“You work on the side?” Liam snatched the card, scratching his chin. “Emma, I do not like what I just heard. What makes you think that I won’t fire you, and most importantly,” he turned toward Jake giving him a death glare, “did you know Jake?”
“It’s not what you think,” my slurred words came out all wrong. “And yes, he knows what I do. I asked the man for permission, since he owns part of the company. No big deal, Liam, I’m not stealing major accounts from you, I promise.”
“It’s complicated, Li,” Jake defended me. He pinched the bridge of his nose, freeing one of my hands. The other hand kept ahold of mine with a firm enough grip. “You only need to know she doesn’t charge a dime for her services. No harm no foul, right? Most of her clients are tiny businesses who need a boost, and they don’t have the money to afford a big company, let alone ours. Mitch doesn’t pay K&W for the job they do, so what’s the difference?”
“I’m confused.” Liam closed his eye, lifting a finger toward us. Why was he raising his hand? “You work for me a thousand hours a week, then do a side job—for free. And on top of that fight with Sam for giving away the new accounts to other employees. You’re nuts, woman. I’m… Mitch, it’s your choice not mine.” Liam rolled his eyes and handed my card to his brother.
“Just don’t tell Sam who you’re hiring, I don’t want to get into an unproductive-psycho-nonsense fight.” He closed his fists, which lay on top of the table, and took a deep breath. “As for you, Emma, another threat to sue my company for withholding workload and you’re back to entry level, no, I won’t fire you. Better yet, I’ll demote you to the mail room.”
“We don’t have one in New York.”
“I’ll make one for you.”
Jake hid his laugh, but not well enough. “Not funny.” I rested my head on his shoulder.
Liam drank a shot of scotch and signaled the waiter to bring him a third one.
“Hilarious, babe.” Jake kissed my wrist, a nagging thought from the inside of my brain yelled I was going backwards on my plan, but of course, like everything else, I didn’t listen to it and grabbed my drink with the free hand and finished it in two gulps.
“Does any of this make sense to you?” He pointed to Jake, who shrugged and began the interrogation. Why did I threaten to sue? Not my proudest moment.
Everything began three months ago with my big ‘I can’t anymore, Jake, we promised light and uncomplicated.’ I worked more than usual. Executives bitched about the lack of new accounts, and their productivity going down the drain while mine was way too high. Two months later, and after thousands of discussions between Sam, Liam and others, they decided to freeze me. One or two new accounts a month from the New York office was all I was given. Liam promised to give me a couple from the other two offices, but he never sent any. While Liam visited, I entered into his office and begged for new accounts. They said no, we had a deal. Until everyone’s productivity was even, I was grounded. They treated me like a five year old.
That’s when I became a thief. In the middle of the night, I broke into Sam’s office and went through his top secret drawer of potential new clients. I took a few of those accounts before the man assigned them to other executives. It was a terrible idea and decision. It was fun at first, but I regretted it when they changed Sam’s locks. There wasn’t much noise about it, and they didn’t ask me questions. Though, my boss threw a hissy fit, and couldn’t get those accounts off my load. He retaliated by not allowing me to obtain any new clients for at least three months. So I threatened to sue for workload withholding.
Sam called the lawyer on the spot, while Liam silently laughed. There wasn’t such a thing as workload withholding and we both knew it. But after the charade, the three hundred dollar charge for a stupid call and the heart attack fright Sam had, he sent me to my office, reminding me he could fire me without pay and not let me work until my five year contract was over. “I have the power to blacklist you from the advertisement world, Emma. No one would ever hire you.”
“Emma, I mean it,” Liam went serious. Jake though, put his arm around me and pulled me toward him in support. “I’m a fan, but the stunts you pull are hard to fix; like breaking into Sam’s office to check for future clients.” He pointed at his brother. “Jake had to doctor the security tapes to erase your presence, sweetheart.” I gasped, scratched my nose and searched for the nearest exit. “You think we didn’t know? The entire floor is under surveillance 24/7.”
“My office too?” Fuck I’m going to kill him.
“Not yours, baby,” he whispered in my ear.
Good.
The man was in charge of security and did whatever he wanted with the keys, alarm system and CTV. Apparently it included erasing the evidence against me. It was hard to forget someone like him, so freaking hard.
“Sorry, I needed it,” I told Liam. “In my defense, I landed you numerous accounts that brought in millions, like the sports line account. They received my proposal just hours before they made a final decision and gave us a day to present it. Had I not pulled my stunt, the account would be with Sanders or Bellicose.” They were our biggest competitors.
I never left the scene of the crime. Instead, I pulled an all-nighter. My preliminary presentation hit Liam’s desk and the prospective client’s before seven in the morning—New York time. They held their decision until five when I could come up with a solid campaign. Liam and I worked for an entire day and sent it by four in the afternoon. We snatched the account from under the noses of our competitors; although, I swore no one knew I broke into Sam’s office.
Jake put his mouth close to my ear and whispered, “Time for you to go to bed, Pretty Girl.” Jake stood up and pulled me toward him, helping me stand straight. He placed my tote bag over his shoulder, that’s how amazing Jake was, and I closed my eyes while I rested my head on his chest. One minute to gather some strength before I walked away from him—again.
Fantastic, three months working toward forgetting him and finding a steady relationship went out the window.
“Is the key inside your wallet?” I nodded, and while he scrambled to get the wallet out with one hand, I wondered how it would be to have one last kiss. “You’re drunk, Emma.” He hugged me. “I’m not going to touch you in that state.”
“Thank you.” I sobered a bit with his comment, becoming upset at myself for not being able to hide the effect he had on me. “You didn’t have to do it—cover for me. Did Sam suspect me?”
“Nah, I caught you in the act and took care of it immediately.” He straightened me up a little so we could be face to face and then brushed some hair off my face, his eyes lingering between mine and my mouth. “Why did you do it, Em?”
“It’s complicated, Jake.” I took a deep breath and looked at the room key in his hand, avoiding those inquisitive eyes. “I just needed it…to escape.”
“You don’t have to, Emma.” Of course I did, more than ever. He wasn’t here to take me away from reality. He swiped my key, opened the door and gave me a lingering kiss on the cheek before releasing me. “Have a good night, Pretty Girl.”
So freaking hard to forget.
“Night, Pretty Boy.”
Chapter 14
Jake
IT TOOK ALL the strength in the world not to follow my animal instincts and take Emma to bed, against the wall, or…. Her body begged for my touch, and her sadness was eating her alive. Was it her parents? That was a huge part, I bet. How I wished she had opened a little for me and… I stopped before the last drop of sanity disappeared and I barged back inside her room. Doing it would’ve made me an asshole for taking advantage of her state. Angry at the situation, I headed toward the suite I shared with my brothers and took a long cold shower to cool my emotions and my body.
When I came out of my bedroom, dressed, the first thing I did was confront my brother Liam. “Was it necessary to tell her?” He threw me out of the plane, no parachute or safety gear attached. If it wasn’t because Emma had been wasted, she
would’ve killed me, worse, done something rash to her career—like quitting.
Mitch sat on the sofa, Liam on one of the chairs and I took the one opposite of his. My twin shuffled a deck of cards, looking ready to strip us from a favor or two. I glanced at the luxurious room, a presidential suite wasted on three bachelors. Two nights, and so far none of us had gotten lucky. Damn, two days ago I was ready to bed any available woman. Now, not so much. The night before, I cursed the moment I spotted Emma. My current situation was far from that because…I had no freaking idea what to make of Emma and our relationship. My inner voice asked, what relationship?
Then there was my mother, the woman didn’t know boundaries, and the cute Anderson girl didn’t like anyone trespassing on her territory. Yet, so far she let Mom into her world, that or Emma jumped inside Mom’s and felt safe. But how long would it last? And when things got ugly between the meddler and the loner, who would I side with? Mom liked to push limits, Emma hated to be pushed. Should I even choose, because certainly Emma chose herself, and there was no us?
“That you stalked her?” Liam finally responded to my original question. Meanwhile, Mitch dealt. We all placed our bets, like my life I got the crappy hand. “Jake, I truly learned to love the girl—in a brotherly way. I’ve hung out with her outside the office when you two invited me for a meal or to hang out.” He changed two cards and continued talking. “Emma’s my favorite employee when she brings the big contracts. However, she’s a very complicated specimen. You get her, I don’t.” Then he narrowed his eyes and gave me a look between annoyance and desperation. “And I truly don’t want to.”
He placed a second bet after he rearranged his cards. “Understand me; breaking into her boss’s office isn’t legal.” Of course it wasn’t. We would’ve called the police if it had been any other employee. But not on Emma, and even when I didn’t know what she was doing exactly, I had a hunch it was work related. The girl grabbed some files and went back to the conference room to work. I watched her all night, up until the time she sent the email to Liam. By then Liam was watching her with me, trying to guess what she was doing.
“I had to bring it up, and I didn’t want to do it in front of Sam,” Liam said, at the same time I folded and waited for the other two to finish the first round. “He’d go crazy and try to sue me, her, or you. God knows he’s losing his marbles over her. And, as she brightly pointed out, she got me a few accounts.” He lost, and Mitch shuffled and dealt again. “Clients I really wanted, which for some fucking reason, Sam didn’t pursue. Why…I don’t know. Sam’s losing his touch and resenting her. That much I gathered. Did you have to explain how you caught her? Aka, that you spy on her on a daily basis?”
“No, and she thinks Sam doesn’t suspect her.” I folded again. Two lost favors to Mitch, crap.
“How many times did he review the footage, three?” Five, he made Liam and I fly to New York the same day. I stayed out of Emma’s sight—or tried to avoid seeing Emma that week. I made Liam keep it low key because there was no need to upset Em. “Damn it, Mitch,” Liam cursed, and headed to his room. “I’ll bring a new deck of cards—unmarked.” I gave a glare at Mitch, whose guilty expression confirmed he had marked the cards. How didn’t I notice? Because your head is on the fifth floor, room five fourteen—next to Emma, I told myself. Liam dropped the new deck of cards on top of the coffee table.
“If Sam knew you two were an item, he would’ve guessed that you doctored those tapes, and tried to snatch the company from us with a hefty lawsuit. I can’t do much for her from London, Jay.” I placed my hands over my lap and began to drum my fingers. “Sam and Em aren’t getting along. She’s walking on thin ice. With her grandparent’s health, I can’t transfer her. Do you have any ideas on how to keep the woman out of trouble?”
“Partnership.” Mitch opened the deck of cards but I seized it from him. Fool me once, my fault, fool me twice, and I’m going to be his slave for the rest of my life. Should we switch the way we bet and handle money instead of favors? It would be much simpler to write a check than do his fucking bidding. “Make her a junior partner and take her away from Sam, Liam. Give her one or two percent of the company. Ask her to invest in it. Do the math. She brings in more business than Sam.”
“We are not a law firm,” Liam contested. “Though you’re right, Sam’s a dead weight compared to Emma. There should be another way. My older employees won’t like it if I turn one into a partner and not the rest.” I began to think about how much money I could come up with by tomorrow when I realized my hand was next to crap. My years of being a slave for my brothers were coming back.
“Jay, stop playing,” Liam said. “Your head is next to Emma. We’re cleaning you out, bro. Thoughts, suggestions, shall I fire the woman?”
“She’ll die if you do.” I panicked, empathizing with her. Defeated, I set my cards on the table taking all my chips out. They were right. I was done for the night. “What if Emma starts her own company as an affiliate of K&W. I’ll back her up, and you two can work out the clients. No Sam involved.”
“Jacob Knight,” Mitchel said, and slapped the cards on the table, folding. Liam recovered his favor. “Although that is an extremely good idea for both Emma and Liam, think of the consequences. Twenty four seven unadulterated Miss Anderson and her cuteness, no physical contact allowed.” He playfully lifted his eyebrow. My brother was annoying. “Can you handle it?”
That question resonated inside my head, but Mitch continued his rant before I could even think about it. “Three months, and you’re still whipped.” Then he changed his tone to a sarcastic one. “Pardon my misinterpretation of the situation—you’re so over her we’re not having this discussion.”
He pulled himself off of the couch and walked to where I was. Then he went ahead and gave me a not so friendly slap on the shoulder and began to walk to his room. Stopping, he turned to give me the look. “I’m in with a new business, Anderson and Knight. Emma Anderson-Knight, has a ring to it, doesn’t it, Liam?” My hands automatically went into a fist, wanting to wipe the smirk off of his face.
“Whatever you want,” Mitch dropped his cards on the table and talked directly to our little brother. “I’ll invest because it’s a smart move, Li.” Liam distracted himself by gathering the cards and fixing the table—neat freak. Then Mitch directed his gaze toward me. “But Jake, define your…whatever it is with Miss Emma before proceeding. Try to get closure, or better yet, get it together. As the guy who has shared a room with you since conception, I recommend you dig deep and think twice.”
What was there to think about? She dumped me.
“Finally meeting the woman makes me understand why a fling lasted twenty some months.”
Because she was funny, adventurous, knew how to keep things interesting and always had something to talk about?
“And I didn’t scratch the surface on who she is—Emma is it for you,” Mitch said with a cocky tone. “If you were into serious relationships, of course.” He then transformed, his smirk and his face became serious. “Figure this out before we offer her forever, I’m going to bed. It’s past two, and Mom will call in four hours or less.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, thinking about the pretty girl with curly auburn hair and delicious lips. Was she it for me? Perhaps in another life where I could do relationships, but not in this one.
“Li.” I opened my eyes and turned to him after Mitchel locked his door. “Would you open the affiliate with her?”
“Sounds smart, and a doable situation.” Liam sat back and rubbed his temples with his thumb and middle finger—a tick we inherited from dad—tapping his forehead simultaneously with his index finger. Why was this so hard? “I worry though. Think about this, hypothetically, of course. A partnership will last for a few years, maybe twenty or more.” It sounded about right, so I nodded in agreement and let him continue. “In two years, average Joe comes to the office and picks her up, dinner and a movie—their second date or third.”
; My body tensed thinking about his stupid hypothesis. “You spot them while reviewing the surveillance footage because your compulsion to make sure she’s alive and happy hasn’t faded. Joe and Emma hit it off and a year or two later a shiny diamond appears on her important finger.” I rubbed my hands against my pants to dry the sweat. Why was I sweating?
“Not long after, she becomes Mrs. Emma Average Joe and in no time Joe Jr. pops out.” My hands clenched into fists. I wanted to pound average Joe, or my brother for making up such a foolish story. “Can you handle it, while you do the surveillance or by chance visit the office while she carries a little baby girl with auburn hair, whose name won’t be Pretty Girl Knight?”
Stunned, I couldn’t move past his stupid scenario, which subsequently tore my insides apart. Impossible, Emma didn’t do forever, complicated and heavy. Did Average Joe change her views and convince her to compromise, take a leap and create a family—together? I didn’t want a family. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to protect them, or be enough, like I wasn’t for her, or possibly hurt them. Emma’s decision made sense, and I’d face Average Joe with a polite smile and send a nice wedding gift, even if she didn’t invite me to her small wedding. I would pay for a honeymoon she wouldn’t forget, VIP access to her favorite museums.
“I’m with Mitch, Jay,” Liam said, interrupting my train of thought and swallowing hard. “No one has seen you two together as a couple but me.” I arched an eyebrow because Emma and I weren’t a couple exactly. “When you and Emma are together, it’s different, you’re different. I don’t want to sound sappy, but the two of you are the best part of each other.” Liam gave me a sad smile. “I wish Mom had gotten to enjoy who Jacob Knight became when Emma Anderson was around. You were alive again.” Then he shrugged and stood up.
Getting by (A Knight's Tale) Page 9