Midnight Kisses (The Sterling Brothers #4)

Chapter 1 Wyatt

One of my favorite things in life was adding new businesses to our already profitable portfolio. My second favorite was celebrating my success with the family.

“Son, this was a great choice for a restaurant,” Dad said, pushing his chair back a bit.

I’d brought them to one of the best Mexican restaurants in the Gaslamp Quarter.

It was famous not only in San Diego but throughout all of California.

My whole family loved tacos. Mom was sitting next to Dad, chatting with my nephew, Jeremy.

He used to be a fan of pizza, but I’d slowly converted him to tacos, and I was damn proud of that.

My brother Duncan, Jeremy’s dad, was sitting next to him with his fiancée, Riley. He looked up at me and said, “Thanks for taking the lead on this.”

Chase straightened up. “We should totally toast to that.”

My brothers and I owned several businesses together, and this was just another of our new ventures.

I nodded. “My pleasure.”

Griffin, Finn, and Knox sat on the other side of the table. Finn and Knox were currently giving Griffin some shit, but I couldn’t hear exactly what it was about. As soon as we toasted, though, I was going to join them.

I flagged the waiter, and he immediately came to us.

“Anyone want seconds?” he asked.

“No, but we want champagne.”

“Right away. Two bottles?”

“Yes. And keep them coming.”

Jeremy looked at me with wide eyes. “I can drink champagne?”

“No, buddy, you can’t,” Duncan said.

Jeremy pouted and stared at the table.

I’d have to give him a treat to cheer him up later.

The kid always got to me when he was unhappy, and I tried to make up for it whenever I could.

The downward curve around the edges of his mouth got me into trouble every time.

When he was around one year old, he’d developed the pouty look, and he’d had me wrapped around his little finger since then.

“Don’t worry, buddy. You and I will find a much cooler way to celebrate.”

He grinned. “Okay.”

Duncan gave me a nod. Riley laughed softly and winked at me. “You’re good.”

I was happy that Riley was now part of Duncan and Jeremy’s life. Jeremy’s mom lived in Ireland. And while my brother had done a great job by himself, he was much happier now that Riley was part of the family.

The waiter returned with glasses full of champagne, and everyone grabbed one. He gave Jeremy one, too, which the waiter assured me was simply apple juice.

“To bringing the new businesses to new heights,” I said.

“To you,” Duncan replied.

“Exactly,” Chase added. “But if you need us to be more involved, just holler, okay?”

I nodded. “Of course. You know it’s not like me to overwork myself.”

My brothers and I managed a highly successful financial services company that we’d set up years ago.

We also started other new business ventures periodically.

Recently, we talked about going into the wine and hotel business, and I offered to take the reins on that.

We’d already bought the winery in Napa a while ago and redid the branding, but I wanted to focus on it fully for a while, to really get the business going.

I had to study it more to see what was lacking and what could be improved.

As for the hotel business, I was in talks to acquire a small chain, but we were still trying to negotiate that deal.

“You can count on us too,” Finn said.

“We mean that,” Knox added. He was looking at me with a very serious expression, which was unlike him.

“Thanks.”

Truth be told, none of us had a lot of extra time, and starting from scratch in two different industries took a lot of effort.

But I had a plan. I was going to hire a business development manager.

In time, he or she could be my co-CEO. I was ambitious, driven, and a hard worker, but I knew where to draw the line.

There was more to life than work. I wanted to enjoy my wealth and success, not spend all of my time creating more.

Once everyone finished their glass of champagne, the waiter came with another tray. Jeremy grabbed his second glass of apple juice, but he took a sniff from Duncan’s glass when my brother wasn’t looking and said, “Hey, mine doesn’t smell the same.”

Ah, obviously he wouldn’t be fooled by this trick.

“Buddy, I have an idea,” I told him. “Want to go riding in the afternoon?”

He immediately turned to me. “Yes, yes, yes.”

I knew my brother and Riley would appreciate some time for themselves on Sunday afternoon, and I had nothing planned. “Then it’s a date.” Turning to Knox and Finn, I asked, “You two were giving Griffin a hard time. Might I know why?”

“Why? You want to join them?” Griffin asked snarkily, clearly annoyed by my brothers’ antics.

“Obviously!” I was never above some fun between brothers. It was always more fun not being on the receiving end.

“Nah, this was just between the three of us,” Knox informed me.

I cocked a brow.

“Since when are you keeping secrets?” Duncan asked.

That was unheard of in our family. We were always in one another’s business.

“It’s not a secret,” Griffin replied. “Just a low blow.”

“Which we’ll keep to ourselves,” Finn added.

“Fair enough,” I replied, curious as to what they were up to.

After we finished eating, I looked at my parents. “Mom, Dad, can I drop either of you off somewhere?” They’d ridden here with Finn, but he had other plans after the celebration.

“Yes, thank you. We’re going back to the store,” Mom said.

Hearing her say we was so damn strange. Our parents divorced when we were kids, and it had been an ugly fight. They started getting along better after Jeremy was born, but something had changed as of late. They were spending a lot of time together.

“All right, I’ll drop both of you off, and then Jeremy and I will have some fun.”

“Yes!” my nephew exclaimed, jumping up from his chair.

Duncan came up to me as I went inside to pay the bill.

“Wyatt, I’m with Chase. If you want us to be more involved, just say so.”

“Thanks, bro, but I know what I’m doing. Besides, I’ll hire someone to be my right hand soon. You guys don’t need any more on your plates either.”

“That’s a fantastic idea. I was starting to feel guilty that you were going to shoulder the brunt of it all.”

“I know how to manage my workload, bro. Never fear.”

“So, are you and Jeremy doing anything else besides riding today?”

I laughed as I swiped my card and put in my PIN. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Duncan cocked a brow in annoyance.

“I’m taking him riding. The rest is none of your business.”

He chuckled, holding his hands up. “You know what? You do your thing.”

My brother trusted all of us implicitly with his son. Then again, we never gave him a reason not to.

After I paid, we went back outside. Mom and Dad were chatting with Jeremy. We bid goodbye to the rest of the group and headed to the car.

“Mom, Dad, you need any help at the store with anything?” I asked as we approached the building.

“No. I don’t plan to make any other changes,” Mom replied.

“For now,” Dad added jokingly.

In the rearview mirror, I noticed him winking at her.

Fuck my life, that would never not be strange. My parents had been at each other’s throats my entire childhood. Seeing them on good terms again was weird.

“You let me know whenever you need me for anything,” I told Mom.

They’d owned the store when we were kids but had to sell it in the divorce.

It was the only way they could make ends meet.

Chase bought it back for them some time ago, and now they’d refurbished it.

Mom was running a studio with pottery classes and yoga sessions, and Dad had a store selling fishing supplies.

They were the happiest I’d ever seen them.

After dropping them off, Jeremy shifted a few inches, looking at me.

“Can I sit in the front?”

“No, buddy. You know that’s not safe.”

He pouted, but I wouldn’t budge on this. He tried every time. Still, safety came first.

“Hey, bud, you know it’s not my rule. It’s the law. But after riding, how about the two of us order extra-large ice creams?”

His eyes bulged. “Extra-large?”

I grinned. “Hell yes.”

Fortunately, Duncan didn’t have a problem with us buying his kid treats. We were an “everything in moderation” kind of family.

“You’re the best, Uncle Wyatt!”

And just like that, I knew the seating issue was forgotten.

Before I gunned the engine, my phone beeped with an incoming email. The recruiting company had gotten back to me about that business developer I’d put a search out for.

Hi, Wyatt. We have an excellent candidate for you, but we have to disclose that she was involved in the BuzzPage scandal, so we’re not sure if you even want to consider her. Résumé attached, as well as a few articles where she’s mentioned. Let us know if you want to meet her.

That was a very odd move for a recruiter. Why would she bash her own candidate? Then again, I’d worked with her for years. She probably didn’t want to risk me finding out by myself and getting annoyed.

I knew about the scandal. The whole state did—hell, probably the entire country.

The résumé belonged to Kinley McGuire. Her name was vaguely familiar.

I opened the article first and immediately knew why I’d recognized her name. She’d been dating the guy who’d embezzled from BuzzPage. The article was four pages long. Who the hell had time for that? I scrolled right to the end.

She hadn’t been found guilty, but the way the author insisted he doubted the verdict made it sound like she was a criminal too. I didn’t care about his doubts; I believed in the court of law more.

After closing the article, I brought up her résumé.

Damn, Kinley McGuire was a force to be reckoned with.

She’d set up several businesses from the ground up over the past several years, and I instantly knew she’d be an asset to my company.

However, though she looked great on paper, I didn’t want anyone on my team with such a scandal attached to their name.

I closed her résumé and returned to the email. On the one hand, I wanted to just ignore the bad press, but that wasn’t smart. Then again, her credentials were remarkable.

After a few moments’ consideration, I decided to meet her. I could bounce ideas off her, see how good she really was.

But I knew deep in my bones that I wasn’t going to hire her.