Layer by Layer (Riggins Brothers Book 1)

by Kaylee Ryan

  I nod and notice that with that simple act, my head feels heavier and fuzzier than before. I’m piss-ass drunk, and I know tomorrow I’m going to be nursing the hangover from hell.

  “Derek is about five minutes out,” Hadley says. She links her arm through mine, and together we start making our way through the thinning crowd to the exit.

  “We’ll wait with you. Owen’s almost here,” Marshall says, stepping up beside me.

  The four of us head out of the club, and the cool breeze of the night air does wonders for my heated skin. My hair and clothes are wet from sweat from all the dancing and close bodies. I know I’m a hot mess without even looking in the mirror.

  A sleek black sports car that looks like sex—yes, cars can look like sex. At least they do in my current drunken state—pulls up next to us.

  “That car is hot as fuck,” Hadley says from beside me. It’s like she can read my thoughts. That’s why we’re best friends.

  “I’ll tell Owen you said so.” Conrad chuckles.

  “Th-That’s Owen?” I ask.

  “Yep. I’m going to go tell him to wait for a few. We’re going to wait until her man gets here.” Conrad gives my elbow a gentle squeeze before he saunters over to Owen’s waiting sex on wheels. He’s walking straight and doesn’t seem the least bit drunk.

  “How is he not swaying?” I ask the night air.

  “We’re men, and we can drink more than you. You two are tiny things. However, we also know when it’s too much to drive. We’re not about that,” Marshall explains.

  The way that he says it almost sounds as if he’s repeating a small piece of a lecture he’s heard many times in his life. I can’t imagine the hell the five brothers put their parents through growing up.

  “There’s my man.” Hadley cheers as Derek pulls up in his SUV.

  With her arm still linked with mine, we make our way to the SUV. She climbs into the front, and I open the back door but stop before climbing inside. I turn to look at Conrad and Marshall. I wave at them, and then my eyes seek out Owen. The windows are tinted, but from the glow of the street light, I can make out the figure of his body sitting behind the wheel. I wave to him too. I’m sure he’s watching me, wondering what kind of a mess they got themselves into hiring me. So much for good impressions. I need water, a shower, and sleep. In that order. I manage to climb into the back seat of the SUV and rest my head against the window. Through my drunken haze, I make a mental note to check the handbook to see if any rules were broken.

  Derek takes me to my place and helps me inside. Hadley is already passed out in the front seat. “Thank you. Take care of her,” I tell him.

  “Always. You good?”

  “Yep,” I say, and even I can hear the slow sluggish tone of my voice. “Night, D.”

  “Night. Lock up.”

  I do as he says, knowing he won’t leave until I do. Kicking off my shoes, I don’t bother with lights as I make my way down the hall to my bedroom. Flopping down on my bed face-first, all I can seem to think about is, what is Royce going to say?

  Chapter 4

  Royce

  For as long as I can remember, my mom insisted on Sunday dinners. It started when we were just kids, and Dad was working all the time to expand the company. She didn’t want us to lose out on family time, so she deemed Sundays family days. We loved it. Both Mom and Dad were home, and we got all of their attention, which was a difficult task for them—I’m sure with five boys running around the house. When I went off to college, I would come home as much as I could, as did my brothers who followed after me. Now that we’re all graduated and living on our own, my mother still insists on Sunday dinners. If they’re not traveling, there will be dinner every Sunday.

  That’s why I’m pulling into the driveway of the house I grew up in. Dinner is served at five every Sunday. There is always way more food than the seven of us can eat. I asked Mom once why she made so much. She said that one day she hoped that each of us would find a nice woman to bring home, and she wanted us to have the reassurance that there would always be room at the table and plenty of food for each of them.

  Mom’s a romantic. She and Dad met in high school, and here they are now, married thirty-four years, and still going strong. Not all of us are that lucky. To find the one person in the world who will give you unconditional love—and trust. I learned the hard way that trust is extremely hard to find. In fact, if your last name isn’t Riggins, I don’t trust you. Well, outside of Jase, my best friend. I give him shit for falling in love with my assistant, but the fact of the matter is, they are both deliriously happy. I want that for them. It’s just not for all of us.

  Walking into the house, it’s not as loud and boisterous as it usually is. I’m the last to arrive from the looks of the vehicles in the driveway. Grant’s out of town, but he alone doesn’t make up for the quiet of the house. I make my way toward the living room, following the sound of the television to find three of my brothers and my dad.

  “What’s up?” I ask.

  Dad chuckles. “Seems your brothers don’t know their limits.”

  I look over at Conrad and Marshall, and although they look a little haggard, they seem fine. My eyes then land on Owen. “You drank?” I ask him. Not that he doesn’t drink; he’s just not one for going out to clubs. He’s more of a social drinker or having a beer at night once he’s home. Owen is by far the most serious of the five of us.

  “No, but they woke my ass up at two this morning to come and get them.”

  I nod. Grant is usually the lucky brother who gets the calls in the middle of the night, but he’s out of town. It makes sense they would call Owen and not me. As the oldest brother and the CEO of Riggins Enterprises, they know the ride home would have been a lecture. Owen, on the other hand, I’m sure picked them up and dropped them off without a word.

  Their actions directly affect the view of the company. It’s not fair, but it is the way things are. Our company has money, more than my kids' kids would ever be able to spend, and with that come the vultures—the media or some random person at the club looking to get a quick payday from a grainy image snapped from their cell phones. The CEO in me understands the implications. The brother in me understands wanting to go out and let loose for a night.

  It’s been years since I’ve done that. In fact, not once have I had more than a drink or two since I took over the reins at Riggins Enterprises. The entire company rests upon my shoulders. I take that seriously.

  I know what you’re thinking, that I’m the serious one, not Owen. That’s true in a sense, but Owen, he keeps to himself. He’s private about his dating life. Hell, I’m not even sure he has one. Whereas I don’t hide it, or the fact that it’s one and done. Always. Those trysts may be few and far between, but they all know I have them. I tried the yellow brick road that led me to forever, and it was a dead end. Lesson learned. It’s no longer about the marathon when it comes to the women in my life, but the sprint. It’s always short-lived, and women know before it even starts that nothing will come of it.

  I just don’t have it in me.

  Not anymore.

  “You haven’t heard the best part. Ask them who they were with,” Owen says. His expression’s unreadable behind his thick beard, but the glint in his eyes tells me he’s enjoying this little game of verbal torture on our younger brothers.

  “Who were you with?”

  “A girl we met. Her name is Hadley.” Conrad is quick to answer.

  Why does that name sound familiar? I glance over at Owen, and the slightest shake of his head tells me there’s more. “Who else?”

  “Her best friend,” Marshall adds.

  Another look at Owen and I know they’re still not telling me everything. “Does this best friend have a name?” They share a look before Conrad opens his mouth and knocks me on my ass.

  “Sawyer.”

  Sawyer? “Wait. My Sawyer?” I ask them. My voice is raised, and instead of flinching, my two younger brothers grin like I just told th
em we won the fucking lottery. I’m kicking myself in the ass for my blunder. Thankfully, I’ve kept that I already knew her to myself.

  “Is she yours, Royce? Is there something you’re not telling us?” Marshall asks.

  “Sawyer from the office. My assistant?” I clarify. She’s not mine, something my dick has taken offense to in the last week.

  “Yep,” Conrad says, popping the p and wearing a shit-eating smirk on his face.

  “You were out drinking with my new assistant?”

  “Not technically. We ran into her and her friend. We had a shot to celebrate her first week at the office, and then hit the dance floor,” Marshall explains. “And she’s not just yours.” He gives me a pointed look that we both know is fucked up. She is mine.

  “Rinse and repeat,” Conrad adds.

  “How did she get home?” I look over at Owen, and he holds his hands in the air. “I didn’t take her. She was climbing into the back seat of an SUV when I saw her.”

  “You let them drive?” I seethe.

  “No. Chill, Royce. We didn’t let them drive. Hadley’s fiancé picked them up.” Conrad watches me closely. I don’t like it, and I don’t like the way my stomach feels as though it’s tied up in knots. And while I’m at it, I’m going to add that I don’t like that they got time with her and I didn’t. She’s off-limits to all of us, but this past week didn’t keep me from fantasizing about her.

  “Sawyer is off-limits.” I make sure to look at each one of my brothers in the eye. I make a mental note to tell Grant the same.

  “Hmm,” Marshall says, tapping his chin. “Dad, is there a rule in the handbook about dating employees?”

  “Nope.” Dad grins.

  Traitor.

  “It’s in the works.” I’m already mentally preparing the email to Gail for first thing tomorrow morning.

  “Well, you see, big brother, it’s not written in stone, not yet, and we did nothing wrong. What harm is there in buying a coworker a shot to celebrate her new job?” Conrad asks.

  “Or spinning her and her cute—despite being engaged—friend around the dance floor?” Marshall adds.

  “You were at a club. There is no spinning on the dance floor. More like grinding,” I say as I clench my jaw.

  “That too.” Marshall grins.

  “Motherfucker,” I mumble as Mom walks into the room.

  “Royce Riggins! You watch your mouth. It’s time to eat,” she announces as she turns on her heel and heads back to the kitchen.

  Like the teenage boys we’ll always be when we get together, we race to the dining room to take our seats. The same places we sat in growing up. No one ever assigned us seats; it just sort of happened one day, and then the next, until it became routine. The dining room table is huge and could seat many more than just the seven of us. In fact, it can seat sixteen in total. It makes it nice for big holiday dinners for family gatherings.

  “What were you boys going on about?” Mom asks once all of our plates are full, and we've begun to eat.

  It doesn’t matter how old we are; we will always be boys in her eyes. “Your offspring thought it would be fun to take my new assistant out and get her drunk last night.” I give Marshall and Conrad a pointed look.

  “That’s not what happened. Royce has his panties in a wad.” Marshall rolls his eyes.

  “Sawyer?” Mom asks. “Gail has said such nice things about her.”

  I heave a heavy sigh before taking another big bite of my mother’s homemade mashed potatoes. I should have known that Gail would fill my mother in on my new assistant. I can only imagine what she’s told her.

  “She’s great,” Conrad tells her. “She was at the club last night with her best friend, Hadley, and we bought them a few rounds, danced a little. Nothing over the top.”

  “Yeah, her friend is engaged,” Marshall explains. “It was just a fun night out.”

  “And you’re upset?” Mom asks. There is a gleam in her eye that tells me exactly what I was afraid of. She thinks I’m jealous. She’s not wrong, but she’s not right either.

  “Yes. She works for us. They shouldn’t be drinking and dancing with her.” My excuse sounds lame even to me.

  “Why on earth not? It sounds like it was a nice friendly evening.”

  “Mom, there is nothing friendly about dancing at a club. Trust me on this one.”

  “Oh, you mean twerking, and what not? I’m sure your brothers enjoyed that.”

  Marshall and Conrad crack up laughing, and even Dad is struggling to hide his grin behind his glass of sweet tea. “There was no twerking. Although, Sawyer did this thing where she bends over and touches the floor.”

  “Hot!” Marshall declares. “So hot.”

  “Boys.” Mom laughs. “It upsets your brother when you talk about his new pretty assistant that way.”

  “How do you know she’s pretty?” I ask without thinking.

  “Gail, and well, now you.” Her grin tells me it was a trap that she expertly placed, and I fell into blindly. I’m thirty-two years old. You would think that I would be smarter than that by now. Mom’s got game. Of course, raising the five of us boys, she had to have.

  “Can we all just agree that it’s bad form? Think about how that makes the company look? When the owners are getting the employees drunk. Dad, back me up here.”

  “Royce is right, and your actions do affect the company. However, you are of legal age, and I assume that she is as well?” He gives them a pointed look, and they reply with a nod. “I see nothing wrong with dancing and a few drinks.”

  “Owen? Some backup?” I ask my brother, who’s closest to me in age.

  “I don’t see what’s wrong with it. She was smiling and laughing. Both girls were. It looked like they were having a good time.”

  “Conspiracy,” I mumble under my breath. Dad’s deep chuckle pulls my attention, and I don’t miss the wink he tosses my mom’s way.

  I decide to let it go. The battle has already been lost, and I don’t want to spend the rest of the meal arguing with them. Besides, even I know that I’m reaching. I would never admit that. No, that means I’m admitting defeat, and that can’t happen. I’d never live it down. Instead, I turn the conversation to work. It’s what I know, and it’s who I am. Mom just smiles and shakes her head as the Riggins men, yes, men, regardless of what she likes to call us, talk about the shop in Idaho that Grant is visiting and the issues we’ve been having.

  I’m in the conversation, offering my thoughts and commenting where appropriate, but the entire time in the back of my mind, all I can see is Sawyer and my two younger brothers. I’m sure the scene in my head is much worse than the real-life event. That doesn’t stop me from glaring at them both as they talk to our parents and Owen. They know better.

  “Royce.” Mom waves her hand in front of my face. I shake out of my thoughts to look at her and realize it’s just the two of us.

  “Where did everyone go?”

  “I was about to ask you the same thing.” She gives me a pointed look.

  “Just going over my day tomorrow in my mind.”

  “Uh-huh.” She shakes her head. “There is nothing wrong with what your brothers did.”

  “She’s our employee.”

  “Gail was our employee and my best friend,” she reminds me.

  “That’s different.”

  “How?” She’s giving me that mom look, the one that says we both know she’s right and she’s trying to hide her glee and look stern at the same time.

  “It just is.”

  “You like her.”

  “No. I mean, yes, I have to on some level to work so closely with her.”

  “No, you like her more than just your assistant.”

  “Mom,” I sigh. “I know you want me to settle down, but that ship has sailed. After Jennifer, I’ll never go down that road again. I have the company, you and Dad, those knuckleheads you tell me are my brothers. That’s enough for me.” I’m not against love and happily ever after. In fact, I o
nce thought that I had it all. Then I found out it was all a lie. I’ve had my fill for a lifetime.

  “Oh, Royce.” Mom stands and makes her way to where I’m sitting. She wraps her arms around me in a hug, and suddenly, I’m a ten-year-old boy all over again. I might have given up on the romance of my life, but I have my family, and my mother’s hugs, they’re still one of a kind.

  Chapter 5

  Sawyer

  I’m more nervous about going to work today than I was my first day. Was that really just a week ago? I managed to start a new job, get drunk with my bosses, and I’m sure I’m either getting fired, or getting my ass chewed today. It was stupid, and I knew better. I have no one to blame but myself. Sure, Hadley was encouraging, but if I stood my ground, she would have gotten the hint. I barely put up a fight.

  The kicker to all of this? I had a good time. Conrad and Marshall are fun to be around. They’re flirts, and other than dancing, kept their hands to themselves. It was nice not to have to fend off advances, to just cut loose and have a good time. Maybe after Royce fires me, we can still be friends?

  “Good morning, Sawyer,” Gail greets me.

  “Good morning.” I give her a bright smile, and hope like hell she doesn’t see the nerves.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Shit. Might as well face the music. “I think I made a mistake.”

  “You think?”

  “I know I did?” It’s more of a question. I’m still not sure if I did or not.

  “Well, whatever it is, I’m sure we can fix it. There is nothing that we can’t trace your steps and put it back.”

  I nod. “That’s good to know, but I didn’t make it here.” I wring my hands together in my lap.

  Gail walks around the desk and takes the extra chair she’s been occupying while training me. “Sawyer, what’s going on? Are you in some kind of trouble?” She places her hand over mine that are still twisting and knotting together. The act is motherly, and the pang of loneliness and missing my own mother hits me so hard it takes my breath.