Page 37 of Tough Luck

“That sounds perfect,” I practically purred against him.

Chapter 15

Rick

The next few days passed in a blur. But my stress level had decreased, thanks to the many hours that Sofia and I spent together after work. I had doubled my coffee intake during the day, but still slept like a baby with Sofia wrapped around me at night.

I was pretty sure Elizabeth was beginning to notice something was off with us. Our secret was getting harder and harder to keep to ourselves.

Sofia had stayed at my place a couple of nights that week. She’d claimed that her small apartment was “too small for someone like me.” Besides, she liked the view at my place much better. I went along with it, knowing that there was a real possibility of someone seeing us going into her building together since it was so close to our work.

Behind closed doors at my house, all the rules dissolved. There were no boundaries, no timelines, just her laughing against my chest or drinking coffee in one of my oversized shirts while we watched the fire in the evenings.

In the office, however, we were the picture of absolute professionalism. She threw herself entirely into the Clear Creek Brewery project and was hard at work creating the framework for the “Tap-and-Trail” application while I worked on finally burying the beast that was my San Diego backlog.

By the following Friday afternoon, the dust had finally settled, and I had Joe and Jax to thank for keeping me from drowning in work.

“Tell me you’ve signed off on the contracts,” Jax asked, leaning against the doorframe of my office, a rare, relaxed grin on his face.

“Signed, sealed, and sent to legal,” I answered, tossing my pen onto the desk and leaning back in the chair. “You’ve been a lifesaver this past week. Seriously. I don’t know why Dad didn’t put you in charge instead of dragging me back here.” Silently, however, I was very thankful. If I hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have been tackled by Sofia that first day.

“Yeah, well, you owe me.” He chuckled. “But hey, since you’re finally caught up, I need a favor. I shifted some pieces around and put Nova on those retail accounts that I’ve been trying to lock down. She’s already tearing through their market data.”

I looked up at my brother, a knowing smirk tugging at my lips. Nova. Sofia’s best friend and another one of our marketing secret weapons. She was wild, brilliant, and fiercely protective of this company. When Sofia first told me they were best friends, it made perfect sense—they were two of the smartest women I’d ever met. I’d met Nova a few times over the years. Unlike Sofia, Nova had been around our house growing up when she and Jax had become friends sometime in grade school.

But there was a completely different layer to Nova that Jax was entirely blind to.

“Nova, huh?” I asked, keeping my tone casual as I watched his expression. “Good choice. She knows how to close a deal.”

“She’s the best we have,” Jax said easily, his voice full of an earnest, deep-seated respect that he didn’t even try to hide. “Dad always said she had a better instinct for the heartbeat of this place than any of us. I just want to make sure she has the resources she needs.”

I watched him closely. Jax had been in the trenches of this firm for years, working side-by-side with our dad while Chris and I were busy building our own lives elsewhere. He knew this place inside and out. But when it came to Nova? The man was utterly, hopelessly clueless.

The fact that Nova had massive eyes for Jax was an open secret to anyone paying attention—and according to Sofia, it had been burning under the surface for a long time. But Jax, in all his strictly professional, protective glory, seemed to see Nova simply as the brilliant girl next door who helped keep the agency running. He had no idea the attraction she had for him. Maybe he was just playing hard to get?

“Well, if anyone can help you lock down those new accounts and show the rest of the board what you’re capable of, it’s her,” I said, testing the waters.

“Exactly,” Jax agreed, completely missing the subtext as he tapped the doorframe.

“What’s the favor?” I asked.

Jax took a deep breath. “I need you to convince her not to go with me on the next Vegas trip.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Why?”

Jax rubbed the back of his neck. “Just… don’t ask. Just find some reason to keep her here. Do this favor for me?”

I nodded slowly. “Sure.”

“Great. Anyway, I’m heading out to check on the creative team. Don’t work too late. Some of us actually have a weekend to catch up on.”

“Will do.” I smiled. He walked out, and I watched him stride down the hallway with that familiar, determined purpose, much like my own.

Having two little brothers that looked so much like me was sometimes odd. Seeing so much of myself in them was like having kids of my own.

My mind flashed to that idea quickly, and it didn’t even feel odd when I realized that Sofia was the one I was thinking about taking that big step with.

I leaned back in my chair, glancing out the glass wall toward the bullpen. Sofia was in her office, typing furiously. I watched as a stray lock of dark hair fell into her face and she swiped it away. I caught her eye for a split second, and she offered me a tiny, imperceptible smirk before looking back at her monitor.