Page 36 of Broken Brothers

“It’s an arduous journey, Chance,” she said. “But you will know it when you find it. Just don’t be stupid and do something that will cause you to lose it before you’re ready.”

Present Day

Layla Taylor.You gotta get out of my head at some point!

The name, frankly, was beginning to feel like a curse, but it was a curse that I didn’t mind having too much. If it meant that I kept thinking about the girl of my dreams over and over again, well, there were worse fates than that.

The problem was that it was clouding my ability to do business, and not just in the way that meant I had trouble focusing at work.

I meant that I was beginning to doubt the validity of my own deal.

I knew that getting 9.5 percent for just $10 million investment was screwing over the Taylors. Frankly, they were screwing themselves over by giving away 8 percent—they could have gotten as much as $14 million for 8 percent. Whether because Mr. Taylor had retirement on his mind or what, I couldn’t say.

What I could say, though, was that Edwin Hunt’s training had affected me and taught me how to be a “good” negotiator in the sense that I won out with what I had… but morals, morals be damned, were starting to affect me.

Layla would inherit a deal that did not benefit her as much as it could have. The company would be giving away a percentage of itself to Burnson Investments and I just saw no way that this would end well for her. As a businessman for my company, I had to do what was best for myself… but as someone who had fallen for her…

“Just don’t be stupid and do something that will cause you to lose it before you’re ready.”

Mrs. Hunt’s words rang in my head. I knew what she was referring to. I remembered the moment clearly because, as much as I wanted to disagree and call her foolish, I appreciated that she wanted to believe in me. A part of my mind desperately clung to the notion that there would be the one.

And was Layla it?

It…

Well…

I couldn’t bring myself to say it, much less admit it. That was a huge, huge emotional risk, and it just didn’t seem like it.

But…

I love her.

No you don’t you fucking lunatic. You like her a lot. But you barely know her. You think you love her? Where is she from?

Exactly.

You don’t need to know that to say you love her. You know how special she is.

Goddamnit.

No matter how I tried to spin it, I couldn’t get my head away from it. Maybe I was young and maybe—OK, no, definitely, I was stupid. But I didn’t feel stupid admitting that… yeah, I did love her.

It felt good to think it. It felt good to smile about it. It felt good to open myself up to the vulnerability that came with admitting that sort of thing.

I headed for the lobby for a much-needed lunch break but found myself grinning cheek to cheek despite the lack of sleep and the chronic fatigue that was beginning to place bags on my eyes. Melanie Hunt was right—I would know when I found it.

And I had found her.

I mean, I had literally found her, because when I got to the lobby, she was there.

“Thought I might surprise you for lunch today,” Layla said. She kept a respectful distance given the office environment, but she looked so eager to jump my bones and fuck my brains out. “What say you?”

“I always love your surprises,” I said, but the words felt… lazy, like I was beginning to lose my charm and my touch by having admitted to myself what I had just moments before.

“Well then, let’s go.”

I wasted no time following Layla out the door, making sure not to touch her until we turned the corner… but as soon as we did, I pressed my lips all up on her and was ready to make sweet, sweet love to her…