The Naked Truth (The Honeybrook Hamdens)

Silently, she did her best to battle back the images of her last morning in the office. The way she'd been so innocent, so stupid, so naive the night she'd shown him her designs.

They'd been drinking. Not much, but enough for her to feel the light buzz in her head as she surveyed Troy over the top of her dessert.

"Your brother is a real genius," she'd said. "I can't wait until he visits the studio and--"

Troy had sniffed. "Eli will never visit us. We're a side office. The grunt labor force. The only reason he'd come to see us would be if something amazing was going to happen. If he caught wind of some kind of--"

"Breakout star?" It'd been hopeful thinking, even then, but Troy had nodded.

"Likely chance. No, he mostly keeps us around to wrangle the talent he has. I wouldn't get your hopes up."

She gripped her messenger bag tighter in her lap, then took a bite of her cake and chewed for a long, slow moment. She wasn't sure if it would be right to ask the next question on her mind. Troy was, after all, Eli's brother, and she didn't want him to think she only saw him that way. Over the past few months, she'd seen him as so much more.

The way he inspired the team to work harder, to dream bigger, was never less than magical.

Though, if what he was saying were true, maybe that had all been just a lie?

But no. Troy wouldn't lie. And if he did, he'd never lie to her. He'd told her as much. She was different. Special.

So she asked, even knowing that she shouldn't. "What if you saw something incredible? Could you tell him about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if you saw something that you thought might change things for all of us? Would you show it to Eli?"

"I'm not sure. I guess it would depend."

Slowly, she slipped the yellow notebook from her bag and slid it toward him.

And that's when she'd made the biggest mistake of her life.

Not that she'd known it at the time. Back them she'd just been pleased by the way his eyes shined as he took in the fine detailing she'd drawn into every seam of every jacket. The way his finger traced the cut and the fabric samples. Like he'd just received the biggest gift of his lifetime.

Which, of course, he had.

The phone clicked off and she blew a sigh through her nose before picking up her mother's phone and trying the line again.

She blinked as the buzz began again and the memories drifted back. The way he'd been so much sweeter to her after that night, dropping by her office to give her lunch or just to say hello. The way he'd asked how her designs were coming.

And then the morning when he'd swung by to let her know that Eli was coming to the office after all. He'd be holding a conference for his brother and the entire office was going to welcome him. Troy had said he wanted her at his side.

So she had been. That morning, when Eli Wilcox strode into the little Brooklyn offshoot of Wilcox designs, she'd stood tall in her best home-sewn dress and shook his hand, all the while beaming from one brother to the other and never knowing that a bus was about to roll right over her.

It had been a quiet enough affair, and when the brothers had slipped off to be alone, she'd gone back to her office and beamed, wondering if Eli might stop by to see her work. If he might look at it the way Troy had and be blown away.

The thought alone was enough to have her reaching for her messenger bag, flinging open the cover, and then...

Staring down into the empty canvas.

Her book was gone.

She'd called Trina in to see if she'd noticed where it might have gone to, or if her red book was around, but Trina only shook her head. She said the last time she noticed anything in the office was when she went to get a set of keys for Troy.

"Troy," Julie had repeated and then--

"Hello, Troy Wilcox's office, how may I help you?" A cool female voice sounded over the line and Julie focused hard on making her voice high and breathy before speaking again.

"Hi there, this is Jessica from the modeling interview. I wanted to speak with Mr. Wilcox about--"