Page 32 of The Bargain

“I know it’ll hurt, but I believe he will examine this fairly. Besides, I don’t think it’s going to happen. We’re extremely compatible. We know each other, and we’re comfortable together. This is about taking the next step in our relationship.”

His friend sighed. “I don’t want to see either of you hurt. Please, be careful. Try to tone down the flirting in the office.”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll be careful.” I hadn’t thought I was being flirty, but Declan was probably right. He wasn’t the type of person to notice these things, but if he had, it was likely that I was being more over the top than usual.

And I didn’t want Byron to be hurt by any of this.

“Have you heard from Simon recently?” Declan inquired, and I was grateful for the change of subject. I didn’t want to contemplate a world in which Byron didn’t want to date me, where we couldn’t make a relationship work.

“He’s apartment hunting still,” I replied. The server returned with our espresso and coffee, and I asked for the check. This lunch had stretched long enough, and it was time to get back to work. “I offered to let him stay at my house if he wanted. That would give him time to get to know the area and figure out where he wanted to live, but he said no. Wants to do this on his own.”

“I think you need to talk to Pierce,” Declan stated as he picked up the small cup with the dark liquid.

“Why?”

“He’s being an ass.”

I snorted as I lifted my cup to my lips. “Pierce is always an ass. It’s what he does best.”

“He’s worse than usual, and it started when Simon began contacting you about moving to Cincinnati. What does he have against Simon?”

Closing my eyes, I savored the heat and rich flavor of my coffee, using the moment to mellow old, painful memories. “It’s not about Simon. It’s about Sawyer.” I opened my eyes and offered Declan a half smile. “Out of all of us, Pierce was closest to Sawyer. I don’t know if it was more than friendship, and that’s not a land mine I’m stupid enough to step on out of curiosity. Pierce hasn’t recovered from Sawyer’s death. And I’m sure Sawyer’s brother moving here is threatening to dredge up all those old feelings.”

“What should we do?”

I shrugged. It had been thirteen years since Sawyer’s death. I could only guess that Pierce had been closer to Sawyer than we all understood, and that was why it was a continued sore spot for him. As far as I knew, they’d only been friends. They hadn’t dated. Hadn’t even grown up together. They’d met at college, like the rest of us. The one exception was Declan and me.

“I’ll try talking to him next time I see him.” But I hated that I didn’t have high hopes for that effort. In the time I’d known him,Pierce had always been the one most reluctant to open up about things that were troubling him, and anything to do with Sawyer had a giant red flag on it.

Pierce was a good guy at heart and definitely cared about his friends, but he was also about as cuddly as a porcupine fucking a cactus. The man was all snark and bite. No fluff. Sadly, Sawyer’s accident hadn’t made him that way. According to his parents, Pierce was born grumpy and had never grown out of it.

“You could always see if Rome will do it.”

I immediately shook my head. Rome had zero delicacy. No finesse. He was all sledgehammer. “Nope. Last time I tried that, Rome ended up with a black eye and took a baseball bat to Pierce’s new Porsche. They refused to speak for almost six months. It’s better if I try.”

While Pierce might be a grumpy asshole, I still believed that Simon moving to Cincinnati was a good thing. Sawyer would have wanted us looking out for his little brother, and this might also be a chance for Pierce to get past old wounds.

11

BYRON GRAHAM

Sebastian’s house was overwhelming.

Yes, I’d been there before, but I had zero memory of entering the house, and leaving the next day had been about getting out of there as quickly as possible with as much pride as I could scrape together. There had been no grand tour or time to gawk at the beauty.

Wilkins was at the front door to welcome me as I exited my crappy car and walked up the wide main staircase, even though I felt like I should come in via the back or side entrance reserved for servants and deliveries. Regardless of my insecurities, Wilkins never gave a hint that I was less than worthy of being in such a beautiful home.

Everywhere I looked, the place was all clean lines and calming colors. It was rather spartan in its decorations, but that only seemed to lend to the overall elegance. The main foyer was perfect for greeting rich people coming for magnificent parties, where guests wore tuxedos and extravagant gowns as they dripped diamonds and sapphires.

Wilkins led me to a room with huge two-story windows that faced a lawn dotted with expertly manicured trees and shrubs, ending in what appeared to be a vast lake. Really, this house feltas if it should be owned by Darcy fromPride and Prejudice.Just on the edge of the room, Wilkins paused, his brow furrowing.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sorry, Mr. Graham. Master Sebastian asked me to bring you here and see if you’d enjoy a beverage prior to dinner, however…”

My brain was kind enough to supply a hundred different problems that could have arisen in the past hour since I’d last texted him. Most of them involved work and were threatening to cancel our dinner.

“A work problem?”

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