Your One True Love (The Bennett Family 8)

“He didn’t tell me anything I wouldn’t tell someone dating Summer,” I say truthfully.

“Wow, you’ve had quite a day, between dealing with the stuff with Justin and my brother semi-threatening you.” Leaning in, she adds in a conspiratorial whisper. “I’ll take care of you tonight, I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Predictably, Thanksgiving dinner stretches for hours, right until Will falls asleep with his head on the table, and we decide to call it a night.

***

The next evening, I’m the last to arrive at Blake’s bar, where I decided with my brothers plus Pippa’s husband to have our men’s night out.

Everyone’s sitting around two high bar tables pushed together: Sebastian, Logan next to him, then Eric. Blake, Christopher, and Max are on the other side.

“How

did it go?” Logan inquires. “Blake told us.”

I groan, staring at Blake. He was supposed to keep his mouth shut. I haven’t told any of my other siblings about the issue with Justin because I saw no point worrying them, but when I called Blake at lunch to tell him I’d be late this evening, he insisted I tell him why.

Blake grins. “Blame the beer.”

“You’ve just had half a glass.”

“Blame my big mouth. Thought they should know. They usually have good ideas.”

“If you need lawyers, we have a whole lot of them on payroll already,” Sebastian offers.

“Nah, I’m good. A competent team is handling it. Just want to get it over with. Forget it happened.”

Logan drums his fingers on the table. “Might happen again, so look out. Corporate sabotage isn’t that uncommon.”

“It isn’t?” I raise a skeptical brow.

“Nah. You get frustrated employees everywhere. Pay attention to vengeful ex-employees. We had one once who tried to stop a transport to Europe. Was a bit of a nightmare.”

Max chimes in. “Competitors sometimes get nasty too. Stir up legal trouble, or send the feds over.”

“Low chances, I’d say. Not a big fish like Bennett Enterprises. No big fish in my industry at all. Doubt any of the others would waste their time with something like this. I wouldn’t.”

Sebastian scratches his chin, downs a mouthful of beer. “Because you’re decent. Not everyone plays fair. If your lawyers don’t come through, we can help. Ours have handled just about everything.”

Surprisingly, the news that my brothers have gone through something similar calms me somewhat. It’s good to know this is at least in the realms of normalcy.

Blake looks at me smugly. His first reaction when I told him was “Why the hell aren’t you telling the others? I bet they’ve seen it all at Bennett Enterprises. They’ll have some advice.”

Unlike me, Blake’s never had any issues asking my brothers for help or advice.

“Say it,” he demands.

“You were right.”

Blake pumps his fist in the air, opens his mouth. I hold up a hand to placate him. “No more gloating. I need a beer.”

Several beers in, the conversation focuses on Bennett Enterprises. Since everyone except Eric, Blake, and me works in the company, this happens often. My brothers are smart as a whip, and I like to listen to them mastermind. More than once during casual nights out, I picked up valuable management or operational ideas that I implemented in my own business.

“Enough with the Bennett Enterprises babble,” Blake says eventually. “It’s all good and interesting, but this is not the boardroom. If I’d known you’re using this night out to draw out strategies, I would’ve taken Clara out instead.”

Logan grins. “Feel free to dump us for your wife anytime. She might not be too keen on you tonight. As far as I heard, the girls are having a blast. First time Clara’s out with them since the baby came, right?”