Page 49 of Filthy Rich Ex's Brothers

“That was a business trip.”

“Don’t waste my time,” she growls, leaning in and bracing her hands on my desk. I feel my cock twitch. “If you want to talkabout it, let’s talk. Otherwise, I’m more than happy to go back to the marketing department and get my work done.”

I suck in a breath. I can’t talk about it. How could I possibly admit to her how much I want her? If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you should never let the universe know what you love. It will certainly be taken from you.

Still, I open my mouth, lace my fingers together, and stare up at her, “Serena, I?—”

“Serena?”

She startles, blinking rapidly at the man in the doorway.

“Ryan.” I stand, clear my throat, tug on my cuffs, and face my best friend.Waytoo much fidgeting. “What are you doing here?”

Get yourself together, Oakley…

He gives me a look, “I’m here for the meeting? We’re catering?” he adjusts, looking at Serena, and a smile skates over his face. “What areyoudoing here?”

Serena is blushing furiously now, glancing between the two of us, her throat working. I cross my arms, glare at Ryan, “She works for me. How do you know her?”

He raises his eyebrows. Now we’re both looking at Serena, “I hired her, too. She’s photographed a couple of my events. Worth every penny.”

Those words are dripping with meaning.Worth every penny.

“Travis, I—” Serena stammers, turning from me and back to Ryan, clearly also sensing the meaning hidden behind those words. “Ryan. I didn’t know the two of you?—”

But she doesn’t get to finish whatever she was going to say, because there’s yet another person walking into my office.

“Sorry I’m late,” Graham says, his head bent over his phone as he walks in. “Fucking traffic.” Then he looks up, stops in his tracks, the door only half-shut behind him. Somehow, his deep voice goes even lower when he says, “Serena?”

Usually, I’m good in a tense situation. Good with a confrontation. But right now, all I want to do is throttle Ryan, force my brother out of the office, and ask Serena what the hell is going on. Why are my brother and my best friend so familiar with her? How do they even know her fucking name?

Ryan beats me to the punch, chuckling, dropping down into a seat, crossing his legs and saying casually, “Well, what a little pickle we have ourselves in here.”

Chapter 26

Ryan

“Wait,” Graham says, turning to his older brother with a scathing look. “What the hell is he talking about?”

“This is the girl, right?” I ask, flicking my eyes to Serena, whose mouth is open, but not producing any words. “The one who’s too young for you? Works for you? Should be off limits?”

“Damn fucking right she should be,” Graham snaps, taking a step toward Travis, who sits calmly behind his desk. “What were you thinking? You know she’s Alex’s ex-girlfriend.”

“Yes,” Travis says, his voice dropping into professional-CEO-mode. “I am aware of that, thank you, Graham.”

Oh—I’ve misread this. I thought we would all have a laugh about this, but I don’t know Graham all that well. He’s clearly more loyal to Alex than Travis is. Shit.

I stand, raising my hands, but Serena says what I’m thinking before I can, “Okay, just—calm down. We can talk about this?—”

“What is there to talk about?” Graham grinds out, jaw ticking. “Tell me you didn’t sleep with her, Travis.”

Travis sits completely still, arms crossed, staring back at his younger brother. For all the time Travis spends going on and on about the differences between him and his family, Graham andTravis are a lot alike. From what Travis has told me about his father—ruthless, taking down both his personal and professional adversaries—they’re probably both more like him than they think, too.

“Big words, coming from you,” Travis says, finally, tilting his head. He glances quickly at Serena, who still appears frozen. “Seems like the two of you know each other pretty well.”

“In a professional capacity,” Graham grinds out, and Serena makes a small noise in the back of her throat that immediately discredits that idea. I make an impressed face at her—so the girl knows what she wants, and goes after it.

I’m not bothered by it in the least. How could I be, when I’ve spent so much time sampling different sizes, shapes, and flavors of women?