by Marie Carnay
Jess rubbed at her temples. Damn it. Years of journalism training had drilled that mantra home. Instead of following up on leads and ferreting out the truth, she was letting a couple of salacious click bait headlines get the better of her.
“Thanks, Wendy.”
“You’re welcome. Now quit throwing a pity party and go kiss those guys for me.”
“Don’t hold your breath.” Jess ended the call and looked out at the bustling Manhattan street. Tourists ambled by rolling suitcases behind them, men in business suits bobbed and weaved, tossing out the occasional curse or shout. Cabbies honked their way through the intersection.
Millions of strangers, all carrying on with their lives, oblivious to hers. They didn’t care where she went, who she dated, even who she fell in love with.
She chewed on her lip. Could she love two men? Could she really have more than a three-week fling with Holt and Gage? Did they want to?
It was ridiculous. Who had a relationship with two brothers? No one. A few weeks in and they were already tabloid fodder. Asking them to survive that fallout wasn't fair.
Her father made so many sacrifices as she grew up. Two jobs. No vacations. All to pay for martial arts lessons, piano, and a million different activities to fill her days. But still she wished her mother was alive.
No matter what her father did, it never filled the void. She couldn’t do that to Holt and Gage. She couldn’t cause a rift that might not heal the second time around.
Was this time any different? Would they see more than a fling? Did they have a future together?
Jess had already turned her life upside down.
She left her home, her friends, her job; everything. In exchange for what? The rush of two men in the dark. A pair of bodies pressed up against her. The hope it meant something more.
If the tabloid gossip held the truth, she should go. But the way they kissed her said so much more. Jess ran a hand through her hair and exhaled.
Maybe going home would be the best thing.
Her phone buzzed again and she answered, ready to give Wendy a heave-ho. “Look, Wendy, I—”
“Ms. Woodson?”
Jess paused. “Yes, speaking.”
“This is Melissa Stevens in permitting for the City of Atlanta. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
She sat up straighter on the stool. “No, not at all. How can I help you?”
“I’ve been forwarded a ton of correspondence between you and various employees here in the office. I’ve done some digging and you may be onto something.”
I knew it. Jess grabbed a notebook and pen out of her bag. “Go on, please, Ms. Stevens.”
“It appears that every property you listed was rushed through approvals. I can’t explain it, Ms. Woodson, but no regard was given to the historic status.”
“Who was buying the properties?”
“That’s the funny thing. Initially, they were all purchased by separate companies. It’s why we didn’t notice the pattern.”
Jess barely contained her excitement. Nicky Gordon was behind the purchases. She just didn’t know why. “What happened to them?”
“I’ve spoken with my superiors and legal, Ms. Woodson.”
“And?”
The woman’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I shouldn’t be telling you this. Legal cautioned me against it.”
“I’ll keep you anonymous. You can be a confidential source.”
The permitting employee paused.
“Ms. Stevens, please. This is incredibly important.”
At last, she answered. “All the companies were formed by MacIntosh Hotels.”
Jess’s heart sank. There wasn’t a trail. She couldn’t pin anything on Nicky. The woman kept talking.
“But after every permit was approved, the properties were sold for pennies on the dollar.”
Jess had found out as much. That’s where her trail went cold, too. She swallowed. “Do you know who purchased them?”
“Nikolas Gordon Hotels, Incorporated.”
Jess almost dropped the phone. “Thank you, Ms. Stevens. Thank you very much.”
As soon as the call ended, she dumped her cold coffee in the trash and pulled up flights on her phone. She needed to get back to Atlanta and set the record straight.
GAGE
He read the text at least ten times. What the hell did it mean?
Stop calling me. I need time to sort everything out.
Jess was bailing on them? Didn’t she believe them? After all they had shared the past weeks…
Gage strummed his fingers on the cool stone counter. There had to be a way to have it all. Macintosh Hotels. Jess. A relationship with Holt.
His phone buzzed and he swiped it on. “MacIntosh.”
“Good morning, sir. Based on our latest numbers, the votes have stabilized.”
“Good or bad?”
“Still short.”
Damn it. “By how many?”
“Ten percent.”
Gage pinched the back of his neck. They needed good publicity more than ever. They needed the piece Jess had been poised to deliver.
He ended the call and closed his eyes. His mind filled with her. The smell of her shampoo. Her luscious ass as she straddled his legs. The way her mouth froze half-open as she came.
Jessica Woodson had slinked into more than his mind. She’d taken up residence in his heart. Going back to life without her would be impossible.
Her laugh made all the stress and tension of his job bearable. Her smile turned his whole day around. The way she called him on his bullshit? No one did it better. No one else dared.
Bianca had been the one and only woman he’d shared with Holt. But that was different. Bianca drove them apart from the start. A vein of metal running through a rock face, she shattered everything she wedged herself between.
She ruined the company, and his relationship with Holt and their father.
Jess was different. She brought them together. Gage eased off the stool and padded across the floor to the coffee pot. He filled a mug and let the steam wash over his face.
They needed Jess in their lives, not as a reporter chasing a story, but as their lover. More.
Holt stumbled his way into the kitchen, hair stuck up in a million directions, eyes still droopy from sleep. He rubbed at his face and glanced around. “Where’s Jess?”
“Gone. She left a note.” Gage pointed at the paper still sitting on the counter.
His brother squinted as he read it. “Shit. After last night I thought…” He sagged onto a barstool. “I told you using the press was a bad idea.”
“Our numbers are up. Only ten percent short of approval as of this morning.”
Holt folded the note back and forth in silence.
Gage sipped his coffee and waited. He’d learned a long time ago to only speak when necessary.
At last, his brother looked up. “I’m in love with her.”
Gage blinked. Not what he was expecting. “Are you sure?”
Holt stood up in a rush. “What kind of question is that? I wouldn’t have fucking said it if I didn’t mean it.”
“Just confirming, that’s all.”
“What about you? Do you even give a damn? Or is Jess just another one of your conquests?”
“Excuse me?”
“You know what I mean. First, it was Bianca, now it’s the hotels. Is she just another notch in your belt, too?”
Gage set his mug down and stepped forward. He met his brother across the kitchen island. They weren’t going to do this. Not again. “I care about her every bit as much as you do, don’t doubt that for a second.”
“More than the hotel chain? More than Father’s legacy?”
His brother always struck where it hurt. Gage stepped back. “We can have both.”
“What if we can’t?”
That wasn’t an option. Not yet. “There has to be a way.”
“Any ideas?”
Gage glanced past his brother to the wall of win
dows behind him. Central Park’s lush green expanse filled the vista. “No.”
“Then you need to choose. Her or the hotels. Which is it going to be?”
Gage had never been so torn. He thought of their father the night he died. How he gripped Gage’s shirt in feeble fingers, begging him to bring the company back home. Could he disappoint him again?
“I promised Father. I looked into his eyes as he lay there dying, Holt. How can I fail him?”
“Where are you going to live, Gage? In the past with ghosts, or in the present with a woman who loves you?”
Gage glanced up and met Holt’s gaze. Gone was the little brother he always saw, and in his place an equal. “You think she loves us?”
“I do.”
“Then where is she? Why did she leave?”
“We hurt her, Gage. More than I realized.” Holt glanced again at the note. “I don’t want to lose another chance at happiness over a company that bears our name. We don’t need MacIntosh Hotels. We know who we are. We know what our father accomplished. You need to let it go.”
Gage wished it were that easy. Never in his life had he been so twisted inside. He made decisions quickly and with precision. Not this time. He leaned on the counter and stared at the gray and gold grains in the stone.
No matter what he chose, he would lose. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. A text from and unknown number lit up the screen.
Turn on NNT at ten. You won’t want to miss it.
Chapter 22
JESS
“This is crazy, even by my standards.” Wendy pulled into the parking lot of the video department for News Network Today with a scowl on her face.
“It’s the only way. Vanessa’s going to interview me, I’ll set the record straight, and everyone will learn the truth.”
“But what does it matter? You never care what other people think of you. You hate this kind of thing.”
“It’s not about me.” Jess stared at the big concrete building. “Everyone needs to find out the facts about that jerk. Otherwise, he gets away with it. I’m not going to let that happen.”
“Have they called you?”
“No. I told them not to.”
Wendy whipped into a parking spot and put her car in park. “What’s wrong with you?”
She figured Wendy wouldn’t understand. She wanted Jess to snap her fingers, call her billionaire boyfriends, and have them take care of everything. Jess wasn’t that kind of woman. She didn’t need their money or celebrity or any of it. “I have to do this on my own.”
Wendy stared at her like a mushroom just sprouted from her forehead. “Why?”
Jess looked past Wendy to the front entrance. “My mother. Her death.”
“What does that have to do with any of this?”
“My dad never wanted me to follow in her footsteps. He said being a reporter got her killed. So I played it safe. Stayed in the shadows. I didn’t do it for me; I did it for him. But he’s been dead, what? Five years. I’ve been trying to please a ghost.”
“So this is your chance to rebel?”
Jess shook her head. “No. It’s my chance to prove to myself I can do it. That I have what it takes to stand up there and let the whole world see me, not just my research.”
Wendy reached in for a hug. “So this doesn’t have anything to do with the hot guys you won’t talk to?”
“Maybe a little.”
“If you don’t want them back, it’s okay. You don’t owe them anything. Holt and Gage are big boys. They can handle this themselves.”
“I know. But I want to finish the assignment.” Jess smoothed down her pencil skirt and grabbed her bag.
“Harvey fired you. The assignment doesn't matter.”
“It does to me. Wish me luck.”
Wendy smiled. “You don’t need luck; you’ve got the truth.”
Half an hour later, Jess sat across from Vanessa Hawkins, miked up and ready to tell the whole world all the personal details she never imagined she’d have to say.
The morning show host flashed her trademark smile. “Of all people, I can’t believe you wound up catching the attention of the MacIntosh brothers.”
Of course she would insult her off-air. Jess never understood why Vanessa didn't like her. She tried to play it off. “Am I too pedestrian for them?”
Vanessa looked her up and down from behind perfect lashes and sculpted brows. “That and a bit homely.” She picked a piece of lint off her jacket. “I’m only doing this for the ratings. If I had a choice, you’d be on your own.”
“Good to find out where we stand.”
“I aim to be transparent with my guests.”
A voice came over the loudspeaker. “And we’re on in three, two…”
Vanessa turned to the camera. “Good morning, everyone. I’m Vanessa Hawkins, and I’m here with a very special guest this morning. You’ve been seeing her face splashed all over the news the past few days. It’s the one and only girlfriend to the most eligible bachelors in the country, Jessica Woodson.”
Jess swallowed. This was going to be worse than she thought. “Good morning, Vanessa.”
“Tell me, are the rumors true? Are you having an affair with Gage and Holt MacIntosh?”
“I was.”
“Why the past tense? Is it over?”
Jess nodded. “It is.”
Vanessa pulled back her shoulders like a queen who’d just been given Snow White’s heart. “How did a woman like you end up in their bed in the first place?”
Oh, God. Jess inhaled and let it out slowly. Vanessa had always been what Jess hated about the business. More helmet-head and power suit than fact-finding. All phony smiles and shark teeth.
She sipped some water before answering. “I was hired to do an assignment for NNT. I was to be their shadow for three weeks and then prepare a biographical piece on their lives today.”
“Did that assignment involve sleeping with them?”
“No, I did that all on my own.”
Vanessa’s smile faltered. “Are you saying the statements issued by the MacIntosh brothers are lies?” Vanessa picked up a piece of paper with the worst soundbites from their press releases highlighted in yellow. “Were you more than an infatuated reporter?”
“I never claimed to be a reporter.”
“Wh-what about their dismissal of your appearance and your job? You have to admit it’s a pretty far-fetched story.”
Jess shrugged. “I agree, it is. But whether I had a relationship with them or not isn’t important. I’m not here to dissect the gossip mill with you, Vanessa. Like I said before, I’m here to set the record straight about their father’s company, MacIntosh Hotels, and the current president, Nikolas Gordon.”
Vanessa’s face fell as she glanced down at her notes.
Didn’t see that one coming, did you? Jess had never been more thankful that no one listened to her. Catching Vanessa off-guard was worth all the dismissals in the world.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“Gage and Holt MacIntosh are in the process of attempting to buy back MacIntosh Hotels. The president and minority shareholder, Nikolas Gordon, has been running a counterattack, including the firestorm that you’ve so eloquently mentioned.”
“But you don’t deny the stories and photos are real?”
“No. The photos are real. The accusations… make of them what you will. But Gage and Holt aren’t the story, here. It’s Gordon. He’s been secretly siphoning assets from MacIntosh Hotels to launch his own competing business. He’s buying houses in historic areas with corporate money and paying permitting offices under the table to tear them down.”
Vanessa blinked a million times. The woman ordinarily handled puff pieces and celebrities. Not serious news. “Forgive me, why is this important?”
“While everyone has been focused on my relationship with Gage and Holt, Nicky has been transferring assets to his own company, Gordon Hotels. He’s committed fraud and bribed cit
y officials. He’s lied to the shareholders of MacIntosh Hotels and run his own smear campaign, all so he can start a competing business. Nicky is who you should be investigating, not Holt or Gage.”
Vanessa tilted her head. “Why come here and say all this? Why not just tell the police and move on?”
Jess swallowed. Now or never. She turned to face the camera full-on. “Because the world needs to see who Gage and Holt MacIntosh really are. They aren’t the playboy billionaires everyone sees splashed in the tabloids. They are kind, thoughtful, wonderful men, who run a business the right way.”
She turned back to Vanessa. “And I’m in love with them.”
Vanessa lit up like a night game. Now they were back in her ballpark. “Both of them?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a little inappropriate, don’t you think?”
Jess shrugged. “Why is it? They always respected me, treated me right, were nothing but gentlemen.”
“But there’s two of them!”
Jess plowed on. “All I know is that I owe it to them to tell the truth. Yes, we had an affair. Yes, I fell in love with two men at the same time. But none of that should matter. What matters is that they are good people, with good business sense. They deserve to buy their father’s company back and not let it go to hell because the current president is a liar and a cheat.”
“Couldn’t some people say the same of you?”
Jess thought about her father and all the promises she made. How she tried for years to stay under the radar and out of the spotlight. He never wanted her in front of the camera. He wanted to save her from her mother’s path.
How little he understood. It wasn’t the job that put her mother at risk. It was her heart.
She could have chosen easy assignments like Vanessa Hawkins and made a name for herself trading on other people’s popularity. But her mother chose the noble, risky path. The one that laid her heart bare and exposed her to so much more than a stray bullet.
Jess smiled at the camera. At that moment, she understood more about her life and future than she ever had before. “I don’t care what people say about me. The truth is the most important thing.”