Page 10

TANNER

“Fucking finally, man,” is how I answer the phone when Ridge calls me back. Yes, I’m a complete and total dickhead for calling, emailing, and texting him on his honeymoon, but I fucked up. And out there is a woman who I will do anything for to fix my wrong-doing.

“What’s up? You’re never this anxious,” Ridge says casually on the other end of the line.

“Did you read or listen to my messages?” I question, annoyed, and I’m the only one to blame.

“Check your phone, dumbass, and you’d see I sent you Marlie’s contact info. How’d you fuck up this badly anyway?”

“Not all of us have skinny fingers like you, prick,” I reply, realizing that I should have let Marlie put her number into my phone.

I’ve tried calling her studio, which took some digging and a shit ton of begging towards my sister to find that piece of information.

Hell, I even called, and it went straight to voicemail saying she was currently on vacation and would return phone calls next week.

The auto response on her emails was much the same.

“Oh shit, before you call Marlie, let Taylor do some damage control.” Fuck, this is what I expected but not what I want to hear.

“Might not be a bad idea. Between you, Taylor, and Leena, I’m racking up favors.” My sister Leena, the youngest of all five kids, is a saint. She’s also overprotected and annoyed by us nine times out of ten. Leena’s also looking at me with a deadly glare in her eyes across from me at the office.

“Leena will never let you live it down, you know that, right?” he asks.

“You’re not wrong, and it won’t be one favor, it’ll be about twenty. I’d like to say I’m sorry about pestering the hell out of you during your honeymoon, but I’m not.”

“Not like I answered, so I’m not worried about it,” he responds.

Leena points at her watch, telling me I’m going to be late for my next project manager meeting, but I give zero shits.

It’s with our brothers and to see how we’re doing timeline wise, what needs to be ordered, and what crews need help.

Sometimes, we’ll step in and work right along with them, especially if projects are overlapping, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are after the shit ton of work we took on right before the holidays.

See, the five of us own the construction company, with me as the majority shareholder since it was my cash that started it up.

That doesn’t mean they don’t put the blood, sweat, and tears in it, and it’s definitely not to hold over their heads either.

“Did you at least have a good time?” I ask, trying not to be a selfish prick.

“The best. Honeymoon sex is out of this world.” I laugh, deep and throaty, catching another glare from my sister, who is starting to get ragey, so I know I’ll need to wrap this conversation.

“That’s not at all what I asked about, but good to know. Let me know when Taylor has a chance to catch up with Marlie. I owe you one.” Gathering the files I’ll need for the meeting, I’m not about to get on my baby sister’s nerves. I’ll leave that for Keller to do.

“I’ll take a glass of bourbon, and you can thank me when you have Marlie like I have my Taylor.

” I take a deep breath, inhaling deeply before letting it out.

My chest puffs up with air, the tightening inside eating me up and churning over the fact that Ridge could very well be right as long as I can make shit right with Marlie.

“Yeah, a whole fuckin’ bottle if that’s the case,” I respond.

“Sounds good. I’ll let you know how things go in a few hours,” Ridge replies, and then the two of us say goodbye.

I sit back in my chair, lean my elbows on my desk to prop up my head, and get my head in the game for what I know will more than likely be a meeting that will last longer than I want, especially when there’s someone else I could be with.

Sure, I love my siblings, but when you work with them for eight to twelve hours a day, add in the texts and phone calls, plus the weekly Sunday dinners, sometimes it’s nice to have some downtime away from them.

“Tanner, we need to get to the restaurant. You know our brothers. They’ll eat everything and leave nothing for us, and I’m starving,” Leena interrupts my thoughts.

“I’m coming. Let me put everything in a folder right quick.” I stand up to gather all the shit that’s on my desk, knowing if Ridge gives me the all-clear, there’ll be no me coming back to the office to work well into the night.

“You okay? I know this thing with Marlie isn’t settling well.

” Leena may be the baby of the family, but she’s got an intuition much like our mother.

The two of them are the soothers in the family, relentlessly caring and giving, no matter if they’re mentally and emotionally drained themselves.

That’s why it was hard for me to ask her to help me figure out how to get in touch with Marlie.

Even though it was a bust, it was her who found the name of Marlie’s shop, Amaryllis Designs.

The website, the store front, it’s nothing but class, elegance, and grace, much like Marlie.

“I will be if things go my way. What about you? Are you alright? Looking a little tired, sister.” I know this job isn’t easy on her.

In fact, she might have the toughest when it comes to mental exhaustion.

It’s not easy to wrangle a bunch of grown men who don’t know how to fill our purchase orders or time sheets.

“What do you think? I’m counting down the days until my vacation.

One hundred and eight days, big brother.

” That’s another thing we’re going to have to handle, her job while she’s gone for ten fucking days, with not a man or family member around.

I’ll be drinking nightly, worried off my rocker about her.

“Yeah, yeah, rub it in, will you.” I move around my desk and walk towards her.

“Oh, I will. Nothing but an all-inclusive resort and myself. It’s going to be bliss.” I wrap my arm around her shoulder, bringing her in close so I can kiss the top of her head.

“You’ll make sure I can get a hold of you. At least text, or I’ll be on a flight down there to ruin all your fun,” I respond, letting her know just because she’ll be a thousand miles away, that doesn’t mean her brother won’t be around somehow.

“God, don’t I know it. Try not to ruin all my fun, though, okay? I’ll text daily. Otherwise, not a peep.” She’s laying down the law and hasn’t even left yet. It’s gonna be a hard pill to swallow when Leena does leave.

“Loud and clear, baby sister, loud and clear.” I lock the door to the construction office. It’s nothing but a trailer on a couple of acres with all kinds of equipment and supplies around us. It works, though; plus, it’s ours.