1
HIRO
“Ineed a favor.”
“Well, hello to you, too.”
Henry Black is my best friend and while it isn’t unusual for him to call, his ‘jump minion’ tone definitely is. “You missed poker last month.”
“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
I pause. Something seems off here. “Okay shoot.”
“Have you already gone up to your cabin?”
“No, but that’s only because I’m finishing a few things up here for a project. I’m heading up tomorrow.”
“Great.” He breathes a heavy sigh. “I need you to take Noelle with you.”
I sit up straight in my office chair. Maybe I didn’t hear him correctly. “Excuse me?” Noelle is Henry’s little sister. She’s almost ten years younger than us and a handful. At least for Henry who has been looking after her and the rest of his siblings, since his father died five years ago.
As a kid, she was mischievous and annoying. Now, she’s a party girl who seems to be trying to give her brother a heart attack.
Too pretty, too rich, and far too spoiled.
“Noelle needs a place to stay for a few days until we can fly home for Christmas.”
“Why me? Noelle hates me.” Or at least she strongly dislikes me. If I had to guess, she sees me as an overly stuffy, grumpy, stick-up-his-ass obstacle to her having a good time.
It’s not really a guess, as she told me that pretty much word-for-word the last time I saw her.
What she doesn’t know is that if I had less honor, I’d love to show her a good time.
“Noelle doesn’t hate you.”
“Mm-kay.” I triple click my pen. “Why do I need to be her babysitter? She’s what? Twenty now?” I pretend like I don’t know that Noelle Black just turned twenty-two on Halloween. Not that I’ve been counting down the months to when it wouldn’t be wildly inappropriate to fantasize about kissing her back, should I ever get the chance again.
While technically she’s an adult, she’s still in college and those days are long behind me. Plus, no matter how old she is, I can’t change the fact that she’ll always be Henry’s baby sister.
“She’s twenty-two, but she may as well still be sixteen for all that she can handle herself. I’ve had some problems, which I thought were limited to some of our business assets, but then someone emailed me photos of Noelle, insinuating she was vulnerable if I didn’t kill this deal I’m working on.” Henry’s voice is hard. “She’s my baby sister. These assholes don’t get to threaten my family.”
Dread trickles down my spine. “What kind of problems? What’s going on?” Henry Black is the head of a vast entertainment conglomerate that includes everything frommovie studios to nightclubs. After his father died, Henry had to step into some pretty big shoes, but he’d been training for it his whole life. We’d met while at boarding school and, after he’d punched me in the face for calling him a pampered prince with the most fuckable mother I’d ever laid eyes on, we somehow became best friends.
Henry Black is a golden boy.
I am not. He’s silver-tongued, persuasive, and charming when he wants something. I’m a sarcastic asshole with little patience, and while my techniques might be persuasive, they’re hardly charming.
“It’s not something I want to get into over the phone,” Henry says. “But I’ll tell you as soon as I’m back stateside.”
“Are you safe? Do you need me to call in a team?” The Black empire might be famous and powerful, but mine is well-connected and often operates in the shadows.
“I’m good, I promise. But Noelle might not be. I need you to get to her and get her out. Please keep her safe until I can fly back from Singapore.”
“I know Greyson and Adelaide are with you, but where are Baxter and Oliver?”
“Baxter is in London, and I can’t get ahold of him right now. Oliver is god-knows-where doing god-knows-what. I can’t count on him to get to Noelle in time.”
I nod. Oliver is definitely a wild card, but something Henry says sticks with me. “What do you mean in time?”
