All The Ugly Things (Love and Lies Duet Book 1)

by Stacey Lynn

  My own desk. The urge to pinch myself to make sure this wasn’t all a dream came on strong and I barely resisted.

  As we approached, I spied Brandon. Of course he had the massive corner office. He paced back and forth, speaking into a small microphone that was hooked over his ear. He wore a suit, similar to Hudson, but had already discarded the coat. It sat flung haphazardly across a tabletop with seating for six on one side of the office and his massive desk was perched right in the middle.

  “Brandon can never stand still while on the phone,” Hudson said.

  “Nor can he do it at any other time, either.” The woman who spoke rose from her seat at the larger of the two desks, this one covered in files and candles and photos of small, smiling faces. “You must be Lilly. Brandon told me you’d be in this morning. I’m Sandra, his assistant.”

  “It’s so nice to meet you.” I stepped forward and took her hand. “Lilly Huntington.”

  Her smile was instantly disarming. Wide and friendly, she had pale pink lips and expertly executed makeup. Her skin was flawless, her caramel-colored hair professionally highlighted with strips of darker and lighter colors. It landed at her shoulders in a cute but still elegant bob.

  “I have to tell you. Getting some help for me is the best thing I’ve heard all year, really puts me in the early holiday spirit. Brandon and I spent some time this week figuring out where to have you start but really, I think you and I will go through everything this week and I’ll let you choose what you’re most comfortable with, does that sound okay?”

  “Um. Yeah.” Anticipation fluttered in my stomach. I had a job. At an office. And this woman was already so kind. “Yes, I mean. And I know I can’t do much, what with school.”

  “Totally get that. I didn’t go to college until after I was married with my first baby, and I was about your age. I know all about balancing life and work, but that’s what makes this place so great.” She flashed Hudson a smile that was so sweet, so grateful and honest, I almost cried for her. “The Valentines are the best and they make sure to treat us like we’re theirs.”

  “Sandra—” Hudson said, but she stopped him.

  “You know it’s true, even if you don’t like hearing it.” From the windows in Brandon’s office, we saw him yank out his earpiece and head our way.

  He wore the same ridiculous smile he wore at dinner, part-amused, part-foolish.

  “Good morning,” he said, reaching us, and grinning at me. “Do I know you? Because it feels like I know you.”

  “Hey Brandon. Thank you, again for this.”

  “No skin off my nose. Whatever makes Sandra happy means she’ll stay and keep putting up with my crap. I’m not the most… let’s say…”

  “Organized,” Sandra filled in happily.

  “Disciplined,” Hudson followed.

  He wagged his finger at both in a mock glare. “Don’t tell her all my dirty secrets quite yet, you two.” His finger settled on Hudson. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be? A whole different floor to be on? Counting millions? Laying down the law?”

  “I have no idea why I’m even friends with you,” Hudson muttered.

  “I’m irresistible. Impossible not to love.”

  “Incorrigible.” Sandra laughed. “Since we’re now on the ‘I’ words.”

  “Who signs your paychecks?” he asked Sandra.

  She shoved her thumb at Hudson. “He does.” She stuck out her tongue at Brandon while both guys laughed.

  “Someday, the answer to that question will be me,” he harrumphed, feigning a pout.

  “I have no doubt,” Hudson said. “And I do need to get going, but I wanted to make sure Lilly got in and found you easily today. Have a good one, okay?” he asked, looking down at me. He was so close, I wanted to reach out and hug him. Maybe kiss him.

  Probably not appropriate but with the way he licked his lips as I looked at him, I figured he felt the same way.

  “I will. Thank you.”

  “I’ll see you soon. You’ll do great. And you—” he said to Brandon. “Be nice or you’re fired.”

  “Fired my ass. I could burn the place down and David would still give me a job.”

  “Let’s not try to figure out if that’s true.”

  Brandon rolled his eyes and turned to me. “I’m going to let Sandra get you settled, but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate, okay?”

  “Sure. Thank you.”

  “No problem. Anything for family.”

  He winked at Hudson before heading back to his office, plopping an earpiece back in his ear, leaving me swaying in surprise.

  Family. That’s exactly how he was treating me. What did I do with that?

  Once he was gone, Sandra gestured to the empty desk. My desk.

  “I have files set out for you in the top left drawer. Basic paperwork and whatnot. Why don’t you get started on that, and then I’ll take you to HR for your employee photo and badge. I have a few quick things about Brandon’s schedule I have to go over with him, okay?”

  “Yes. Thank you. Again.”

  “Don’t thank me. I’m glad you’re here.”

  She followed Brandon into his office, leaving Hudson and me alone.

  “You okay?”

  “I’m feeling a little bit overwhelmed in a happy way, so yeah. I’m good.”

  “Good. I need to get upstairs, but let me know if you need anything?”

  “Okay.”

  He gave me a look I couldn’t decipher, gave me a quick scan of my clothes, my body, and when he met my eyes again, his were heated. Dark and stormy and so darn handsome.

  “Have a good day.”

  He spun on his heels and I stared at him until he disappeared around the corner toward the elevators.

  I went to my desk, fingertips tingling with nerves and excitement.

  I was on page three of paperwork when my phone buzzed in my purse. There were so few people who had my number, I figured it was Angie, wishing me luck.

  Instead, it was Hudson.

  Hope you have an excellent first day.

  Can’t wait to hear about it.

  By the way—you look beautiful.

  All the remaining nerves I had about the kiss evaporated into thin air with the text. It was so simple. So needed. I grinned at the text for who knows how long but by the time Sandra returned, I hadn’t done a darn thing.

  He thinks I’m beautiful.

  27

  Hudson

  I barely concentrated all day. More than once Stephanie gave me awkward looks. Possibly because as she spoke, I nodded and mumbled and gave out commands and requests I had no memory of. Hell, I could have told her to go ahead and buy a company car, on me, for all I knew.

  Lilly was two floors away and I couldn’t go see her. I couldn’t go talk to her. I couldn’t annoy her to death her very first day but all day long I was obsessed with her.

  After lunch, Brandon finally responded to the many texts I’d sent him all morning asking how she was doing, demanding an update, asking him if she’d been to HR, if she knew where the cafeteria was for lunch.

  His text was simple: Simmer down, asshole. She’s fine.

  It told me everything. It told me nothing.

  She was so close.

  Living so close to me.

  Working so close to me.

  And here, in the office especially, I had to take my time and give her space.

  Now, the workday was done and like I’d done this morning and waited in the condo lobby for her, I was doing the same thing at Valor Holdings. My dress shoes clicked a frantic pattern on the floor.

  It was five. She should be done. Any minute she’d step off the elevators and then climb into my truck with me—that was currently sitting out front and warm because I’d already taken an Uber home and brought it back.

  I had no desire to freeze over a walk home.

  She finally stepped off the elevator. Her hair, perfectly curled this morning, now fell limply over her shoulders. Her ey
es were tired but shone with a wearied excitement. She took my breath away in her outfit. Wide-leg pants that hid the thinness and shape of her legs but cupped her ass perfectly. A shirt that fell over her breasts elegantly and hid her curves perfectly. I’d barely resisted slamming my mouth to hers as soon as I saw her this morning and even tired at the end of the day she was still just as beautiful. I fisted my hands so I wouldn’t reach out and devour her in the lobby where every Valor Holdings employee could see. I’d promised her we’d go slow. It took everything in me to follow through on the promise.

  “Hey,” she said, voice surprised when she saw me. “What are you doing here?”

  I’d stopped my pacing when I first saw her, but I was still tightly wound. “Waiting for you to give you a ride home? How was your day?”

  “Busy. But good. Sandra is really sweet.”

  “She is. And she has the patience of a saint for working with Brandon so well.”

  “I’m sure no one’s ever said the same about you and Stephanie.”

  “Never. I’m a peach.”

  “Sure you are.”

  “So… the ride home?”

  She ran her hands together, already prepping to warm them before heading outside. “I would really like to get in the habit of walking but since I’m not dressed for this, yes. I’d love a ride home.”

  “Good. Truck’s out front and already warm.”

  She grinned up at me. “You went and got it?”

  “Close. Took an Uber home and brought it back a while ago. Figured there was no point in us freezing on the walk home.”

  She grinned up at me with a soft, awed expression. “That was sweet of you.”

  I pushed open the door to the building, holding it open for and as she ducked past me, I smirked. “I’m a sweet guy.”

  A blush that had nothing to do with the chilling wind crept to her cheeks and she dipped her head, hurrying to the truck.

  “Man. I might need to go get a warmer coat,” she said, scrubbing her arms while I unlocked the doors. “Funny how it can go from fall to feeling like winter so quick. It’s like I forget, every year.”

  After I followed her into the truck, and we were buckled, I threw my arm over her headrest so I could check for traffic before pulling out onto the street. “So, any chance you’d want to go to dinner and tell me all about your day?”

  She rubbed her hands down her thighs. Sometimes she did this from nerves being in the car. Tonight I suspected it had more to do with the weather.

  “Oh.” She tucked hair behind her ear and cringed. “I, well… I have a meeting tonight, but sure. I can do something before then, but I’d have to have something fast, so I have time to change and get to the church. And I need to look into the bus schedule.”

  The church. Of course. I’d forgotten about her meetings.

  “How about I let you change and have a few minutes to relax. Then we’ll do dinner and I’ll take you?”

  “I feel like you have an issue with me taking public transportation.”

  Based on the gleam in her eye, she was teasing me. She was also right. It wasn’t the public transportation, it was what happened the last night she came home after dark. My building was safe. The area was nicer than her last one. That didn’t mean bad things didn’t happen to good people once the sun set.

  It did.

  “If I’m already driving us to dinner, it’s no problem to take you to the church. It’s only a few minutes away.”

  “Thank you. I’d like that, then.”

  “Oh my gosh. This is delicious.”

  She groaned around a fork filled with spicy noodles, hissing in a breath between every bite. Apparently spicy noodles at The Walking Wok was synonymous with set your mouth on fire with every bite. And she’d requested a mild version.

  Still, Lilly praised the food with every top of the mouth searing bite, all while using chopsticks like she’d been born with them.

  “God, I missed this. And sushi.” She closed her eyes and hummed. “I used to love sushi. My friend Kendra and I, we would always go to a sushi place on Fridays before the school’s football games.” She had a far-off look in her eyes, the same one I knew I got when I remembered something sweet and equally painful.

  She shook her head and took a sip of her water.

  I was struck mute. I wasn’t used to her offering up personal pieces of her life when she was younger.

  “Anyway, this was a great idea tonight. I haven’t been able to eat out often, and I really missed this.”

  “You’re welcome.” I cleared my throat and shoved a bite of chicken into my mouth before I said something ridiculously stupid and scary. Something like, I’d do anything for you.

  I tried to fight this. I tried to fight my visceral reaction to her since Dad started showing me photos of her. I started falling in love with a woman when I only knew her story and her two-dimensional smile.

  It sounded impossible.

  My feelings for her weren’t. Having us end up together was a different story.

  “What about Kendra? Have you had any contact with her?”

  “No.” She shook her head again and looked down at her plate. “I don’t blame her though. We were so young and our parents were friends. I wrote to her a couple of times but I never heard back.”

  “I’m sorry.” I couldn’t imagine anything my friends would have done that would turn me against them. What happened that night was an accident, what happened afterward abusive.

  “I don’t hold it against her, but I do wish I could see her again. Explain.”

  “Explain what?”

  Like she hadn’t known what she’d just said, Lilly glanced at me. “What?”

  “You said you wanted to explain to Kendra. What do you have to explain?”

  She blinked several times. “Nothing. I just… I miss her sometimes. This night is just reminding me of her, I guess.” She gestured to my meal with her chopsticks. “How’s your chicken pho?”

  Lilly gave me a pleading look, one begging me to drop the subject. I did. This wasn’t the time or the place. And who knew if she’d ever become comfortable enough with me to share, although I hoped that would change.

  “It’s delicious. Walking Wok hasn’t disappointed me yet with anything I’ve tried.”

  I was most especially thankful for the early dinner we were having with none of the tables around us taken. The atmosphere was always quiet but tonight it was nice to feel like we were alone, even if we were in public.

  “Can I ask you a question?” she asked after several minutes of us enjoying our meals.

  “Hit me.”

  “It’s about Brandon. About his mom.”

  “Okay.” She’d already told me she knew his mom. I wasn’t surprised, but it saddened me all the same. And pissed me off a woman who had treated Brandon so horribly from the time he was born was still alive. “What is it?”

  “I was wondering if you told him. That I knew her.”

  I set down my silverware and leaned forward, resting my forearms on the table. Her eyes were so wide, so curious and slowly, as we spent more time together all the roughened edges she’d carried herself with were beginning to soften. “No. I didn’t. I’m not saying you can’t. That’s your decision, but Brandon said goodbye to his mom and let her go a long time ago. I don’t know if drudging up his past with him would do anyone any good.”

  “Right.” She licked her lips and picked at her food. “I get that. Do you know how he did it?”

  “Did what?”

  “Let his mom go. How did he just say goodbye and live his life without her?”

  That familiar burning rage hit my chest and seared straight to my heart as she asked, so timidly, so quietly. Like she was afraid of even voicing the question.

  It was arguable which one of them had the worst parents. Brandon’s mom had been abusive and neglectful, higher more minutes of the day than not for as long as Brandon could remember.

  On the flip side, Lilly’s dad was a
busive, physically and emotionally. And he sent his daughter to prison.

  So yeah, it was a pretty shitty toss-up on the crappy parenting scale.

  “I don’t know, Lilly, but if you’re talking about your parents and not Brandon’s, I think you just have to realize you were always more than who they said you were, and you start living like it. One day at a time, until you realize you don’t really need their approval or their presence in your life if they’re not willing to support you. You don’t need decent parents who love you to make something of yourself. You have to do that for you.”

  She blew out a breath and ran a hand through her hair. “It sounds so easy when you say it like that.”

  “It’s not, and I don’t want to be flippant about the road ahead of you at all. I do know, from years of watching kids and teens come into our house, and watching Mom and Dad break their backs to give them something good, the drive to be successful can only come from inside. It’s just easier to find it when you have outside support. But I think if you look around you, at the people in your life now, not back then, you’ll find you have that.”

  Tears filled her eyes and she squeezed her eyes closed. I hadn’t meant to make her cry. I was one breath away from shoving out of my chair to wrap my arms around her when she opened them and gave me a watery smile.

  “Thank you.”

  “No thanks necessary. It’s the truth.” I speared another piece of chicken from my pho. “Now. Tell me about work today. How’d everything go?”

  It took a minute. Maybe two. Then she smiled, and this time it wasn’t watery at all.

  It also wasn’t broken or harsh. It didn’t seem fake or forced. It was beautiful, like the rest of her, heightened more so only because she spent the rest of the dinner gushing about her day, sounding more excited over a job at an office than any child who received presents from Santa. Which made sense, because her excitement was probably the greatest gift I’d ever been given.