TWENTY-FIVE
“WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with you?” Brogan asked, shoving Julius aside after the elevator doors closed.
“What? It’s crazy that you haven’t talked about it.”
Sweeping his Scotch from the counter, Brogan finished it on the way to the bar to pour another.
“Why?” he asked, slamming down the still open bottle. “We made a deal, she gets money for her friend, I get help with the Gault deal.”
“That wasn’t the deal,” Julius said, coming toward him. “The deal was she play your girlfriend for eight weeks. Well, son, in this experiment, there’s more time behind you than in front and you’re about to hit the greatest challenge to it yet.”
He slugged down some Scotch. “You gave me shit when I told you I’d told her everything.”
Julius sat on a barstool. “Because I was surprised,” he said. “I didn’t know you two were that honest with each other.”
“We weren’t back then,” he said, swallowing more liquor.
Honesty came up on their first date. Until that moment of confession in his bedroom, it had been tentative.
Now they had—no, he couldn’t bullshit, there were still lies.
Shared lies. Like their cover story of quid pro quo; by now, they both knew it was a game.
If Gia wanted something, all she had to do was ask.
If he could anticipate her needs without her saying a word, all the better.
He might taunt her with the game, but her response honestly didn’t matter.
Quid or quo was irrelevant, he’d never deny her.
Did he understand it? Not remotely. Did some part of him resent it? For sure.
The woman had an odd power over him. In past relationships and friendships, control was paramount.
Every corporate and familial connection rode along with him at the wheel.
Most of the time that meant limiting contact or access.
He kept himself a distance away from others, protecting himself from manipulation or betrayal.
Trust was a rare commodity. His father taught him how to be, not out of cynicism, out of corporate fidelity.
Stefan Spurn believed men should be men, that they should always be thinking of their corporate brand.
Having a strong CEO command respect was vital to the company’s strength.
For his father, that extended into every area of his life.
The company and its interests came above everything else. Sure, he had a life, as much as he let himself. Truth? Who fucking knew anymore. He’d thought he lived a life until Gianna Sear sank onto her knees in front of him and smiled. In that moment, he learned what it was to be alive.
“You are now?” Julius asked, snapping Brogan from his thoughts.
Honest. Right. “Brogan, son, of all the women in the world you could’ve fallen for, Gianna Sear is probably the worst possible choice.
Marriage made sense for professional reasons when I thought doing it would mean destroying the Sear family.
You were the one who told me to toughen up. ”
“Is that what you’re telling me? To toughen up? Or are you telling me to back off and give Gia up?”
“She still needs money for her friend… for your brother.”
“Half-brother,” Brogan said. “And whatever you tell me to do, whatever your advice, I won’t leave Gia high and dry. I’ll break off the deal if you tell me it’s what’s best for her, but I won’t pull my financial support.”
Julius’s laugh took him aback, stalling his Scotch in midair. His mentor opened his mouth and laughed loud, something he didn’t do often, or… ever.
“Shit, Brogan, I don’t think you could abandon that girl even if it meant sacrificing everything Spurn Global ever was,” he said.
“I’d never seen you leave the office early until Gianna Sear came into your life.
Even for Honey. When Gia walks into the office, you dismiss everyone and do whatever it takes to make her smile.
Smile, Brogan, you’d rip yourself open if it would make that girl smile. ”
Fuck. This guy was supposed to be on his side. That smirk wouldn’t feel so good if he smacked it to the other side.
“What do you want, Julius? Why bring this up now? You think we shouldn’t bring her to Gault’s? Is that it?”
Julius took a breath and when he exhaled, all trace of amusement left his face. “Do you love her?”
“Jul—”
“Don’t give me excuses,” Julius said, serious.
“I’ve known you since you were shitting in diapers and sucking on your momma’s tit…
I know you better than any person alive.
I’ve seen you with every woman you’ve touched since puberty.
I know what I know. I know what I see in you when you look at her…
You’re going to stand there and deny it, you’ll come up with some way to spin it. You’re only kidding yourself.”
“Why do you think I would—”
“Because when I asked you in the kitchen, when I asked you together, you said nothing and she couldn’t get out of here fast enough. All those days lost in your bedroom. Think I didn’t notice? You’ve never told her how you feel and clearly, she’s never told you either.”
The rim of his glass touched his lip as he muttered, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“This is more. New for you. From the way you looked at each other, I thought you broached the subject.”
“So why did you ask—”
“Because Gault would like a ring.”
“What?”
“If Gia was wearing a ring when we got to Gault’s…”
Incredulous, the bottom of his glass landed on the bar with a thud. “You want me to propose to Gia to please that old codger?”
“Brogan, I want you to propose to her because you’re in love with her.”
Curling his fingers into a fist, he resisted the urge to launch the glass across the room.
Credit to him, Julius’ words were sold as sincere. Still, Brogan struggled to believe him.
“Really?” he asked. “Because you were the one who told me to marry her and take control of Sear Incorporated.”
“That was before I knew you were capable of feeling this way,” Julius said then raised an apologetic hand.
“I’m sorry, that came out wrong. I meant before I knew you’d let yourself feel this way for a woman.
Now you’ve found the one who brings it out in you, don’t fuck around.
Don’t lose her because Stefan is in your head telling you to let her go. ”
Was that why he’d been holding back? He’d always been confident, often called arrogant, but he hadn’t worked up the gumption to claim Gia, to tell her their future was together.
Admitting it to himself was a huge first step. Had he known? Shit, Julius said it out loud and it was like permission to let down the mental guard. Gia was hot. Accepting how bad he wanted her physically was one thing. There was a line he couldn’t cross, shouldn’t, given how they got their start.
“I called her the other day,” Julius said. “She talked for forty-five minutes about the lack of after-school recreational activities for pre-teens in deprived areas of the city. I promised to sponsor a pilot scheme at the community center.”
Proud and pleased to have his own chance to be amused, Brogan raised his glass. “She’s tenacious.”
“She’s perfect for you,” Julius said. “Why are you fighting it?”
Giving in to the truth, reality was reality. “She wants marriage and kids… a conventional life.”
“She told you that?” Julius asked. “Hint: bringing that up was her giving you the opening to say you’d provide. She was telling you she wanted that life with you.”
Brogan rounded the bar. “She didn’t bring it up, but I know her, Julius.” He sank onto the couch and instantly regretted not bringing the Scotch bottle with him. “It’s what she wants.”
“And you’re worried you won’t be able to afford the ring or the wedding she wants?”
Sarcasm wasn’t helpful.
Brogan glared. “Cut it out.”
“No, seriously,” Julius said, snagging the Scotch bottle to carry it and his own glass over to join Brogan on the couch. “You worried your balls won’t work? That you won’t be able to knock her up? I know plenty of guys who’d do that part of the job for you if—”
“Enough,” Brogan said, snatching the open Scotch bottle to take a swig.
Julius laughed. “I’ve witnessed you two practicing that part of the deal. You’re up to that task.”
One thing was undeniable, Gia got him hard, like it or not, opportune or not, he couldn’t control it.
“Spurn men don’t get married.”
Julius snorted. “That’s not why.”
“It wouldn’t be good for business.”
“That’s not why either.”
No. Fortifying himself for the truth, he took another mouthful from the bottle.
“It would rip her family apart and put her under immense pressure,” he said.
“Her father is playing nice because of Gault. As soon as this deal is done, her father will yank his approval, I guarantee it. He’ll make her life hell.
If he doesn’t, Bram sure will and his censure will be endorsed by Daddy…
I can’t take her whole family away from her, Julius.
I can’t be the reason they ostracize her; she’ll end up resenting me and it will tear us apart. ”
Julius sank against the back of the couch mirroring his position, and offered his glass, Brogan touched his bottle to it.
“Yeah.” Julius sighed. “That sounds more like the reason.”
The two men sat drinking in silence for a few minutes. All he could think about was Gia; Julius had to be thinking about the impact she’d had on their lives too.
“Her skin’s like warm spun silk,” Brogan said. “And sometimes if she says something before her mind tells her it’s inappropriate, she does this little gasp to try to pull it back, have you heard it?”
“I’ve heard it.”
“She never keeps her shoes on. As soon as we step through the door downstairs, she takes them off in the elevator and carries them up here… When she’s had a crappy day and I hand her a glass of wine she says thank you.
No, she doesn’t say it, she mouths it, and even though it’s quiet, I sense her gratitude, you know? ”
“I know.”
Reliving his time with Gia was bittersweet. “When we go to dinner and I want to make her feel good, I order Irish coffee.”
Julius shifted a fraction. “Is that where the Irish thing comes from?”
“Sort of,” he said and drank from the bottle. “She gets this look of glee before her first sip. After, she points her tongue to lick her top lip… drives me nuts.”
“She’s a prize,” Julius said. “The best kind of woman.”
After his next drink, Brogan breathed out, fixated on the label. “I have to end it, don’t I?”
“If you’re not going to marry her then yes, before either of you get any more involved,” he said and offered his glass again. “For a minute there, you had something real special, boy. That’s not something every man gets.”
No, it wasn’t.
His relationship with Gia was over before it began. He’d give her up and another man would take his place. That man would get to keep her. Tipping the Scotch to his lips, he gulped until his throat burned. He hated the guy already.