I grinned in the way that I knew would make her teeth grind. "You're adorable when you're pissed, did you know that?" Let the battle begin.
Right on cue, her jaw clamped tight. She turned, lifting her nose as she walked over to my grandmother's file cabinet. "There is other office space in this building. You don’t have to use this one."
"Gran is hardly ever here." I put my hand over my heart and tried to have a hurt expression. "If I didn't know any better, Andi, I’d think you didn't want me here."
"I don't, but your grandmother does. So do your brothers. Why don’t you put us all out of misery and take the job that they've offered?"
"I don't know, maybe it's because the way you treat me makes me feel like I haven’t earned it." I turned back to the computer, a little concerned that I was revealing too much. It was true that Andi often would talk about my living off my grandmother's wealth. Flaunting it. Wasting it. She wasn't the only one to think that way. Maybe that was why this project was so important to me. As the youngest son of a wealthy family, I was dismissed by nearly everyone around me as not having earned anything.
I didn't begrudge my brothers taking their places in the company because I knew that they loved their jobs as much as they loved Gran and the company. Plus, they were all very suited to being the heads of their departments. Hunter was the only one who had additional entrepreneurial aspirations, as he owned a restaurant, and recently, with the help of the Strong Foundation, opened the community arts Center.
I was happy to help the company out when my technical expertise was needed, but my aspirations lay elsewhere. It's one of the reasons I was seriously thinking of moving up north to Silicon Valley. There I would be at the brain center of technology, but also, it would take me away from Andi, which was important because sometimes I felt like I was having a harder time resisting her.
At the same time, the thought of leaving was difficult too. I wasn't sure if it was because I'd been the youngest child, coddled and indulged so much that the idea of going out on my own was difficult. Or maybe I just didn’t like the idea of being away from family. We were extremely close knit, especially after my mother died when I was young. My father had dedicated his life to me and my brothers, and it felt a little bit like abandoning him if I moved away.
My grandmother walked in the office and I fought the urge to sit up straight to attention. This is another game that I played, where I pretended to be a slouch and indifferent to her constant requests to bring me into the business.
"I didn't know you were coming in today, Margaret," Andi said, all prim and proper. The pervert in me wondered if she would be prim and proper with her mouth wrapped around my dick.
My grandmother turned her attention from Andi to me arching her brow and I grinned mischievously at her.
"Take your boots off my desk," my grandmother said.
"Oh yeah, right," I said, pretending I'd forgotten my manners. It might seem disrespectful, but in truth, I loved my grandmother, so I rose from her chair and walked over, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "How are you Gran?"
"Actually, I'm not doing very well, Noah. I need you and your brothers in the conference room ASAP."
The fact that she wasn't engaging in our little game told me that she was serious. But that didn't mean I was going to work for her. "I don't work here, Gran."
"You're a Strong, Noah. And Strongs stick together. This is a family matter and I need you there."
"I'll go get the rest of them," Andi said as she rushed out of the room.
I couldn't be sure that this wasn't some ploy of my grandmother's to pull me into the family business, but I was loyal to my family, and their health and happiness was important to me, so I followed her to the conference room.
2
Andi
I don't know why it still surprised me to find Noah sitting at Margaret's desk. He came in often enough that I should have almost expected it. For a guy who was adamant that he wasn't going to come on board to the family company, he sure spent a lot of time working at his grandmother's desk. Of course, it probably wasn't work related to the company that brought him in. I felt certain he was mooching the company resources to work on some personal project. Knowing him, he was probably building some sort of porn site.
But I didn't have time to worry about why Noah was there when Margaret walked in looking a bit scattered. Margaret wasn't a person that was rattled very easily, but I could tell she was concerned about whatever it is that brought her in. Being the proactive person that I was, I hurried off to gather the rest of her grandsons for a meeting. I let her deal with Noah. She was the one person he listened to, even if he pretended indifference around her.
I headed over to Ryan's office first. I knew Margaret very well, but when she made the decision to divide the company equally between her grandsons, I was surprised that she hadn't instead decided to make Ryan the CEO. It wasn't just because he was the oldest son that I thought that. He always seemed the most stable, focused, and dedicated to the company. Not that Hunter and Carter weren't qualified or dedicated, but both of them had interests that often took them away from the office, whereas Ryan hadn't had any. That is until Kellie. Now Ryan had a wife and a child, but he was still doing a good job of being focused on the company and balancing being a husband and father.
His door was open, so I peeked in. He had a huge grin on his face as he looked at his phone. It could only mean one of two things; either Kelly had just texted him a picture of their baby, Maggie, or he was video conferencing with them.
I gave a light knock on the door to get his attention.
He turned to me and smiled. "I think I have the smartest baby in the whole world," he said, holding up his phone. I walked over and looked at the picture of the baby with her fist in her mouth.
"She's adorable, Ryan," I said. "I hate to disrupt this moment, but your grandmother is cal
ling for a meeting. It sounds important.”
He frowned. "What's going on?"
I shook my head. "I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it’s got her little bit shaken."