by Mia Carson
“Finally,” she muttered. “Took long enough, but Sally told me she had it all nine months with the twins. Have you seen Greyson?”
Kelly nodded. “On the tech level with the IT guys.” The tone of her voice dropped, and Belle sighed.
“How bad is he?”
“His freak-out level or his crab-ass level?” she asked shortly. “The man sure knows how to piss Tim off every few minutes. I think it’s a record.”
“Great, I’ll go talk to him—again,” Belle said and waddled towards the elevator. She had used the stairs before, but over the last few weeks her belly had grown too much and she couldn’t see her feet, let alone the stairs she was stepping down onto. So she took the elevator, mostly to make sure Greyson wouldn’t have another reason to lecture her—though to be fair, he had backed off. He didn’t even hold her trip to Canada over her like she had assumed he would but dove headfirst into helping her and Brent track down their father, James Hall.
Except there were nearly five hundred James Halls, and so far, all the leads were useless.
When she’d reached the tech level, Belle stepped out and glanced right and left, wondering which way to go, when she heard a familiar growl of annoyance echo towards her from the right. Several guys rushed by, quickly ducking out of her way as she stormed towards the voices growing louder by the second. She turned the corner and saw Greyson and Tim, toe-to-toe, yelling at each other. Davis and Billy—a last-minute new hire—spotted her first and smirked, but Greyson didn’t and continued yelling, leaning into Tim. Belle rolled her eyes, put her fingers to her lips, and blew. The high-pitched whistle bounced off the metal cages of the servers, and Greyson’s mouth clamped shut as his head whipped around with a glare.
She met it just as fiercely, tapping her toe on the floor. “Did you two decide to revert to five-year-olds today?”
Greyson’s eyes blazed, but Tim’s face instantly broke out into a grin. “He started it.”
“I didn’t start anything,” Greyson argued. “What are you doing down here?”
She raised her brow, and her toe stopped its tapping. Davis and Billy backed up, hanging their heads and averting their gazes. Greyson might be known for his yelling around here, but Belle put him in his place with her furious, quiet voice that scared half of the guys who worked there.
“I heard you were berating Tim again,” she snapped. “You are two weeks away from the biggest game launch of this company and of your life, and you’re down here quarreling like a kid when you have more important things to do. Get your shit together, both of you, and start acting like you give a damn.”
Greyson choked, and Tim’s mouth fell open at her accusation. Davis coughed to cover a laugh, and Billy backed away even further as if putting distance between him and Belle would save him from her scolding. It wouldn’t.
“And the rest of you,” Belle snapped, turning her glare on them, “letting them bicker like this? Two weeks away, people, two damn weeks away, and instead of working together to solve whatever problem you think you found,” she emphasized, her eyes on Greyson, “you watch! If I have to come down here again, I’m bringing my Nerf gun and shooting you all in the eyes! Got it?”
Greyson groaned and stalked towards her. “You’re being a little over dramatic,” he said, his voice hard.
“Am I? What is the saying again? Oh, yeah, don’t piss off the pregnant lady.” He stopped when he stood right in front of her, and she poked him hard in the chest. “So don’t piss me off, bear.”
“When have I ever pissed you off, pet?” he asked, taking her hand and kissing the back of it.
“Don’t think you can sweet talk your way out of this,” she warned him as she dragged his hand down to her belly where their unborn son was kicking happily. The second Greyson’s palm lay flat and felt it, his eyes widened in awe and he sank to his knees to stare at the spot. “Your son’s been driving me nuts all morning. I don’t need you adding to it.”
Absently, he nodded, and Belle smiled softly down at him. He went from grizzly to teddy bear anytime the baby was mentioned, and she loved it. Lately, it was one of the only things to push him out of his grumpy mood and force him to acknowledge what he was doing. Greyson’s other hand moved up, and he matched her smile… until the sound of shifting feet behind him made him turn. His cheeks burning red, he cleared his throat and pushed to his feet, giving Belle a quick kiss on the lips.
“Right, sorry,” he growled firmly. “We were having a disagreement about how to fix a bug and things got out of hand.”
“Again.”
“Yeah, again,” Tim scoffed. “He knows I’m right.”
“You’re not right,” Greyson snapped until Belle pinched his arm, and he sucked in a deep breath through his nose. “You have a good idea, but I don’t think it will be a permanent fix. We can’t have any bugs in the game when we launch.”
Tim tossed his head back. “Then we’re screwed. The permanent fix will take longer than two weeks, boss man.”
“How many do you need?” Belle asked.
“No, it’s impossible to change the launch date now,” Greyson told her. “Bigsby Inc. won’t like it, and if they pull out, they take everything they helped us develop with them. It’ll ruin us.”
Belle stretched up on her toes, patted his cheek, and smiled. “You should know by now no one says no to me. I’ll get them on the phone and explain we have a delay.”
“No, they can’t know,” Tim yelped as he jumped back to his feet. “Those suits? My God, we’d never hear the end of how Greystone Games failed to come through in the clinch. No, we do the small fix, and we worry about it after the launch has taken place.”
Greyson glowered, but he didn’t argue. Belle stared between them, tugging at the piercings on her right ear before she laughed quietly. The men glanced at her, and Greyson reached out to grip her shoulders.
“Belle, you’re scaring the guys,” he muttered. “What’s so funny about the failure of my company?”
“I worked my ass off to get you where you are,” she reminded him, still laughing. “Do you honestly think I would let you fall on your face now? Who do you think you’re marrying? A pushover or a spitfire who happens to be jacked up on hormones?” She looked over his shoulder to Tim. “How long do you need to fix it properly?”
His eyes drifted away as he counted off numbers on his fingers, glancing over his shoulder every now and then at the monitor. “Another two weeks from the original launch date.”
“Then I’ll see that you get it,” Belle said cheerfully.
“That puts the launch right around the time you’re due,” Greyson argued. “We can’t do that.”
“Dr. Higgins said not to count on that date. She said it could be earlier, could be later,” she said with a shrug. “We won’t know until it happens, so I’m not going to worry about it. He’ll come when he’s ready, but I can help make sure this launch goes off without any problems.”
Greyson’s brow furrowed, and he glanced at her belly. “You’re sure this won’t be too much stress?”
“You’re too much stress,” she shot back with a grin. “I’ll be fine. I’m going to make a few phone calls, so I suggest the lot of you get back to work. I’ll let you know as soon as I get them to change the date.”
She walked away, Greyson following to catch her hand. “Belle… Is there anything else going on you want to tell me?” he asked quietly, running his thumb over her knuckles.
“No, why?” she said, but he didn’t believe her. His lips thinned into that domineering look he wore lately. “Yeah, I know I suck at lying, but can we talk about it later? Please? One major problem at a time is all I can deal with right now.”
“Is it about your dad?”
She sighed and nodded as she stared at the floor. “The wedding is in two months, and we still can’t find a trace of the right James Hall. We don’t even know what he did for a living.”
“Did you start in the town your mom lived in?” he asked.
After they returned home, Greyson and Brent had tracked down where the Tinsons were originally from, hoping to find some sort of trail there, but James Hall was not from her hometown of Hartford, Connecticut. They had found a wealth of information on their mom, though, and contacted a few people from the yearbook who knew her well. They’d been sending Belle letters and pictures over the past few months, so many that she hadn’t had a chance to go through them all yet. It was more than their grandparents had been willing to do, those rotten bastards. Her hands curled into fists, and her face scrunched just thinking of how they had looked at her—as if she would never be good enough for anyone simply because Penelope ran away to be with the man she loved and didn’t stick around to be the daughter they dreamed of.
Greyson’s hands unfurled hers, and he intertwined his fingers through hers to draw her attention. “Stop thinking about them,” he grumbled sternly. “I mean it. Right now. They’re not worth it.”
“I can’t help it,” she whispered and hated the hot tears pricking her eyes. “Damn hormones.”
His deep laughter surrounded her as he kissed the top of her head. “We’ll talk about it later, alright?”
She nodded and quickly wiped at her eyes, fixed her hair, and gave him a determined look. “I’m going to go make my calls. Do not start another yelling match with Tim. Just get to work.”
She turned to go a second time, but he didn’t let go of her hands and dragged her around the corner out of view of the others. Her back against the wall, Belle opened her mouth to ask what he was doing when his lips captured hers in a hot kiss. All her worries melted into the background. His hands found her hips and held them as her pregnant belly and swollen breasts pushed against his hard body. His beard tickled her cheeks and nose, and she smiled as the kiss deepened. He must’ve hit the elevator button because the doors dinged a few seconds later and he pulled her into the small space with him.
“We only have one floor,” she reminded him, her breath ragged as his lips found her neck, his tongue tracing patterns. “Greyson.”
He chuckled but didn’t stop. With one hand, he reached out and hit the hold button. The elevator rang, but Belle ignored it when one hand snaked up under her shirt and pushed her bra aside, cupping the heavy mound. When his thumb brushed over her nipple, she moaned, arching her back, and tugged at his beard until her lips were on his again. She would’ve given anything to be home where they could finish this to relieve their stress, but there were phone calls waiting and Tim would never let Greyson hear the end of it if he was gone for twenty minutes while they dealt with a crisis.
Hating to do it, she nipped his lip and leaned back. “Greyson,” she whispered, and he sighed with a grunt, resting his forehead against hers.
“You’re right. Damn, what time is it?” he asked, glancing at his watch.
“Too early to take off for the day, but don’t worry,” she added, waggling her eyebrows, “I’ll make it worth the wait when we get home tonight.”
Her hand reached out and pressed his swollen erection through his jeans, and his hands fisted in the back of her sweater. “Damn it, woman,” he growled and kissed her hotly one final time before he reached over and hit the button for the elevator to continue up. It reached the next floor, and when the doors opened, they were still locked in an embrace.
“Well now, if I could find a man to kiss me like that, I’d be all set,” Kelly called out and whistled.
Belle’s face grew hot, and Greyson gave her a wolfish grin as she stepped away, her hand holding his until the last possible second. “Remember, no more fighting with Tim.”
Greyson hit the button to go down, a few people joining him, and shrugged. “I can’t promise that.”
“Damn it,” Belle started, but the doors closed on his smirk. “Gah! What am I going to do with him?”
“Oh, I’m sure we all know what you want to do with him,” Kelly muttered with a wink.
Belle nibbled her lip but couldn’t hide the smile as it spread across her face. “Yeah, well, I can’t help it, and now I’m all tense and have to call Bigsby. I could strangle that man some days.”
“Bigsby?” Kelly asked, walking with Belle back towards the joint CEO offices. “What for?”
“We have to convince them to push back the launch two weeks without telling them exactly why,” Belle told her. “Care to help me find some sort of loophole to make this work?”
Kelly shook her head and stopped in the doorway. “No can do. I have a list of people to interview today before I send them to you and Greyson next week.”
Belle frowned. “New hires? We’re hiring?”
“Greyson said he talked to you about needing more IT guys, and designs has been looking to add another creative mind… He didn’t talk to you about it?” she finished lamely.
Belle gripped the edge of her desk, working to control her anger and failing horribly. “No. No, he did not. Thank you for informing me, though. I’m sure it just slipped his mind.” That rotten bastard! New designer when I’m right here? He still won’t let me do it, after everything we’ve done together!
Kelly backed out of the door, but Belle stopped her with a look. “I really have to go.”
“I know. Just do me a favor. Don’t tell Greyson you talked to me about it.”
“Not a word,” Kelly said and ducked quickly out of the office. Belle watched her go and sat down behind her desk.
So much had happened over the past few months, Belle felt older. She wasn’t just a twenty-two-year-old, though she had never acted her age growing up—always wanted to be ahead of the pack, show people she could handle herself, be mature. Even now, working with Greyson, everyone acted as if only ten months ago, she hadn’t started here as an intern. The new people who started assumed she was a lackey until they saw her office and actually sat down and spoke to her, but they didn’t believe her. She saw the look in their eyes afterwards, that knowing gleam that said they knew exactly how she got to where she was.
One young woman, just a few years younger than Belle, had asked her how many times she’d slept with Greyson before he gave her the position. Furious, Belle yelled at the woman and kicked her out of the office, following her to the elevators to make sure she left the floor and didn’t get side-tracked searching for the hottie CEO. Belle told Kelly she wouldn’t interview anyone else until they passed through HR first and she had weeded out anyone who might give Belle a hard time. She’d worked hard to get where she was and saved this company more than a few times from its horribly unorganized CEO, but no one saw that. Glancing through the glass walls of her office, she wondered if most people saw her that way. She knew they liked her, but she also knew they wanted Greyson happy. She kept him happy.
Was that all she was good for? Keeping the boss happy? Belle puffed out her cheeks and glared at her phone. Without taking the time to cool down, she picked it up, dialed the direct number for Bigsby Inc.’s CEO, and waited as the phone rang and rang.
Greyson watched over Tim’s shoulder as sweat dripped down his forehead. The room was freezing because of the servers, so his sweat was more from worry this wouldn’t work or that Belle wouldn’t be able to get them the extra time. He had all the confidence in the world in her, but not in their partner. They were by-the-book suits who adhered to strict deadlines with no excuses allowed. Greyson wondered, not for the first time, if they had been the right company to go into business with. He’d been desperate for a partner, and Bigsby was what he'd got.
The desk phone nearby lit up, and Davis answered it. “Yeah? Hang on a sec,” he said, and set the phone down after pressing a button. “Alright, boss lady, you’re on speaker.”
“Bigsby has agreed to push back the launch,” Belle’s voice said through the phone.
“Oh, thank God,” Tim muttered, and his head fell to the desk with a quiet thud.
“You’re a miracle worker, Belle,” Greyson said and let out a breath.
“Don’t get too excited. There’s a catch,” she
told them, and his stomach fell.
“What is it?”
“I think I should talk to you about that in private,” she said stiffly.
Greyson’s eyes narrowed at the phone as he picked it up. “Belle?”
“Yes, boss man?” she asked with an edge to her words.
“What happened on this call that has you so cranky?”
“Nothing, nothing at all, but the terms of the launch day extension are for your ears only. And I’m taking the rest of the day off. I'm tired. I keep falling asleep at my desk.”
He glanced over his shoulder then hunched them and turned away from the prying eyes of everyone in the room. “You didn’t look tired earlier.”
“Well, I was… I just hid it well.”
She was lying. He could almost see her scratching her nose like she always did when she lied. “Are you sure there’s nothing else wrong that you’re not telling me? Did Brent call?”
“No, nothing happened, but I’m heading out. I just wanted to let you know that you have your extension. See you at home,” she said shortly and hung up.
Greyson stared at the phone in his hand before setting it down, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he turned around to face the guys. “She’s going to tell me what the catch is later at home,” he said in answer to their curious looks.
Davis and Billy looked away, and Tim whistled. “You’re in trouble.”
“I didn’t do anything, and no, I’m not,” he grunted, stalking over to the computer. He looked once at the hall leading to the elevator, wondering if he should go after Belle and stop her from leaving the office, but he had to get this work wrapped up. Four weeks was not a lot of time, and if this bug persisted, if they couldn’t get it to work, it would cause more backlash among their fans anxiously anticipating the next Greystone Games MMO. Bigsby would never let them hear the end of it.
The hours ticked by slowly and when five o’clock finally rolled around, Greyson stretched his back and stood, patting Tim on the back.
“We’ll leave it there for now. Go home, get some sleep. We’ll need it,” he told them.