Brother to the Boss (Managing the Bosses 8)

He stared at her. Erica was a golf instructor. He didn’t picture her as some sneaky little gal instructing him in corporate espionage or whatever you wanted to call spying on your brother's rival while he played golf so that you could take stories about his business meetings back to your brother.

“How am I supposed to do that?” he asked. “I can't exactly follow him around the course and hope he blurts out something that could help Alex.”

Drawing her eyebrows together, Erica tipped her head slightly to the side. “Hmmm… it seems we only have two options, then,” she said, and waited until Mark nodded to go on. “The first is that we plant bugs. Microphones hidden in various golf features or whatever. That means that we won't be able to hear everything they say, but we should get a lot of it. Hopefully enough to do something with. The other option, which is probably a lot simpler, and a lot less illegal, is that we pay whichever caddie’s carting Nicholas' stuff around to watch him and report back to us if he says or does anything interesting.”

It sounded like something out of a spy movie. More like complete idiocy, and Mark laughed despite himself. “Really? An informal spy network recruited from golf caddies. Yeah. That definitely sounds like an opportunity to save the day.”

Erica punched him in the shoulder, and Mark sucked in a quick breath through his teeth. She didn’t hurt him, but her touch also shook him.

“Listen to me,” she said. “I'm being serious here. I know it's a bit weird, but I don't see what you have to lose by trying it.”

“Well, we could lose a lot of things. Starting with all of our customers if they find out that we’re recording people, or having their conversations brought back to us.”

“Who's going to tell them?”

Mark shook his head. “It isn't that simple. No one will have to tell them. All it will take is one slipped audio record, and they find out. It’s illegal. Maybe the caddies, though… they’d be harder to catch and then prove anything, so they might actually be the best choice if we want to be discrete. But there’s also the chance that one of them might decide to tell Nicholas what’s going on. Then we’re screwed. No matter how we do it, what you’re suggesting we do is definitely too illegal.”

“Well, there’s always the ‘Do nothing and get rid of your best chance at finding anything out’ method, which you’re about to employ to great success, I’m sure.”

Part of Mark was starting to wonder if he’d made a huge mistake when he decided to date Erica, because she obviously either didn’t know the law or didn’t care at all about following it. The other part was wondering if maybe she was right. What if he’d been right all along and the best way to help Alex was to keep Nicholas here?

“You’re telling me to break the law,” Mark said.

Erica looked at him and shrugged matter-of-factly. “What’s more important? The law, or your brother?”

Chapter 12

Alex was still awake when Jamie got home from her night out with Christine. He was sitting on the couch and watching TV with an expression that said he didn’t really care what was on.

Jamie carefully sat down next to him. “Alex,” she said, her voice quiet.

He turned to look at her, and she was surprised by the amount of pain in his eyes. Almost without realizing that she was doing it, she reached out to brush her hand against his cheek, and he leaned into it like he couldn’t live without it. They’d been hurting each other so badly by not speaking.

“Turn off the TV,” Jamie whispered, “and come upstairs with me?”

Alex reached for the remote, and clicked the television off. Silently, he followed her up to their bedroom. She checked the twins and headed to the bedroom. Alex followed her without speaking.

“I’m sorry,” Jamie said as soon as they were both sitting on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry that we fought.” Her voice caught in her throat. “I hate things being like this between us. I know that you’re dealing with a lot right now. I also know that you love us, even if you have to spend some extra time at work. I shouldn’t assume anything. I can’t assume anything, it’s not fair.”

“I’m sorry, too, Jamie,” Alex said almost as soon as she’d finished speaking, his voice rough like he’d been crying, or was on the edge of tears. “I shouldn’t have treated you the way that I did the last couple days.”

“I forgive you,” Jamie said immediately. “Of course I forgive you, Alex.”

“And I forgive you,” Alex said. He smiled. “Even though there’s really nothing to forgive. I have been spending too much time at work, and maybe a bit of it is that I’ve used this issue with Nicholas as an excuse. It’s hard to let go of something that you’ve been building for so long. But family is more important. You are more important, Jamie.”

Jamie wrapped an arm around his shoulders and leaned up for a kiss that was long and slow, his tongue claiming her mouth again, their bodies relearning each other after a few days apart. When they sat back again both of them were smiling, their breaths coming a little quicker. Alex reached out and took one of her hands, twining their fingers together.

“I missed you,” he said, and dipped his head to breath in Jamie’s scent from the curve of her throat. He groaned. “Damn, Jamie.”

Jamie shivered a little with the pleasant, teasing sensation of his nose brushing against the thin skin over her pulse. “I missed you, too.”

She had. It had been far too long since they had touched each other like this, since that stupid fight had come between them. There was always the chance that one of the twins would wake up, although they’d been sleeping through the night for quite a while, and Jamie intended to take advantage of every second they had.

Alex’s lips brushed soft and warm against her skin. Jamie’s fingers curled a little tighter around the ones that were linked with them, letting her breath out on a careful sigh. Alex kissed her throat again, nipped gently at the curve of it. Then he pulled back enough to meet Jamie’s eyes.

“How much time do you think we have?” he asked. “How long before we activate the universal law that says parents can only have sex for x amount of time and then a child must wake up and interrupt them?”

Jamie laughed. “I’m not sure, honestly. Why don’t we just start and see where we go?”