Employed by the Boss (Managing the Bosses 7)

“Annette and I had just broken up,” Alex retorted. “She already had an in. This woman was a multiple night stand almost a decade ago. The boy’s eight. She and I haven’t spoken since the last night we were together. She has no leverage.”

Mark didn’t push the subject any further. Alex would only dig his heels in and get stubborn about it, and he didn’t want to deal with that. But he agreed with Jamie. Alex would be better off just taking the stupid test already and dealing with the woman that way. She didn’t win if people realized that she was a fraud. Then it would be her face splashed across the front page of every gossip rag in circulation, with headlines damning her instead of Alex.

“Where were you last weekend?” Alex asked when Mark didn’t say anything else. “I hardly saw you.”

That was a question Mark had been considering how to answer. How exactly did you tell your brother that you’d banged his friends with benefits? He didn’t think Alex would really mind, but it wasn’t exactly the least awkward topic of conversation.

“How much detail do you want me to answer that with?” Mark asked.

Alex laughed as he took his club from the caddy and stepped into place to line up his first shot. Up ahead of them, there was another group of men just moving on to the third hole, and behind them Mark knew there were other groups getting ready to come through.

There was going to be a tournament later in the afternoon. It was one of the events Mark had set up for the grand opening of the Little Lake Country Club, which was doubling as a fundraiser. Alex couldn’t be the only investor the club had. In the quiet before the contest, there were people taking advantage of the opportunity to get to know the course a little, testing out the terrain.

“I think that gives me at least an idea,” Alex added.

He swung the club, and the ball soared down the fairway.

“Actually,” Mark said, deciding to just confess. “I met a couple friends of yours.”

“Friends of mine?” Alex echoed, turning to look at him.

“Amanda and Danni,” Mark said.

His brother’s expression twisted, like Alex wasn’t sure how he was going to respond to the obvious implication that Mark had hooked up with the girls. He decided on a laugh.

“I take it they showed you a good time?”

They’d hardly left his bed all weekend. Good wasn’t quite the word for it. It had been a lot better than good.

“They were very accommodating.”

“They usually are,” Alex said with a grin.

Mark lined up his own shot, and sent his ball after Alex’s. They started down toward the green, the caddies following behind.

“Do they call before they show up at the house, most of the time?” Mark asked. “Or do they just surprise you?”

“A little of both,” Alex said. “They never called more than an hour ahead of time, even if they knew weeks out that they’d be in town. Sometimes they didn’t call at all. They were always disappointed when I wasn’t as shocked as they expected me to be.” He turned to grin at Mark. “You play Marco Polo?”

Mark’s eyebrows snapped upward. “Marco Polo?” he echoed.

Alex laughed. “I’m surprised they didn’t talk about it. Last time they came out we played Marco Polo.” He shook his head. “They’re both into all kinds of ridiculous little games. Half the time I just ignored their attempts to start them, but they were usually worth the little bit of silliness that went with them.”

His next hit sent the ball the rest of the way down the fairway and across the putting green, into the cup. Mark watched it go with a sigh, and then sent his own after it, grinning when he made the same score.

“Worth it is right,” he said. “But they didn’t make me play Marco Polo.”

They’d played entirely an entirely different sort of game.

“Mr. Reid,” a voice said behind them, and Mark and Alex both turned to find a small group of men in golf attire gathering behind them.

“To which Mr. Reid are you referring?” Alex asked.

“The one running the tournament,” said the apparent leader of the group, a white-haired man with laugh- lines around his eyes. “You’ve really outdone yourself here, I think. Excellent job of putting it all together.”

Mark pulled on a charming smile. “I hope that means we can count on your support?”

“Oh, I think you’ll find me here again.” He winked. “And I gave the check I wrote to one of your people, so I’m sure you’ll find that later as well.”