by Sierra Rose
“Shit!”
I reactively clutched my chest, then reached for my demanding phone as the screen lit up with a sudden text from Madison, still happily immersed in her Alps retreat: “Hey there! Just checking in! Everything’s going great here, but Caleb made me promise to disconnect—no internet, work, phone, news...just him. I have to admit it’s kinda nice. Also... May have accidentally attacked a man sent to give me a surprise massage. Alert the lawyers and prepare for a hefty settlement. Hope all’s well back in London! Thanks again, Della. See you soon!”
No internet, work, phone, or news? Boy is she in for a surprise when she gets back.
I was just texting a reply when a muffled curse wafted out of the bathroom. I jerked my head up in surprise and immediately set the phone back on the nightstand, then padded across the floor and gave the door a push. It wasn’t a moment too soon; I wouldn’t have missed that for the world. “Uh...what are you doing, babe?”
James whirled around, startled, then flushed the second he saw my smile. “What does it look like I’m doing?” he said defensively, twisting slightly to hide himself from view.
I stepped forward with a wide grin. “It looks like you’re trying to strangle yourself right here in the bathroom, not that you’re doing a very good job of it.”
The entire scene looked like a scene right out of Trust Fund Kids Gone Wild. A designer tie was looped around his neck in a way that was obviously cutting off circulation, but given that he had somehow double-knotted it, there was no getting it off. To compensate, he was perched on a stool, perhaps hoping higher ground would work in his favor. To top it all off, the sink behind him was slowly overflowing, soaking the carpet.
I turned off the faucet, then folded my arms expectantly across my chest while he finally turned back around, wearing a rueful grin. “All right, you win,” I said.
“I’m having some kind of Debate Team meltdown. Are you happy?”
“Quite.” I stepped forward with a grin, batting his hands away as I reached for the offending tie. “But for the record, I’m sure the Debate Team never had this much trouble.”
He tilted his head back and groaned. “I-I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I was practically born in one of these.”
I pried the wicked knot apart with my fingernails and eased the tie loose. “For starters, your hands are shaking.” The last of the silk sprang free, and I pulled it off his neck, then dangled in front of me as I looked at him with a thoughtful frown. “So... What’s really wrong?”
He stared at me for a moment before snatching the tie to give it another go. “I have a meeting with David Camper.”
I froze, except to lift my questioning eyes to meet his. “Wait. David Camper?” I repeated. “As in...my boss? As in...Senior Advisor to the Junior Associates and Vice President of the Board? That David Camper?”
“The one and only.”
James looped the silk around his neck once more, fumbled briefly with the ends, then threw it to the wet carpet in disgust. It landed on a wilted pile of a half-dozen others.
I kept my eyes on him the whole time and moved slowly if at all, as if I was approaching some crazed wild animal. Without blinking, I reached into the closet and pulled out another option. I then circled it gently around his collar and began to tie it for him. “And precisely why are you meeting with him?” I asked.
James stiffened, then managed a deep breath and answered in a voice so quiet I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing, “I need to find out how to beat Robert and take control of Cross again.”
My heart skipped a beat, then stopped beating altogether. For a second, the room around us stilled, and it seemed nothing in the world mattered or existed beyond the two of us, beyond us and the impossible decision he’d finally made.
When I could breathe again, I cleared my throat softly and proceeded to fasten the tie. “In that case, let’s get you dressed and ready.”
We worked in silence, opening drawers he hadn’t touched in years and slathering products in his carefree beach hair that he’d long since forgotten. We pulled out neglected cufflinks, platinum watches, and snakeskin belts, anything that resembled the accompaniments we might find in his uppity brother’s closet, all those accessories James went out of his way to dismissively scorn.
When we finished, he looked like a coverboy for GQ, like a man whose photoshoot would be perfect for a how-to article, “Dress to Impress at the Office...and Everywhere.” More accurately, he looked like an actor, and he sort of was, ready for his role as a businessman. He was too handsome to play the part, a bit too distracting to be believable, but it wouldn’t really matter because no one would be able to take their eyes off him.
For me personally, it wasn’t James’s appearance that was so distracting. After all, I’d seen the man’s wardrobe, and he looked a whole lot better in his birthday suit anyway. What left me feeling bothered and not so hot was the way he said it, the way he sternly mentioned taking control back again. The tone of his voice made it clear that it was going to be a hostile takeover, not a mercy killing. He wasn’t just doing it for himself either; James was a man on a mission, and he clearly considered himself a human shield. He was willing to place himself in front of the peons like me who had to walk into Cross every day and work our asses off, only to have those asses constantly kicked by his abusive, power-hungry, arrogant, falsely entitled bastard of a brother. James was willing to be a savior for the hundreds of employees who would be left out on the street if Robert ran it into the ground, a capable captain who had a second chance to take back the ship and steer it in the right direction, just the way Ben Cross would have wanted.
No, James wasn’t doing it for himself, at least not on the surface. It was my secret hope, though, that what started as a selfless decision would turn into something more. It wasn’t lost on me how his eyes lit up at Madison’s place when he solved a particularly difficult problem or figured out a way to achieve the impossible and finalize a deal. I noticed the magnetic pull those files of ours had on him, the effortless smile that lit up his face when he slipped into a role that it was clear he was born to fill. Now, he had that chance, and I wanted him to take for himself as well as for us.
If there was one thing I’d come to know about Robert, it was that he was never willing to let go of the things he wanted, at least not without a vicious fight. I was living proof of that, and I’d never known anyone to be as greedy as Robert was to keep his claws in the company his father had built. It didn’t matter to him that he wasn’t good at it. It didn’t even matter that he knew he wasn’t good at it and that James was the more natural fit. Robert had staked his claim years ago, fixed his eyes on his father’s throne, and now that Ben was out of the picture, I couldn’t fathom him stepping down very easily. A sibling rivalry for the ages was inevitable.
“Okay,” I said, stepping back as James spritzed himself with expensive designer cologne, “you’re ready.”
He nodded quickly, and his eyes flashed as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. To anyone who didn’t know him, he would have seemed to be in complete control, entirely calm, cool, and collected. I, however, had spent plenty of time with him, gotten to know him on a deeper level, and I knew that all that coolness and confidence was just a façade, something he put on with just about as much difficulty as he experienced with that tie. James Cross, nervous? It didn’t seem that those words could possibly fall into the same sentence, but I knew that under his dapper appearance, he was shaking with anger and doubts he would never reveal.
“Hey, relax.” I stepped behind him and slid my arms around his waist, then gave him a comforting squeeze as he fidgeted uncomfortably in his suit. “You’ll be...as fine as you look,” I said with an encouraging wink, “and that’s pretty damn fine.”
He nodded again but didn’t meet my eyes.
“James...”
He finally stopped fidgeting and looked up at me, then froze in place when I gave him another wink.
“Yo
u got this.”
Our eyes locked, and for the first time all morning, his face relaxed and even harbored the hint of a smile.
The next second, he kissed me swiftly on the lips before heading out the door. “I’m off to work, honey!” he called out theatrically. “See you when I get back.”
I bit my lip, grinned, and leaned against the doorframe, watching him go.
Yes, you most certainly will.
Chapter 8
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, JAMES went to work?”
Nick, Abby, Max, and Ferdie all occupied the same couch while I sat in a chair next to them, feeling like a prisoner in an interrogation room, gripping the armrests as they continued with their line of questioning. I should have seen it coming, or at least James should have. On second thought, he probably did. No wonder he slipped out at the butt crack of dawn, the little bastard.
“I mean just what I said,” I repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. “He’s having a meeting with David Camper, a preliminary step toward taking over the company.”
All four of them blinked at once.
“Yes,” Nick said, leaning forward with a little frown on his face, “but he, uh...went to work?”
Ferdie rolled his eyes to the heavens and stood. “I do believe breakfast is in order,” he said, happy to have the excuse to walk away.
Abby patted her husband’s knee and wore a patient smile. “Yes, honey. Believe it or not, some people do that on weekdays. They actually go to this place called work.”
Nick’s eyes narrowed, and he pulled stiffly away.
“And work,” Max continued boldly, “is that thing some people have to do to make money—you know, for food and bills and—”
Nick opened his mouth to cut the man off with a scathing reply, but before he could say a word, little Arabella appeared out of nowhere and perched cheerfully upon his lap.
“And money is that thing Uncle James has more of than you do, Daddy!”
I looked discreetly away to hide my laughter as he pushed angrily to his feet.
“All right, that’s enough. You, take a shower and get ready for breakfast. As for you... Well, you’re fired. And you,” he said, giving Abby a look of deep disdain, “call my lawyer and have him draw up the papers for our divorce, effective immediately.”
Everyone laughed.
Breakfast was a rather subdued affair, as all our minds were scrambled far more than our eggs and omelets. When the coffee grew cold and the toast grew stale, the Hunters and Max headed into the city to take Arabella to a park, while I waited out on the balcony for James to return. It was no easy feat to resist the urge to text him, and I was quickly reaching the end of my rapidly fraying rope. Robert had forced me to take a few weeks off so I could be there for James. He said his brother needed me right now. I didn’t understand him at all. Maybe he just didn’t want to see my face. But I knew he was probably over me. Probably had a few secretaries by now that made him forget all about me. Good riddance. My thoughts quickly returned to James.
What will Camper say to him? He’s obviously the better choice. Everyone in the office knows that and prefers it, but what about that checkered past of his? I wondered. As far as I knew, Robert didn’t have a past. The man might have been a world-class asshole, but no one could tell that by perusing his file. On paper, he was perfect. On the contrary, I bet James’s file consists of several storage lockers and the pub next door.
The hour dragged slowly on, and I was still outside fretting when the door to the balcony slid slowly open.
I whirled around in a rush of nerves. “James?! How did it...”
Not James but Ferdie walked out to join me on the landing. He hesitated a moment to look down at the chairs, then asked, in a deep, respectful tone, “May I join you?”
I nodded hastily and pushed one toward him, hiding a smile the entire time. It was easy to see where James had learned his impeccable manners.
“I’d like to have a word with you,” he said, settling gracefully down on the foldaway chair, poised with the sort of reserve and dignity that men only seemed to have in old movies. “My staff and I rarely leave Master Cross’s estate in upstate New York, and he seldom ever stays away this long, especially with no word. I was even more surprised by his summons to London...until I met you.”
A prickle of nerves swept across the back of my neck, and I found myself sitting up a little straighter in spite of myself, an effect Ferdie tended to have on people.
“See, my dear, I’ve known James for a very long time. I was there the day he was born, the day he jaunted off to prep school, the day he graduated college.” His eyes glassed over fondly with each memory before sharpening suddenly as they fell upon me. “Because I know the man so well, it is obvious to me that there is a correlation between when he found it in himself to take such an important step toward his future...and when he met you.”
A deep blush heated my cheeks, but I knew it was not Ferdie’s intent to embarrass me. In fact, I was sure he only meant it as a compliment. That was made all the clearer when a large hand closed on mine and I looked up to see an extraordinarily kind face peering back at me.
“James has always been very guarded, very careful to... He does not allow himself to get close with many, dear. In fact, the short list of those he has attached himself to currently reside in this flat. I can only say that if you are one of the privileged few to have received such trust, it speaks very highly of you, young lady.”
My eyes swam with unexpected tears, but before any of them could fall, Ferdie reached out a gentle hand and lifted my chin.
“Now that I have met you for myself, I must also say that for James to have won the affections of such an extraordinary woman, it speaks very highly of him.”
Of all the sweet and wonderful things he’d said, that was the greatest compliment he could have possibly given me. It was also a moment I knew I’d never forget. My chest swelled with pride, but just as I opened my lips to fashion some sort of response, the elevator dinged, and the object of our discussion swept suddenly inside.
“Hello?” James called, glancing around the empty house. “Is anyone here?”
Ferdie pushed swiftly to his feet in such a stiff and formal fashion that I had to wonder if our brief conversation had even happened. Nevertheless, as he held open the door and beckoned James out to the balcony, I could have sworn he gave me a little wink. “Until dinner, Miss Jones.”
I flashed him a secret grin. “Catch ya later, Ferdie.”
The next second, he vanished inside and disappeared down the hall that led to the kitchen.
“Hey!” I leapt to my feet and kissed James on the lips before he had a chance to say a single word, too nervous and excited to wait. “How did it go?”
He pulled me back for a longer, more sensual kiss, then collapsed on the nearest deck chair in utter exhaustion. “It...went.”
I sank carefully into the plush cushion of the seat beside him, watching as he loosened the stranglehold of his tie and casually tossed it over the railing. His diamond cufflinks were soon to follow. It took everything I had in me not to peer over and see where they landed. “I think you just made some homeless man very, very rich.”
“Camper was excited about my proposal,” James announced with no further prompting. “He is also...cautiously optimistic,” he recited, obviously Camper’s words and not his own. “He doesn’t seem as concerned with the actual running of the company as he is with how to get me behind the wheel in the first place. I think he’s rather confident that I can handle the day-to-day operations.”
I grinned, realizing my assumption was correct. While Robert looked good on paper, he was a disaster in the actual chair, and his brother was the exact opposite. “This might seem like a random question,” I began timidly, “but... Well, did your dad have any opinion on the matter? Did he ever mention a preference as to which of you should take over?”
A strange look shadowed James’s face before he turned his gaze abruptly to t
he horizon. “No,” he said, and the solitary word came out a bit sharper than he intended. A second later, he glanced back at me apologetically and reached out to take my hand. “Sorry, Della. It’s just... This thing is going to come down to the two of us, Rob and me. What Dad wanted won’t have anything to do with it. He’s not here to speak for himself. As they say, dead men tell no tales.”
I nodded quickly, squeezing his fingers to gently coax the conversation forward. “Well, it sounds like David is on your side at least. That’s encouraging, right?” The wind picked up around us, and I tucked a lock of my hair behind my ears. “What steps does he recommend taking next?”
I could have been very mistaken, but at that point, I was sure James became even more nervous and unsettled, almost to the point of shy. Nervous and shy? I wondered, as those two emotions were nowhere in his usual repertoire, and now they’d attacked him twice in the same day.
“It’s really all about perception,” he answered evasively.
“Perception?”
“Yes. It’s been brought to my attention that I have a bit of a reputation that works against me. I need to appear...stable.”
A bit of a reputation? Yeah, well, that’s a bit of an understatement, mister!
“Stable, huh?” I glanced briefly through the open door, and my eyes flicked from the half-assembled motorcycle in the living room, to the collection of Persian street knives mounted in the parlor, to the life-sized replica of Da Vinci’s human wings, waiting to take flight in the corner. “In that case, you had better keep them away from this apartment.”
James ignored the joke and shifted uneasily in his chair. “The thing is, I don’t just need to look stable. I need to be stable, with a permanent home, regular activities.” He paused suddenly, his eyes flashing uncertainly to mine. “A steady girlfriend wouldn’t hurt either.”