Seducing Bran

by Jules Barnard

  Bran. Was. Evil.

  Ireland pulled on her shirt over her bathing suit and slipped on her white shorts. She collected her belongings, ready to leap off the boat as soon as they landed at the Club Tahoe dock. She even pulled out her glasses and shoved them on so she could make a quick getaway without stumbling and killing herself.

  Who cared if Bran saw her in her glasses? She had no need to impress this man anymore. No matter what he’d done with his lips and his hands, he thought the worst of her. And she was done with men who treated her like crap. What kind of crazy fool kissed a woman he didn’t even like? Bran made no sense, and that was reason enough to cut him from her life.

  Bran eased the boat to the dock, and Ireland prepared to leap off.

  “Hold on,” he said. He tossed bumpers over the side of the boat then hitched the boat to the dock.

  She crossed her arms and tapped her foot, refusing to look at him.

  Sensing his stare, she glanced over irritably. “May I go now?”

  He looked at her dumbfounded. “You wear glasses.”

  “Yes, I wear glasses. Do you have a problem with that too? Because—”

  Most of the time, Ireland was on the passive side. But she wasn’t incapable of the fury her red-haired brethren were known for. And Bran had a knack for bringing it out in her. She was about to unleash a beatdown the likes of which no man had seen, when he cut her off.

  “You look pretty in them.”

  Her lips parted and she blinked. She snapped her mouth shut and growled, “Goodbye.”

  Ireland moved to climb off the boat, but Bran jumped off first, offering her his hand.

  She automatically took it, because dammit, she liked it when men were gentlemen. But she dropped his strong palm as soon as she was off the boat, and stormed across the sand toward the back entrance of the hotel and casino. She couldn’t wait to get out of Club Tahoe and back to her world of quiet contemplation behind a computer screen.

  She might need more adventure, and she was fully open to it, but she didn’t need Bran in her life.

  Ireland sipped her chai latte as she headed into work at Blue Casino on Monday morning. She’d managed to avoid Cali’s questions yesterday about the booze cruise by saying she was hungover and that she’d fill her in later. But Ireland wouldn’t be able to hold off her persistent cousin forever.

  On one hand, Cali would be excited Ireland had merged into the world of Lake Tahoe man real estate. On the other hand, Ireland and Bran’s connection had been a huge fail, and that would only encourage Cali to push Ireland to get out there again so she could wipe the slate clean. She knew how her cousin’s mind worked. It was a matchmaking machine that didn’t quit.

  Ireland had a few minutes before her shift, so she headed to Hayden’s office to say hello. Hayden Cade was married to Bran’s brother, Adam, but Ireland didn’t hold that against her. Adam was a nice guy, after all, and she’d become good friends with Hayden ever since Cali had helped Ireland get the job at Blue Casino.

  Ireland stood in front of Hayden’s open office door. “Knock, knock,” she said. “Am I interrupting?”

  Hayden rubbed her temples, her elbows propped on her desk. She looked up and winced as though it hurt. “Come on in.”

  Ireland entered the office and frowned. “You okay?”

  “I went out for drinks with Adam and his brothers last night and had a few too many. If only there were pills for fog brain and a pounding skull.”

  Ireland sat across from her friend. “You’d make millions with an invention like that in the college market.”

  Hayden smiled. “Or with Adam and his brothers. They were in rare form. And the weirdest thing is Bran was the ringleader. I’ve never seen him like that.”

  Ireland’s back stiffened. “That’s odd. Bran seems the most mellow of the guys.”

  Bran had been the most discreet the few times she’d been in their company, but the booze cruise proved Bran wasn’t always mellow. Or nice. And sometimes—just sometimes—he could be too nice. With his lips and hands. And her body still hadn’t forgiven him for it.

  “It was shots from the get-go.” Hayden dropped her hands from her temples. “I swear he was trying to exorcise a demon with all that liquor.”

  Ireland squirmed in her seat and couldn’t look Hayden in the eye. Here she was avoiding Cali, when really, she should have been avoiding Hayden.

  “Is something wrong?” Hayden said.

  Ireland tried to smile. “Nope, all good.”

  “How was the booze cruise? I forgot to ask Hunt about it. Did he take good care of you and Cali?”

  Ugh. Ireland was honest to the bone. There was no way she’d lie to her friend. But she wasn’t about to offer up information she didn’t need to. “Not exactly. Hunt was sick. Bran hosted the cruise instead.”

  Hayden tipped her head to the side. “That’s interesting. Hunt had seemed sniffly, but that didn’t seem to stop him from filling his gut with alcohol last night.” Her eyes widened. “Maybe that was why Bran was so irritable? He’s not much of an extrovert. Must have driven him crazy entertaining all those people.” Ireland squirmed more, and Hayden’s brow furrowed. “How many people were on the cruise?”

  “Well, that’s the thing,” Ireland said. “Bran didn’t have others to entertain. Only me.”

  Hayden raised her eyebrow. Then she stood, walked across her office, and closed the door. “Oh, I think I need to hear this.”

  Crap. “I should probably get g-going,” Ireland said. “I don’t want to be late for work.”

  “No way.” Hayden sat back in her chair and typed something on her phone. “You’re not leaving until I hear this story. I’m letting your boss know you’re with me in ‘a meeting’ and that you’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Hayden set her phone down and leaned across her desk. “So what happened? Obviously, something did. Bran was the wild one last night, and that just isn’t him. He still avoided women, but he was drinking like a fish and encouraging the rest of us to drink too. We joined in, because it was the only way to find out what was up. But he never budged. Instead of destroying my liver, I should have just come to you and saved myself the fog-brain double hammer to the skull this morning.”

  “There’s nothing to tell,” Ireland said. “Bran doesn’t like me. He’s always given me the cold shoulder. It wasn’t any different during the cruise. Mostly.”

  “Mostly? And why wouldn’t he like you? You’re my new favorite employee. What’s his problem?”

  “I’m your only new employee.”

  Hayden waved her off. “Minor detail.”

  “Like I said, it was more of the same. I stumbled. Though this time, my eyesight wasn’t to blame.” Ireland wore her glasses at work, so it was no surprise to Hayden, or any of the other Blue employees, that she needed them. She pulled her shoulders back. “A stupid wake hit the boat. Then Bran blamed me for falling into him and holding on too long.”

  “Did you hold on too long?” Hayden gave her a devilish grin.

  “What do you think?”

  “I think, yes.”

  Ireland shrugged. “It was Bran Cade. Naturally, I held on too long. But that was no excuse for him to be mean. After he was a proper ass, I went for a dip to escape. Only that damn lake is freezing. Bran said something, but I couldn’t talk while I was in hypothermia mode. So he jumped in, the jackass, and invaded my quiet time.”

  “The horror,” Hayden said, smiling. “Then what?”

  “And then…”

  Hayden leaned forward. “Yes?”

  “He kissed me.” God, why couldn’t Ireland lie like a normal human being?

  Hayden slammed her palm on the desk. “No! Bran?”

  “Shhh.” Ireland swiveled her head, expecting someone to barge into the office. “Keep your voice down!” she stage-whispered. “The kiss was nothing.” Ireland felt her face heat.

  “Oh, yeah.” Hayden snorted. “I can tell it was nothing. That good, huh?”

>   Ireland bit the inside of her lip. “Unfortunately. So, of course, I shoved him away. Well, after he…”

  “You shoved him away? Are you nuts? Why would you do that?”

  “Because. He pressed me to his…body.”

  Hayden narrowed her eyes. “Details.”

  Ireland waved in the genital region.

  “He did not! The monk grinded on you?”

  Ireland winced. “A little… And it was hot. Which is how I knew I was in trouble.” She scrunched her face. “I wanted to jump him—the ass—so I shoved him away. I don’t hook up with guys who are jerks. Not anymore.”

  Hayden shook her head. “Holy crap, Ireland. You’re the one.”

  “The one what?”

  “The one who’s going to break the monk. He’s been a cyborg, rarely going out with anyone except his brothers. Adam is ready to take him to a physician. But Bran kissed you, and he was sexy about it. Hot damn!”

  “Shhh! I don’t care what’s wrong with him. I’m not the one. I want nothing to do with that man.”

  “Hmmm.” Hayden tapped her chin.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Oh, nothing,” Hayden said, and checked her phone. “You’d better get going, or your boss will call and harass me about taking up your time.”

  Ireland stood hesitantly. “Okay, but you promise to keep this between us?”

  Hayden smiled. “My lips are sealed.”

  Then why was Ireland worried?

  Chapter 5

  Bran drummed his fingers at the corner table inside Prime, Club Tahoe’s steakhouse. Where the hell was that tech specialist?

  Finally, the technical expert—someone named James—walked in the door, and Bran jumped to his feet. He met the guy in three strides. “Thanks for coming in. Not sure how many details you were given, but we’ve got a bit of a crisis with our new online ordering system. I’m hoping you can get it up and running by the end of the day.”

  James set up his laptop on one of the dining tables near the back of the restaurant. “Let’s take a look. I’m sure it’s a simple software update. These things happen.”

  Bran wanted to say he sure as fuck hoped so, given this was a brand-new system and all, but he held his tongue. “We’ve received forty incorrect orders in the last thirty minutes. Wrong food, wrong address, you name it.”

  Bran ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t have a good feeling about the software malfunction. “All of the restaurants at Club Tahoe are high-end, the steakhouse in particular. We can’t afford this sort of screwup.”

  James smiled placatingly, but instead of reassuring Bran, it sent prickles across the back of his neck. “I’ll get this taken care of in no time.”

  The words were the right ones, but something was off. James wore smooth duds—a collared shirt with a leather jacket. He didn’t look like a tech specialist. He looked like a corporate shark, and maybe that was what was throwing Bran.

  “I’d like you to take the system offline until the problem has been solved,” Bran said. “I can’t risk ruining Prime’s reputation.”

  Everyone who had an order screwed up received a free meal, but Bran still didn’t like the mark this afternoon had left on the club. Not to mention the expense of covering forty incorrect orders.

  Before Bran had taken over the restaurants at Club Tahoe, he’d managed a mom-and-pop restaurant in town. It was a busy local haunt, and by no means high-end. And yet here he was, not only running one of the finest restaurants in town, but four of them. His brothers trusted him. Relied on him. He didn’t want to fuck up the restaurants or sink them with a faulty new system he’d insisted they buy.

  James glanced at his phone. “Give me thirty?”

  It was three in the afternoon and the restaurants were in between rushes. “Fine. But if it’s not repaired in the next thirty minutes, shut it down.”

  James the Tech Banquet expert hadn’t gotten the system fixed in thirty minutes. Nor did he have it fixed two days later. And now the tabletop tablets were malfunctioning too. Bran was about to lose his shit.

  He paced Levi’s office. “I’m sorry, Levi. I screwed up.”

  Levi and Emily stared at him from where they sat near the desk. “You didn’t screw up,” Levi said. “We did the research. The company you selected was solid. It was budgeted lower than some of its competitors, but that’s not always an indication of quality.” He turned to Emily. “What do you think?”

  “I agree. I checked out the company. There was nothing to suggest we’d have the issues we’re having now.” She looked at Bran. “Are they sending in a new technical expert?”

  “We’re one of their largest accounts,” Bran said. “The guy they sent is the expert. But he’s not working fast enough. I let go of ten servers and hired more chefs once the system was online, anticipating an increase in food prep and a reduction in service personnel. Now we’re back to taking orders by phone, which is far more time-consuming for my crew. The managers and I are putting in fourteen-hour days to replace the manpower I let go of. I can’t keep asking that of them.”

  “Understood,” Levi said. “Let’s give this guy a few more days. Hire people if you need to.”

  Bran nodded and headed back to his office at Prime.

  Levi and Emily were being supportive; it was Bran who was freaking the hell out. His initial uncertainty about James from Tech Banquet had only grown. Bran needed to do something, and now.

  He just didn’t know what.

  Chapter 6

  Bran climbed out of his Ford Super Duty and crossed Jaeg’s front yard to the workshop at the side of his friend’s house. Jaeg was known for his wood plaques of nature that blended with the grains of the woods he used. He was popular in Lake Tahoe, but his popularity had grown as more magazines and news outlets showcased his work.

  Cali had also contributed to the boom in his business. She was an artist as well, and she’d been creating original drawings for some of Jaeg’s most popular pieces. The two of them combined were a powerhouse, and Bran was swinging by to check out the commission Club Tahoe had ordered for Prime.

  Bran listened for the sound of machinery outside the workshop. Typically, Bran and his brothers walked in if the equipment was going. The machines were so loud that Jaeg would never hear them if they hadn’t. But no sound came from the shop, so Bran knocked before letting himself in.

  Jaeg was across the room, leaning over a waist-height wooden table.

  He pushed up his shop glasses and turned at the sound of Bran entering. “Hey, man. Thanks for coming.” He looked down at a piece on the table. “It still needs work, but I want your opinion before I give it the finishing touches.”

  Bran was up to his ears in work obligations, but this was a task he looked forward to. He had no doubt whatever Cali and Jaeg created for the restaurant would be fantastic. “No problem. Levi’s eager to see what you’ve been up to, and so am I. Thanks for squeezing in the commission with your busy schedules.”

  “Anytime. It’s easier now that I have Cali drawing up designs. Takes me a week to come up with something she can do in an afternoon. And every damn one she makes is a winner.”

  “Seems to me you picked the right fiancée for your profession.”

  Jaeg chuckled. “I would have fallen for her if she worked at a fast-food restaurant. But it doesn’t hurt that she’s brilliant.”

  Bran glanced past Jaeg’s shoulder. “Well, don’t leave me hanging. Let’s see this masterpiece.”

  Jaeg propped up the four-by-six-foot wooden plaque for better viewing, and Bran’s eyes widened. “Is that our fucking resort?”

  “From an artist’s viewpoint, yeah. Cali sees things her own way, which is why her drawings are incredible. She has a killer eye.”

  Bran ran a hand over his mouth. “It’s unbelievable. Though not entirely accurate—I notice she removed the parking lot.”

  Jaeg chuckled. “Artistic license.”

  The image was realistic and yet not. It was
a million intricate shapes creating this three-dimensional, warm, and inviting rendition of the club, with the lake peeking through pine trees. And true to Jaeg’s form, the grain was incorporated into the design. “Is that oak?”

  Jaeg nodded. “White oak.”

  Bran shook his head slowly, his chest tight. Ever since their father had passed, the vibe at Club Tahoe had changed. Nothing Bran could put his finger on, but something was different. And Cali had captured it. The place had a new energy about it. Something filled with—Jesus—hope.

  Bran and his brothers had mixed emotions when it came to Club Tahoe. Their father had spent every free moment making a success of the luxury resort instead of raising his sons. When he passed and left Bran and his brothers in charge of the place, it had been a painful call to duty.

  They could have walked. Sold Club Tahoe or hired new management. Instead, they’d banded together.

  For the first time, Bran realized that keeping Club Tahoe had become more than an obligation. It was something he and his brothers were doing for each other, not that they’d ever admit it.

  The strain of their relationship with their father had affected them all in different ways. But when Bran looked at the art Cali and Jaeg had created, he loved it for more than its beauty. He loved it because it represented the new Club Tahoe, and the new connection to his brothers that had grown from the loss of their father.

  Bran dropped a heavy hand on Jaeg’s shoulder and squeezed. “Thank you. It’s…more than I expected. Will you tell Cali my brothers and I are grateful?”

  Jaeg rested the piece on the table and covered it with a cloth. “Come in and tell her yourself. You have time for a beer?”

  Bran’s heart raced. Ireland lived with Cali and Jaeg, and there was a good chance she’d be home as well. After Bran’s moment of insanity on the booze cruise, he’d hoped to avoid Ireland entirely. But what Cali and Jaeg had made for him and his brothers came from the heart. He couldn’t leave without thanking Cali.