Chapter 21
LUKE
If I thought before that working with Megan was hard, now it was even more difficult.
Staying away from her required all my self-restraint.
I was fighting my impulses on a daily basis.
Scratch that—hourly basis. I was sure that any day now someone was going to figure out what was going on.
Selfishly, I wanted that, because I didn't like hiding.
But I understood that Meg didn't want our relationship out in the open. If I were her, I wouldn't want that either. I didn’t want the team to think she was getting any special treatment. I didn’t want to interfere with her inclusion with the group in the office, so I needed to stay cool.
After lunch, I was surprised when Travis sent me a message.
Travis: Gather the gang in your office. I'm stopping by with some news in half an hour.
That was interesting. He usually gave us more of a heads-up than this. It had to be important. Or maybe my brother was overexcited. Or both. Over the past weeks, he’d dropped by a couple times, working from his old office.
Luke: Consider it done. I know they're here.
I texted both Tate and Declan, telling them Travis was going to be here in half an hour and wanted to talk to all of us. Declan arrived in my office five minutes later.
"You think he's in trouble?" he asked.
"No, I think he's excited about something and can't wait to tell us."
"I think the same," Tate said as he came in, then added, "Declan, for once in your life, don't start out with a pessimistic scenario."
Declan held his hands up. "Fine, I won't."
Travis himself joined us a few minutes later. "All three of you are here already! That's good."
He looked from Declan to me. "This one's already worried about me, isn't he?"
The corners of my mouth twitched. "Yes, obviously."
Travis burst out laughing. "Chill, brother. I have good news. I want all of you to come to my place Sunday in two weeks. I want to announce something to the whole family."
"What?" I asked.
"You'll find out."
Tate groaned. "Come on, dude. You told us to gather here because you had news. But now you're just telling us we're going to meet again so you can tell us the actual news?"
Travis clapped his hands once, then held them up in defense. "You know me, I like to draw out the excitement a bit and build up the anticipation. And I was on my way here anyway, and I thought you’d like a little drama to lighten up your boring lives."
"Some of us have to work," Declan said, standing up, clearly not enjoying our brother’s levity.
"The whole family's coming to your place?" Tate asked.
"Yeah, I haven't told the rest, but I will. I'm asking Sam and Kimberly to join us too."
I stared at him. "The news has to be huge, then, if you’re having them fly in."
"It is. I'm very excited about it."
"By the way, anyone know what's up with Kim? I've spoken to her a couple times, and she seems a bit down," Travis said.
"I only spoke with her briefly," I replied because they were all looking at me, "but she wouldn't give me any details. I'll talk to Reese too. Between the two of us, we should get something out of her."
"I’ll take the small win we have now. Reese seems to be doing fine," Declan said. "And there’s been no whisper about Malcolm at all. He moved out of the city."
I winked at him. "You scared him good." The last time Declan met with him, he basically told Malcolm to get the fuck out of the USA, as his name was tarnished, and nobody would do business with him. I knew Declan saw to that.
Someone knocked at the door. "Come in," I said.
Megan poked her head in. "I've got a few questions about Paisley's—oh." She looked at the four of us. "I didn't know you had company. I'll come back later."
"No, that's fine, Meg. You already know Travis. These two are Declan and Tate.” They’d probably passed each other in the hallway, but this was the first time I’d formally introduced them. “She's helping me with Paisley’s treehouse."
All three of them looked at her with huge eyes. It was almost comical. They couldn't be more obvious, I swear.
"Right. And I have some more questions.” She started to back out of the room, but I had another idea.
“You can ask Tate,” I suggested.
Megan turned to him. “I need to know her favorite color."
Tate blinked. "It changes."
She frowned, and it was the cutest. "Hmm, I see. So, what's her current favorite color?"
"I'm not sure."
I pressed my lips together. Travis didn't even try. He just burst out laughing.
Declan shook his head. "I'm no help."
Megan still tried to get some information from my brother, asking, "Is she girlie, or is she more boyish?"
"Very girlie, I would say," Tate replied confidently, then said, "Although, lately she keeps saying she doesn't want presents for girls, whatever that means."
Megan just smiled politely. She must have been thinking we were a bunch of idiots. In my brother's defense, I also didn't register certain details. And with Paisley, her likes and dislikes changed by the minute. "Okay, I'll figure something out," she said. "It was great meeting you two."
I looked at her as she walked out, closing the door behind her. "Do pick your jaw off the floor. And take your eyes off her ass," Travis said.
"Do you look at her like that in front of your other employees?" Declan asked, making me groan. The man was forever on the lookout for a lawsuit.
"Say it, Declan. I know you're bursting."
He looked exasperated. "Do you have any idea how often things like this can lead to sexual harassment charges?"
Travis shook his head. "Declan, do you ever just chill?"
"I would if all of you would behave."
Tate rose from the couch, arranging his cuff links. "We can't all find our women by harassing our neighbor about music, Declan. Some of us have to widen our horizons. Travis, anything more to share? I've got a call in a couple minutes."
"No. That's all I wanted to tell you guys. I've missed this—annoying you daily." The grin on his face could not have been any bigger.
"Dude, you hadn't done that in the past year when you were here," I pointed out. "You were too busy working all day long." But this did mean that whatever surprise he had for us was about work. I'd surmised as much.
After Travis and Tate left, Declan headed to the door as well.
"Declan, I know we give you a lot of shit," I said, "but we do appreciate that you look out for us and that you took care of the Malcolm business."
Just thinking about that gave me a fucking headache.
"I don't think he'll bother us again," Declan replied. "But if he does, we're going to be ready."
"Yes, we are," I murmured after he left. It was insane how just thinking about that moron had completely annoyed me. I stood up from my desk, pacing the office.
There was another knock at my door. I supposed my brothers were back, or at least one of them. "Come in."
It was Megan again. I sat against the edge of my desk, drinking her in. Fucking hell, Declan was right in scolding me, but how could I not look at her like this? Even though she was dressed professionally, she was beautiful as fuck, and she was mine. I wanted to look at her all day long.
She closed the door behind her. “I want to run something by you for Charles’s project.”
"Later. Come here," I said gruffly, holding out my hand for her. "I want you."
"Luke," she murmured, but she walked to me.
I squeezed her hand, pulling her right in front of me.
“You seem pissed about something,” she murmured.
“Yeah, my brothers and I talked about Malcolm, and it soured the mood.”
“Oh. I’ve read about him in Reese’s interview. He sounds like a douchebag. Did anything happen?”
“No, but every time we bring him up, I get like this.”
She put her hands on the sides of my neck. “Let’s see if I can do something about it.”
Fucking hell. Just her touch, the warmth of her body, and the smell of her skin were enough to calm me.
This was peace. This was home. I'd never known anything like it. And I wasn't going to give it up. I knew she was nowhere near ready to jump into a relationship, but I’d win her over. When she’d spoken about her ex, her entire body language had changed. I wanted to throttle that idiot.
“Better?”
“Hell yes.”
“Why did Travis come by?” she asked.
“He wants the family to meet two Sundays from now to share some news.” Looking her straight in the eyes, I admitted, “I'd like for you to come with me.”
She jerked her head back. “You would?” Her voice was full of uncertainty. Why? Did she think we weren’t serious enough for that or was it because she didn’t want it?
“Yes.” I decided to lay my cards on the table. “We're keeping a low profile at the office, I agree. But not out of it. I want you to come to family events and meet everyone. You already know most of my brothers. I want you there that day.”
She nodded, a smile tugging at her lips.
“Hey, that’s going to be my chance to meet Paisley. She's going to be there, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Awesome. I can ask her some things.”
That was her first thought? Fucking hell, I’m falling for this woman.