THIRTY-FIVE
“PACK YOUR THINGS. Come to my room.”
Those had been Brogan’s instructions.
Now cross-legged in the middle of Brogan’s bed, Gia lined up chocolates from the box Gault gave her earlier in the day. They were amazing, a distraction from the quivers of hormones reacting to Brogan commanding his board on a conference call.
She assumed they’d be leaving quickly. After the call probably. He’d said it would be a few minutes about a half hour ago. Their suitcases stood side-by-side at the door. Not going anywhere. Yet.
The board was important. More important.
Them, their relationship, hmm, that would have to take a ticket.
Someone knocked on the door and she was about to move when Brogan held up a finger, silently telling her to stay put. Still talking, he went to answer the door without acknowledging the newcomers.
When he returned, Tripp, Julius, and Jenna trailed behind him.
“Elton is downstairs,” Jenna said.
“The jet is ready,” Julius said and pointed at Brogan further across the room in front of the window. “He’s still on?”
“They’re planning,” she said, biting into one of the chocolates and lifting up the box to offer the sweet treats to Jenna. “Try the dark chocolate.”
The assistant came over to select one. “Planning?”
“Yes,” she said. “Something about a restructure.” Gia pointed at the bed. “Sit down, Jenna, you’ll have to eat these with me or I’ll be sick.”
“You could just put the lid back on,” Tripp said.
Grinning, she took another bite of the chocolate in her fingertips. “Then I’ll never get to the coffee one,” she said. “I leave my favorite to last.”
Jenna took another dark chocolate.
Tripp sat on the opposite side of the bed, leaning back to snag one of the pralines. “If it’s coffee truffles you like, I know this tiny little chocolatier in Belgium. He’s a wizard. It’s a family factory but the best on the planet. I can order a shipping container of coffee truffles for you.”
With a mouth full of chocolate, all she could do was lift her brows.
“Stealing my girl with candy?” Brogan asked, attracting everyone’s attention.
“Bees and honey, my man, trust me,” Tripp said. “If we run away together, first place I’d look is Brussels.”
Brogan flashed a brief smile then focused on her. “I’m sorry, Irish. That took longer than I thought.”
“Do you think it’s a good idea to make long-term plans this late on a Friday night? More than a few members of your board have probably indulged in a couple of shandies.”
“No one’s put pen to paper yet,” he said.
“How did they take it?” Julius asked.
Brogan shrugged. “Better than you. You always take these things hardest.”
Jenna stood up, brushing her hands together. “Would you like me to take the cases to the car? Elton is ready.”
“We’ll do the heavy lifting,” Brogan said and turned to Tripp. “You joining us?”
“I’m staying,” Tripp said and took her hand. “Missy here says leaving an advisor for Gault is the least we can do. It’s fair to say there are only two real prospects now. Mexico can wait a couple of days. Gives our PI time to pinpoint Jarrod’s location.”
“Did your family really want to take Gault’s company apart, Gia?” Jenna asked.
“Some of it,” she said.
“That’s surprising.”
Brogan’s hand went to the back of his neck to rub out some of his tension. Everyone was supposed to be there for days, they weren’t supposed to be traveling. He’d have his board on his back and was shouldering the responsibility of Jarrod’s mess too.
Picking a chocolate from the corner of the box, Gia sneaked around Jenna and climbed off the bed to meet Brogan at the end.
“Open,” she said and put the chocolate between his lips when he did. As he chewed, she smiled. “Good?”
He nodded and swallowed. “Coffee.”
Sliding her arms around him, she nodded.
“Your favorite?” Tripp said. “What happened to saving it?”
“That’s sweet,” Jenna swooned.
“Completely selfish,” Gia said, straightening her arms over his shoulders and pulling herself higher. “Now he has to kiss me so I can taste it too.”
“The things I do for you, Irish,” Brogan muttered before lowering to kiss her.
The chocolate did taste good, but it didn’t arouse her half as much as the man who held her close. When his lips left hers, she dropped a hand to his chest while the other stayed hooked around his neck.
“You know,” she said. “I’m pretty pissed that you ignored my explicit wishes.”
He kissed her again. “Yeah, I can tell.”
Stroking him, she continued to tease. “I’m only being nice to you because there’s a chance I won’t have a home to go to tonight.”
“Damn,” he muttered and lowered to nuzzle her mouth. “Good time to use some of your vulnerability to my advantage.”
“You can. Didn’t you hear me? I don’t have a home to go to.”
Bending lower, he blew the hair away from her ear to whisper. “Your home is our home; I would never take it away from you.”
Leaning back against the arm he curved around her waist, she couldn’t believe what he was saying. Her home? Was this his way of asking her to move in full-time or was he just caught in the moment?
When there was another knock on the door, Jenna left the bed to answer it. Brogan’s conversation went to Julius about some work thing. Gia kissed his cheek and slipped from his arms to return to her previous place on the bed. The bed, yeah, but really the chocolates.
She should offer Julius one since he hadn’t partaken yet.
Her father’s sudden appearance in the room blanked every thought.
Bram was on his tail. “Oh, she’s in his bed, what a surprise,” her brother snarked.
Look at the number of people in the room. What exactly were she and Brogan accused of doing?
“Gianna, I can’t believe you would do this to us,” her father said. “We’ve been asked to leave. You have ruined this family’s chance of making a valuable acquisition.”
“Maybe Gault doesn’t need my counsel after all,” Tripp said, leaning over to take another chocolate.
“Tripp Breckenridge,” Conway said. “I had a lot of respect for your family before I found out how closely allied you were with Spurn.”
A lot of respect for the Breckenridges, known for their generosity and charity. Funny then that he didn’t value her charitable efforts. Guess it wasn’t his money the Breckenridges spent, so what did he care? Influence was what he cared about and would be the reason for the semi sucking up.
“The Breckenridges have always been close to the Spurns,” Tripp said. “Brogan’s one of the best men I’ve ever met.”
“Perhaps you should broaden your horizons,” her father said, landing his glare on Brogan.
Bram was already one step ahead on the evil eyes.
“Why are you focusing on him?” she asked. “Because you believe a woman can’t make her own choices unless she’s duped or coerced? News flash, that’s a con Mom’s been pulling on both of you for years. I chose to be here. I want to be here!”
“That’s not a choice you get to make,” Conway said. “Get your things, you’re coming home with us.”
“I’m—”
“Like hell,” Brogan said before she could finish a sentence.
“Gia goes where she chooses to go. You can ask her to leave with you and if that’s her decision, there’s not a person in this room who will stop her.
But if she chooses to stay with us, I don’t care if I have to hire a damn army to protect her, she will make her own choices. ”
Terrified by the prospect of starting a war between their families, her guilt was a little overshadowed by the flattery of Brogan’s vehemence.
Slithering off the bed, she went to stand by her guy.
“I guess this is it,” she said, looking at him, then at her family.
“This is what I expected when they found out we were together in the first place. We got a break because of this Gault thing, now that it’s gone away, we’re getting to the truth. No varnish, no games.”
“We would never support this relationship,” her father said. “You must’ve known that. It wouldn’t have been kept secret for so long if you were proud of it.”
Linking her fingers through Brogan’s she held him tight. “I’m proud of him, prouder than I’ve ever been of any member of my blood family.”
“You are my responsibility, Gianna Sear,” her father said. “As long as you bear that name, you will follow this family’s rules. My rules.”
“We’re going to ruin you,” Bram said to Brogan. “Just like we promised if you went near her again. After what you did tonight, you’ll be a laughingstock.”
“A laughingstock?” Julius said, closing in on Brogan’s other side. “I’d say our prospects for winning contracts skyrocketed tonight. If it comes to a choice between siding with you or Brogan, I’d place my life savings on the industry standing in solidarity with him.”
“The man who sullies and steals the daughters of good men?” Conway said. “I wouldn’t count on that.”
“He didn’t sully or steal me,” she said. “Goddamnit, Daddy—”
“Do not use language like that with me,” he scolded. “Enough of your juvenile idiocy. You are coming with us.”
“Dad—”
“Do you want to ruin him?” her father demanded. “To be the reason for his demise?”
Her mouth opened, but she didn’t speak. Brogan’s demise? No, she didn’t want to be the cause of that, and she didn’t want to be the cause of her family’s demise either. The families had never liked each other, but it had never been all out war.
Her father knew how to hold a grudge, though not half as well as her brother. The company would collapse if they turned all their resources to destroying Spurn Global. Brogan had better things to do with his time than waste resources fending off constant petty attacks.
She breathed out, coming to terms with the truth she’d known since day one. “No,” she murmured. “I don’t want to be the cause of any of this.”
Bad feeling. Hatred. Anger. It was all because of her. The grief and torment were all her fault.
“Irish,” Brogan said.
Letting go of his hand, she faced him. “You know what you mean to me,” she whispered, curling a hand around the back of his neck to pull his forehead down to hers. “How I feel about you.”
“Baby, don’t you even think about—”
“I love you,” she admitted, a tear slipping from her eye as she sought his mouth.
“There’s no other word for what I feel. I know I wasn’t supposed to, that it wasn’t supposed to be this way.
I’m sorry I was too weak to fight it. I can’t look at you or be anywhere near you without feeling this way, it’s love that’s… that’s all it can be. I love you.”
“Irish, you can’t—”
“Take care of him, Julius,” she said, forcing her hand out of Brogan’s though he tried to hold on. Turning her back on them, she snagged her purse, doing her best to offer the dumbstruck Jenna a smile, and went to her family. “Let’s go.”
“Gia,” Brogan called as she, her brother and father headed for the door. “Baby, you don’t have to do this!” She pulled her case from beside Brogan’s and Bram held the door open for her. “Irish, get your ass back here! Fight this!”
That was the last thing she heard before the door closed. Flanked by her brother and father, she tried to hold it together. Another tear slipped from her eye. Admitting how she felt about Brogan was a big deal and she’d done it in front of those closest to them.
Love.
It didn’t matter how much she loved him. They could never be together. She’d known that from the minute this started. They both knew their relationship was temporary. Not just because of the deal but because their lives, their families, were incompatible.
Stefan Spurn would’ve understood. Like father like son? Not yet. Brogan would come to understand. He would, right? He’d accept that it was over. Over. And there would be no going back this time.