“This is Margaret we’re talking about.” His brother tasted the sauce for himself and frowned. “Not good enough.”
He carried the saucepan over to the sink.
“What are you doing, Kyler? That tastes almost exactly like the spring onion cream sauce at our restaurant in Madrid. Chef Manuel makes it with his sea bass and semidried tomatoes. The customers there are always requesting it, and he’s tried three times to take it off the menu in exchange for something new.”
“Exactly. I don’t fault you for having excellent taste. You recognized I added an extra ingredient to give it a slightly different flavor from the one Manuel serves. That’s my point. I wanted to serve something new, and this isn’t it.”
“So that’s why you’re in here working without any staff?” Matt leaned against the counter and folded his arms over his chest. “Truth is, you’re born to be in the kitchen. It’s a shame.”
“I don’t need your pity. Why are you here?”
Matt hesitated and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. He’d wanted to talk to his brother and get Kyler used to his intentions before he moved on to Margaret. Matt drew in a breath and blew it out, mentally preparing himself for the firestorm. Then again, Kyler’s jabs were controlled and calculated. Margaret was the one to rain down fire and brimstone.
“I’ve decided to ask Janae to marry me,” he said.
The spoon Kyler held clattered to the floor. He bent to pick it up and dropped into the sink. Then he proceeded to calmly wash his hands.
“Did you hear—”
“I heard you.”
“I’m also inviting her to Margaret’s dinner party. I’ve asked her, but she’s reluctant to come.”
“So she’s not stupid.” Kyler wiped his hands on a towel and threw it on the counter in disgust. “You’ve just met her.”
“We’ve been together two and a half years.”
Kyler stared at him. “How did you keep that secret? Our information shows—”
“Your information?” Matt chuckled and then narrowed his eyes. “You make it sound like you hired someone to look into her background and our relationship.”
Kyler said nothing, and Matt swore.
“I shouldn’t be surprised, but I did take precautions. I made sure you and Margaret didn’t know about Janae’s existence until I was sure about her. I wanted time for our relationship to develop naturally.”
“Don’t give me that. She’s not right for you, and that’s the end of it.”
“Because she doesn’t have money?”
“It would be the first reason.” His brother wasn’t even going to deny it. “The safest bet is to choose someone who’s on equal financial footing, and she is so far beneath us, it’s laughable.”
Matt clenched his teeth. “Be careful what you say.”
His brother raised his hands as if to ward off an attack. “No disrespect to her, but she’s not the one. You’d see that if you weren’t busy thinking with your dick. I get it. She’s beautiful, nice round ass, big breasts. Sure, but you don’t marry them. You bed them and move on.”
“That may be what you do, but from the first time I met Janae, I knew she was special. Nothing I’ve seen over the last two and a half years makes me think differently. She is the one. What’s more, I don’t give a damn if you agree.”
“Matt.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I want your agreement. My family means a lot to me.”
Kyler seemed to cringe at the open sentiment. Matt continued. “Janae means more, and it would be better for all of us if you and Margaret accept my choice.”
“You mean it would be better for you if we all go along with your stupid mistake. No dice, little brother. You don’t even have to go to Margaret with this bullshit. I’ll stop it right here. Did you know her father’s company is in trouble?”
Matt glared at him. “So? I’d bail them out if she let me.”
Kyler laughed. “Let you?”
“Yes, she won’t take money from me.”
“A ploy. Damn, you’re gullible. She looks like the type to stand on her own two feet, all feminine empowerment or some such crap. That is, until she gets the noose around your neck. Then she won’t take her hand out of your pocket.”
“Even if that was true, which is isn’t, what would I care? We have more money than any of us can spend in a lifetime. I want to share it with Janae. I don’t ever want to see her suffer or go hungry.”
“Do you hear yourself? You always were a bleeding heart. That kind of attitude pisses me off.”
“Thanks.”
Kyler curled his lip on one side. His eyes were two chips of ice, and Matt couldn’t believe he had thought they resembled each other a moment ago.
“Look, we’re not a close family. Maybe it would be different if Margaret hadn’t raised us. She’s the epitome of cold blood.”
“What’s that have to do with this conversation?”
“I’m getting there.” To his surprise, Kyler reddened. “I car—do have your best interests in mind, all the time. You’re my younger brother. You’re stupid.”
Matt flipped him off.
“If I don’t stop you or Margaret doesn’t, you’ll throw our company down the toilet.”
Matt bristled with offense. “I’m damn good at marketing and acquisitions. I suppose you forgot I was the one that negotiated the take over of the hotel in Spain.”
“No, I didn’t forget, and I’m not knocking your business know how. I’m saying if we didn’t watch you, you would hand it right over to the first person who asked.”
“That’s ridiculous, and you know it! This isn’t about me. It’s about you and Margaret feeling like you have to have control of everything and everyone around you.” Matt studied his brother’s face. “Not just that. You’re jealous.”
“What did you say?” Kyler threw the saucepot and spoon on the counter and stepped into Matt’s face. Matt stood his ground.
“You heard what I said.” Matt usually kept a tight rein on his anger, but his brother drove him to the brink. Not even Margaret could stir up his anger like Kyler could and tended to do as if on purpose. “You can have anyone you want, and the rumors are always flying around about your latest conquest. Some of them are even wealthy women.”
“Exactly.” Kyler gloated and moved back a few steps. “So where’s the jealousy come in?”
“Simple. Not one of them loved you or even came close.”
For a moment, Matt thought his brother would punch him in the mouth. Kyler seemed to struggle with his emotions, his face a mask of anger. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“So you’re saying there was one? Which one? Name her.”
“Fuck you.”
“You’re cold and arrogant, Kyler. You’re hard to love and even more difficult to understand. I’ve figured out that you’re not motivated by money, but you still do all you can to protect what we have.”
“Then you’ve learned nothing. The only thing I’m interested in is growing the empire. Giving half my income to a stupid, selfish woman isn’t in my plan.”
“So no heir?”
“I might adopt and get a nanny eventually.”
Matt winced. Regret washed over him as it always did when he talked to Kyler. He remembered the time when they were kids, running around their granddad’s mansion. Back then, their granddad was alive, and he gave them the freedom to run wild. Kyler usually led their expeditions into treasure hunting, peeping on maids, and playing pranks, normal boy stuff.
Back then, Kyler laughed easily and often. He joked with Matt and always threw an arm about his shoulders while they plotted their next adventure. After their granddad passed, and Margaret took a sharper interest in them, Kyler began to change. Matt thought some of it had to do with Margaret crushing the brother he knew and forming him into what she wanted. He liked to think somewhere inside the big brother he knew as a kid still existed, but in all these years, he hadn’t seen evidence—just the
man in front of him. Nonetheless, Matt hoped.
“Kyler, I want you to give Janae a chance. You’ve never talked to her. There was only that one time when we ran into each other at the restaurant. You hardly said two words, and then you walked off. Let’s do dinner together, just us. The party’s not until next week, so there’s time.”
“Not interested.”
“So you won’t do this for me?”
Kyler sighed. “There’s no point, Matt. What do you think is going to happen? She’ll charm me like she did you? That you’ll win me to your side, and I’ll go with you to stand up to Margaret?”
“First, I don’t need you to ‘stand up’ to Margaret. As I said, whether I get married or not and to whom is my decision. I simply want you to make an attempt to get to know my fiancée since she will be coming to every event we attend after we’re married. All of us will feel much more comfortable if we make an effort.”
“You keep pitching that excuse.”
“It’s not an excuse!”
Kyler bent his head as he focused on chopping four roma tomatoes. The sharp knife sliced and diced under the precision of his brother’s movements. For a few mesmerized moments, Matt watched. With precise flicks of his wrists, Kyler chopped green onions and then added butter to a pan to heat. He scraped in the onions from the cutting board, followed by mushrooms and a garlic clove, which he had crushed to a paste with his knife. With white wine in the mixture, delicious scents rose into the air, sparking Matt’s appetite.
Matt blinked and brought himself to attention. He removed his phone from his pocket and brought up the calendar. “Thursday after seven looks good for me. If that doesn’t work Saturday at four is fine. I’ll have to check with Janae to see if she’s free either of those nights. What does your schedule look like?”
Kyler eyed him briefly and then returned his attention to the sauce. “You’re determined to shove her down my throat.”
“I’m determined to get you to give her a chance.”
“And if I get there and I’m an ass to her all night because I resent you forcing this?”
“Then you and I are going to have a problem.”
Matt met him stare for stare. He didn’t blink or look away. Kyler straightened. “Tell me something, and I’m sure it goes without asking. Did she already say yes?”
Matt felt his face warm. “She’s thinking about it.”
Kyler laughed. “Well, she’s smart. I’ll give her that. Unfortunately for you, I don’t have time before the dinner party.”
“I don’t believe you.”
His brother wiped his hands on a towel. He pulled his phone out and handed it to Matt. When the locked screen appeared, Matt handed it back. Kyler swore and cleared it. Sure enough, Kyler didn’t have a free night for the next three weeks.”
“Damn it! Can’t you move anything around?”
“I have the conference in Madrid starting the day after tomorrow. You already knew about that. It goes on for four days. The meeting at the hotel in New Zealand is after that. You might recall Margaret thinks the manager there is skimming the books, and she doesn’t trust anyone to go except for me. Maybe you feel I should postpone that meeting to eat with your girlfriend?”
“I get it, all right? It’s a bad time.”
“Yeah, it is. So, you’re just going to have to man up and talk to Margaret on your own. My guess is you’ll get it—hard.”
“What’s she going to do? Fire me?”
“Funny. Whatever the case, leave me alone so I can concentrate. My food is going to be a sensation at this party. I can guarantee it.”
Chapter Four
Matt started the evening in sour mood because it turned out Margaret’s schedule was fuller than his brother’s. In fact, he hadn’t laid eyes on his grandmother or gotten through to her on the phone before her party. She’d spent the entire time in Madrid. Her absence from Boston meant he couldn’t talk to her about Janae, but it didn’t stop him from convincing Janae to be his date.
From the first moment he laid eyes on her in that gown that hugged every curve and the slit that revealed one long sexy leg, he had trouble focusing on anything else. While he leaned against a wall, swirling the contents of his champagne glass, he watched her chatting with one of the guests. The older man with olive skin spoke thickly-accented English. Matt imagined Janae had trouble understanding him, but she listened as if enraptured.
Matt forced his gaze away from the love of his life to scan the room. His brother argued with another man Matt recognized as one of the junior execs in a company they had partnered with on a small venture outside the hotel business. He wasn’t surprised at his brother’s attitude. Negotiations when it came to wooing people was Matt’s job. If Margaret wanted a sharp edge, she called on Kyler.
He shifted focus again and let his gaze wander over the small crowd of important people, small meaning fifty guests from around the world. The food, as Kyler promised was excellent, but all Matt wanted to do was escape from the party and spend time alone with Janae. Maybe he would anyway.
He drained his glass and pushed off the wall. A waiter sailed by, and Matt left his empty glass on the tray the man carried. As if luck was on his side, the chamber orchestra struck up a tune that was perfect for holding Janae in his arms and swaying with her a little.
“Mi scusi. Posso interrompere?” Matt said in Italian. Janae blinked at him in wonder, and her conversational partner reluctantly released her to Matt’s care. He swept his beauty into his embrace and drew her close enough to feel the heat of her sexy body.
“Matt,” she chided. “Nobody’s dancing.”
“Somebody is.”
“Where?” She glanced around, and he tugged her closer. Her big brown eyes widened when she felt his hard-on. “Now I can’t pull away. You’re hard.”
He chuckled. “That sounds like an accusation. How can I not get excited when you’re showing off that much cleavage?”
“It’s the dress not me.”
“Lies,” he shot back. “I’ve tasted those breasts. They’re cantaloupes.”
She snorted. “Now you’re exaggerating. Stop looking down my dress.”
“You put the girls on display for me, I take that as a gift. Are you saying you don’t want me to look at you?”
When she blushed, his heart almost stopped. She was so damn beautiful she made him ache for her night and day. Of course he had an erection when she looked like that. Matt leaned down to try to nibble at her neck. With her hair pinned up, her throat invited him to cover it with kisses. He needed to taste her soft cocoa skin once more.
Janae ducked away. “Oh no you don’t. Your family doesn’t even want me here, judging by that dirty look they gave me when we walked in. I’m not giving them a reason to hate me.”
He squeezed her hand gently as he held it in his palm, capturing her attention when she looked away. “You’re my fiancée. There’s nothing wrong with me kissing you.”
“No, but not in the middle of the floor, and you weren’t just leaning in for a quick peck. Admit it.”
“The fifth.”
“You bum.” She laughed, and he grinned at her.
“Let’s find somewhere we can be alone so I can get a real kiss.”
“You got a kiss when you picked me up. In fact, I wasn’t sure if you were going to let me out of the apartment. You also kissed me in the car before we left, and when we got here.”
“Well, if it was so good you had to count…”
“Or so bad I couldn’t forget.”
“Janae.”
“Aw, you know I love you, baby, and your kisses.” She dismissed where they were a minute and reached up to stroke his cheek. Pleasure suffused his body from the spot of contact and all the way down to his groin. Her eyes sparkled brighter than the diamond necklace at her throat. “You hate when I tease you about giving me pleasure.”
“Because it’s important to me to make you feel good. If I suspect I’m not doing a good job, I’ll try har
der.”
“But that’s not a bad thing because it gets me a few extra orgasms.”
He dropped his voice to a low octave. “All you have to do is ask.”
Goose bumps lined her slender arms, and he raised an eyebrow. Janae pursed her lips.
“You think you got me.”
“Didn’t I?”
“Okay, you did,” she admitted. Her lashes lowered over her eyes. He didn’t know much about makeup except what looked good on a woman in his opinion. Tonight, Janae had added a silver-colored eye shadow to her lids and some type of product that made tiny flecks of glitter appear on her skin. She smelled of jasmine, and it was driving him nuts.
“So, are you afraid to go with me?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“All right.”
Neither of them searched for his grandmother or his brother as they left the hotel’s ballroom. Matt could phone the front desk and arrange for an empty room without a problem, but he didn’t actually want to abandon the party. Give him a bed, and he wouldn’t climb from between Janae’s legs until morning.
“Where are we going?” she asked as they strolled along the hall. A few guests from other events passed them as they walked, and Matt nodded a greeting to all.
“Just wait and see,” he said.
He led her to a small room with double doors leading out to a patio. Across the way, he could catch glimpses of the pool through the slats of the fence, but where he took Janae was a private section, not open to the average guest.
A sliding glass door led to a hot tub outside, but Matt ignored it. He didn’t turn up the lights but instead whipped her into his arms in the dark. Janae’s gasp and the bump of her breasts against his chest ignited his desire. He stoked the flames by running a hand down her back and curving it over her ass.
“Janae,” he murmured before he claimed her lips. She tasted like candy, and he deepened the kiss. A gentle push of his tongue into her mouth, and she opened up, allowing him full access. Matt squeezed her ass and dragged her so tight to him he imagined she had to go up on tiptoes. He devoured her mouth until he lost his breath and had to step back to get control.
Give Up On Me Page 3