Harley whistled low under her breath as she entered the room. “Wow, must be nice being a billionaire,” she teased.
Carter snorted. “I’ve seen pictures of your house. You’re really roughing it out there in LA.”
Harley grinned. She peeked into the closet and Carter could have sworn she almost swooned. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to know who built this closet. Mine at home isn’t half as nice as this.”
Carter stared at her, wiping his face free of expression. “I don’t think you can afford him.”
Harley’s mouth dropped open. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, offended.
Carter grinned. “Chris did it.”
“What? You can’t be serious.” Harley stepped all the way into the closet so she could admire it more thoroughly.
“I’m dead serious. He did it one off season a few years ago.” Carter leaned against the doorframe as Harley opened every drawer and touched every surface with her dainty fingertips.
“But he never wanted to live here? Why?” she asked with a frown.
Carter shrugged one shoulder. “I’m not really sure. He’s always been very simple about things like living space. He lived in the dorms all four years of college when other guys lived in frat houses or moved into apartments. After he got drafted, he pretty much bummed around, living with roommates or sleeping on couches at a teammate’s house. When he moved here to play for the Thunder, he told me he didn’t want to live all by himself in this huge place, so he stayed with me. I practically had to coerce him to move out of Oakley’s two bedroom house once they got married. He finally relented when they found out Oakley was pregnant.”
There were some things about his brother Carter would never understand.
Carter glanced at his watch. “Hey, I hate to run off, but I have a meeting downstairs in just a few minutes. Are you going to be alright if I go?”
Harley smiled at him, her eyes twinkling with amusement. “Yes, Carter. I can manage a few hours without you.”
He stepped closer, bringing his body into her space. “Only a few hours?”
Her mouth dropped open. “Carter!”
Carter leaned even further toward her. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t do anything about what he’d heard earlier until he had all the facts, but she tempted him almost beyond his ability to resist.
“Because I can come back later if you need me.” He soothed his conscience by telling himself he was just being a good neighbor.
“If I need you?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.
Carter watched with fascination as her full lips pursed while she fought a smile.
Spending time with her had him reeling. Carter wanted to kiss her so badly he thought he might actually die from want of her. The only thing keeping him going was the knowledge he had a chance to win her over. He just had to be patient.
“Yes, Harley. If you need me, I’ll be right here,” he promised.
Her mouth dropped open again before she could catch it. Carter told himself to leave, but he wouldn’t listen. Instead, he stood there in that ridiculously massive closet and let everything he felt for her seep from his every pore so she could see.
Several emotions marched across her beautiful face before she closed down, but the one Carter clung to was one of deep longing.
“I’ll see you later.” It was time to go or he’d completely forget himself.
Harley nodded slowly but didn’t move a muscle. With a force of will he didn’t know he had, Carter walked away from her with a promise to himself he would figure out the mystery that was Harley Stone and hopefully convince her to love him.
Chapter Nineteen
Carter left Harley and headed to his own apartment to change his clothes. Under other circumstances he might not have concerned himself with his appearance, but figured showing up in jeans would only antagonize his father further. And Carter didn’t want to do that.
He’d just gotten out of the shower and toweled off when a text came through from Chris.
Where are you?
Carter rolled his eyes. He wasn’t even late.
Just come up here.
He already saw me!
Man up, bro!
Carter grinned at the inappropriate text his brother sent after that, but hurried into his closet, almost an exact replica of the one next door, and picked out a suit, shirt, and tie. As he dressed, Carter considered the conversation he was about to have with his father and brother.
Traditionally, Carter fulfilled the role of the family ‘yes man’, while Chris rebelled against everything their father wanted for him. Martin wanted Chris to get good grades, Chris couldn’t have cared less about school. Martin wanted Chris to come to the office and learn the family business at a young age, Chris preferred to spend his time with their great-uncle Ray in his woodworking shop. Martin threatened to disown Chris if he didn’t apply to Stanford and major in business. Chris earned himself a football scholarship and carved his own path to wealth and success.
On the other hand, Carter went to the office with his dad. He went to school at Stanford. He started working at Bragg right after graduation. He’d done everything his father asked him to do, and for what? Approval? Love? He’d never felt either of those things from his parents.
So, the question he kept asking himself- why keep doing it? Some of his motivation came from a love of business. He kept going to the office with his dad because he loved it. He even loved Bragg. He felt pride in what his father had built over the years. He’d also done it because of a desire to one day be the man behind the desk, the one calling all the shots. Of course, as time went on, Carter realized that day wouldn’t be coming any time soon. Martin Bragg was healthy, still in command of his own mind, and had a drive to keep working. And Carter was grateful.
Still, he had dreams and aspirations of his own.
And tonight, talking to his father, would be another step toward accomplishing some of his dreams.
Carter also hoped by having Chris step in for him at Bragg, their family might move one step closer to healing their broken relationships. Of course, that was a long shot, but one worth pursuing.
Carter checked his appearance in the full length mirror in his closet. After straightening his tie, he slipped on a pair of shoes and headed to the elevator.
“I should have just met you upstairs.” Chris accosted him as soon as he got out of the elevator.
“Well, why didn’t you?” Carter straightened his tie again and wondered why it felt like he was on his way to the executioner.
“This is no time to be reasonable, Carter.” Chris walked beside Carter toward their father’s office.
“How’re Oakley and Kaden?” Talking about his family might be the only thing to calm his brother down.
“Fine. Stop trying to distract me. I want to hate every minute of this.” Chris straightened his tie.
Carter stopped walking and rubbed his forehead with he palm of his hand. “You agreed to this.”
“Uh, no. I was emotionally blackmailed into this.”
“I swear, when this is over I’m going to annihilate you in front of your wife. I’m going to tell her what a big, fat chicken you are. And I’m going to tell Kaden, too.” Carter began walking again.
Chris pulled at the collar of his white shirt and followed. “I don’t even care.”
Inhaling a fortifying breath, Carter tapped on his father’s door twice before opening it without waiting for a response.
Martin Bragg sat behind an enormous desk that always made Carter feel as though he’d just walked into the Oval Office.
Chris’s footsteps followed Carter into the office and he breathed a sigh of relief he wasn’t going to have to resort to dragging his older brother in by his ear.
“Dad. Good to see you.” Carter stopped in front of the desk and studied his father who would hold off as long as he could before looking up.
Martin Bragg was Chris Bragg in thirty years. Or maybe Chris was Martin th
irty years prior. Either way you looked at it, the two were unmistakably father and son. Carter tended to take after his mother’s side of the family, although, he’d always been told he looked a lot like his brother. However, as alike as the two men were in appearance, they couldn’t be more different in almost every other way.
Apart from stubbornness.
Beside him, Chris silently fumed. If Carter possessed such a thing as an angry-o-meter and pointed it at his brother, the thing would register so far off the charts it would combust.
Carter lightly kicked Chris in the shin.
Chris picked up his foot and dug his heel into Carter’s toes.
Carter grit his teeth.
“Will you two ever stop?” Martin murmured as he finished writing in an ever-present moleskin notebook. Finally, he laid down his pen and deigned to lift his eyes to his sons. “Christopher. How good of you to make it. You’re only fifteen years late.”
“Don’t. You. Dare,” Carter mutter out of the side of his mouth at his brother. Chris’s jaw flexed. He hated being called ‘Christopher’. When they were children, he’d gone by Topher. Once he was old enough to understand family dynamics, he’d insisted everyone call him Chris, rebelling in any small way he could find.
Carter sighed. “Dad, you got a few minutes?” They’d cleared the time with his secretary, but asked her not to let him know they would be coming.
“Sit.”
They both dropped into the chairs behind them. Chris immediately gripped the ends of the arms as though his life depended on it.
Carter sighed again, more vocally this time, and faced his father before reaching into the pocket of his suit jacket, removing the folded piece of paper announcing his request for a leave of absence. He slid the single page onto his father’s desk.
“What’s this?” Martin asked without picking it up.
“A request for leave.”
Martin frowned. “And if I deny it?”
Carter reached into his pocket again. “Then, I’ll tender my resignation.”
Martin’s frown deepened and Carter was struck again by the similarities between the two men in the room who weren’t him. Martin’s hair, which had gone completely white, was even styled similarly to Chris’s, which still maintained a shock of dark blonde on top. Carter could never decide if he envied the distinguished gray Chris acquired in his early twenties or not. The only feature the men all shared was their blue eyes. Carter’s mother had once called it ‘cornflower blue’. To him, the color brought to mind his favorite pair of faded blue jeans.
“Resignation? Are you out of your mind? You can’t resign.” At that moment, Martin’s blue eyes resembled chips of ice.
“I can and I will. However, I prefer not to. If you’ll look at the request for leave of absence. For one year.”
“One year!” Chris shouted, almost coming out of his chair. “You said a few months!”
Carter rubbed his aching head with his fingertips. “Yes, six or seven, maybe a bit longer. I just wanted to leave myself a buffer.” Anything could go wrong. Delays in production. Press tours. It had all been laid out in the contract Stephen sent over the day before. Carter would be contractually obligated until filming was complete.
“A buffer!” Chris shouted again.
“What’s he doing here?” Martin asked Carter.
“Why don’t you ask him?” Chris ground out, earning himself a raised brow from his father.
“Carter, why don’t you start at the beginning.”
Carter uttered a silent prayer his father and brother would for once just let him be, then did as his father asked.
For a moment after he finished speaking, Martin stared at his younger son. “You want to act in a movie?” he asked as though Carter had just announced he was going to become a monk and move to a Tibetan monastery. Actually, Martin probably would have preferred he join the monastery.
“I’m going to act in a movie.” Carter wanted his father to understand this wasn’t a debate. He’d made his choice and now Martin needed to make his. Either let Carter go peaceably or foster greater animosity in the family.
“And Christopher?”
Chris’s knee bobbed.
“My replacement,” Carter replied.
“Temporary replacement.”
Martin’s eyes narrowed on Chris and Carter wondered when it was the last time the two had seen each other. Probably in the hospital after Chris sustained the injury which had ended his football career. Chris hadn’t invited their parents to his wedding or to the reception they’d held a month later. In fact, Carter was fairly certain he himself had been the one to spill the proverbial beans to them about his brother’s nuptials.
“Stipulations.” A question stated as a demand.
“Half days-” Martin snorted, but Chris didn’t let that stop him. “Two weeks when my wife has our baby.”
Martin’s eyes narrowed.
He hadn’t known about the baby.
“That’s right. You’re going to be a grandfather.”
For one long, tense moment, no one said anything. Surprisingly, Martin broke the silence first. He picked up one of the sheets of paper and held it out. Carter took it. Martin picked up his pen again and began writing.
“Have a good evening, boys.”
They didn’t need to be told twice.
In the reception area outside Martin’s office, they turned to each other and burst into quiet laughter.
“Did you see his face,” Chris whispered through his chuckles.
“Classic,” Carter agreed.
“Wait, what paper did he give you?” Chris asked, suddenly serious.
“I have no idea.” Carter held the folded missive between them.
Chris punched Carter’s bicep with his knuckle. “Well, look, you idiot!”
“We really should rise above always resorting to violence,” Carter murmured as he unfolded the sheet of white paper.
He glanced at the top of the paper and then at his brother. “Hope you’re ready to start work tomorrow, because I’m going to be a movie star.”
Chapter Twenty
Harley half expected Carter to knock on her door after his appointment, but instead he sent her a text.
Getting settled?
She was. In fact, Harley thought she might like this apartment better than her house.
Yes. Thank you. For everything. I’m happy to be out of a hotel.
Not just that, she was happy to be away from Brent and his drama. She couldn’t believe what had happened that morning. Brent was out of control. She’d never had anything like that happen on her other movies and she had to wonder what Stephen would do about it. They all knew Carter hadn’t been the one to throw the first punch. In her opinion, Brent had been humiliated. Not only because Carter had flattened him, but he’d also taken Brent’s place as her co-star. Not to toot her own horn, but she was kind of a big deal. Starring opposite her would have solidified Brent’s future in Hollywood. If only he had been able to keep it together. Someone had given him a chance to prove he could make it in this business without letting fame go to his head, and he’d blown it.
Can I call?
She smiled at the simple question, loving that he asked it. But she was torn. After everything that had happened, she had no idea where things stood concerning the deal Missy made with Brent. She desperately needed to speak with her mother. She should have called Missy earlier, but she’d been enjoying the peace and quiet of her new apartment too much to ruin it with a confrontation.
Harley stared at the question on her phone. She wanted to tell him yes. Maybe he had something he needed to discuss with her about the apartment. Maybe there was nothing personal about the request at all.
Yes.
Her phone began ringing almost instantly.
“Hello.” She sounded breathless! Why did that always happen?
“Hi.” One word. One syllable, and she felt weak. “How’s the apartment? You have everything you need?”
“Y-yes, yes. It’s perfect. I already like it better than my house.” She smacked her hand to her forehead.
“Good. Maybe you’ll stay there forever.”
What did that mean?
Did he mean he wanted her to stay forever?
Or was he just being clever?
“Maybe I will.” Is that what you want? She wished she had the guts to ask him.
“I forgot to bring your key over.”
“Carter, I’m only a few feet away.”
He growled into the phone. “Please. Don’t remind me. I’m struggling enough as it is.”
Her heart stopped, but then picked up again, only faster. Much, much faster. Did he mean what she thought he meant?
And how did that make her feel?
Duh! She knew how it made her feel. But what did she think? She didn’t want to think.
“I’m sorry.” What else could she say?
“Don’t be sorry. I’m glad you’re here. Or there.” He sighed and Harley pictured him running his hands through his hair.
She felt confused. Last year when he kissed her, it felt so right. So good. She’d relived those moments so many times. But in the end, she always sent him away. What would happen if he kissed her again? Would she be able to turn her back on him this time?
And then what? She’d never been in a real relationship before. Part of her felt certain she’d been born without whatever it was she needed to be loved. It was why she’d run that night. Because she’d felt it, the connection between them. And gotten scared. What if she fell for him and he realized something was missing from her? The thing that made her lovable?
Her heart would break.
Relying on what she knew was safe, that was what she had to do. She had her beauty. Her talent. Her ability to provide for herself so she never had to suffer again. Hadn’t she promised herself? Promised God? That if she could just have enough to eat, a roof over her head, clothes, it would be enough.
And she’d made it. She had all she needed. Asking for love was just greedy.
Humbling the Spoiled Billionaire Page 11