Page 130 of Savage Suit

“What’s he going to do now?”

At the question, I remembered Nathaniel’s request for a job at Graham’s company.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about Nate. He wants a job at your company.”

“Why my company, specifically?”

“Because he’s good with numbers, and for whatever reason, he doesn’t want to work at Keegan Enterprises.” I knew why Nathaniel didn’t work for me; I just opted not to inform Graham of the reason.

“I can’t picture your brother working at my company. Or working, period.”

Agreed.

“I understand, Graham. I’m asking you, as a friend, to take a chance on him.”

Nathaniel needed to get his shit together. Since he didn’t want to work for me, Graham was the next best alternative. Fuck, maybe even better. My brother would take my criticisms as unfair and unnecessarily harsh. He would see the same critiques from Graham as helpful.

“Noah, he’s your brother and you want what’s best for him, but given his track record, I’m not sure if I’m willing to take a risk on him.”

“Would you just think about it so the little shit can get off my back?” It was a lie. After his first request, Nathaniel hadn’t mentioned working for Graham again.

“Certainly,” Graham agreed, then returned to his meal.

I write to you with the unerring knowledge a few details will confirm my identity to one of your readers. But my sister is unhappy, and I am hoping you will somehow fix the mess I’ve created, even if I don’t believe she should know immediately. I know her. She would be so horrified and perhaps even ashamed. She would feel as if she’s failed me because she only wants the best for me. However, I’m afraid to face her sense of betrayal and her disappointment. She trusted my insistence nothing happened at the ball so much, she hasn’t brought it up again, even now after you and her…

I didn’t put two and two together until someone explained it to me when I visited my sister on her first day at work.

Later, when asked point blank by you as we sat in your library if I was Concerned Sister, I denied it. We believed if the truth came to light, the forces that be would band together and come between you. He wants the best for you as much as I want the world for her.

However, I think it is time for you to know the truth so my sister can find the happiness she deserves. If you care about her as much as I think you do, then you will be her rock as she is mine. Just give her time. If there’s anything these past days have underscored is how precarious and unkind life can be. I hope you can understand and forgive him and me for our subterfuge.

To leave no doubt to my identity and to whom I am addressing this to, I will say this about my sister. She sees beauty. She makes the world beautiful because of her kindness and her ability to see what I don’t have time to search for.

-A Regretful Sister

Even if you’d placed the onus on his shoulders, it doesn’t absolve the lies you have told her. We can only hope this has a happy ending for all concerned.

I stared at theAsk Idacolumn. Reread it once. Twice. Four times.

Concerned Sister was Quinn.

Ryan was my angel in blue.

I hadn’t imagined our connection at that first interview. It had been real, in place because she’d happened upon me in a guestroom at a ball I’d never wanted to attend.

I thought back to confronting Reid in the presence of Nicholas. The night Quinn told me how Ryan made the world a beautiful place, Reid pointed out she wouldn’t stand a chance if Nicholas discovered our lovemaking.

Reid’s interference should’ve infuriated me, and yet I couldn’t summon any anger. He’d been protecting me, and the tenuous bond Ryan and I shared.

Perhaps I was running as scared as Quinn, but why rock the boat and admit to Ryan we’d met at the ball? Of course, she needed to know, and she would.

Just not immediately.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Thank God it was Saturday and my day away from the office. After the steamy kiss I’d shared with Noah yesterday, I wouldn’t have been able to look him in the eyes today without revealing how much I wanted him inside me again.

Another bonus to the weekend was not having to deal with Megan. She had been so fucking suspicious and pissed about the apology Noah forced her to give me. She’d sought me out to ask if I knew Ingrid Warrington’s husband had lost his position at Sauncier.