by Lexi Blake
Then he realized it wasn’t the lights she’d turned on. It was the sun. He glanced over at the clock. Almost eight in the morning.
He’d slept. All night. He’d wrapped himself around Shelby and drifted off and he hadn’t even dreamed.
There was a brisk knock on his door and then it opened. He looked up, hoping it was Shelby walking back in. Maybe if he gave her sad puppy eyes, like his pseudobrother had the night before, he could get a good-morning kiss. He’d wrecked sex for a while. He totally got that, but a kiss wasn’t sex. A kiss was affection, and she thought he needed that. She was probably right.
He groaned because it wasn’t Shelby’s sexy sweetness that charged into the room.
“What the hell are you doing?” Hatch demanded.
He was so going to get those lasers. He should put it on R & D’s schedule. He and Hatch hadn’t truly respected each other’s privacy. Ever. In the beginning, it was because they’d shared a crappy apartment and Drew was afraid Hatch would die on him in the middle of the night. Later, it had become about work, and nothing was more important than work. Hatch would walk in at all times of the day or night if something came up. They had to rethink that now that Shelby was here. She would probably freak out if Hatch stormed in at midnight because the stock dropped on the Nikkei. “I’m trying to wake up.”
“I am talking about that kid who is sitting in your kitchen waiting to blow up like the fucking bomb he is.”
“Ah, so you’ve met Noah.” Drew should have expected Hatch would react this way.
“I don’t need to meet Noah—whoever he is—because I’m smart enough to see him for what he is. A liar, for one. There is no way that kid is your father’s.”
Drew yawned and rolled out of bed. He thought Hatch was being naive. “Did my dad have a vasectomy I didn’t know about?”
“No, but this is all a lie.” Hatch paced the floor while Drew grabbed a T-shirt out of his dresser. “Can’t you see that? She sent him. She found someone who looks like Benedict. She hired him and sent him here to create chaos for some reason.”
“I agree.”
“Then why is he here and not sitting in jail?” Hatch asked. “I called the police last night when you wouldn’t answer your cell. They told me that not only had you chosen to not file charges against him, but that you’d taken him home with you. Do you have a plan? Are you going to kill him?”
“I thought about using lasers, but Shelby nixed the idea. I don’t think she’s keen on living in a house where we cut off the limbs of intruders. She’s weak on crime. I tried to explain that it wouldn’t even get the floors messy, but she was insistent.”
Hatch ignored his sarcasm entirely. “I knew this had something to do with that woman.”
He turned on Hatch. “Her name is Shelby and you should get used to her. She’s staying here for now.”
Hatch stopped, his hands on his hips. “Damn it, Drew, you cannot let her make decisions like this. You do understand that if he’s some kind of spy Iris sent in, she’ll realize that Shelby is a weak point for you. Or was that your plan? Are you trying to put Shelby in the line of fire so Riley and Bran and Mia aren’t in it?”
It would be a logical thing to do, but the idea turned his gut. “I’m going to take care of her. I’ll keep her with me most of the time. And when I can’t, I’ll hire a bodyguard. Actually, that’s a good idea, though I doubt she’ll understand, so let’s keep that to ourselves. How fast do you think Taggart can send someone down here?”
“Are you listening to yourself?” Hatch’s voice went low. “Drew, you know what you’re about to do, right?”
“Get some breakfast and go to work?” He wasn’t scheduled to be at the office today, but he seriously doubted he could convince Shelby to spend the day with him otherwise.
“I’m talking about the launch in a few months. Don’t you think it’s curious that all of this is happening right before you launch a product that will make us billions?”
“I think it’s happening because we figured out what my mother did all those years ago. This has nothing to do with the launch. It has to do with the fact that Carly is damn good at protecting Bran. If she hadn’t been so quick, Iris would have killed them both and no one would have been the wiser.”
Carly was the one who’d had to deal with Iris Lawless, though she thought it was Francine Wells who was trying to murder her and Bran. That evening his mother had shown up to retrieve the information that would have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was alive. Carly hadn’t even known it was in her possession. Carly still didn’t know that the woman who had shot Bran and nearly killed her was actually Iris Lawless.
Hatch’s head shook. “Every domino that’s fallen has gotten the push from her, Drew. You act like you’re in control, but you’re not. No one is when Iris is around. She’s pushing the buttons and she wants Noah here.”
“Then shouldn’t we figure out what she wants him to do?” He’d thought a lot about it on the limo ride home. Shelby was right. He needed to figure out what Noah was here to do or she would simply send in someone else Drew might not see coming. Now he had to figure out a few things. Was Noah actually his biological brother? Was Noah working with Iris? Or was he merely another pawn?
He hated being unsure. It was a foreign feeling and not a welcome one.
“At least let me get a full report on him,” Hatch said, his weariness evident.
“I’ve already sent Taggart his name. I expect he’ll have something for me later today. Believe me, if I discover he’s not who he says he is, I’ll call the police and throw him back in jail and there won’t be anything Shelby can do.” Yes, he was feeling much more optimistic this morning.
“I don’t like this,” Hatch said. “It’s not good.”
“At least meet the kid. I’m sure he’s sitting at my kitchen table making puppy eyes at my . . . at Shelby.” She wasn’t exactly his girlfriend. More like his future girlfriend, if they could get around the fact that he’d blackmailed her into sleeping with him and he was lying to her about what he really wanted her to do for him.
“I think he’s probably introducing himself around.” Hatch shook his head ruefully.
“To the staff?” Drew got a bad feeling.
A long-suffering sigh huffed from Hatch’s chest. “Bran might have been with me when I got the call. I managed to keep him from coming down here last night, but he was waiting on the plane for me this morning. I’m afraid that kid knows all my tricks. I told him I wasn’t leaving until after noon. That should have worked. He knows I never get up before noon anyway.”
Damn it. His brother was here. “So I have to deal with Bran and Carly.”
Hatch winced. “And Mia and Case.”
And just like that his morning went to hell.
• • •
Ten minutes later he strode into the kitchen. He could hear them all laughing and joking from down the hall. It was obvious that no one else was taking the new guy with anything close to a grain of salt. Nope. Not his family.
“I can’t believe how much you look like Drew,” Bran was saying. “Damn, you got the crappy genes, man. Riley and I look like our mom. So much prettier.”
“Hey,” Mia said. “As a member of the blond-haired contingent in this family, I protest.”
“She’s right,” Case’s deep voice said. “She’s prettier than all of you combined. But Bran is right, man. Those genes run true. Who did you say your mother was?”
Trust the Taggart to at least ask some questions.
“Hey, no invasive questions, Case,” Shelby said. “I’m sure Drew already has your brother working up a thorough report on him.”
He needed to be more mysterious. She already knew too many of his moves. “I’ll know everything there is to know about him by nightfall.”
Every head turned his way.
Noah frow
ned. “Everything?”
“Everything.” Noah should understand that he would leave no stone unturned when it came to figuring out exactly why he was here. “Right down to when you lost your virginity.”
The kid went bright red.
“Andrew,” Shelby said with a smile on her face that wasn’t really a smile at all. “Could I speak with you a moment?”
He was getting better at this because he knew “speak” meant “yell” in this case. Oh, she wouldn’t raise her voice, but she would make her point clear. “Of course.”
Mia stood up. “I think whatever Shelby has to say to you needs to wait. Drew, we need to sit down and have a nice long family meeting because I’m confused about a few things.”
Excellent. He would have to thank his sister for being so assertive. She might have gotten him out of a lecture on how he should treat stray dogs. “Well, the gang’s all here. Let’s talk. Except the puppy. He should leave.”
Shelby frowned. “If Mia has questions about Noah, shouldn’t he be the one to answer them? Noah should stay and I’ll leave. I have a few things I need to do before I start on work anyway.”
Noah was shaking his head. “I can go back to the pool house. I had a roll and some fruit already. I don’t need the omelet.”
“I want to know exactly what’s happening,” Bran said with a shake of his head.
“I want to know when you and Shelby started seeing each other,” Carly interjected.
Case leaned over. “I think it’s called doing it. That’s the polite term.”
“No. Sleeping together would be the polite term,” Mia shot back. “And I don’t know that it’s any of our business. The sex stuff, that is. The other stuff is very much our business.”
“Don’t you dare play that card with me.” Carly shook a finger Mia’s way. “I need details and I don’t need you playing all innocent. Tell me you haven’t already started looking into it.”
Looking into it? Mia and Shelby had a few things in common, the chief one being they were both nosy reporters who didn’t give up when they thought they had a lead. “What exactly is Mia looking into?”
Mia put her hands on her hips. “I think you’ve been hiding things from us, Drew. And Shelby seems to be a part of that. And yes, we need to have a family meeting. Sorry, Shelby. I’m not trying to be a bitch.”
“And yet you’re managing it so beautifully,” Drew replied, sending his youngest sibling a frown.
Was she still the youngest? Or would that be Noah?
Shelby had gone a nice shade of red. She turned to Drew. “I think I’ll go take a shower or something.”
Not on his life. If Noah was hanging out for the family meeting, then his fake-girlfriend was getting to stay, too. He stepped in, looming over her, and let his instincts lead him. He stared down at her, touching her cheek and allowing his thumb to stroke her. “Don’t leave me alone with the barbarian horde. I want you to stay with me. I didn’t even get a good-morning kiss. I got Hatch yelling at me.”
She sighed, but she went on her toes, and her lips met his in a brief kiss that still seemed to sear him. “Good morning, Drew. Your family is here.”
Yes, and he suddenly saw the advantages of that. Shelby was a bit of a captive. If she pulled away, she risked giving up their game. He leaned over and kissed her again. Properly this time. He kissed her like a man who was happy to see her. No lies there. He let his mouth linger, playing lightly while his hands cupped her hips. Shelby’s arms drifted up around his neck and she relaxed.
Shelby’s head came down, and when he thought she would push him away, she leaned in and her arms wound around his waist. “And to think I actually envied you your big family.”
God, it felt good to have her wrapped around him. He hugged her back and let the moment wash over him. His family was big, but they all had someone now. Shelby was his and his alone. For the moment. “Sometimes it’s a real drag, baby.”
Mia opened her mouth to speak, but Case simply put a hand over her lips and whispered something in her ear. When he let her go, she looked at Shelby. “I’m sorry, Shelby. I was worried. My brother is wealthy and I’m protective, but I just realized that no amount of money could make someone as intelligent as you put up with my brother’s shit.”
“That’s what I said,” Carly replied under her breath.
“Hey, are you okay?” Bran stood up, shoving his chair back. “Hatch?”
Drew turned and saw Hatch was standing in the doorway, his face a pale mask. His eyes were right on Noah. Somehow Hatch managed to go from pale to a deep crimson in the space of a breath. He stepped forward, his stare locked on Noah.
“Don’t you think I don’t know exactly what you are,” Hatch practically snarled. “If you even try for a second to lay a hand on any one of these kids, I’ll kill you myself. Am I understood?”
Noah’s eyes had gone wide and he stammered, “Yeah . . . I get it.”
“I’m watching you. They might be fooled by you, but I’m not.” Hatch turned and stormed out of the room.
Drew sighed. Yeah, it looked like they would be having that family meeting after all.
He took Shelby’s hand and led her out of the kitchen as his family started to talk. “I have to talk to them.”
She looked up at him, her face framed by all that red hair. “I have to go make sure Noah doesn’t bolt.”
But if the kid left, so many of his problems would be solved. He’d learned enough to not make that statement, though. “If you must.”
“I must. Are you going to tell them?”
He shook his head. “Not until I have to.”
“Eventually they’re going to know,” she insisted. “They’ll be surprised when my book comes out.”
He wasn’t going to think about that now. He had enough things happening in his life that made him feel like the scum of the earth. He didn’t need the reminder that he was playing fast and loose with his promises to her. “Do you want a pregnant partner? Because if I tell them, there’s no way that Mia shrugs and lets you take the lead.”
She sighed. “I suppose you’re right and we don’t know that Iris won’t become dangerous the closer we get to finding her. She shot Bran. She wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Mia or her baby if she thought it would keep her safe. All right. Do what you need to do and I’ll deal with Noah. I might ask him a few questions of my own.”
He reached for her hand, bringing it up to his lips. “See you later?”
“Apparently I live here now, so yes. But I’m going to need to work at some point.” She winked and turned and walked back into the kitchen.
• • •
The door to the pool house opened, and Shelby realized she’d almost been too late. Noah stood there, his backpack slung over one shoulder and his eyes rimmed with red. It had been ten minutes since Drew had declared he needed to talk to his family in private, and Noah hadn’t even attempted to argue that one. He’d simply nodded, awkwardly shook a couple of hands, and slunk out to the pool house.
“Before you run away, how about that omelet?” She had no intentions of allowing him to run, but she needed to ease into that.
Noah opened the door fully, allowing her in. “I could eat before I go.”
She could hear his stomach growling. She walked through the pool house, which was way nicer than any place she’d ever lived in. She set the plate the cook had given her down on the table and uncovered it. “It’s what you asked for. I like to call it the predator’s special. Have you considered eating a couple of vegetables?”
Noah’s nose turned up. “Yuck. This smells good, though.”
Yep, bacon and ham and an unholy amount of cheese did tend to smell good. She watched as he started to dig in. “How long has it been since you slept in a bed?”
“A decent one? A long time, but it’s okay,” he said. “I found a shelter here in
the city. I’ll call a cab and let them take me as far as I can go. I’ll walk from there.”
“I thought you didn’t have any cash left.”
His face went nice and pink. “I had a little.”
She glanced over and saw a wallet and a note on the coffee table. “Please tell me that’s not Drew’s.”
He sighed and pulled the cash out of his pocket. It was a couple of twenties and a five. “It was the other guy’s. The not-so-scary one’s.”
Ah, then he was smart enough not to try to lift Case Taggart’s wallet. It proved he had some intelligence. “You’re talking about Bran. He’s your brother.”
Noah nodded and pushed back his chair. “Yeah, I know. If it helps, I didn’t take his credit cards and I was going to pay him back one day. That’s what the note was about. Forget it. I’ll walk into town.”
She knew for a fact he was a Lawless because he’d gotten the gene for melodrama. The same one they all seemed to have. “Finish your breakfast, Noah. I’m not snitching. I’ll hand the wallet back to his wife and convince her he dropped it. And you don’t need to leave.”
Noah sat back down, his shoulders slumping. “That guy looked at me like I was the devil.”
She wasn’t sure what had been going through Hatch’s head. She only knew it wasn’t truly about the boy in front of her. It couldn’t possibly be. “There’s a lot going on in this family right now. You’re a bit of a shock to the system.”
“I bet. I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”
“I don’t think you’re going to.” At least she was going to make sure he wouldn’t. “We need to know more about you and where you come from. I think that would put everyone at ease.”
“I thought Drew was having some security guy investigate me.”
“I like to ask my own questions.”
“You can look through my laptop if you want. You can see the card that was sent. I kept the envelope, too.” He rifled through his backpack and hauled out what had to be his prized possession. He opened the laptop and punched in some keys before turning it her way.
She looked at the oversized screen. The laptop was bulky and heavy to carry. “Why wouldn’t you pawn this and get some cash?”