When I exit the CEO’s officeand see Ms.Baker gone for lunch, hope lightens my steps.We might actually make it to the parking garage without running into anyone.
My heart sinks into my toes when the elevator dings, announcing someone’s arrival before we reach the foyer.Brennan slows his steps and aims his gaze expectantly at the space beside him.I grit my teeth and move to his side.
Carlos steps up to the reception desk as we reach the end of the hallway.I bite back a growl and skirt around the corner, hoping to slip into the elevator before he notices us.
I’m not that lucky.He places a folder on the desk and turns.A smile brightens his expression until he notices my bags slung over Brennan’s shoulder.The skeptical tilt of his lips jangles through me.I mash the button for the elevator.
As the doors to the elevator on the right open, the left whips to a stop and chimes.
Fuck.More people.
Carlos greets Brennan and me.I tuck my reluctance away and return his greeting with a smile.
Brennan leans forward and covers the door sensor with his arm.
“After you, Ms.Tripp,” he says.
The amount of testosterone and tension thrumming through the air between my secretly gay best male friend and my ex-stepbrother CEO gives me an instant headache.I step into the elevator, but neither man is fast enough to avoid the newcomers stepping off the second one.
I grind my teeth and move deeper into the tiny box as they exchange greetings with the two department heads who came to shat with the COO in the executive break room.
“Heard about your fight in the gym this morning.I’m sad I missed it.Billy said it was epic,” the financial department head says.
My thoughts screech to a halt.
Carlos and Brennan fought each other?
Brennan’s voice rings in my memory.At Brook’s wedding last weekend—was that only this past Saturday?—he accused me of flirting with Carlos and Liam.He didn’t believe me when I said we weren’t, but it’s not my place to reveal Carlos and Liam’s relationship.
“He owes me lunch tomorrow,” Carlos says with a chin tilt toward Brennan.
Horror roots me to the spot.
They really fought.Brennan lost.
All the times he comforted me as a child flip through my mind.His gentle care when I bumped my hip into the corner of the desk on Monday replays in vivid detail.
The world blurs.My eyes refuse to focus on anything except him.
Carlos trains his body and mind every day for fighting.He gets paid to be a deterrent against violence.
What the hell was my idiot ex-stepbrother thinking?
They exchange more words, but my brain refuses to process them.
Two massive, masculine bodies duck into the tiny space, and for the first time in thirteen years, I don’t flinch at the sight of a suit.
Urgency and incredulity pulse through me.
The second the doors close, I grab Brennan’s arm and pivot in front of him.With impatient hands, I check him for injuries, tugging him this way and that.He humors me with a small, pleased smile on his face.
“What in the fucking hell were you thinking?Why would you do something so stupid?”I growl.
“What are you doing, Ms.Tripp?”Brennan asks.
“Not you.You shut up,” I snarl.
Surprise widens his eyes.His lashes brush against his glasses and his blue irises shine in the harsh fluorescent lighting.
