Employed by the Boss (Managing the Bosses 7)

Mark laughed. “You definitely know how to pick them, Alex. It’s a good thing you’ve got Jamie to keep you in line.”

He merged onto the 495, which would take them out through Brooklyn and Queens, and eventually to Long Island. Alex watched the road with an expression that said he wasn’t sure he was going to let Mark get away with it.

“Where are we actually going, Mark?” he asked ten minutes later when Mark showed no sign of turning off. “I told Jamie that I’d be home before too long.”

“I’ll get you home to Jamie,” Mark promised. “I just want to show you something first.”

It was maybe a longer drive than Mark should have taken Alex on with Jamie waiting at home and work in the morning, but he wanted to show him the land that he’d found when he’d gone out looking on Sunday. So he kept driving.

When he pulled into the lot at the golf course, Alex glared at him. “This is not a beer.”

“No,” Mark agreed. He opened his door and slid out of the car, waiting for Alex to follow suit. “It’s the potential site for my country club.”

Alex’s eyebrows lifted. “Is it really?”

“It is,” Mark said, starting toward the first hole. “It’s a really nice property. As you can see, they’ve already got the golf course. We’d just need to add the club house. I’d also like to put in some vines over on the other side of the hill where there’s some open land.”

Alex followed him across the short-trimmed grass, and Mark pointed out the place where he wanted to put the club house, and the areas that he thought needed a little more landscaping. His brother nodded along as he spoke.

“It’s close enough to the city that we can easily get people out from there,” Mark said. “As well as from Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island. The startup cost is high, of course. There’s the purchase of the land and the building that has to be done. But I think once we have it set up it we’ll more than make our money back.”

“And by ‘our money’,” Alex said. “You mean ‘my money’?”

Mark smiled a little sheepishly. “Yes. I mean your money. If you want to invest.”

“It’s a worthwhile property,” Alex said after a few moments of scanning the property from where they stood. “I can see the potential, and I can see that your plans for it are good. I’m willing to invest. On one condition.”

Mark looked at him expectantly. “And what’s that?”

“I want free golf. For life.”

“You got it, man,” Mark chuckled. “I’ll let you play as much as you want if you help me get this place.”

“Then we’re set,” Alex said, smiling at him. “Now take me back home before my wife starts worrying.”

Chapter 5

Alex was late. Jamie bounced Benton a little on her hip and reached for her phone. He’d promised that he would be home at a reasonable time, and it was already almost seven. If he wasn’t on his way, she was going to have something to say to him about it. But as she unlocked the phone to call, she heard the door open. A sigh of relief escaped her.

“In the nursery,” she called down the hall.

Footsteps answered, and then a moment later Alex was there, stepping in close to wrap his arms around her and press his lips to the top of her head.

“Hey, baby,” he said. “How are you?”

“Busy,” Jamie said. “The twins have been fussing all day. I did get some work done, though. Finally.” If you could call about forty minutes total of going through emails getting work done.

“You really shouldn’t worry so much about that, baby. The twins are more important.”

Jamie’s jaw tightened. Was he really going to tell her that she needed to think about her children more? She thought about almost nothing but them for ninety percent of her day while he was off working in the office.

“You think I don’t know that?”

Alex looked up from Lillianna, whom he’d just taken out of her crib, his expression one of surprise. She could see him running back over what he’d just said, trying to figure out what had upset her.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said an instant later. “I know that you think about them, Jamie. You’re a good mother. I just meant that I don’t want you to put that much stress on yourself when you’ve already got the twins to worry about.”

“We’ve talked about this,” Jamie said. “I’m fine.”