Page 29

Nate
Finley’s visit yesterday had given me an edge through most of the rest of the day, making me glad that Ashlee and I had just exchanged texts. I didn’t want her knowing about the conversation. I honestly wasn’t sure how she’d react, and I didn’t want to find out.
There was a possibility she’d take Finley’s concerns to heart, but I was more worried that she’d get mad at him. If this harmed her relationship with her father, she might never blame me for it, but I would. And despite what Finley thought about me, I wanted to protect Ashlee as much as he did.
Today was better. Not a great day, but a good one. I accomplished everything on my to-do list, had no crazy surprises, and had plans to introduce Ashlee to phone sex tonight.
At least that was the plan until Ashlee came into my office just as the day was ending. She wore a troubled expression on her face, and I didn’t like it.
I crossed over to her in just a couple long strides, wrapping her in my arms even as my mouth came down on hers. She leaned into me as we kissed, her body humming with a tension that I wanted to help shift into something different. I parted her lips with my tongue, sweeping in to explore even as my hands roamed her body, reacquainting themselves with each curve as if I hadn’t touched her for months.
Before I could do something stupid, like take her in dozen equally thrilling ways, she pulled back. Her hands stayed on my chest, but I had the feeling it was more to keep me back than because she wanted to be touching me.
“I didn’t come up here for…this.” She gestured between the two of us and then took a step back.
“What’s wrong?” I didn’t follow her even though all I wanted was to reach for her again.
“When I came back from lunch, your brother was downstairs in the lobby.”
My reaction was equal parts instinct and habit the instant I heard ‘brother.’ My shields slammed into place, and I took a few mental steps back.
“My brother.”
She nodded. “Yes. He was down at the receptionist’s desk, talking to the temp down there. Wayne seemed a little…intimidated, so I stepped up to help him.”
“Wayne?” My voice was flat, but my stomach knotted at the sound of another man’s name coming out of her mouth.
“The temporary receptionist,” she said, a frown line appearing between her eyebrows. “He’s not a big guy, and your brother is huge. I wasn’t going to let him intimidate Wayne.”
A flash of jealousy went through me. “Of course not. We can’t have someone hurting Wayne’s feelings.”
Even as the words came out of my mouth, I could hear how snarky they were. Judging by the flash of surprise on Ashlee’s face, they’d been a bad choice, but I refused to take them back. I wasn’t going to coddle an employee because someone might be mean to them.
“Wayne’s a good kid. I went to school with his sister.” She crossed her arms, shifting her stance to a clearly defensive one.
I waved a dismissive hand. “Enough about the kid. You said you talked to my brother.”
She nodded, still looking annoyed. “Joshua. He wanted to meet with you.”
Joshua had been here. Okay, not exactly a surprise. As soon as she’d said it was my brother, I’d known she meant Joshua. David wouldn’t have come here looking for me unless I’d done something insanely stupid that could hurt my family. As far as I knew, I hadn’t done that.
Yet.
It was always a possibility with me.
“What did you tell him?” I asked.
“I offered to bring him up to talk to you.”
I wasn’t sure which emotion was worse, the admiration I felt because she was being honest or the anger that she’d been nice to him.
How nice? I wondered suddenly. And what had he told her? About me? About him? About what had finally driven us apart?
“What did he say about me?”
“He said you were his brother. It’s not like I stood down there and had a long conversation with him.”
“But you did have a conversation.”