Chapter 3
CHAPTER
THREE
LINC
I wake up covered in a cold sheen of sweat. My skin is overheated, my muscles tensed, and my breath is coming way too fast. I reach up and swipe the damp hair from my brow, sitting up and looking around.
I’m in bed. That’s good at least. Swinging my legs over the side of the mattress, I plant the soles of my feet on the floor and lean forward, closing my eyes as I try to recapture my breath.
That damn nightmare again. It doesn’t come often anymore. Not like it did when I was a kid and I was scared to go to sleep at night.
But when it comes, it’s a doozy.
I’d think about it, but that would just make me feel worse, so I pad to my bathroom and turn on the shower. It’s a double size one. Like the rest of the bathroom, the shower walls are clad with marble tiles, and within moments water droplets are clinging to them as the air steams up and I step into the hot stream raining down from the shower head .
God, I need to get laid or something.
Seriously, it’s been way too long. I blame my brothers. We all used to go out together. You’d be surprised how easy it is to find good company when you’re one of six good-looking men. Women used to flock to us like we were the Hemsworths.
Now all but one of them has settled down and they’re all disgustingly content. Sure, I’m happy for them.
But I miss the old days.
Squeezing out a palmful of the shampoo my stylist insisted I buy at my last haircut, I lather it into my hair, rinse it out, then add the conditioner I also had to buy – mostly because I’m a chump – and then I clean myself, tidy up the loose hairs, because nobody loves a bad manscape, and finally get out of the shower.
Usually I head down to the gym in the complex’s basement on Saturday mornings. I try to go most days. My way of decompressing. But today I’m meeting my brothers for brunch because they all happen to be in Manhattan at the same time and we have some things to plan. So I pull on a pair of expensively ripped jeans and a gray t-shirt, then grab my phone and check every cab app I have, choosing Uber this time, because there’s actually a car around the corner.
By the time I make it down to the street level, the car is waiting. I lift a hand at him and he nods at me.
“Hey Linc,” he says as I climb inside.
“Hey Adi, how are you doing?” I ask him. Sure, we’ve never met before, but we know each other's names through the beauty of technology. We’re practically besties.
“All good,” he tells me. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” He pulls away from the curb and the car behind us immediately blasts their horn at him. The smile doesn’t waver on his face. You have to be a special kind of person to drive for a living on this island. The same kind of person who’d happily fight a lion with their bare hands in eras gone by .
Still, I’m relieved that he doesn’t give a damn about the other cars, because I’m late – as always. It’s one of my faults, or at least that’s what my previous girlfriends have told me. Along with my inability to commit, my selfishness, and the way I always laugh every problem I have off.
Which probably explains why I don’t have a girlfriend right now.
I five star Adi, then add a big tip and thank him before climbing out of the car and walking toward the Carter Hotel – my big brother Myles’ nest of choice whenever he has to tear himself away from his family in West Virginia and visit the big bad city for business.
Though this time isn’t about business. It’s about Holden, who has also traveled up from West Virginia. In fact, four of them traveled together – Myles, Liam, Eli, and Holden. They chartered a plane last night, because that’s the kind of shit my brother loves.
Okay, I love it too. Why travel first class when you can travel without anybody else to mar the view?
Of course, all five of my brothers are sitting around a large circular table when the Maitre D’ shows me to my seat. They stand as one – like they’re at school and I’m the teacher, which is kind of laughable, then one by one they give me a huge hug.
I secretly like it. Mostly because our relationships weren’t always like this. There was a time when my four eldest brothers kind of hated Brooks and me. Brooks is the youngest brother. And we all have a very complicated relationship.
Myles, Liam, Eli, and Holden all have the same mom. Brooks and I have a different mom. We share the same dad, but there’s a lot of evidence that his relationships with our moms overlapped a little.
And for a while, our four eldest brothers kind of blamed me and Brooks for taking their dad away from them. Or that’s what it felt like, anyway .
But then we all grew up, and those kind of stupid resentments got pushed away. Nowadays, we all have a great relationship. Since the four of them moved out of New York, I miss their faces. So when I tell them it’s great to see them, my words are genuine.
“How come you live the closest and you’re the one who’s late?” Myles murmurs, slapping my back a little too heartily.
“Because I still have a life,” I tell him. “One that isn’t taken up with two point four kids and a dog.”
“What was her name?” Brooks asks, grinning.
I shrug. “Can’t remember.” I’m not going to tell them I slept alone last night.
“Can I bring you a mimosa?” the server asks me as I finally take my seat.
“Yes please. And a coffee. Black.”
“Certainly, sir.”
There’s about ten minutes of small talk before we get down to business. Myles tells us how his kids are – he has two now. Charlie is the oldest, and he’s the funniest kid you’ll ever meet. Myles and his wife, Ava have recently had a second child, Laura. She doesn’t do a lot except scream and shit, but I have high hopes for her.
Liam joins in, along with Eli and Holden because all of them have kids or, in Holden’s case, a nephew in law that they’re absolutely obsessed with. I smile and nod when they talk about swimming lessons and some TV show with animals that save lives, but really I’m thinking about Tessa Carmichael.
She never talks like this about her daughter. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her mention any after-school activities or kids' tv. Hell, I don’t even know how old her kid is.
I wonder why she rarely mentions her. And now I’m remembering how she stood up to me yesterday, her eyes flashing with anger, her body tense as fuck.
My ex-husband …
I wonder what went wrong with them? And I ignore the little voice in the back of my head telling me she’s now available.
Not interested, thanks.
“So, what do you think?” Holden asks.
“Swimming lessons are great.” I shoot him a smile.
“I was talking about the wedding.”
“Okay…” Was he?
That’s why we’re here after all. Holden and his fiancée, Blair, are getting married. The ceremony will take place at our dad’s estate in Virginia. It’s the perfect location. Full of rolling hills and lakes. We spent every summer there growing up.
I try to get there when I can, but the truth is I’m constantly traveling. It’s gotten worse since I started working for Hampshire PR. They have a lot of overseas clients who need nurturing.
And that’s my job. I nurture.
“Well, about the bachelor party, actually.” Holden shrugs. He’s probably the brother I’m closest to out of the older four. Until last year he lived here in Manhattan. He’s a pediatric oncologist, and yeah, he’s pretty much superman.
And now he’s stupidly in love.
“I’d like you to organize it,” he says.
I blink. “Me?”
He nods. “Yeah. Eli’s the best man, but you know what he’s like. He can’t organize his own day, let alone an event.”
“I said I’d do it,” Eli sighs.
“No,” Holden corrects him. “You said you’d get Mackenzie to do it.” Mackenzie is Eli’s wife. She’s a fabulous organizer. But I wouldn’t want her arranging my bachelor party. I wouldn’t want any of my brothers’ partners doing that.
Don’t get me wrong, I love them all. But we don’t need a bachelor party at a spa.
“Sure, I’ll do it.” I shrug, trying to look nonchalant, but actually I’m pretty excited. Not just because I love parties. But because for once my brothers are trusting me to do something. And yeah, I kind of wanted to be Holden’s best man, but it was always going to be Eli. We kind of pair off in our family. Myles and Liam, Eli and Holden, Brooks and me.
Which makes me look at my brother – younger than me by just over a year. “Wanna help?” I ask him, because I always include him. Being the youngest sucks.
“Was hoping you’d ask.” He grins. “I already have some ideas.”
“No strippers,” Holden says firmly.
Brooks and I exchange a glance. “Wasn’t planning on having any,” I murmur.
“It needs to be PG,” Myles intones, even though it has nothing to do with him. But that’s Myles. Always the leader. “Otherwise Ava will kill me.”
I stifle a laugh. “What exactly does PG entail?” I ask him.
“I don’t know.” He shakes his head, his brows knitting. “Just not… what you’re thinking.”
“It’s fine,” Holden says. “Just run things past me before you book anything.”
“Sure.” I nod. “Anything else? Want me to get us matching velour pant suits with our names on the butt?”
“Don’t joke about velour pant suits,” Liam says, wincing. “Remember when our moms got matching ones?”
Ugh, yes I do. Our moms are best friends. Which to most people sounds weird. They were love rivals at one point, but you’d never believe it now. They spend a lot of time together, go on vacations together.
Sometimes with my dad and his latest wife.
No wonder we’re all messed up.
“Okay then. One bachelor party, coming up,” I say. “Same date we agreed on before?”
“Yep.” Holden nods. It’s just under a month away .
“Cool. I’ll start booking things. I’ll keep you updated from Exuma.”
“You’re going to Exuma?” Brooks asks. “Why?”
“A work thing.”
Myles laughs. “Only you would go to a tropical island for a work thing.”
“Right?” Holden grins. “How’d you get to be the luckiest sonofabitch in New York City?”
“Because I’m good at my job.” I arch an eyebrow at him. And he has the good grace to look a little embarrassed. Because that’s the other thing about being the second youngest in our family, I rarely get any praise for doing what is actually a hard role.
Sure, it’s a dream traveling all over the world. But when I get there I’m often faced with angry clients threatening to leave, occasionally threatening to sue the company. And it’s my job – and only mine – to soothe them. To make them feel special. And nine times out of ten I come away not only with a happy client but also with a renewed contract and an increased budget.
Holden couldn’t do it. Eli couldn’t either. Liam could possibly, but Myles, he’d scare them off before he opened his damn mouth.
And sure, I couldn’t do their jobs either. But at least I give them credit for how hard they work.
Which makes me think about Tessa again. The way she looked when I waltzed into her meeting with Roman. Even worse, her expression when he told her I’d be going to Grand Exuma.
I rarely get stuck on things like this. Easy come, easy go.
But damn, there’s a feeling of guilt in my stomach I don’t like at all. It makes the mimosa taste weird. I much prefer being annoyed with her.
“So, about those strippers,” Brooks says, taking a bite of one of the pastries the server put in the center of the table. “Can we have maybe just a couple?”
TESSA
It’s late on Monday afternoon and I can’t put it off any longer. So I hold my hand up and rap on Roman’s door. His executive assistant has left for the day. In fact, most people have. Zoe is at a friend’s house for dinner, and I don’t have to pick her up until eight, so I took the opportunity to finish up some work while I had the time.
And I can’t leave until I’ve spoken to Roman. Otherwise Angela will kill me. She’s been calling all afternoon to ask if I’ve met with him yet.
Of course I’ve ignored her calls. But I know her well. She’ll come to the house if I don’t pick up soon. So I’ve pulled up my big girl panties and I’m going to get this project back even if it kills me.
“Come in,” Roman calls out after I’ve knocked twice.
When I push the door open, I see him on the treadmill in the corner of his expansive office. He’s wearing jogging pants and a t-shirt, with one of those thick headbands with speakers built-in that all the runners seem to be wearing at the moment.
He pulls one ear down. “Tessa. Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine. I just wondered if I could have a word.”
He looks at the display on his treadmill, then at me again. “Sure. Let’s walk and talk.”
This would be fine if he had two treadmills. But he only has one so I have to kind of stand next to him, around a foot lower than he is, and pretend to walk while he does the real thing on the rubber belt of his machine .
And yes, this is weird. But this is Roman. And I have bigger fish to fry than worry about looking like an idiot while I walk in place.
“So how can I help you?” he asks me. He’s out of breath. And I can smell his sweat. It’s not pleasant.
“I wanted to talk to you about the Grand Exuma project.” I glance over at his face. Am I supposed to be looking at him? Or are we supposed to both be facing ahead?
I’ve no idea.
“I know you’re disappointed. But there’s nothing we can do. We need somebody who can travel there.” He tries to shrug but it puts him off his stride. He slips back on the rubber belt and has to grab the rails to steady himself. “Damn, this is a tricky course.”
“I can travel there,” I tell him. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. There’s no need to send anybody else. I can still take the lead.”
“What about your little girl?”
“Zoe,” I remind him. Again . I don’t bother pointing out that she’s not little anymore. “Her father will watch her.” I spoke with him on Sunday. He huffed and puffed but finally agreed to swap our dates. Or rather Melissa did, because she was the one who told me they’d do it.
Roman leans forward to hit the off switch, as though I’ve finally grabbed his attention. When he turns to look at me I can see how red his face is. I let out a sigh of relief because I can finally stop pretending to walk too. It’s harder than it looks.
“Have you spoken to Linc about this?” Roman asks me.
“No. I wanted to speak to you first.”
“Call Linc. He’s probably already made his flight arrangements.” Roman presses his lips together. “Actually, I’ll call him now.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
I follow Roman to his desk, where he grabs a towel to wipe his face. Then he takes a long swallow of mineral water. He hits the intercom button. “Can you get me Linc Salinger?”
“I think your assistant has left for the day,” I tell him. He screws up his face.
“Damn.” He grabs his phone and it takes him about a minute to actually find Linc’s contact details and hit the green phone button. Within a moment, I hear Linc answering.
“Hey. Good to hear from you. Ignore the wind sounds. I’m on a boat.”
Of course he is. Probably in a pair of swim shorts and nothing else, his stupidly toned chest looking bronzed in the sun. I try to keep my face neutral.
“No problem,” Roman says, as though he constantly has to track his staff down on expensive floating devices. “I was wondering, have you booked your flight to Grand Exuma yet?”
“Your assistant booked it. Why?”
“Turns out Tessa can make it after all.” Roman clears his throat and looks at me. Then a big grin pulls at his lips and his eyes widen, like he’s just discovered the meaning of life. “Hey,” he says, slowly, blinking those same eyes like he can’t believe his luck. “I have a great idea. I’m going to send you both. The dream team. Between the two of you, you’re sure to get the deal closed.”
My jaw drops.
What? He can’t be serious. There’s no need to have two of us traveling to Grand Exuma. “Roman,” I whisper. “I can deal with it alone.”
“Sorry, the wind is terrible.” Linc is shouting now. “What did you say?”
For a moment, the only thing that’s keeping me going is the thought that he’ll be as horrified as I am at Roman’s suggestion.
The thought of us spending a week together on an island makes every drop of my blood run cold .
“I said you and Tessa are going to Exuma together,” Roman shouts back. I’m pretty certain the entire office could hear him, if any of them are still at their desks. “You’re my dream team. Gonna bring that baby home.”
“Still can’t hear you,” Linc says. “I’ll call you back.”
It doesn’t matter. Because I heard him. And I’m pretty sure that Roman will make sure that Linc does, too.
And my eyes widen in horror. This is worse than not going to Exuma at all. I don’t want to go to the Bahamas with Linc Salinger. Yes, he’s pretty. Okay, stupidly handsome with a smile that lights up cities whenever he walks into them. And yeah, every woman in the office would be fighting to take my place if they knew I was about to spend five days in paradise with Hampshire PR’s very own panty-melting god.
My skin is tingling right now at the thought of being that close to him for days on end, but I’m putting it down to early-onset heat rash at the thought of a trip to Exuma with him.
How did this happen? How did I think I was winning and yet I’m walking out of Roman’s office feeling like Linc’s just got one over on me without even trying.
I close my eyes, trying to center myself, but all I can see is his slow sexy smile. I hate every perfect tooth in Linc’s imaginary grin.
And now I have to share paradise with that ass.
LINC
“This is pointless,” I say to Roman when he finally tracks me down the next day. I’m on a video call in Paris and he asks me to stay behind so he can talk to me. There’s no pretending it’s windy or that I can’t hear him .
Hampshire PR has state of the art videoconferencing tools. We use them so much, Roman invests a lot of money in them.
“Why send both of us to Exuma? It’s expensive and I have a ton of work to do. Send Carmichael in on her own, she’ll be fine.”
“I don’t want fine, I want us to win that account. I need you both there. This isn’t negotiable, Linc.”
I loosen my tie, because it’s getting hot in the conference room. And yeah, I might have caught the sun a little too much on the boat with our European clients yesterday. “Tessa and I don’t always see eye to eye on things,” I tell him.
“Then get yourself some glasses or something. I’m sick of you two sniping about each other. You’re supposed to be my two best employees so start acting like it.” He lifts a brow, letting me know there’s no arguing with him. “Think of it as a chance to bond. Get to know each other outside of work. I have plans for both of you, but I need you to play on the same side here.” He drops his voice. “Charm her like you do everybody else. I need you to rub off her hard edges. Come on, Linc, this is why I employ you. To bring home the bacon.”
“And in this case the bacon is… Carmichael?”
“No, the account. Tessa is the farmer. You’re the butcher.”
I shake my head because I’m not liking this analogy. First of all, why do I have to be the bad guy butcher? I want to be the farmer.
And second of all, I’m picturing Carmichael in a milk maid’s outfit. And fuck, she’d look good in it. She’d look good in anything.
If she wasn’t such a she-devil, I’d actually be looking forward to spending time with her. Truth be told, she’s the most interesting person at Hampshire PR. And yes, I mean interesting in an attractive, bitchy kind of way. But she’s also prickly and has made it clear she hates my guts.
“Okay,” Roman takes my non-answer as an answer. “ Great, I’ve already booked Tessa on your flight. Don’t let me down, Linc.”
Before I can say anything else the screen flickers to black and I sit back in my chair and groan.
Roman wants me to rub off her hard edges. And now all I can think about is Carmichael all soft and pliant, her eyes dazed with the pleasure I know I could give her.
Fuck. Why are Carmichael and sex sharing the same thought space in my head?
Because you’ve always wanted what you can’t have. Since you were a little boy.
I blink that thought away. Not true at all. Maybe it’s just that I only know one way to soften a woman.
And the thought of doing that to Tessa Carmichael is making every part of my body feel as hot.
Fucking Exuma. This might be Roman’s worst idea ever.