3. BEN
3
BEN
“ H ey, bro,” I said when I walked into Alex’s office.
“Hey,” Alex said, looking up from where he sat behind his enormous desk.
“Ready for action,” I said, dropping myself into the seat in front of him. “What’s happening with the Georgia deal?” I rubbed my hands together.
“I’m sending you all the plans to show the investor,” Alex said. “And I had Marina put together a file for you, too, so you have a hard copy.”
“Nice,” I said and took the file, flipping through it. “I have a tablet I can use, you know.”
“Nothing wrong with good old ink and paper, though.”
“Let’s not let the old times die,” I said sarcastically. “For someone so invested in going green these days, this is very out of character.”
Alex snorted, but he knew what I meant.
His wife was an environmental activist and sales boomed because of the new eco-line of yachts Alex had suggested. Now, business was booming enough that we were opening a second factory.
“This looks good,” I said when I flipped through the plans for the factory, job creation, and fixing up parts of the town that were in a pretty shit condition. The little town of Harborview was just a short distance from Savannah, but it had gone backward over the years and now it was shrouded in poverty and the people of the town didn’t have the resources to turn it around.
Cue the Blackwood brothers and their factories that would fix everything.
“I’m ready for action. Send me in.”
“You’re in a good mood,” Alex said, leaning back in his leather chair without acknowledging the file and my reaction to it. His icy eyes studied me. He had dark stubble on his chin, and his top button was undone, his tie loosened a little.
Since he’d met his wife, Charlotte, he’d changed a lot. He didn’t have a stick up his ass anymore. He was more relaxed and he had a much more approachable demeanor. His attitude toward his staff had also changed.
She really brought out the best in him, and now that he was a dad, he seemed to look at the world differently.
I was happy for him. I really was. Tommy was the cutest kid. Just starting to walk now, and he babbled all the time with words he made up himself. He was a handful but Alex, who’d been terrified of being a father before, doted on him.
The whole happy-families spiel was good for Alex, but that wasn’t my deal.
I thrived on one-night stands or nights where I got so drunk I forgot who I was. Easy-peasy with no emotions involved. I couldn’t even dream of having a child, taking care of diapers and bottles, and putting safety shit on all my cabinets.
“Yeah, I went out to celebrate the deal this weekend.”
And met someone fucking incredible.
That would put anyone in a good mood.
“Well, good. That will make what I’m about to tell you easier.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?” My good mood was already fading. Alex the CEO could be such a pain in the ass when he was my boss and not my brother. He flipped that switch sometimes, and honestly, it pissed me off when he did.
“You’re not headed out to Harborview alone.”
“Why not?”
“It’s always good to have backup, and if you’re talking to the investor, I want you to seal the deal from the start. We don’t need back and forth on this, it has to happen right away. One and done.”
I shook my head. “You’re giving me a babysitter? Fuck, Alex, don’t you trust me? I know what I’m doing.”
“You really do, but lately you’ve been…”
“What?” I asked when Alex’s voice trailed off. “What have I been?”
“A bit of a loose cannon.”
I bristled, the last of my good mood trickling away.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re just all over the place. Your head’s not in the game, and I don’t want that to sabotage this for us.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is that why you gave me this contract to begin with?”
“What are you talking about?” Alex shifted in his seat, leaning his elbows on his desk. He steepled his fingers—a subtle change but I knew the body language cues well enough. He thought he was better than me and fuck him for that.
“You’re sending me away because you don’t think I’m good for the company, here.”
“Don’t be an idiot, Ben,” Alex scoffed and swiveled his chair away from me and his desk and toward the large windows that overlooked Newport and the ocean. “Starting a second factory is a big deal. I wouldn’t just send anyone there. I know you can do it, which is why I picked you.”
“But you won’t let me go without a babysitter. You would have let Chris go alone.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “But you need him here for the designs. And Daniel is God-knows-where right now… that’s why you picked me. I get it now.” I scowled. “I was a fool to celebrate the fucking contract like it was some kind of feat.”
Alex groaned and stood, walking to the windows. “You’re making a big deal out of this when it doesn’t need to be.”
“No, I’m making this just as big as it needs to be.”
Alex and I had never really gotten along. We took “sibling rivalry” to the next level. I wouldn’t say we hated each other—we were still brothers and if someone fucked with one of us, the other would be there, no questions asked. But when it came down to measuring dicks, he always wanted to come out on top, and since he was the favorite, the fucking CEO, he usually won.
That just pissed me off.
“So, who are you sending with me?” I asked bitterly. “Is it Dad? That would be the fucking cherry on top.”
“Stop being such a baby,” Alex said. “And you don’t have to cuss so much, either. I’d prefer you watch your mouth when I call her in, too.”
“Her? You’re sending a woman with me?”
“She’s head of the business development department. She’s not going to babysit you, she’s going to do her job .”
I rolled my eyes. “Right. Convenient that she’s in a high-up position so it doesn’t look like you’re getting someone to clean up after me.”
Alex turned to face me. “The fact you think you need cleaning up after is exactly why this is a good idea.”
Damn it, I’d put my foot in it.
“I’m going to call her in now, so get your shit straight and for God’s sake, put on a smile.”
I grumbled and tugged at my tie. It wasn’t tight around my neck—I sported the open top-button look and loose tie just as well as Alex did and I didn’t even need to get married to calm down. I was leagues ahead of him.
Boom.
“Marina, send in Miss Gallegos,” Alex said over his intercom.
“Right away,” Marina said, and a moment later, the door opened.
I stared at the dark-haired beauty who walked in, wearing heels, a pencil skirt, and a ruffled blouse that looked incredible against her olive skin.
When her gray eyes fell on mine, she froze.
I stared at her. “Sofia?”
“Ben…” she breathed. Her eyes flicked between me and Alex as she tried to put two and two together. “Ben Blackwood,” she said. “It’s…”
Alex looked confused. “Do you know each other?”
I cleared my throat and said, “No,” at the same time as Sofia said, “We’ve met.”
Alex’s confusion turned into suspicion.
“I mean, of course we’ve met. She works here. But we don’t know each other.”
Only in the biblical sense.
I flashed on her naked body, writhing beneath mine. The taste of her lips. The sound of her moans in my ear.
“Right…” Alex didn’t look convinced. “Sofia is going to Harborview with you to take care of the business side of things. She’s been briefed.”
“I received the email and the file, Mr. Blackwood,” she said politely to Alex.
The tension in the room was palpable. It was a mixture of sexual tension and what-the-fuck tension.
How the hell did this happen? The idea was to fuck and forget, and now I had to work with her?
Not that I could just forget about Sofia—I’d already been fighting to keep her out of my mind this weekend. But working together?
“Good, good. You two should talk, get better acquainted. I ordered the private plane. You’re leaving in the morning.” Alex glanced at his watch. “I have a meeting to get to, so feel free to make yourselves at home.” He gestured to the two armchairs that faced his desk, did up his top button and tightened his tie before he walked to the door. “I’ll see you later, Ben. Thank you for coming, Miss Gallegos,” Alex said, and then we were alone.
“Well, this is interesting,” Sofia said.
“Is that what you call it?” I was pissed at Alex for sending someone with me like I didn’t have what it took to make this work alone.
And now this.
“You sound upset,” Sofia said.
“You didn’t tell me you worked for my company,” I bit out.
“Yeah. We were summarizing, remember? You didn’t mention that you owned the company,” she pointed out. “Sales? Seriously?”
“I handle plane sales,” I grumbled.
“And I handle projects and business development,” she said tersely.
I shook my head and walked to the window, planting my hands on my hips. I looked out over the ocean, but I didn’t see the incredible view. I was angry, and I tried to calm myself.
“Look, it wasn’t supposed to work out this way,” Sofia said behind me. “If I’d known who you were, I would have steered clear.”
I turned to look at her. “Would you have?”
“Of course! I don’t mix business and pleasure.” She glared at me. “And I sure as shit wouldn’t have spent a night with someone who has a reputation for being a total grouch. I’ve heard a lot about you, and I didn’t put together the pieces when I met you, but now… I realize they’re all true.”
I gasped, staring at her. “You want to talk about reputation ? You were the one who went home with a total stranger.”
“As were you,” she said.
I growled inwardly. She wasn’t wrong.
Fuck, this was a mess.
I’d slept with the woman I was going to work with. I was her boss, and she was directly beneath me now.
God, that just made me think of when she was underneath me, gasping as I thrust into her.
My cock twitched in my pants, but I ignored it.
She was a right pain in the ass, that was what she was. Telling me I was a grouch? And sent to babysit me? That last part wasn’t her doing, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t despise her for it since Alex wasn’t the one coming with me.
“Look, clearly this isn’t ideal,” Sofia said in a level voice, having calmed herself a little, too. “We have to work together, so let’s play nice for the sake of the project. We both have the same goal. I don’t want to fail—I’ve never not had a project work out right in this company—and you could do with something good you’ve done, given how everyone sees you.”
That made me bristle again. “And how does everyone see me?”
“If you don’t know, you’re going through life with your eyes closed. The world is always looking, Ben. I don’t want them to see the wrong face with this thing, so let’s make it work, and when it’s done, we can walk away from each other for good and be done with it.”
“Fine,” I said. “If that’s what you want.”
“That’s what the project needs,” she said.
She put out her hand to me, and I stared at her slim fingers. I knew what those fingers could do, and I knew what else I would want them to do…
Stop it, Jesus.
I took her hand and shook it. “One project, we’ll be civil with each other, and then we don’t see each other again.”
“Fine by me,” she said.
“Fine by me, too.”
She let go of me, and I felt the absence of her hand acutely.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning, bright and early,” she said. “Bring your happy face, we might need it.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “You were way more fun when we were drinking together.”
“Yeah, so were you,” she clapped back. “But we have work to do.”
She left the office, and I was a warring mess of emotions. On the one hand, I was pissed off and set on despising Sofia because I didn’t need someone to look over my shoulder all the time. Besides, she was a pain in the ass, telling me what to do and how to do it. And to tell me I had a bad reputation? She might have been right… but the fucking nerve!
But on the other hand, a part of me was excited that she was coming on this trip with me.
But that was the part I had to squash as quickly as I could because if I wanted anything more from her than her best on this project… I was in trouble.