Page 5 of Last Chance Seduction (Montgomery Ink Legacy #9)

In other words, the original Denver branch, Montgomery Inc.

, was still working full-time, and had expanded beyond just the Montgomerys.

They had even pulled in one of the other cousins’ branch the Gallaghers, and somehow, they were this mega company that worked well.

We worked alongside them on some projects, but we have our own LLC.

And the Montgomery Builders, based in Fort Collins, worked with building new environmentally focused buildings and projects.

Montgomery Construction worked between the four major cities. Therefore we were a little overstretched at this point.

However, there was a bid coming up that I knew my cousin Brooklyn desperately wanted, and I was on the same path as her.

I said goodbye to the crew and did my best not to look over at Mercy’s two-story home with the black shutters and white framing.

It was a fantastic house that had been upgraded in the past few years.

In fact, many of the homes had been, but my home hadn’t.

So I was going to play catch-up, and make it my own, while letting it blend. That was my job as architect.

I drove the forty minutes to my office, grateful that I hadn’t dealt with too much traffic, and pulled into the parking lot.

I knew I lived probably a little too far from the office, but I loved my new house and didn’t want to change the office location as of yet.

If my family began to move like the cousins were warning, then we’d figure it out.

I let out a breath, knowing we had far too many things on our plate to worry about an office some of us were rarely at.

Jamie, another cousin, and our admin who kept us on the straight and narrow, parked right next to me.

She got out of the car, her pink-tipped white-blonde hair flowing in the wind. “I picked up a bunch of coffee from Latte on the Rocks after I had lunch with Riley. Sound good?”

“Did you bring me a sandwich?” I asked in answer.

“Of course I did. I brought everybody sandwiches. But I got the best one.”

“Thank you,” I said dryly. I rolled my eyes, and took the coffee tray from her, as we made our way into the small office that we called home.

Dash was rarely here. He and most of the crew were out on projects more often than not.

I tended to need the office more seeing as I was the architect, but I did spend as many hours onsite as possible.

Brooklyn was the same, considering she was the lead landscape artist and architect.

And Jamie was the one who glued us all together.

Because without her, I was pretty sure we would all be at the wrong project site half of the time.

“There you are,” Brooklyn said as she came down the hall, her hair pulled back from her face, dirt on the cuff of her pants, and with actual dirt handprints on the front of her jeans.

“I’m so glad that you showered for this occasion,” I said dryly.

“I would flip you off, but there are cameras in here, and well you know one of the parents would see.”

“As if our parents don’t curse more than us,” I said dryly.

“This is true,” she said with a laugh.

“Ooh, coffee and sandwiches? Why does that sound disgusting and amazing at the same time?”

“We don’t ask these things,” Jamie answered, and we headed into one of the main meeting rooms. Other people were working around the building, but most everybody was out on the project sites.

We weren’t as big as the two original companies, and this is where we liked it.

We would grow eventually, because I knew we wouldn’t only hire Montgomerys as our main crew.

“So, how’s the house coming along?” Brooklyn asked before she took a huge bite of her sandwich.

In answer, I took a bite of my own, groaning at the spiciness.

“First, I’m so glad that the Montgomerys married into the sandwich-making people.”

“You do realize that we’re allowed to go to places that the Montgomerys don’t actually own or are a part of, right?” Jamie asked dryly.

“True, but I love Raven and Greer. Because now that they’ve added more sandwiches and soups to the menu, I don’t need to go anywhere else.”

“True, we just need someone to open a restaurant. Maybe Italian. Do we know anyone that we could marry into our Montgomery mafia?” Brooklyn asked, blinking those light blue eyes of hers.

She had more freckles than any other Montgomery I knew, and didn’t bother covering them up most days seeing as she was out in the field with only sunscreen as her makeup.

And considering her twin older brothers, Nate and James were constantly around, ensuring that Brooklyn never had a date, I understood why Brooklyn made jokes about marrying into the family.

“Montgomery Mafia? That’s a good one.”

Brooklyn rolled her eyes. “It’s what Lance called us.”

“Lance?” I asked, leaning forward. “Do I have to kick his ass?”

“No. My brothers already decided to do that. Lance was only four dates, and then he met the Montgomerys. Not even all of us, just two of them. And it was an issue.”

“Do your brothers know?”

“Do they know that I kicked him to the curb? Or that he ran away because he was afraid of the Montgomerys? I don’t really know which, and we’re just going to pretend that I did it on my own. Duke is at least able to stand up to us,” she added, speaking of her current boyfriend.

“If a guy can’t handle our family, then he’s not worth handling,” Jamie said with a shrug.

“Is there someone I need to worry about with you?”

“You know, this is the problem with working with family. Because if this was an actual place of employment, I’d have to talk with HR. But I think I’m HR,” she said with a blink.

“Maybe we should write that into our bylaws. That Montgomery boys can’t ruin the Montgomery girls’ dates.”

“Here here,” Brooklyn said as she toasted her coffee cup in the air.

“Oh am I outnumbered? I’m not usually outnumbered,” I mumbled.

“It’s because the rest of them are out on the project site, and you’re stuck with us. So, how are the bids going?” Brooklyn asked, all business.

I sighed. “So far we’re three for four,” I answered, explaining each of the projects that had already signed us on. Jamie took notes, and I knew she would have everything set up for our major meeting next week.

“What’s the fourth?”

“The Arnaults account.”

“Oh, I so want that estate. Can you just imagine the crowns if I could get my hands on them. Do you think we actually have a chance?”

I looked down at my sandwich, suddenly no longer hungry.

“Wait, Arnault as in Gia Arnault?” Jamie asked, and I looked up at my two cousins who gave each other a look. I did not want to see the pity on their faces.

“Yes, as in my ex-girlfriend Gia. As in the one who left me for another man and seems happy.”

“Well at least you didn’t break her heart or anything.” Brooklyn winced. “I just meant that if it’s her father that has to make the decision, he’s not going to hate you, is he?”

“I don’t think so, but the meeting’s coming up, and I’m going to have to grovel most likely.”

“Because she cheated on you?” Jamie asked.

“There’s a huge holiday retreat coming up, and I’m going.”

“You got the invite?” Brooklyn asked, and Jamie beamed.

“I have skills,” she said with a laugh.

“Skills I’m grateful for, and I don’t want to know what kind of favors you had to pull.”

“HR!” Jamie called out.

“So yes, I’m going to go to this event, I’m going to work on the bid, and I’m going to hopefully not have to deal with Gia at all. It’s not like she’s ever been to that estate. Her dad never let her be part of the business.”

“Oh, that’s good. I mean, not good, but weird. I don’t know, do you need help?” Brooklyn asked, and I saw the sincerity on her face.

“I can handle it. We want this estate. It would not only do great things for the company, we’d make a huge profit on it, and it’s a building we really want to work with. It’s good all around. Except for the pesky ex-girlfriend problem.”

“Speaking of ex-girlfriends that aren’t your ex-girlfriend,” Jamie added in, and I narrowed my gaze.

“Who texted you?”

“Dash of course.”

“Wait? What did I miss?” Brooklyn asked.

“I figured out who my new neighbor is in the two-story next door.” At Brooklyn’s curious look, I sighed. “Mercy Caddel.”

My cousin’s eyes widened. “Oh no. I mean, it’s great. I haven’t seen Mercy in well... Damn it. How is she? I mean, I guess you can’t really ask how she is. It’s been, what, a year since Emily passed? Poor Mercy.”

I ran my hand over my chest, wondering why once again I felt as helpless as I always did when it came to her. “I didn’t even have a chance to say my condolences or truly mention how much I hate Justin. Not that I wanted to bring up Justin.”

“Yes, he’s such an asshole.”

“And he lives nowhere near here, so I don’t have to see him again. And Mercy is never going to have to see him.”

“Well her being next door’s going to be good for you guys. I know it sucked when you lost touch after everything happened. She was always running around with you Fort Collins Montgomerys,” Brooklyn, the Denver Montgomery kid, said with a laugh.

“I didn’t really get to know her, and I wasn’t at the wedding, so let me know if you want me to stop by, and I don’t know, mend fences?”

“Jamie, I love you, but there’s no need to mend fences. I was childhood friends with Mercy, then I wasn’t. Now we’re neighbors, and it’s all going to just work out in the end. We’re adults. I just hate the fact that we couldn’t go to the funeral.”

“Mercy doesn’t have any other family, does she?” Brooklyn asked.

As someone with more family than I could deal with, it seemed unheard of to me that she wouldn’t have anyone else in her life. And I didn’t feel pity, because Mercy would hate that, but I did feel for her.

“Well, I’m just going to do what the Montgomerys do best and wheedle my way in so she knows she doesn’t have to be alone if she doesn’t want to. Though, she probably hates me right now.”

“Because of Justin?” Jamie asked.

“No, because of the construction.”

Both girls winced, and I snorted.

“Yes, that. One more strike against me.”

“That ass was cute you know, at least from what I remember,” Brooklyn provoked.

I shook my head and pulled back from the table. “And with that annoying look, I’m going back to work. And don’t even think about calling Mercy and doing whatever witch work you do.”

“Oh, interesting,” Brooklyn teased. “Now I have ideas.”

I ran away as quickly as I could, once again afraid of the Montgomery women.

If my mother, a Wilder and a Montgomery had taught me anything, it was that you didn’t have to be fearful of a Montgomery woman, you just had to understand that you would never win an argument.

And you also had to be a little crafty when it came to making sure they kept out of your life. I was going to go back to my desk, get to work, and focus on the bid that was going to change our business.

And not on the neighbor that I had done my best not to think of for the past two years. And knew just like I had failed for the past two years, I would fail in this once again.