In Love After Office Hours (Wrong For You series Boxsets #7)

Chapter Five

A NNEKE AND FLEUR WATCHED in amusement as their eldest brother unwrapped his last gift with the greatest care. But it did not end with that, with the billionaire taking his time arranging the wooden frame on his desk.

Serenity, Fleur mouthed at her older sister. She was willing to bet her inheritance on it.

Anneke nodded. Willem had a well-known rule against receiving gifts from women outside their family, but they knew he had made an exception for the charmingly reserved teenager he had taken under his wing.

If only Serenity’s sister was just as charming, Anneke thought with a private sigh.

When another five minutes had passed and Willem still wasn’t finished fussing about with his gift, Fleur approached her brother, asking teasingly, “Is that going to take you forever?”

“If necessary.” Willem’s tone was mild, his concentration on his precious task unbroken.

Peering over his shoulder, she saw that the fifteen-year-old had sent her billionaire brother a framed haiku about the value of time, which read like a tongue-in-cheek warning about his workaholic tendencies.

Good for you, Fleur thought in approval.

Another five minutes had passed before Willem finally straightened. “All done.”

His sisters said in unison, “Thank God.”

“Because I’m totally starving,” Fleur added.

Even though the two women had their cars parked in the driveway, they automatically joined Willem in his limousine, wanting to spend more time with their older brother.

“What’s Serenity’s gift?” Anneke asked as the chauffeur closed the passenger door.

Fleur beat Willem to answering. “If I have to sum it up, it’s basically a warning that he’d work himself to death at the rate he’s going.”

“Oh.” Anneke’s lips twitched. “She has a point.”

Willem only shrugged. “My annual checkups say otherwise.” But he also changed the subject, not in the mood to be nagged by his younger sisters. “When was the last time either of you spoke to Nic?” Nicolaas was the youngest in their family, and as the troubleshooter for the business, he was more often traveling around the world than not.

“Just yesterday,” Fleur answered. One of the conditions Willem had required before allowing any of them to leave the nest was that they were to strictly keep in touch with each other.

“Maybe a week ago for me,” Anneke murmured. “But I did get to speak to Jaak.” Of her three male siblings, Jaak was the most easygoing, almost callously so when it came to women. “He’s still in Phuket, last time I heard.”

Willem sighed. “As long as he’s still alive.” Although he did not approve of Jaak’s hedonistic lifestyle, he had also never interfered, knowing that his brother was old enough to make his own decisions, right or wrong.

His sisters, however, were a different matter. Looking at them, Willem liked to think that he had raised both of them well – or at least as well as he could, having been thrown into the deep end by a pair of self-centered adults who had only known how to make babies but not how to care for them.

“How are you and your husband?” he asked Anneke.

She shrugged. Although she was twenty-eight, she looked a lot younger mostly because of her petite frame and dimpled looks.

“You do know we will have to talk about him soon, don’t you?”

“I’m not sure why we should.” Anneke’s tone was unusually tight. “It’s only a matter of time before our divorce pushes through.”

Sensing that her two older siblings were about to butt heads, Fleur knew it was time for another change of subject. She said the first thing that came to her mind. “What if Shane saw Serenity’s gift on your desk?”

Willem frowned at the interruption, but courtesy bade him to answer, and so he said simply, “She won’t.”

Fleur blinked. “You’ve stopped seeing her then?”

Willem shook his head. “What I mean is that Shane won’t see it because I’ll make sure she doesn’t.”

It was Anneke’s turn to frown. “You mean you’re going to hide it every time Shane comes to visit?”

At the same time, Fleur asked, “You mean Shane still doesn’t know you’re her baby sister’s honorary bo—-” Anneke shot her a warning look. “—-dyguard,” she finished. She had been about to say ‘boyfriend’ but since it was Willem’s birthday today, she decided to be generous and not make any waves.

Willem looked at his sisters oddly. “Why do you insist on making this an issue when it’s not? Shane is just competitive with her sister, but they don’t hate each other.” Even now, he remembered the first and only time he had tried to bring up Serenity with her older sister, remembered the way Shane’s rosebud lips had turned down in an unpleasant manner. He had taken his cue from there and had not made the same mistake again.

“You two have been competitive with each other growing up,” he reminded them. “It’s the same with Shane and Serenity, and I would rather not be one of their bones of contention.”

Fleur and Anneke looked at each other, both of them wondering how it was possible for someone as intelligent as Willem to be so incredibly dumb when it came to women. The two of them had been competitive growing up, but Shane and Serenity were different. Shane was jealous of Serenity, and her jealousy grew as, with every year, it became more obvious that her younger sister was destined to outshine her in every way.

Fleur started to speak when Willem’s phone rang, and when she saw the way her oldest brother’s face softened, she closed her mouth. Serenity was calling, and knowing how long their phone conversations could take, she knew it would be quite a while before Willem would put the phone down.

“Serenity says hi,” Willem was telling them.

“Hi.” Fleur and Anneke again answered in unison.

Willem’s gaze narrowed. One of these days, he would ask how they could be so nice to Serenity and yet be such bitches to her older sister.

Not wanting Willem to accidentally hear what she had to say, Fleur quickly pulled out her phone and texted her sister.

Fleur: He’s so blind.

Anneke: I know. He’s hopeless. But I also know you and I’m telling you now – YOU CANNOT INTERFERE.

Fleur: You know me too well.

Anneke: That, and because I think it’s too early anyway.

Fleur: Because she’s too young?

Fleur paused after typing the words. Fifteen and twenty-nine, she mused. It could have been worse. It could have been a twenty or thirty-year gap. Or maybe not. What was age anyway to two people in love, even when they didn’t know it themselves?

Her phone beeped then, and she looked down to read her sister’s reply.

Anneke: I’m not talking about S. I mean Willem. I don’t think he’s ready to fall in love yet.

Fleur: God, he’s so blind, it’s not funny. I’m just worried if we let things continue at this pace, it’s the big sister who’s going to get him to the altar.

Anneke: Trust me. That won’t happen. Just look at him now.

Fleur peeked at her brother, who was seated on the row opposite her and Anneke. He was murmuring in a low, pleasant voice, his handsome face serious and unsmiling.

But oh, those blue eyes of Willem.

If only she could show Shane how her brother looked every time he was speaking to Serenity on the phone.

Anneke was right, Fleur thought. There was nothing to worry about. Anyone only had to look at Willem now to know that the Dutch billionaire’s heart already had an owner.