Brother to the Boss (Managing the Bosses 8)

It was nearly ten when Alex finally walked into the kitchen. Jamie, sitting in the living room with a book, heard the sound of the door open and close, and then his footsteps moving across the floor. She didn’t look up from what she was reading. The kids had gone to bed nearly two hours ago.

“Hey,” he said as he moved into the living room and saw her. “Sorry I’m late, baby.”

Jamie slid a bookmark between its pages and closed the book, setting it aside. “One text,” she said quietly. “And then you show up almost five hours late. I had to call your PA to find out where you were.”

Alex stopped in the doorway, looking at her like he didn’t know what she was talking about, and Jamie’s irritation fanned into outright anger. It would have taken him five minutes to pick up the phone and call, and they could have avoided this whole thing. But of course he couldn’t stop to think of that when he was at work. “You did?” he asked. “I had my phone with me.”

“You didn’t answer it,” Jamie said. “And you didn’t call. I finally called your front desk and got Miss Eriksson, who told me you hadn’t even left the office despite the fact that it was already an hour after you were supposed to be home. At that point I just figured I wouldn’t see you for the rest of the night anyway, so I might as well not try calling again.”

“Jamie…” Alex said. He sat down beside her, briefcase leaning against the end of the couch, and gave her an apologetic look.

Even angry at him, Jamie couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was in the golden light from the lamp she’d been reading by. She wanted to reach out and run her hands over the beloved lines of his face, draw him down for a kiss, and take him to bed, but first she wanted an explanation.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said, and he sounded it. He sounded exhausted. “I had no intention of staying so late, but it was just one thing after another today. I’m still trying to stop the remaining stock owners from selling any of their options, and I thought that I had them, but one of our biggest investors almost sold today. Nicholas is offering a price the stocks aren’t worth, which is why he’s been so ridiculously successful at buying them out from under me, even from people who have owned stock in Reid Enterprises for years. They could keep going with the company and make money slowly over time, or they can take Nicholas’ deal and have a bunch of it right off. Some of them are obviously more impatient than informed. And he can afford to bait them because it’s not like he actually needs the money. He just wants to fuck with me.”

Anger draining out of her, Jamie reached out and ran her hand gently up and down Alex’s back. “He’s not going to be able to take the company from you,” she said firmly.

“No,” Alex agreed, “but he can cause all kinds of problems with as much leverage as he has, and there’s really nothing I can do about it. That ship sailed years ago. Once a company is public, you can’t take it back.”

“Surely your board isn’t going to listen to Nicholas?”

Alex laughed, but the sound was sharp and unhappy. “My board keeps trying to tell me that Nicholas is some kind of godsend. An experienced CEO with an extremely successful company, blah, blah, blah. Like I’m not both of those things and more. Nicholas doesn’t have a background in investments. And he’s actively trying to sabotage Reid Enterprises, but try convincing the board of that. They’re going to start accusing me of being a conspiracy theorist. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he’d paid half of them off.”

He leaned into her arm, and Jamie shifted so that she could lean more securely against the back of the couch, Alex’s head resting on her chest. She ran her fingers gently through his hair, and he sighed.

“What if I talk to him?” she said after a moment of silence. “He liked me before. Maybe he’ll listen to me.”

She felt Alex tense in her arms. Obviously he didn’t like the idea. He’d always hated anything that put her and Nicholas in the same place, especially after they’d gone out on that date. But he couldn’t let his personal hang-ups get in the way of the business… not if he wanted to be able to deal with the Nicholas problem, and she told him as much.

“I don’t feel comfortable having you anywhere near him, Jamie,” he said, turning his head to look up at her. “The man’s a lowlife, and there’s no telling what he’ll do. He ruined Gina’s life for his own petty amusement.”

“I know what he is, though, Alex. It isn’t like he’s going to seduce me.”

“No, but he might have some other tricks up his sleeve.”

“Well,” Jamie said, fingers still moving through her husband’s hair, “someone’s got to do something. And he’s obviously not going to listen to anything you have to say. Or even agree to meet you, probably. So you’ll have to send someone that he’ll actually be willing to have a conversation with — if he’s still willing to have a conversation with me — and who knows the business well enough to deal with whatever curve balls he tries to throw.”

“I still don’t like it,” Alex growled, and Jamie almost laughed.

“I know you don’t,” she said, “but we don’t have to decide right now. It’s just an option that we can think about.”

“I suppose.”

Instead of stopping her light stroking at the nape of his neck this time, Jamie ran her hand down along his spine, feeling the muscles in his back. Still as solid and defined as when they met, and she wanted it. Wanted him.

“What if we forget about business for a while,” she suggested, dipping her voice a little lower to make her meaning very clear, her hand sliding down the outside of Alex’s hip, “and go think about something more enjoyable?”

Alex straightened, pulling back so that he could meet her eyes. “Are you propositioning me, Mrs. Reid?”

“Seducing you, I think,” Jamie said, only a little bit of a smile sneaking through the straight face she was trying to wear.

He laughed. “Well, in that case, I think that your efforts have been very successful.”

Before she could stand he was on his feet, and he’d gathered her up in his arms. Her own wrapped around his shoulders, holding tight, but she trusted that he wouldn’t drop her as they started up the stairs, both of them laughing. Alex had never let her fall. She didn’t think he was going to start now.

Chapter 4