By the time I get to my office, I’m in a horrendous mood. I’ll get my way —I have to—and see her tonight.
But I have an entire shitstorm to wade through before six o’clock rolls around.
It’s barely 7:30 in the morning, so I’m surprised to get to my office and find not just two of my brothers
waiting for me, but all three.
They’re in various chairs around my office, Noah and Colton on couches and Alexander helping himself to my
ergonomically-correct desk chair like he owns the place. They’re holding mugs of coffee from the machine on the
bar.
“To what do I owe the astounding pleasure of being invaded by my entire family?”
“Consider it an intervention,” says Alexander. The oldest of all four of us, Alex exudes a certain stoicism.
He’s always shouldered the burden of our father’s expectations as the oldest son like he was groomed from birth to
do. Which I know for a fact wasn’t easy. “You’re losing your grip, Cash, that much is obvious. We’re here to find
out what the fuck is going on with you and to help you save your company from total annihilation.”
Shit. I need coffee. “Pour me one, would you, Colton?” I never bothered with one of those cost-the-earth
espresso machines with all the frothing apparatuses and whatnot. I prefer percolated black coffee straight up and
plenty of it.
Noah launches straight into the inquisition. “Where have you been all weekend? Do you know how many
times we’ve tried to call you?”
I pull out my phone and check my missed calls. “Thirty-seven?” I scroll through the most recent ones to make
sure Tex isn’t one of them before shoving my phone back in my pocket.
I get that I should be taking the concerns of my brothers seriously. I’m the one here with everything to lose.
But none of it feels as important as it used to, before Tex burst into my life like a green-eyed wrecking ball,
shattering everything. What matters most to me now is her. There’s nothing complicated about my feelings. I want
her and I’ll sacrifice anything and everything to have her. I’m not happy about it, but there it fucking is.
Actually, scratch that. I am happy about it. Happy isn’t an emotion I’ve had a lot to do with. Until now. Until
that day on the beach when a Texan girl in a tiny little leopard print bikini strolled past my table. Now it’s the only
emotion I can feel. That she exists. That she’s mine.
If I can figure out how to ke ep her and get her to stop running from me. I take a seat on one of the leather
chairs—more heavily than I mean to because I fucking miss her—and Colton puts the mug of coffee down in front
of me. “Someone is distracting you at the moment and, as not only your brothers but also your business partners,
we’re getting some information out of you whether you like it or not.”
“Who is she?” Alex asks, point blank. Noah levels me with his blue stare. I already admitted to him I met
someone in Hawaii. And despite the fact that I just gushed to Tex that I’m going to shout about us being together
from the rooftops, I hesitate before opening this particular can of worms. “Someone I met. Are there any new
developments?”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Noah this pissed off. He’s usually the easy- going brother who’s practically
impossible to rile. But not today. “Which new developments are you referring to? The ones in which you’ve taken
a vacation from your life at the exact same time the SEC have officially decided they’re going to launch an
investigation into Invested Enterprises? Or the ones in which it’s only a matter of time before the press feasts on
that information like vultures around a fresh kill?”
“Shit.” My girl is rubbing off on me. The word almost sounds like it’s got the slightest Texan twang.
All three of them are staring at me like they don’t recognize me. Colton actually laughs. “‘Shit’? That’s all you
have to say?”
“Fuck?” I offer. “Is that better?”
My phone vibrates in my pocket with an incoming call and I realize a second too late as I pull it out that the
word Tex lights up the screen—and that all three of them can clearly see that. I should be feeling a thousand
emotions right now that have to do with what my brothers just told me, like rage, grit, determination, whatever.
The only one that registers is relief. She got my message.
“I have to take this.” “You can take it right here,” Noah suggests. I answer the call. “Hey.” If I didn’t already
have my brothers’ attention, I sure have it now. And I wish I hadn’t said Hey like I just said it. Gently. Almost
hopefully.
She sounds almost breathless. “Ace, I really need to talk to you about something that happened this morning.
It’s important.”
“Are you okay?” “I’m fine. It has to do with... the person you suspected of the leak. I had to come into the
office first thing because I forgot my key and, well, I think you’ll want to hear about this. Can we talk?”
“Why don’t you come up to my office now.” I’ll probably regret this, but I know for a fact that my brothers
wouldn’t leave even if I asked them to. They might as well meet the girl I’m besotted with. Since I’m determined
to have her in my life, there’s no way around it. And if she has some information about Rylee—something
concrete that might actually help solve this whole mess—then they’re going to want to hear about that too.
“Okay. I’ll come now. See you soon, Ace.” She ends the call. I wait for it and Noah doesn’t disappoint.
“Tex?” Fuck it. “Yes. Tex. We met in Hawaii. She left my hotel room in Waikiki without giving me her name or
number. I searched for her but couldn’t find her because she lied to me about being from Dallas. Then, on Friday,
she turns up here as our new junior analyst. Obviously it’s a bad idea to get in volved with an employee and, trust
me, I would avoid her if I could. But this started months ago and I’m... I think I’m—no, I fucking know. I’m falling
for her.” I run a hand through my hair agitatedly as my brothers watch me with the identical shocked look on their
faces. “I’m not just falling, I already fell. Hook, line and fucking sinker.”
“Dusty Rose?” Noah asks. “That’s who you spent the weekend with? Dusty Rose is Tex?”
“Yes. Dusty Rose is Tex.” My Tex. Mine. “You dirty devil, you.” Colton ruffles my hair but I shove his hand
away. “Dude, you know how badly it ended last time you dated an employee. I mean, I do it all the time but you
don’t have the charm I have to pull it off.”
“Fuck off, Colton.” He laughs. At least my confession has lightened one brother’s mood. But then my
intercom buzzes and Hayley’s voice announces, “Dusty Rose is here to see you.”
All three of my brothers straighten up. “Send her in.”