“To him it does, and if you give yourself time to think about my explanation, you’ll agree.” Drew stood, his posture deceptively casual. “I’m asking you, as Connor’s brother, to put the brakes on your friendship.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then I’ll have to enforce MI’s company rules as a boss.”
“But Connor doesn’t work here.”
Drew smiled blandly. “Not yet he doesn’t.”
“Are you threatening my job?” Faith asked, standing as well. Drew might be her boss, but he was also just a man to her. A man trying to shove his power in her face and she was done with men trying to control her. “I’m not playing your game.”
“Then follow the rules that were set in place long before you joined the company and there won’t be a need for games.”
“And if I decide to be like your brother and ignore the rules?”
“Then I’ll make it so you won’t be able to get a job anywhere. You’ll also be sued for breach of contract as well as the legal fees that we provided for your father.”
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” She didn’t give a damn if he fired her for insubordination. A spade was a spade. “Your wife is an angel for putting up with you.”
“So I’ve been told.” He blew out a breath. “I’m trying to do the right thing for Connor.”
“Doing the right thing shouldn’t involve threats,” she said and stormed out of there.
9
CONNOR
CONNOR MADE A BEELINE for the library, hoping to catch Faith before she went to lunch. He had to make things right with her and explain why he didn’t call her back on Sunday.
“There you are,” he said as he walked up to her desk.
Faith glanced up at him, her blue eyes shadowed. “Good morning, Mr. Montgomery. How can I help you today?”
The fuck. “I’m looking for my best friend. Seen her?”
“Not at work.” Abruptly, she stood, snatching a book from the cart by her desk and giving him a wide berth as she began to walk to the front of the library. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Fine, he’d play. “What about later, for dinner. Can I see her then?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She bent her head, the slim column of her neck hidden by the heavy length of hair against it.
Connor struggled to keep his tone light as he followed her. Shit, she was upset with him... why had he given in to his impulses that night? “I thought you said that what happened between us was forgotten.”
“I was wrong.” Faith gripped the book she held like she excepted him to snatch it from her... or like it was the only thing protecting her from him. “The more I thought about it this weekend, the less I can move past it, and I need to be able to do so.”
He was so fucking stupid to have kissed her, much less treated her like his next bed partner. Except, it wouldn’t have been like that with her. For the first time in his life, he would have made love to a woman instead of simply fucking her, and it would have meant something to him.
“What more do you want from me?” He stepped closer to her, lowering his voice. “Are you trying to get rid of me? Is there someone else?”
He knew this day would come. However, that didn’t mean he liked the fact that she was looking for something he couldn’t possibly give her, not even with the billions he owned.
Her gaze bounced from her coworkers to the security cameras, and then back to him. “I’m not trying to get rid of you, Mr. Montgomery. This is your family’s company.”
Mr. Montgomery, again? What. The. Fuck. “Stop calling me that,” he ordered. “And what the hell is up with all this ultra-formal talk?”
She leaned forward, her hair like a dark waterfall pooling on the top of the shelf between them. “I’m at work, and I have work to do.”
“I don’t care.” He slashed his hand through the air. “You’re using my last name to put a wall between us and won’t tell me why.”
“Here, there is a wall between us,” she said, her tone insistent. Her eyes pleaded with him as she lowered her voice to a whisper, “Can we talk later? I have to be professional, okay? I just have to be, and I need you to accept that.”
“Did Drew threaten your job?” He all but growled the question like an animal.
She nodded once. “This morning.”
“Come with me, and we’ll get this sorted.”
“No.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I have to work now. You should do the same with your rescue philanthropy. Okay?”
“Pass.”
She sighed thickly. “You’re being unreasonable, and you’re making everyone stare at us.”
“I’m trying to help,” he snapped.
“By getting me fired?” She lowered her voice again. “If you care about me at all, pretend that we’re fighting, or that you’re mad at me because I’m following orders. Okay? I swear we can talk about it tonight over dinner at my place. Or yours. Wherever your brother won’t be watching.”
He both loved and hated how easily she could sway him. “My place at seven.”
“Don’t you take that tone with me, Connor Aiden Montgomery,” she said, her eyes narrowing.
“What tone would you prefer, Ms. Holt?”
Faith raised her dark brows at him, her pale blue eyes flashing. Her cheeks were pink with anger. In her black pencil skirt, bright green blouse and conservative heels, she looked every inch the librarian. And she was so damn beautiful that it made his heart ache.
“The one that doesn’t make you sound like a jerk.” She marched up to him, her finger wagging. “You need to apologize.”
“I don’t think so.” He grabbed her arm, pulling her deeper into the library where no one, not even the security cameras could watch them. “We need to have a chat.”
“Are we far enough inside?” she asked under her breath.
He glanced around, scanning the area. They were completely alone. “Yes.”
“That’s better.” She smiled up at him, her plump lips a temptation that took every ounce of his will to resist. He still remembered how they tasted, how they moved beneath his, making him mindless with—shit, he couldn’t go to that place right now. “When we get together for dinner tonight, I expect you to listen to me before reacting.”
He grabbed her hand, pressing it to his heart. “I promise to be on my best behavior this evening.”
“Good because I hate fighting with you, even if it’s for pretend.” She sighed thickly. “Just so you know, my plans were with my dad. And it sucked.”
“Damn.” His gut twisted. “Anything I can do?”
“Keep me from getting fired.”
“Consider it done, Buttercup.” He let go of her hand.
She narrowed her eyes. “Stop trying to distract me with your Scottish accent.”
He gave her an innocent smile. “Wouldn’t dream of it, lass.”
“Now, I have to go back to work.” She adjusted his tie, fussing over him and he loved every damn second of it. “Are we okay?”
“Absolutely.” He walked away from her before he did something stupid again.
Like kiss her.
HE TOOK THE PRIVATE elevator to his brother’s office, stepping out as soon as it opened and into the conference room where everyone was waiting. Connor glanced at the clock. He wasn’t late, but they sure as hell looked at him as if he were.
“Morning.”
“You’re late,” Drew said.
“The meeting doesn’t start for ten minutes.” Ten minutes early for everything was something their father had drilled into all his children’s heads, even their baby sister London’s. “Unless you decided to start without me.”
“If you’d bothered to read my latest email, you would have known this week’s meeting was scheduled for thirty minutes earlier than usual,” Drew said.
“I didn’t get the email,” Connor said.
His older brother leveled him with a look. “You monitor our emails regu
larly and didn’t happen to come across one with the new agenda?”
Connor adjusted the cuff links on his button down. “I’m telling you that I didn’t get the email. That’s it.” He was never one for throwing people under the bus. At least not until he knew they’d deliberately tried to cross him or make him look bad in front of the people who mattered most. His brother and father, who wasn’t present, certainly fell in that category, no matter how much his brain wanted to kick them out.
Drew’s newest assistant had the decency to lower his eyes. “Uh, sir. I didn’t know you wanted me to include Mr. Montgomery on the last email. Per our last meeting, you said that only key players were to be included.”
Connor smirked. “Guess my last name didn’t have me on the key player guest list for once.”
Drew’s jaw worked. “My apologies.” He turned his attention to his assistant. “Next time include Connor.”
Connor shouldn’t have been shocked by his brother’s apology, but he was. “I’m certainly glad to personally witness Hannah’s touch.”
“We’re done for the day,” Drew said, effectively dismissing everyone, but Blake York—the company’s chief technical officer.
“York. How’s life?” Connor asked.
“With Ella in it, bloody brilliant.” He wriggled his brows. “She keeps me on my toes.”
“Enough chit-chat,” his brother broke in. “I have another meeting in ten minutes and need to discuss something important with the two of you.”
“Damn, this sounds serious.” Connor sat in the nearest chair. “Hostile take-over? The competition is attempting to steal MI’s employees?”
“Three-year wedding anniversary.”
Both Connor and Blake gaped at Drew.
“Come again,” Blake said, recovering first.
“Next week is mine and Hannah’s anniversary. I’d like to surprise her with a vacation—a long one with me.”
“A weekend away?” Connor asked.
“Don’t be silly. Day and a half, max,” Blake quipped.
“Fuck both of you.” Drew stood and started to pace the length of the room. “When I married Hannah, it was originally only temporary, and then we’d go our separate ways, with her thoroughly compensated for her time. Thankfully, I convinced her that temporary wasn’t enough.”
More like his brother saw the light after Hannah left his arrogant ass, but Connor didn’t think now was the time to correct him.
“However, the closer it gets to our anniversary, the more worried Hannah is acting. I don’t know if it’s the pregnancy or if she’s dwelling on the past. Either way, I have to make it better for her.”
“How can I help?” Connor asked.
Drew glanced at him. “Just like that?”
Connor nodded. “She’s my sister-in-law, and I happen to like her a lot more than I do you.”
“Consider me in as well, as long as I can help remotely. Ella doesn’t like our marital bed to be cold but for so long.”
“I’m going to ignore your unhelpful reference to sex.”
“It’s married sex, mate. Church sanctioned and whatnot.”
Connor suppressed a snicker. Sometimes, it was easier than he thought possible for grown men to act like boys. This was one of those times.
“I’d like to be off for the next month, which means I need someone I can trust to oversee the day to day and big picture operations while I’m gone.”
“Big picture for the foreign location win,” Blake said.
“No, you’re day to day,” Drew said. “You’ve been with me the longest.”
Blake’s face fell. “I’ll do my best.”
“I can do it,” Connor volunteered. He knew Blake only flew in once a month for a reason—he couldn’t stand to be away from his family longer than that.
“You won’t be able to hang out with Faith, or give her special privileges, like extra-long lunches or weekends,” Drew warned. “You’ll have to follow company rules, no matter what and fraternization is frowned upon.”
“Not frowned upon. The horror.” Connor pretended to clutch a necklace around his throat. “I feel faint.”
“Really?” Blake grinned. “Do tell me more about this fraternizing with Faith.”
Connor grimaced. “It’s not like that.”
“That is so disappointing.”
Drew frowned, but it was directed at Blake and not him. “For once, Connor has managed to have a completely platonic relationship with a woman who is not related to him for longer than a day.”
He’d protest his brother’s comments about him, but they were true. He’d never been known for his friendships with women, but rather his playboy reputation. “Faith is different, you know that.”
“But you’re not.” Drew tapped a pen against the table. “The Sentinel program is nothing to mess around with. The London office has the lead. It could help us get into foreign markets we haven’t breached yet.”
Connor leaned forward in his seat. “Let me help you and make it easier on Blake. Your staff is top-notch. What I don’t know, they can help me with, and I don’t mind visiting the satellite offices. I have no one waiting for me at home, no one who’ll miss me while I’m gone.”
A pang of something hit him in the gut at the truth of his words.
Drew stayed silent so long that Connor almost rescinded his offer. “Thanks. So, Connor will be in charge of day to day operations and Blake will continue with the big picture operations.”
Blake’s phone buzzed. “It’s Ella. If you’ll excuse me.” He stepped outside, closing the door behind him.
“I won’t let you down,” Connor said as he stood. “I know the company better than you think. Hell, you might be inclined to take vacations more often with me at the helm.”
“That, little brother, remains to be seen.”
He deserved that, but it stung like hell. “What did you say to Faith?”
“Wondered how long it would take you to bring that up?”
“She’s barely talking to me and keeps spouting off some bullshit about maintaining a professional distance.” The lie came easily enough to him.
“Good.” Drew smiled blandly. “At least one of you can do the right thing.”
“Leave her alone, Drew,” he warned. “You didn’t hire her. Dad did, and therefore, her contract is with him, not you.”
“Now that I’m CEO, all contracts have been transferred to me.”
“You might be the CEO, but I can change anything on our servers. And not even your title can stop me.”
“It’s your funeral. Or should I say hers. Sad, honestly, because if you really care about Faith, you’d put her first instead of yourself.”
“Have you considered the possibility that she doesn’t want to end our friendship?”
“Have you considered possibility that she feels obligated to be your friend because she has nothing to offer you otherwise?”
“She has everything to offer.”
Drew gathered his things and moved to the door. “I’ll have my assistant email you everything that needs to be covered, and I’ll check in once a week.”
“What happened to a long vacation?”
His brother opened the door. “Working billionaires never really take one when they have thousands of employees around the world relying on them.”
And a brother that couldn’t be counted on.
The message hung loud and clear between them, but it wasn’t as glaring as it had been in the past. However, Connor doubted it would ever fade away completely.
10
FAITH
FAITH MADE A PIT STOP at her apartment to change before she headed to Connor’s house. She checked the answering machine on the landline her mother insisted she keep and deleted the few robocalls that had left a message.
At the last minute, she dabbed on some cherry lip gloss and checked her appearance in the mirror. Not for Connor’s sake, she insisted, but for hers. She didn’t want to go out in public without making su
re she didn’t have anything between her teeth.
When her reflection gave her the all’s clear, she opened her door, only to find two large, imposing men standing in her way.
“Ms. Holt,” the shorter one with tattoos inked onto the side of his head said. “I hope this isn’t a bad time.”
Unease stirred inside of her. “Actually, I was on my way to meet a friend.”
The man smiled pleasantly, but it was a creepy pleasant. “Don’t worry. We won’t make you late for your meeting with Mr. Montgomery.”
“How do you—what do you want?” She reached in her purse for the mace she kept in it, wishing she had something with more force.
“It seems that a bet was made in your name. Unfortunately, you lost and we’ve come to collect.”
Blood rushed from her face, leaving her dizzy. The taller man reached out to steady her. “Do you need to sit down?” he asked in a voice that was more soothing than a DJ’s during the midnight hour.
“No. I... I don’t gamble.”
“I understand these things can happen, but you still owe the money.”
She licked her lips, reaching out to grab the doorframe for support. “How much?”
His gaze went to the diamond ring on her right hand for a second or two, then he said, “Two hundred thousand.”
“Two hundred...” Her vision sparked and her knees buckled. “Oh my God.”
Once again, the men steadied her, as if they were used to people nearly fainting around them. “That is a large sum of money and since this was your first time, we’re willing to extend our deadline by two weeks.”
“Two weeks?”
They nodded, letting go of her.
“How do I know you’re not scamming me?”
“Very smart to ask.” The shorter man reached into his coat, pulling out a piece of paper. He handed it to her. “This is your name, correct?”
She examined the paper, swallowing around the boulder that had formed in her throat. “Yes.”
“The original bet was for one thousand dollars, but the odds played meant that if the... house won, you’d owe two hundred thousand.”
“But gambling’s illegal in North Carolina.”
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