She wasn’t a criminal. She wasn’t hurting anyone. So why did it matter?
They were just nosey, that’s all, she decided. People wanted something to complain about. They wanted to judge others instead of themselves. As the saying went, people who lived in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks.
“Better safe than sorry,” Sabrina conceded. “You should probably unlock the door in case anyone comes knocking.” It was an afterthought, but if anyone, even Shawna, stopped by, a locked door would be suspicious. If they were trying to maintain appearances, then that was a good place to start.
Conner flipped the lock and stood for a moment, thinking. “I guess I came in here for something, huh?”
Sabrina shot him a wan smile. “Well, we’ve already had our discussion. It seems we should have another? Just in case anyone asks.”
“You’re probably right.” Conner took hold of his jacket lapels and gave them a sharp tug, then strode across the room to the chair that sat opposite her—the one reserved for clients. “So, Miss Colloway, I couldn’t help noticing your distraction at the meeting earlier.”
Her smile grew. “I believe we’ve already gone over the details of that.”
“True. True.” He slapped his knees, the sound loud in the small space. “Well, I guess that’s it. I’ll get out of your hair so you can get back to work.”
“Thank you, Mr. Hargreaves. I appreciate you stopping by.”
“Oh,” he said with a smirk and a playful wink as he rose from his chair, “the pleasure was all mine.”
On his way out, there came a knock on the door, and Conner and Sabrina shared a brief but knowing look. They’d likely just dodged a bullet.
Opening the door, Conner greeted a surprised Shawna, who stared up at him as if standing in the presence of a god. “Oh, good morning, Mr. Hargreaves. I was just bringing Miss Colloway a message. I have one for you as well.” She held out a yellow post-it note for him to take. He gave it a cursory glance and nodded.
“Thank you for your promptness, Shawna.”
“You’re most welcome. Is there anything I can get you for lunch?”
Conner appeared taken off-guard for a moment and frowned, pulling back his suit sleeve to look at his watch. “Huh, lunch already. I completely lost track of time. Tell you what, Shawna, just get me my usual.”
She nodded as if grateful for the command and watched Conner go, her eyes glued to his backside. “Mm-mm, that is one hunk of a man. I don’t know how you work so close with all of these hotties and not get a little…flushed.”
Shaking herself as if to clear her head, Shawna cleared her throat and turned a bashful smile toward Sabrina. “Sorry. I probably shouldn’t have said that. I blame my grandma for raising me on romance novels and movies. Ever since the 80s action hero phase, I’ve had an appetite for good-looking men.”
“Don’t we all.” Sabrina couldn’t hold the observation against the woman. After all, they had eyes and they weren’t dead. “What do you have for me?” She lifted her chin to indicate the yellow post-it in Shawna’s hand that she assumed was the missive she’d mentioned to Conner earlier.
“Oh! Right.” Shawna shook her head as she approached. “I swear, I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached. Here ya go!”
Sabrina took a look at the note, seeing that it wasn’t anything in need of her immediate consideration. Just a request for signature of some documents that had been sent via her corporate email that were due by the end of the week.
“Thanks, Shawna. Why don’t you go take your lunch now. You deserve a break.”
“Thanks. I think I will. But before I do, I have to run down to pick up Mr. Hargreaves’ lunch and a few others. Would you like anything? Tuna on rye or a salad maybe?”
Shawna was always on point with her work, and that extended to every aspect, right down to the meals she delivered but didn’t have to. Early in her job, Sabrina’s father had made a habit of asking for regular coffees from the café downstairs. Eventually it turned into a donut on the side and then a sandwich, and eventually, she’d gotten a little pay bump to accommodate gathering food for everyone in the office under her supervision.
Shawna made their lives easier, and Sabrina was grateful to have such a dedicated worker under her wing.
“Umm…I think I could go for a muffin, or whatever looks good to you. Just get something wherever you’re going. Don’t go out of your way.”
Shawna looked a little taken aback, and for good reason. Sabrina was usually certain and decisive about everything, right down to the food she put in her body, but today, she was in an exceptional mood and wasn’t inclined to think it through too much. Anything that was loaded with sugar and carbs would do.
“Are you sure?”
“Very. Thank you, Shawna.” Her tone was friendly but dismissive, and Shawna being the awesome lady she was, got the message loud and clear and was gone from the room in a flash, leaving Sabrina to sit back and ponder the rest of her day while trying to get some semblance of work done.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Coffee was served with a plate of blueberry scones on William’s balcony overlooking a stunning view of the city on its lake side. It was a calm evening with a light breeze that fluffed Sabrina’s hair every now and then and sent a tiny shiver dancing up her spine. To both sides of her, her men sat, sipping their drinks and scrolling through messages on their phones, tying up the loose ends of the day.
In a word, it was perfect. She envisioned ending every day this way, and she couldn’t think of anything better. It was nice to have company in her life, to know that she had someone to lean on and care for and to be cared for in return. There were no expectations beyond being there, enjoying their snacks and an occasional word in passing. They each had their own lives to manage and they respected that about one another.
It was the perfect setup, as far as she was concerned.
“So, any word on the Jacobs account?”
Conner’s casual question called Sabrina’s attention. Earlier that morning, William and Oliver had been sent off to meet with the owner of Jacobs International, a small shipping and receiving company of domestic goods. They’d been having a rough patch, and the guys thought that they could secure a bid. It was an “easy” turnaround, they claimed, something that had the potential to bring her father’s company millions in revenue in the coming years.
“The meeting went well,” William said, his nose still stuck in his phone, his thumb moving up and down on the screen. “Mr. Jacob isn’t sold yet, but he has our offer and is willing to consider it.”
“I think it’s still a little too early to count him in. He doesn’t seem eager to sell,” Oliver added.
Sabrina was disappointed to hear this. “Is he holding out for other offers?”
“I think it’s more that he wasn’t expecting to have to sell it, period,” Oliver clarified. “It’s a family business.”
“Much like our own,” William added with a knowing look her way. “It took a lot of time and effort for us to convince our father that we needed to do something as drastic as merging with your father’s company in order to save ours. He still isn’t happy about it, but I think he’s learning to accept it.”
“It’s always difficult to give up control, no matter what the topic,” Conner concluded. Then he reached out a hand and took Sabrina’s, lifting it to his mouth to place a kiss on the back of her knuckles. “Best decision we ever made though.”
She smiled, feeling that warm and fuzzy sensation in her belly whenever any of them looked at her like that.
“This feels like a polaroid moment,” William announced. When everyone just looked at him, he said, “Doesn’t it?”
Sabrina shared looks with everyone, gauging their responses. She didn’t want to be the one to say yes, especially after their discussions about keeping their relationship on the down-low. But she had to admit, she did like the idea of having some kind of physical validation that they were, in fact, in an active relat
ionship. Otherwise, it felt like a dark and dirty secret, not to mention it leant more weight to it, as if somehow making it more real.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Oliver agreed, all smiles.
“What about keeping things secret.” Leave it to Conner to be the logical one.
William was already lifting out of his seat and readying his phone for the picture. “Who said it wasn’t going to stay between us? I just think it’s a nice idea to have some record of us, for us. It doesn’t have to leave this circle.”
Sabrina liked how he thought. It was logical too, but also less stringent. William understood how to work around constraints, thus making everyone happy.
Conner didn’t look too happy as Oliver got up and rounded the table, too, taking a stand behind her and bending down enough to rest his head on top of hers. William leaned in from her left, leaving a noticeable chill on her right.
“Are you going to join us or ride the sidelines like a ninny?” William taunted his brother.
With an annoyed glare, Conner grudgingly scooted his chair closer, until his body pressed against Sabrina’s.
William extended his arm, phone in front of them, the photo lens open and focused for a group selfie, and they all smiled when William commanded them to “say cheese.”
“Can you send me that?” Sabrina asked as they separated and went back to their original positions, Oliver lingering just long enough to drop a sweet kiss to her shoulder and whisper in her ear, “You’re beautiful.”
“Sure thing, angel.” William tapped a few things on his phone, and then she heard hers chime, alerting her to an incoming message.
Opening her instant messages, she found the picture and downloaded it with a smile. She already knew what she planned to do with it.
They kicked back a while longer, until the cool evening gave way to an even cooler night, and then retreated back inside.
“I think we should have a sleepover,” William suggested as everyone gathered in the living room. It was a posh decorated space, done up in reds, whites, and blacks, and glossy finishes everywhere.
Sabrina considered the stark difference in their personal tastes. Where she was more traditional, William was distinctly modern. While he did it well, it wasn’t her cup of tea, and she couldn’t envision getting used to all of the clean lines and museum quality feel.
“I have to be to work early,” Conner said dismissively. He’d been glued to his phone all night, and he still was. Whatever had his attention held it firm.
Sabrina approached him and hugged him from the side, choosing to ignore the way he moved his phone out of her eyesight. “Is everything okay? You’ve been distracted all night.”
“Everything’s good,” Conner said with a put-upon sigh and tucked his phone away in his pants pocket.
She wasn’t convinced. Conner’s body language was stiff and he didn’t seem at all connected tonight. “Are you sure?”
Leaning down, he pecked her on the forehead. “I’m sure.” Glancing up at his brothers, he said, “I need to head home. I have a few things to take care of before we head back into the office tomorrow.”
William and Oliver wore matching looks of disapproval and concern.
“Anything you can do there, you can do here, right? I have a computer you can use,” William offered.
Sabrina herself knew that Conner had the ability to access all of the corporate information relevant to him from any device, as long as he had the password. He did, and he had before. It eluded her as to why he wasn’t willing to do it now.
“No, that’s all right. It would be best if I work alone tonight. Less distractions.”
So now they were a distraction? Sabrina couldn’t help feeling a bit hurt by that.
“Do what you have to do,” Oliver told him, his tone cold and full of suspicion that echoed in Sabrina’s thoughts.
The idea that he was hiding something came back with a vengeance, and she had to remind herself that she was just being paranoid. Conner was no more hiding anything from her than his brothers. He just wanted time alone to figure something out, that much was clear. She just wanted to know what it was, and she had to trust that he would clue her in when he was ready. She needed to respect his privacy until then.
Once Conner left, Sabrina looked to William and Oliver for direction. It was the first time she’d been in any of their personal space, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself. It was a given that she should just treat Will’s apartment as her home away from home, but it also felt presumptuous, so she erred on the side of caution, looking to them for a signal on what to do next.
“Well, looks like it’s just us tonight. What do you want to do?”
William’s words could easily be taken in a sexual way, but that was just Sabrina’s default thought process lately. They’d turned her into a wanton woman, ready, willing, and able to leap into their bed at a moment’s notice. However, William’s expression didn’t give any indication that’s what he meant. If anything, he seemed subdued, looking for real suggestions.
“We could watch a movie,” she suggested, clasping her hands in front of her in an obvious display of discomfort. She wasn’t sure of herself or anything in that moment.
“That could be good. Let’s see what’s on VOD.”
As someone who didn’t spend much time in front of the television, Sabrina had no idea what he was talking about. Fifteen minutes later, settled onto the couch between Ollie and Will with a bucket of freshly popped popcorn in her lap for them to share, the mystery was solved.
Selecting a video to rent “on demand” was easy and fun, especially since Sabrina hadn’t seen most of the options available.
William selected an action flick starring a handful of 80s action heroes, some with familiar faces, and as Sabrina munched on popcorn, she couldn’t help thinking that if Shawna were here now, she’d be beside herself with glee.
They were halfway into the film when her phone started buzzing in her pocket. Sabrina’s first inclination was to ignore it. She didn’t want anything interrupting her time with the guys, but the more persistent it became, the more she worried that it was something important.
Her thoughts went to her father, and she dug her phone out, pressing a button on the side to light up the screen. As she’d feared, it was her dad calling, and instant worry flared bright in her chest, her mind going wild with possibilities.
“Sorry,” she said as she handed off the half-empty bucket and stood. “I need to take this.”
Taking the call out onto the balcony, Sabrina slid the door shut behind her. She wasn’t sure what her father would have to say, but whatever it was, good or bad, she needed a moment alone to absorb it. Something inside her told her this call was going to change things.
“Sabrina, this is Dad.”
Her father’s voice was brisk, all business, just like she remembered it when she worked beside him all those years, but despite the business tone of it, she found herself getting choked up. It’d been forever since she’d last talked to him, or at least, that’s how it felt.
“Hey, Daddy, it’s good to hear your voice. How is everything going in paradise?”
That uneasy feeling inside her gut refused to go away, and she waited with bated breath for him to reveal the nature of his call. Was her mother okay? Was he okay?
“I wouldn’t know. We’re driving into the city as we speak.”
“What?” That had been most unexpected. Her father was supposed to be taking it easy, getting back on his feet. For him to be back in town, there had to be something big going on.
“I received some disturbing news last night,” he informed her, and Sabrina’s stomach began to roll.
The only conclusion she could come up with tied directly back to their last conversation, and her head turned ever so slightly, not enough to see over her shoulder and into the apartment where Will and Ollie waited for her to return, but that’s where her thoughts had gone.
This had everything
to do with Conner’s odd behavior earlier; she just knew it.
“Listen, it’s late. I just wanted to give you the heads-up that I’ll be stopping by the office tomorrow. Get some sleep. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
She didn’t even get to say goodbye. The phone went silent, and she knew he’d hung up. It was so unlike him, the whole conversation, if it could even be called that, and that feeling in her stomach grew.
What was the possibility that he’d found evidence that the Hargreaves were playing them all for fools?
Shaking her head, she stowed her phone away. Sabrina refused to go there. Not again. Thinking that way, being on the defensive with people she’d vowed to place her trust with was nothing more than self-sabotage. Why was she even allowing herself to go down that road?
Her father was a bit of a control freak. She knew that. If he was back in town for business, it was probably because he’d heard something through the grapevine about one of their business dealings and couldn’t resist the allure to get back in there and get his hands dirty.
She’d just have to remind him of his doctor’s orders and send him packing again. He already knew that she had everything handled and he could trust her, but sometimes he needed a reminder. She’d give him that and then some.
Still, she couldn’t deny that he was back, even if it was for reasons she didn’t yet understand. She missed her father. It would be good seeing him again, however brief the reunion would have to be. Maybe they’d enjoy a nice lunch, the three of them, and then she and her mother would team up and make sure her father got back on track and back to his extended vacation.
There, that was settled. In her mind, Sabrina closed the door on the whole thing and decided to go on with her night. But as she slid the heavy glass door open and stepped back inside, she realized just how tired she was. She felt drained, and she knew if she sat back down on that couch, all warm and snug between her guys, she’d only fall asleep.
Indecent Proposal: A Reverse Harem Romance Page 16