by Parker, Ali
Wayne was sitting in his study by himself when we got there, poring over a stack of papers. He looked up, smiling as Blake shut the door behind us. “Well, do you have an answer for us?”
“I, uh. I.” Stammering wasn’t like me at all, but this situation was getting the better of me.
Thankfully, Blake jumped in. “Aston’s worried about taking Danny’s spot. She thinks I only want to give it to her because of who she is to me, that we only offered it to her because we had no other options.”
Nodding, Wayne pushed the stack of papers to the side and gestured for me to take a seat. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger before lifting his eyes to meet mine. “Before I sent Blake to California the first time, I had heard about you. It was one of the reasons I wanted him to go there in the first place, to report back on whether the things I was hearing about you were true.”
Eyes widening, I glanced at Blake. He shrugged, waiting for his father to continue. I wondered if Wayne was telling the truth, but he had no reason to lie to me. Especially not about this.
“You were a bit of a wildcard hire for me, but your recommendations were great. People raved about you,” he said, smiling as though he was recalling a fond memory. “California was deep in the red before you started. I was considering closing the Palo Alto branch down. It was under-performing every quarter until you got there, then it started turning around.”
I’d known the hotel wasn’t performing wonderfully before I took over, but I had no idea it was in such big trouble. “Your reviews from your employees were wonderful. You inspired people. I knew even back then that you were going to end up in one of the top spots someday, and that you would deserve to be because you wouldn’t stop until you got there. You’re the woman for this job, my dear. There is no doubt in my mind about that.”
Gaping slightly, I tried to absorb the praise he showered on me. But it still didn’t change the facts or how I felt about their offer. “I can’t break up this family, I won’t be the reason Danny gets sent to California.”
“Danny is the reason Danny is being sent to California, not you,” Wayne insisted, then chuckled. A low, pleasant sound. “Our family is closer than ever, you are not breaking it up.”
“I just—” Searching my brain for words that would make them understand, I came up empty. “I can’t take this job. It doesn’t feel right.”
With that, I spun around and walked out of the office. Before the door closed behind me, I heard Wayne telling Blake to give me a minute. I appreciated it.
Going outside to sit on the top step of the front porch, I let the warmth of the sun wash over me. It seeped into my skin, chasing away the darkness gathering deep inside me. I didn’t want to be the reason Danny and Blake weren’t as close as they needed to be, not physically or emotionally.
I couldn’t let Blake put this distance between the two of them. Palo Alto was a long way away from Tampa and this was where Danny belonged—with his family.
They’d only just gotten their mother back. Their family needed time to heal together, not with one of its members in a different state.
The need to get away from here clawed at me, my skin crawling with the need to just get away. I needed time to think, time to breathe. And I couldn’t do it here.
Without even really realizing what I was doing, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called a cab. I would sneak out for just a little while without anyone knowing. I would keep my phone on me. The baby and I would be fine. I just needed a little space.
Chapter 67
Blake
Walking out of Dad’s study, I bumped into my mom in the hall. For a guy who spent years seeing only one family member, two at most, once every couple of weeks, I was surrounded by them now. I didn’t know how much I liked it yet.
“Have you seen Aston? I asked Mom, who smiled as she jerked her head in the direction of the front door.
“She left in a cab a few minutes ago,” Mom told me. “I saw her out there from the kitchen window, but it looked like she could use a couple of minutes alone. Next thing I knew, there was a cab and she was getting into it.”
My heart sank to my shoes. “What?”
I knew Aston was upset by my offering her Danny’s job, but I never thought she would leave. Panic crept in and gripped my heart. She didn’t know anyone in Florida as far as I knew. I didn’t even know where to start looking for her.
“Fuck,” I mumbled, ignoring my mom’s chastising look. It was a little fucking late for her to try have any say about my language. I was getting used to having her around, maybe even starting to forgive her for leaving, but that didn’t mean I was ready for her to start mothering me now. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Blake, it will be fine,” she said, coming over to rest her hand on my forearm. I yanked it out of her reach, striding purposefully over to the front door. Maybe Aston just took a ride around the block.
Mom trailed after me, trying to soothe me. To calm me down. “I’m sure she just needed some space to clear her head. The poor girl’s been on a roller coaster ride these past few weeks. She’s had everything she knows uprooted and gotten swept up into your world. She hasn’t been home in weeks. She’s pregnant with the baby of a man who just took over the company she works for, but hasn’t been able to work at. She’s been in the hospital, met your parents and just got told you want her to take over one of the most important, highest offices in the company. Give her a break.”
“Like you needed a break?” I snapped. It wasn’t fair, but my head was spinning. Aston had left. Just—gone. Without saying goodbye or telling me where she was going, or even that she was going. It felt all too familiar. A sick feeling spread from my stomach up my throat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bark at you.”
“It’s okay, Blake,” Mom said, her voice barely above a whisper. “She’s not me. She hasn’t left you, honey. She probably just went for a ride. She’ll be back.”
“Why would she leave?” I breathed, pacing up and down the front entrance hall. It wouldn’t bring her back faster if I hovered by the entrance, but I couldn’t bring myself to go back into the house without her.
Dad appeared in the doorway, sympathy in his eyes and the tight line of his lips. “That was an intense conversation we just had, son. For you, this is all normal. It’s business. Think about it from her perspective, though. She’s already being sucked into your world at the speed of light, now you want to cement that even more by giving her a position that has always been held by a family member. Not only would accepting it mean she had to move, but it would also mean taking on an office she might not be ready for and might not think she deserves.”
“She does deserve it,” I insisted, calmed only marginally by my dad nodding his agreement. I stopped pacing, wild eyes searching out his. “Why can’t she understand she deserves it?”
“I don’t know much about her history,” Dad said. “But she doesn’t strike me as the kind of woman who expects or wants anything to be handed to her on a silver platter. It’s obvious from her work ethic that she takes pride in her job. She might feel that this would take away from that because she hasn’t earned it.”
“She’s more than earned it.”
My dad nodded again, putting his hand on my shoulder to grab my attention fully as he gestured around the room. Danny was there now too, standing next to our mother. “Yes, she has earned it. After everything that’s happened, Danny wouldn’t have remained in his position and she definitely would have been an internal candidate considered to fill it—even if you’d never met her.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw my brother flinch. Dad went on, undeterred by Danny’s reaction. “Like I said though, she doesn’t see it that way yet. Think about what all this looks like to her. You can see family means a lot to her from the way she’s been with us, your mom especially. She might not really have a family of her own, but she certainly values it. She doesn’t want to be responsible for causing a rift in ours
, probably because there’s already a rift in her own.”
Dad had a way of seeing things in people I couldn’t, a way of understanding thoughts and feelings that could only have come from decades of dealing with thousands of employees. He often dealt with personnel issues personally. Not as much the last couple of years, but he liked having a human connection with his staff.
He thought it was the only way to really be and stay successful—to value your people and to have them know it. I mulled over his words, knowing he was right. All those years of managing his people might be the only thing that could save my relationship right now.
“Thanks, Dad. I think you might be right. I don’t know how to fix it, but I have to find her and try talk to her again,” I said, determination blooming like a growing thing in my chest. “I’ll come up with an alternative she can accept. I have to.”
Danny stepped forward, a contrite smile on his lips. “I think I might be able to help you out there.”
“What do you mean?” Without meaning to, my eyes narrowed. I didn’t really trust my brother right now, but he seemed to have accepted the way things were going to be going forward.
Besides, if he had a plan, I was all ears. It wasn’t like I had a better one. “How can you help?”
“There is a way to make this work,” he started, dragging his hands over the scruff that had grown on his cheeks and jaw. “It seems to me that her problem is not only taking over from me, but because she thinks that’s why you’re sending me away.”
“It kind of is,” I pointed out the obvious. “We need someone down in California if she’s not going back and you’d do well there.”
Danny smirked. “Of course I would. I’d manage the shit out of that hotel.”
Frustrated and worried about Aston alone in a cab going God only knew where, I threw up my hands. “I don’t hear a plan anywhere in there.”
Shaking his head sheepishly, he ruffled his hair. “Sure. Yeah, sorry. I was just making a point.”
“Consider it made.” Danny would be able to manage the hotel, I knew that. It was why I came up with the plan of sending him there. Two birds, one stone and all. “I’m still not hearing a plan.”
“I can’t stay where I am in the company, I get that,” he said, shrugging. “I’m not proud of it, but I fucked up. I let shit go to my head and I’m ashamed to say this has been happening for years. I lost sight of the goal.”
His admission stunned me. I didn’t have anything to say, he already knew I agreed with him. “The thing is, I need to get my head back in the game. I’m not even sure it’s a game I can play anymore, but I want to try.”
“Okay,” I said, wondering where the hell he was going with this.
“For the past couple of years, I’ve been bulldozing along. I never stopped to listen, or to learn.”
Confession hour just kept getting more interesting. I was glad he was finally fessing up to what he had done, but my worry about Aston kept mounting. “And?”
Danny lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “And I think I could learn from her.”
This time, it wasn’t only my jaw that loosened. Mom and Dad exchanged a shocked look, but kept quiet as Danny continued. “If you’d let me, I’d like to stay here. You guys are here, so are Mom and Dad. I’ll go to Palo Alto, if that’s what you want.”
“But?” There had to be a ‘but’ coming.
“No buts. If that’s what you want, I’ll go. I understand that you need someone there and that logistically, it can’t be Aston. I can be a team player again and if that’s what this team needs, I’ll take one for the team and go.”
Taking a deep breath, his eyes darted up to the ceiling like he was slightly embarrassed by what he had to say. “But if you’d consider keeping me on in Florida though, I could work under Aston.”
Shocked, my eyes widened. “You’d be her subordinate?”
“Yeah.” His eyes drifted to Dad before he nodded and looked back at me. “It’s not easy for me to face, but I know I brought this on myself. If I stay, I’ll work as her second. Help her, learn from her, whatever.”
“You would do that?” To say I was surprised was an understatement. My brother, or at least the brother he’d become, lacked the astonishing maturity it took to come up with a plan like this. “You realize it wouldn’t be temporary.”
“I do.” He held onto my gaze, sincere in what he was saying. “I’ve been an asshole. Maybe I could prove myself to all of you by being okay with this. I’m not stupid, I can see how much you love her. I also see, as much as it pains me to admit this, that she’d be better in my job than I am.”
My eyebrows jumped to my hairline. “But I know all the players in this game, and I know the rules. I really believe I could add value to her. She’s going to need someone who knows enough to stand in for her when she goes to the doctor, who she can trust to hold down the fort while she goes on maternity leave. I don’t know much about babies, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to need someone who’d be able to cover for her at the drop of a hat if she needs to leave once the baby is born.”
I blinked, unable to believe what I was hearing from him. Dad’s chest swelled. It was clear he was proud of what Danny was saying. “There’s the maturity you’ve been lacking. Welcome back, my boy. It’s good to see the man I raised again.”
Danny chuckled and nodded. “I’m sorry it’s been such a long time.”
“Better late than never,” I told him. Turning his plan over in my head, I made my decision. “Okay, let’s do it. It’s a good plan and you make some valid points.”
“Think she’ll go for it?” He asked the question sincerely, and unless my ears deceived me, sounded nervous and a little hopeful.
“I hope so,” I said honestly. “It should address everything she’s worried about.”
“Go get her, son.” Dad said. “Talk it over, we’ll be here.”
Suddenly more anxious than ever to go find her, I nodded and headed out. The only place she might possibly have gone was the hotel. Unless she’d just gone for a drive or to the beach. I hoped not though, I hoped she was at the hotel. Our things were there. It was as close to a home base as we had here. I was hoping that was enough reason for her to have gone there.
When I opened the door to our suite, I knew instantly that she was there. Awareness of her made my skin tingle and my heart race. “Aston?”
I heard a zipper before her shaky voice spoke up. “I’m in here.”
Walking around the wall that divided the entry from the bedroom area, I paused when I saw her suitcase sitting on the bed. “What are you doing?”
“Packing,” she said quietly, not stopping to look at me. The zipper I’d heard must have been the one from her vanity bag, sitting beside her suitcase on the bed now. “I’m going home.”
Walking over to take her hands, I rubbed her knuckles with my thumbs. “You are home, Aston. I mean, not in the hotel. In Florida. I’ll get us a house soon. We can pick it out together.”
She looked up at me, shaking her head sadly. “It’s not that simple, Blake.”
“Why not?” I argued, holding onto her hands tightly. “It’s exactly as simple or as complicated as we make it.”
“No, it’s not. What we’ve got going on here, it’s hard.”
Shaking my head, I sat down on the bed and opened my legs, tugging her forward until she was standing between my knees. “I’m sorry for pushing the job on you. I wasn’t thinking properly, I didn’t understand.”
“You do now?” Doubt cooled and darkened her eyes. “What could’ve changed in the last hour?”
“Danny came up with an idea for a new plan.” I laid it out for her, watching as the doubt lessened and eventually faded away.
When I was done, her shoulders had all but relaxed. “This was Danny’s plan?”
“Yes,” I told her, holding up my hand. “Scout’s honor. He came up with it all by himself.”
She smiled softly, some of the familiar playfulness and humor c
reeping back into her features. “Were you ever a scout?”
I shrugged, running my hands up her legs to settle on her hips. “I tried my hand at it. Didn’t stick. Ignore the scout’s honor, then. I promise you, on my honor, that it was his plan. You should’ve heard everything he said, he really wants this.”
“Are you sure? It doesn’t sound like him.” She brought her hands to cover mine on her hips, tracing patterns on my skin with her fingertips.
Leaning my head forward so it lay on her stomach, I breathed in her comforting scent and nodded, the material of her shirt soft against my forehead. “I know, but I think you’re getting to him.”
“Me?” She asked, her surprise clear.
“You,” I repeated confidently. I’d thought about it on the way over and it was the only explanation I had for Danny’s sudden change of heart. “What you’ve done for the hotel pales in comparison to what you’ve done for my family. He respects you and I think he’s ready to earn your respect.”
“What about you, Blake?” She asked the question, all the while looking so deeply into my eyes it was like she was looking all the way into my soul. “Do you respect me?”
“Absolutely,” I breathed, not breaking eye contact with her for a moment. “I respect you, I adore you. More than that, I love you Aston. I’m sorry for being an asshole.”
“I’m sorry too,” she said, as she lifted her knee and set it beside my leg on the bed. Her other leg followed and then she was straddling me, cupping my cheeks in her hands. “I love you too, Blake. So much.”
Chapter 68
Aston
Before I knew what was happening, Blake flipped us over and was rolling my pants down my legs. My panties followed quickly.
He yanked both items over my bare feet and dropped them to the floor. Heat spread through me as his bright blue eyes drank in every inch of me.