Chapter Eight
ETHAN
Midday at VistaReal meant the heat was building—the AC was nonexistent on my side of the room—and people were getting restless, already eyeing the exits for lunch.
I wasn’t planning on joining them. Not with me as the new guy—splitting my time between morning classes and this place—buried in authorization packages, compliance logs, and a stack of files I barely understood and was now expected to flag for inconsistencies.
But today was an exception. I’d only had one class this morning, and I’d made it in early, so for once, I wasn’t rushing to fit everything into the day.
Henry had insisted on taking me out because of it, but I wasn’t completely sold on the idea.
That thing with Sebastian last week—spotting the duplicated authorization chains—had apparently put me on people’s radar.
Not in a dramatic way. Just enough that a few more heads lifted when I walked past, a couple more emails landed in my inbox, and Marcela had started forwarding documents with a quiet Can you double-check this?
Oddly, it drew more attention than the fact that I’d once dated the CFO, which was… refreshing, I guess.
But I could feel the pressure creeping in because, one, I didn’t want to screw this up, and two, I still had school to keep up with. And I’d barely gotten my footing there before being dropped into a company-wide compliance freeze.
“Ethan!”
Plus there were other nuisances.
“Hey, Bruno. What’s up?” I tried my best not to sound as annoyed as I felt.
He perched on the side of my desk, all smiles and charm.
“We’re going out. You want to come with us?
” Bruno had a slight accent, which would’ve been endearing if he didn’t keep interrupting me every five seconds.
He didn’t even work in my area—we just had the tiniest overlap since he was a junior analyst, and after one meeting on my first day, he decided I was either his new best friend or the new option on the menu, judging by how much he kept eyeing me.
My gaze dropped back to my screen, fingers tapping fast to get the idea down before it fled my brain. “Can’t. I’m waiting for someone.”
“How about drinks after work on Friday? You didn’t make it last week, and it’s our newbie tradition.” Another charming smile.
“Maybe,” I said, trying not to get on his bad side too soon. “I’ve got so much schoolwork to catch up on. I’m not sure I’ll have any spare time until I figure out how to juggle everything.”
“What? Our genius research assistant?” he teased. “You’ll conquer the world in no time.”
I huffed a laugh. “Not likely, but I appreciate the confidence.”
He scooted a little closer on the desk. “Anytime.”
Jesus, this guy.
“I actually have to get this done before I can leave,” I said, nodding at the screen. “It’s for Marcela.”
“Right, right.” He nodded, dark eyes lingering on mine. “So, is it a lunch date?”
Don’t roll your eyes. Don’t roll your eyes.
I forced out a polite smile. “Something like that.”
“Babe, are you done? Got the reservation for one!” Henry called out—too far away and far too loud, but in this case, I was incredibly grateful for his lack of subtlety.
“Just about. Give me five, okay?”
“Cool. Gonna pop in and say hi to Ash, and I’ll be right back,” he said, pulling his sunglasses down to peer at my desk companion over the rims. “Hiya, there.”
“Hi,” Bruno said, suddenly looking uncomfortable.
Henry walked off to Sebastian’s office.
“Your boyfriend?” Bruno asked.
I shook my head, lips curving slightly as I kept scanning the numbers on my screen. “Brother-in-law.”
It took him a minute to piece it together. Henry was always walking around here like he owned the place, but I guess not so much around marketing for everyone to know who he was.
“Ash, as in Sebastian? Is that the other Langley brother?”
“Yup. In the flesh.” I clicked a tab and started typing the conclusion to the report, copying in the images and original file. “I really do have to finish this.”
“And he’s your lunch date?”
Could this guy not take a hint?
“Not a date,” I said, still typing. “Just my friend and roommate. And I’m going to be late if I don’t send this out now. Can’t chat.”
Bruno looked more and more puzzled by the second. “You live with one of the Langleys?”
“Bruno, come on.” The annoyance slipped through before I could hide it.
He straightened, sliding off my desk. “No, cool. Got you. See you around,” he said quickly—his smile way too big for someone who’d supposedly “gotten the hint.” Yeah. I could expect more interruptions in my future.
I nodded and went back to my file, doing a final read-through before sending it off.
“The fanboy left?” Henry asked, stepping up beside me a few minutes later.
This time, I did roll my eyes. “Don’t even get me started.”
“Do you want me to let him know you’re violently allergic to flirting with anybody under thirty?”
I shot him a look, and Henry laughed as he reached over and plucked a sticky note from the edge of my monitor.
“I can fend for myself, thank you.” I snatched it back and slapped it into place.
Henry leaned down with a mischievous smirk. “Yeah? And how’s that working out for you with the big boss?” Thankfully, he kept his voice low.
“Don’t even fucking bring that up while we’re still in here.” I swatted him away and hit send on the file. “There. Let’s go. And reservations? We agreed to keep things in my budget, Henny.”
He slipped his sunglasses back on and checked his phone. “No, I said I’d consider it. Have you considered how selfish it is to not let me eat what I want from time to time?”
I scoffed. “You could just eat by yourself.”
He gasped dramatically, hand to chest. “Like Sebastian? No, thank you. I rather enjoy life.”
“Henny…”
“I’m kidding. But I really do want to try this place. You can just pay whatever your pride requires you to, and I’ll handle the rest. Okay?”
I wanted to be mad at him, but a part of me loved that he was still himself around me—no pity, no walking on eggshells. Just Henry.
Hitting the elevator button, I smiled. “Fine. But next time, I choose, and I’m picking the cheapest, most questionable food truck we can find.”
Henry grinned, sliding his sunglasses down just enough to raise a brow at me. “Baby, you had me at questionable.”
Before the elevator doors closed, I caught a glimpse of Sebastian in Elena’s office.
He’d practically been stationed there all week, pulled into meeting after meeting as the crisis tightened its grip.
Now he stood off to the side, arms crossed over his chest, listening with an intensity that made the entire room seem smaller around him.
He looked commanding. Authoritative. And hot as fuck in his tailored suit.
I sighed as the doors slid shut, thinking about how good that beard would feel against my jaw. Or the inside of my thighs.
Henry led us to a restaurant a few blocks away, and as soon as we sat down, they set his drink in front of him.
He raised his brows when I gave him a look. “What? It’s not my fault people like me.” He took a sip, ice clinking softly. “Do you want something, or are you using the I-have-to-go-back-to-work-in-an-hour excuse?”
My eyes skimmed the menu, the faint hum of conversation around us spilling over from nearby tables. “Not an excuse.”
“Don’t bother with that. I already ordered.”
I set the menu down with a sigh. “Do you have an ulterior motive for bringing me here? My Spider-Sense is tingling.”
He tried to look innocent for all of two seconds. “Okay, so Mateo has this gallery event with four other artists, and he invited me. I get to see his work, but it’s also a sneaky move on his part to get me out on a social call.”
Right. Mateo. We’d been going in circles over this since they met. Henry kept avoiding him and, at the same time, couldn’t stop bringing him up. And even though I respected his reason for wanting to stay away, he was still very clearly into him, and Mateo was a total sweetheart.
“You want me to go?”
“I need you to.” His expression was practically pleading.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
He grimaced. “They also invited Ash.” We stared at each other. “And plus-one.”
I groaned, dropping my head back for a second.
“I know it sucks, but Aria is going to be there—and a bunch of hot local artists. And free drinks, and you love me and can’t say no.”
“Fine.”
The server dropped off our appetizers and a Diet Coke for me.
“So when is this?” I asked.
“Next Thursday.”
I grabbed a potato, dragging it through the orange sauce beneath it. “And you talked to your brother about it?”
Henry’s eyes lifted to mine mid-chew.
“He said he was bringing Luca?”
Another chew.
“Like… still?”
Henry swallowed. “Yeah, as far as I know. Why?”
I popped the food into my mouth. Spicy. “Have you hung out around them a lot? Are they, like, coupley?”
Henry pressed his lips together. A soft hum slipped out of him, growing louder until he practically yelled, “Ding! Ding! Ding! Alarm bells are going off, ladies and gents. Ethan Bennett has crossed the fucking line!”
I fixed him with a flat look. “It was just a question.”
“Do I need to remind you that you screamed at me that this was none of my business not too long ago?”
“I’m not asking you to pass notes. I just wanted to know your read on the vibes.”
He let out a humorless laugh, stabbing a piece of food a little too aggressively. “No. You want me to validate your claim on him.”
“It’s not—”
“Ya-huh, it is. You want me to say Luca is terrible for Sebastian, that they have nothing in common, and that he needs to get out of that relationship fast so you can be like, Well, okay, guess I’m going to keep flirting with him then.”
I scowled.
“God, I swear.” Henry shook his head and went back to his food. “You two are so fucking toxic.”
We ate in silence for a beat, the clatter of cutlery and low chatter around us filling the space.
My eyes slid up to him. “So…”
Henry sighed and set his fork down. “He acts like a fucking robot around him. It’s weird.”