Page 475 of His Virgin Romance Series

SETH

Ilooked at the pictures lining my wall. They were all pictures of the resorts and hotels that my father had opened before I took over. The last couple of pictures depicted my own projects. They were smaller, modest hotels compared with my father’s, but I had opened them on my own, and for that, I was proud.

Still, opening a new hotel was never easy, and my first few attempts had not gone smoothly. Which was why I was sitting in my office, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Everything had been going so well lately that I felt as though something had to give soon. I wondered if I was simply projecting my fears about my relationship with Brie onto my career.

I thought about the last few weeks I’d spent with Brie. I had discovered so much more about her. I already knew she was passionate, kind, and intelligent. But I also discovered that she was decisive, emotional, and fiery. I realized that our opinions about film and art didn’t always match up, and when that happened, Brie would fight to the death to defend her point. She was so good at it that half the time, I found myself convinced. She was persuasive, but she could also be diffident. Just when I thought I had figured her out, she surprised me by revealing another layer of her character that I was ignorant of.

There were days when everything felt perfect. There were days when Brie was the only person I wanted to be with. She got me; she understood my job and its demands. She never got mad if I missed a dinner date, or disappeared right after sex, or could barely stand still long enough to ask her how her day was. She took everything in her stride. She seemed to enjoy working, and that, too, was attractive to me.

The flip side of the coin was my fear. The work had still not slowed down. I still had investors I needed to answer to, standards that needed to be maintained, and a chain of other enterprises that needed supervision. Just when I felt as though I were getting my head above water, something came up that pulled me under again. I had been meaning to take Brie back to our private island for a small sojourn, but I’d never managed to find the time after our first visit.

Some days, I was scared Brie was getting bored with our relationship. Other days, I was scared that I was getting bored with the relationship. Some days, I was simply too tired to be scared about anything. All I knew was that it felt nice to crawl into bed, knowing that Brie was in it, sleeping soundly.

On a whim, I picked up my phone and dialed in Jason’s number. He answered almost immediately, and the sound of his voice made me instantly regret calling him.

“Seth!” Jason said breathlessly. “Long time, man.”

“You sound like you’re going someplace?”

“I’ve heading towards a meeting that’s on the other side of this damn building,” he replied. “So I can’t chat for long.”

“I can call back later?”

“No, no,” he said quickly. “I want to hear how things are going.”

“Uh…things are going great,” I said.

I knew I should have told him about Brie and me weeks ago, but I always managed to find an excuse at the last minute.

“Brie told me she’s loving the new job.”

“Oh, you’ve talked to Brie recently, have you?”

“A couple of days ago,” he confirmed.

“And what did she say?”

“Uh…she told me she’s loving the new job,” he repeated, sounding a little surprised by my question. “I’m sure you know that, given you’re her boss and everything.”

It was obvious that Brie hadn’t told her brother about us. “I don’t see myself as her boss,” I said quickly, avoiding bringing up the topic.

“Even though you are?”

“As far as I’m concerned, she’s working with me, not for me,” I said.

“Whatever you say,” Jason said distractedly. “Did you call to say something specific, bro, or was this just a check in?”

It was my opening, the perfect opportunity to come clean about my relationship with his sister and yet, I couldn’t do it. I was overcome with this inexplicable sense of fear.

Once I told Jason, it would be real. There would be no going back.

It was an irrational fear. Whether Jason knew or not didn’t make our relationship any less real. But sometimes it felt like we lived in a little bubble in Hawaii. It was easy to forget that the same rules applied everywhere else, too.

“I just called to check in,” I said lamely.

“Awesome, keep me posted, okay?” Jason said. “I want to know about the resort. It’s just—”

“You’re busy,” I said, finishing the sentence for him. “Say no more. We’ll talk later.”

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