Page 41 of Bride on the Dotted Line

And as for what shewants?

I don’t know. I’m trying desperately not to analyze the fact that she kissed me first, or the fact she’s been giving me furtive looks behind my back over the last two weeks, eyes flitting away when I turn to her.

Because if I think for one second that Sienna Hayes wants something from me—something other than what’s outlined in our contract—I won’t be able to stop myself from breaking all the rules to give it to her.

“Nice pull, Nick,” someone says from behind me, yanking me out of my thoughts. “Where’d you find her? Sienna, right?”

I know that voice.

The noise of the ballroom muffles, leaking away like I put my head underwater. My grip goes so tight on my whiskey I’m afraid the glass will shatter.

“Lionel.” Roderick’s younger brother looks just as smarmy as he did when we were teenagers. He’s never grown out of his perma-sneer or his lack of dental hygiene. He sticks his finger in his ear, twisting it as he looks me up and down.

“Good to see you,” he says. “I never thought I’d see the day you had a ring on your finger.”

If he means to insult me, it’s not working. I’m aware I’m not ahusband guy.

“What are you doing here?” My tone is flat and hard. The burn in my belly isn’t just from the liquor anymore. “You didn’t bring Rod here, did you?”

Lionel snorts, slurping from a champagne flute. “Of course not. He doesn’t have a death wish.”

“Why, then?”

“I came to make amends.”

The whiskey is gone. I set the empty tumbler on the bar and signal the bartender for another. Sienna’s wine is sitting next to me, moisture beading on the glass.

“You can try,” I say.

Gaze veering over the ballroom, Lionel gives me a thin smile. “You and I both know your father is retiring. Yes—I’m aware. Our families were close, once, Nick. You really think I don’t ask people about you?”

I stare at him, my vision bleeding red. For years, Roderick was my father’s choice for CFO of Harwood Restaurant Group, with Lionel coming up for a board position behind him. Rod is amazing with money, but he is also a lousy, cheating bastard, and after he weaseled a few lies into the press about me, he thought he could gain control of the whole company.

Lionel was in on all the fun, of course. I’m not about to give him too much credit.

“Get to the point.”

He smirks. “What Roderick did to you was short-sighted and idiotic. I’m embarrassed that you’re still feeling the consequences all these years later.”

Lying doesn’t look good on him. “And?”

“And I hope that when they induct you as captain of Harwood Restaurant Group, you won’t pass me up when you’re choosing your crew.”

The splendor of the gala seems cheap and gauche all of a sudden. I close my eyes, attempting to contain the fire in my chest. When Mom was alive, the company’s board was filled with people who loved restaurants, culture, and culinary experience. After she died, my father ushered in a wave of Rodericks and Lionels, people who don’t care about food and worship the bottom line.

Our board members expect me to approach business that way, too.

My chest cools. I don’t know if I can deliver, but at least I know damn well I won’t be hiring Lionel.

“I’ll keep you in mind,” I say dryly. I must be a better liar than he is, because he smiles a piano full of teeth at me.

“Fantastic. And then, when we’re working together, you can tell me how to find a piece like her.” He gestures with the top of his head across the dance floor, where Sienna is standing at the center of a semi-circle of shareholders. His eyes glint. “Unless you’re sharing?”

Something inside me snaps. I’ve put up with a lot of shit from Roderick and Lionel over the last three years, but hearing his oily voice call Sienna apiecebrings all my energy to my clenched fists.

“Don’t ever,ever, speak that way about my wife.” I step closer to him, dropping my voice so only he can hear. “Don’t look at her. Don’t think about her. Next time you say her name, you’ll choke on it.”

Lionel flinches, lifting his palms. “Touchy, aren’t you?”

---