Meddling with a Millionaire (Case Brothers 1)
“And you sure haven’t made that easy for me, have you?” Nathan shot back and abruptly ran out of steam. “Truth is, I’m no longer interested in working with Montgomery Oil.”
“Why not?” Sebastian asked.
“I came back to Houston because I wanted to be a part of this company, a part of this family.” He gave the last word a bitter jab. “Ever since we were kids you two have been in a club I could never join. After Dad called and asked me to come back and join the company, for the sake of family, I let you two shoot down every idea I had. I figured that eventually you’d get over whatever problem you had with me and realize that I know what I’m doing. The venture with Montgomery was my chance.”
Sebastian gestured with his head toward Max. “And we stopped it from happening.”
Max shrugged before saying, “Maybe we’ve misjudged you a bit.”
“We’ve let pride get in the way of family,” Sebastian added.
For the first time since returning to Houston, Nathan had a glimmer of hope that what he’d come back to find might be within reach. A powerful emotion swept him, locked up his chest and made him want to grin like an idiot. “I’m willing to work together if you are.”
“Smythe is waffling,” Sebastian said. “If this venture with Montgomery Oil is still on the table, I think we should go for it.”
Nathan shook his head. He no longer had anything to prove to his brothers and everything to prove to Emma. “Let’s hang in there with Smythe. The company is solid. It’s exactly what we need to diversify our holdings. Lucas will come around.”
“You sure this is what you want?” Sebastian asked.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Eleven
Armed with one of Nathan’s dress shirts that she’d accidentally packed when she’d left his condo, Emma stepped off the elevator into the lobby of Case Consolidated Holdings. Since moving out on her own, she’d taken to wearing it to bed at night, comforted by the familiar cologne that clung to the cotton. Newly laundered, it no longer contained his scent.
She missed him.
Ached for him.
Had it only been two weeks since Valentine’s Day? It felt like a year.
Emma’s polite smile for the receptionist faded as the woman told her Nathan wasn’t in. Relief and disappointment tumbled through her. She’d been preparing for this meeting for a couple days, running a hundred different speeches through her mind, even practicing a few in front of the mirror.
In the end, it all came down to, “Nathan, I’m pregnant.”
Funny. It didn’t get easier with repetition.
“Do you want to leave him a message?” the receptionist asked with a bright smile.
“Did he say when he was going to be back?” Now that she’d summoned the courage to tell him, she wanted to get it over with. “Maybe I could wait.”
“He didn’t say.”
“I’ll try back later.” Unless she talked herself out of it.
Earlier, when she’d organized her day, she’d planned to stop at Biella’s first because they’d called to say a check awaited her, but once she’d parked, she’d been overcome with the need to see Nathan and had selected this daunting errand to run first. Now she’d have to get up the nerve to make this journey all over again.
Anxiety snacked on her poise as she returned to the elevator. Before she could press the down button, the door opened and Emma found herself staring into Nathan’s eyes.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
All her carefully prepared greetings evaporated as her stomach flipped like a frisky dolphin. She shoved the shirt she held toward him.
“I brought you back your shirt. It got mixed up in some of my things, and I packed it by accident.”
“And you made a special trip to deliver it.” His voice took on the sexy rumble that always had her out of her clothes in record time. “I’m glad.”
Nathan took the shirt and tossed it onto one of the nearby lobby chairs. Then, he slid his fingers around her arm and pulled her into the elevator. His free hand coasted over her hip and in one smooth move, he pinned her between the wall and his lean muscles.