign to stay away from him. I avoided him last night and made the kids help me with cleanup after dinner so I wouldn't be tempted. Then I locked myself in my tiny house to work at the cramped drop-down desk.
I had pawned Henry off on Garrett while I met with Willow and the rest of the m
arketing team that morning on the promise that I would take him to the park with the dinosaur slide for lunch. When I returned and peeked into Garrett's office, he and Henry were deep in conversation.
I smiled and left them be so I could take a breather for a minute. I loved marketing, but Tara was making it very stressful. She would challenge every one of my ideas and complain nonstop.
Mace wasn't in his office thankfully, so I sat down at my computer and checked my personal email. My heart dropped when I saw the message from Anke.
Dearest Josie!
Many apologies. Life is like that sometimes. You're my dearest friend. Please don't think poorly of me. I've sent some of the money I owe you. Don't worry. I have a plan for the rest. I'll need your help though, but I know we'll make it work. You are a beautiful spirit! I'll be in town soon. We should get together.
xoxo
Anke
Wait, did she actually send me money? What did she mean she had a plan? My hands shook as I scrolled down and opened the email from PayPal.
Anke sent you $5000.00.
I clicked on the link. Maybe it was imaginary money? But no, the website said it was available to transfer. I sent it to my bank account then slumped at the desk, my mind reeling.
Maybe Anke hadn't been lying, and it was all a big misunderstanding. Maybe things were going to work out!
A flush of relief swept through me. Everything was going to be okay. Anke had paid a chunk of the money she owed me. It wasn't out of the question that she had a legitimate plan for paying me back for the rest. All of my problems would be solved.
I grabbed my bag and skipped out the door, feeling as light as cotton candy until something grabbed my purse strap and jerked me back. I yelped as I fell backward and squished my eyes shut, bracing for impact.
"I thought our high-powered marketing person wasn't going to keep falling down everywhere."
I opened my eyes to look up into Mace's gray ones.
"It wasn't my fault," I said. "Your door tried to kill me."
"It's probably revenge for the window you broke," he said, tipping me back up and disentangling my purse from the metal door handle that was at perfect purse-grabbing height. "Why are you looking at the door handle?" Mace asked and reached over to tilt my chin up. "Did I do something?"
"What? No. You've been great."
"I didn't start off that way," he said. "And I regret that. You've been a positive force in my life. You know, Josie, I really like you."
I had been holding back because of the anxiety that I would screw up Mace's life as epically as I let Anke mess up mine. But now Anke was paying me back, and Mace said he liked me. I deserved a little treat—a bonus for getting my money back and finally using my degree. I wasn't going to eat the whole box of chocolates, just one little truffle.
Mace was very close to me. I wanted him to kiss me, and I wanted to kiss him.
I reached up on my toes and pressed my lips against the corner of his mouth. His lips were soft, and I smelled a hint of that yummy aftershave or body wash or whatever it was that he used. I seriously needed to steal it.
He grinned when I dropped back on my heels. Then his hands came up slowly on my hips. One stayed there as the other moved up my waist to my lower back. Mace pulled me close to his chest, dipped his head down, and gave me a real kiss. It was like chocolate cake, deep and rich. It felt as good to kiss him as I thought it would. Actually, no, it felt better. I hadn't imagined how delicious it would feel to have the ridges of his abs against me.
When Mace pulled back, he was smiling. His hair was slightly messy from my fingers running through it.
"Did I ever tell you I had a real thing for blond guys when I was a teenager?" I said, sounding slightly breathless.
"I'm glad to see you didn't outgrow it," he said. His hands were still at my waist, and he casually caressed my hips. "You're lucky there are glass walls," he said, his voice low, almost a purr. "Otherwise I'd kneel down and—"
"Eat my jellybeans?" I prompted. "Twirl my toffee? Stick your cake pop in my whipped cream?"
But we were probably moving too fast. I didn't want to YOLO into trouble just when I was starting to find my way out of it. Sleeping with my boss was probably in that category though he was an awesome kisser.
"As much as I'd like to introduce you to the finer side of the dessert menu," I said, fixing his tie, "I already have a hot date lined up with one of your brothers."
"Which one?" he growled. The hands on my hips squeezed possessively hard.
"Why, the cutest one, of course—Henry!"
Mace relaxed, laughing. "Cock-blocked by my own brother."
There was a knock on the door. Henry was standing there with Garrett.
"He said you were supposed to meet him at twelve thirty," Garrett said.
"Did you have fun with Garrett?" I asked Henry. "I saw you doing serious business in there."
Henry nodded solemnly. "He taught me about the Great Emu War."
"It was a stain on Australia's history," Garrett added.
"Coming?" I asked Mace.
He shook his head. His eyes flicked from my chest to my mouth and up to my eyes. "I have to prep for a meeting this afternoon."
"It's just you and me, Henry," I said.
The first stop was Ida's General Store. I needed to pick up lunch.
"How's my favorite tiny house lass?" Ida asked, coming up to hug me in front of the premade sandwich display. I hugged her back.
"Is that a Svensson boy?" she asked, looking down at Henry.
"Of course."
"Those Svenssons are tearing up the land," she complained. "They're building a new facility that Bert said is going to ruin the songbird habitat. He's been distracted by it lately and won't even acknowledge my most obvious request to make fondue. Birdwatchers are very detail oriented, if you know what I mean. Those Svenssons and their nonsense are ruining my sex life."
I looked around wildly. Fortunately Henry was picking out his snack and didn't seem like he was listening to Ida.
"We're having a protest," Ida declared. Mace wasn't going to like that, and it would be bad publicity for PharmaTech.
"Before you go to the trouble of making signs," I said. "Let me talk to Mace about it and see if we can't find another solution."
"Talk. Right." Ida smiled at me knowingly. "Ah, the power of pussy. It can bring men to their knees—willingly!" The elderly woman winked at me as we walked back to the register.
"Sign up for the farming co-op?" she asked as she rang me up. "Ernest runs it. Nothing like fresh produce!"
"Why not?" I said, taking the tablet Ida handed me. "If you live in a small town, you might as well enjoy the bounty."
Mace was doing a lot for me. This would be a nice thing to do in return, I thought as I paid the modest fee.
"You wouldn't believe how good that man's eggplant tastes!" Ida crowed.
After a picnic of turkey, avocado, Swiss cheese, and arugula sandwiches on really good ciabatta at one of the tables in the park, I ate my salt-and-vinegar chips while Henry played with a few of the other kids. I promised Henry he could come back tomorrow as I buckled him in the car seat.
A light on the dashboard blinked when I turned on the car.
"I think we're out of gas, so I'm going to fill up before we head back," I told Henry.
And I'm going to use the money that Anke finally sent me!
I practically floated out of the car when I pulled up at the gas pump. Today was going great. Mace kissed me, and I didn't scratch up his car. It did take me a while to find the gas tank. It took some muscle to pry the cap off, but I did it. It was also one of those weird kinds that didn't have a screw-on lid.
"Taking care of business!" I sang as I swiped my credit card. I only put a few gallons in. I still had debts after all. But it felt good that I wasn't a total mooch. I didn't want to be like my mother, using men only for their money, but now I was contributing. I was helping save Mace's gene therapy launch. I made dinner. I
put gas in the car.
Sunglasses on, I pulled out of the gas station. I grinned stupidly as I replayed the kiss. I knew Mace wanted more. Henry screamed as I turned on the main road.
"Henry, you can't keep yelling every time I turn," I scolded him.
"Fire!" Henry said.
"A fire truck?"
"No! Fire!"
I took off my sunglasses. Thick black smoke was billowing out of the trunk of the car.
"Oh my God! Fire! Fire!" I yelled. Someone honked as I swerved the car off to the side of the road.
Quick as a monkey, Henry unbuckled himself from his car seat and climbed to the front of the car over the center console.
"Why is it on fire?" I yelled, coughing as I dragged Henry out of the car. "Crap, my purse!" I lunged back and grabbed it while Henry yelled. I jumped back in the nick of time as flames shot up out of the back of the car.
"Call the fire department!" Henry said, jumping up and down.
"It seems like someone already did." Sirens blared in the distance, and people were stopping to take videos of Mace's burning car.
"We're going to be on TV!" Henry said happily.
"That's just great. I can't have one good day without a car spontaneously combusting."
A compact silver car pulled up, and a kind-looking brunette jumped out. "Are you all right?" she asked in concern.
"Just a little singed," I said. The woman pulled us away from the car as it popped and sparks shot out.
"Look, a fire truck! It's a fire truck!" Henry exclaimed in excitement as the large red truck pulled up alongside the burning car.
"I was going to ask if he was okay, but he doesn't seem any worse for wear," the brunette said dryly.
"This is the best day ever," Henry said, his eyes sparkling. We watched as the firemen hustled out of the truck and started dousing the flames with water.
One of the men sauntered over to us.