Page 4 of Wrong Number, Right Fox (Dial M For Mates #6)

JOSS

Getting Redtail Global as clients was a pretty big deal. They were well known for being leaders in their industry, and were going to open a great deal of doors for us just by being one of our clients. Honestly, I’d been a little surprised they didn’t do everything in-house.

That surprise ran away very quickly once I got in and saw the hot mess of organization that they had.

It was beyond unbelievable that they were managing to be as successful as they were with the system they had in place.

It was going to take a lot of work to get it all fixed, but when it did, there was no stopping this company.

When I first went in, it was a job. No big deal.

I didn’t think much of it other than what it could possibly do for our bottom line.

But now that I was here, something had changed.

I was excited, and I didn’t really want to leave the building…

ever. I—I wanted to stay for reasons I couldn’t place my finger on. .

And no, that didn’t have anything to do with Garner, despite how incredibly attractive he was… and kind… and sexy… and did I mention hot? He was a client. Nothing more. Or at least that was what I kept trying to tell myself.

My feelings about Garner were complicated in ways I didn’t fully understand. When I thought that he wanted Harold instead of me, something inside me just—well, it struggled. It was jealousy. I recognized it as that. But it made no sense. Since when did I become jealous of Harold?

We were two halves of a whole. We’d worked this entire time together to make this company. Never before did I care who took a job.

Well, that was a lie. If it was a plane-distance type job, I was happy to pass because I preferred the ones I could drive to. But other than that, there was no ownership in any of it. It didn’t matter.

Except for some reason, with this one—it did.

But I tried not to think too much about that, instead focusing on all of the things that I could do to help them.

It was gonna take a lot. Definitely more than I’d suspected when I gave them a quote.

When I mentioned that to Garner, he told me not to worry about the money and to focus on doing it right, so I did.

Still… this was an undertaking of mammoth proportions.

It was my third day here, and I was starting the day with Garner, once again.

This wasn’t how I usually worked. Most companies had a team I met with and I pretty much directed them on what to do.

But Garner wanted to be very hands-on, and I did too.

His assistant offered to take over multiple times, and one of those times, I swore I’d heard Garner growl.

To each their own. Everyone ran their business the way they wanted it to run. And Redtail had been doing well, even in their disorganization, so if growling fostered that, so be it.

Then again, maybe I wanted him to growl at me, and that was warping my view on the entire thing. No, that was weird. Why would I want a human to growl?

Because it was Garner. I could see it now: him tossing me on the bed and crawling across it growling. Yeah, that could work. Only no, it couldn’t. I needed to shut that shit right down.

Being attracted to my clients wasn’t fair. And there was no denying that was exactly what was happening here. I was woefully attracted to Garner, and it had my mind wandering all sorts of places.

Like… if he did growl, would he only do that in bed? Would he say my name under his breath as he did, no matter who was there? Would his eyes be locked with mine? Would he be licking his lip, sharing all of his desire with that one tiny gesture? Would the growl rumble in his chest?

Yeah. I was being ridiculous. A thousand percent ridiculous. And I needed to get back to work. Only it was difficult with him being so close to me, close enough that I barely had to lean in to be able to touch him.

“I think we’re on the right track.” It was going to be a long-ass track, but at least we knew the direction we were heading, which was miles ahead of the job Harold had recently finished up.

He leaned back in his chair. “I knew it was bad, but I never—I never realized it was this bad. I’m so glad I called you.” He grabbed the back of his neck, and I itched to replace his hands with mine so I could give him a little massage.

I couldn’t help but puff up at his praise—or what I accepted as such.

I was glad he’d called me, too. But also, part of me was wondering if things would be better after the job was over.

Because then maybe I could, I don’t know, reach out and see if he had any interest in me at all.

And no amount of pushing down my feelings was going to change the fact that I wanted this man in a way I’d never wanted another.

There were times when I didn’t think he even noticed me. And others when I wondered if I were the unsuspecting prey.

But one thing was for sure—the time spent here with him was never boring.

“The system you're currently working off of… I’ll be quite honest with you—it shouldn’t have worked.

It should have full-on failed years ago.

But you’ve got good people here, and they work hard.

And when I’m done helping you implement this, it won’t be as hard for them anymore. And that’s when you can grow.”

Gods, I sounded like a sales pitch.

He smiled, his phone going off on the desk for the four bazillionth time since we started. He kept ignoring it, instead focusing on me—until I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Please answer that. Maybe someone, I don’t know, needs you.”

He met my eyes as if looking for answers, then picked it up and barked a “Hello” into the phone.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there.” He shoved the phone in his front pocket. “I’m sorry. I gotta go. There’s a situation I need to deal with.”

“Oh, I can leave?—”

“No.” He gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Stay. Do what you need to do.”

And then he walked on his way. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t watching every single step he took out that door. The man was gorgeous walking toward me, but there was just something about watching him walk away.

I finished going through what we had set for the morning and then went back to my workstation.

I didn’t love it, because it was away from him, but it was close by.

And I had to give them credit—the office was really bright, and even though not everyone had windows, there were lots of glass panels preventing light from becoming blocked.

“Hey, I brought this for you.”

A paper cup was placed in front of me. I looked up. I didn’t know the person there, but there was no mistaking it—he was related to Garner. They had similar facial structures. And their eyes—they were identical, while at the same time being... not.

There was no warmth in these ones, the way there was with Garner’s, but the color palette? Identical.

“Thanks?” It came out as a question because I had no idea what was going on. Who this man was. What he wanted.

“I’m Booker. Garner’s brother.”

I’d known he existed, and there was something about the way Garner said his name that told me there was, at the very least, mistrust between them.

“Oh. Nice to meet you.” I didn’t give him my hand, hoping he wouldn’t notice the slight.

“Aren’t you gonna drink it?” So much for that.

“Oh, I’ll just let it cool first.” Because there was nothing creepy about someone telling you they wanted you to drink. Nope. Especially not when you didn’t order it in the first place.

“Are you as good as they say?” The man was standing far too close.

“Oh. Denmarke Solutions? Yeah. We’re that good.” I didn’t pretend to be shy or humble when it came to what our company could do. We were the best. Full stop.

“I didn’t mean that.” He leaned in, his hand now on the arm of my chair, his face far too close to mine.

I pushed back the chair with my feet and hoped he’d get the hint. He did... but then went right back to the same position.

Asshole.

How could he be related to Garner, who was so nice and so considerate?

Booker leaned in closer yet again and inhaled deeply, almost like he was smelling a plant or something.

It was so gross.

“I’m gonna get back to work here. Thanks for the coffee.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

I turned back to my work. But there he stood.

Weird.