The Stepbrother (Red's Tavern 5)

Her eyes went wide. “No.”

“Yes,” I said.

It was like the floor had just dropped out from under me. It was the first time I’d openly admitted that I had any desire at all to get out of the game, and it was terrifying.

“Maybe not permanently, but for now, I could see myself taking a step back,” I said. “For so long, I pursued more and more money. But what if I already have enough?”

Her eyes were wide. To a person like Mariya, the concept of stopping at all was incomprehensible.

“I’ve admired your work for years,” Mariya finally said. “I thought you’d work like hell until the day you drop dead.”

“I have worked so hard and ignored all other aspects of my life,” I said.

Mariya was staring at me, silent for a moment, clearly calculating something behind her eyes.

“Mr. Fox, may I be… bold?”

“Please do,” I said. I adjusted on my seat, suddenly intimidated. I’d almost never been intimidated by anyone during any business deals in the past, but this was different. Mariya was different. And I’d never spoken about things quite this big before.

Certainly nothing so impactful to my own life.

“I would like to take you out to dinner. This week,” Mariya said. “On a date. Fox, I know we both keep business as the number one priority, and we’ve… not been so successful in finding a life partner. But I would try. With you.”

I was flabbergasted.

It was one of the strangest propositions I’d ever experienced. A powerful woman asking me, in plain terms, if I’d want to pursue a relationship, without much passion or flirtation behind it.

She was almost asking me if I wanted to be in a relationship with her as a business deal.

Five years ago, I would have been so impressed by it that I probably would have wanted to drop down to one knee and propose to her right then and there. Hell, even one year ago, her boldness and honesty would have turned me on, even.

But now everything felt different.

“I… I don’t know what to say,” I told her.

“It is just a question,” she said. “No obligation. Like I said, I know we are both practical people. I thought you may be interested.”

I pulled in a deep breath, looking up at the deep blue lighting that rimmed the small room we were in. I mindlessly reached into my pocket, checking my phone before remembering that the battery was dead.

“I just don’t know,” I said.

I could feel the Fox from a few years ago screaming at me internally. How on Earth could I give up something like that? Mariya was perfect. Marriage material. Everything I’d ever wanted. And here I was, unable to even answer her question.

“Are you in love with someone?” she finally asked, cutting through the momentary silence.

I snapped out of it, looking up at her. “What?”

She cocked her head to one side. “Forgive me. I have been told by Americans that I am very blunt,” she said. “Do you love this stepbrother of yours?

I felt like the world had just tilted off its axis. I was destabilized, her question catching me totally off-guard again.

“I think I’m learning to appreciate people in my life who I never appreciated enough before,” I said.

“But are you in love with him?” she said simply, no judgment in her voice.

It was exactly what I’d been afraid of hearing.

Because the moment she asked it, my body confirmed what the answer to her question was. A heat bloomed inside me, radiating throughout my body.

I was falling in love with Sam.

And that realization filled me with more emotions than I’d felt in an entire lifetime.

And above all, a desire to be next to him. If Sam were here, right now, sitting next to me, I wouldn’t have felt so lost. His confidence and self-assurance had been so contagious, making every single day into a beautiful adventure.

How the hell had I started to fall in love with my stepbrother?

“I think I need to get home,” I told Mariya. “My head is swimming. Maybe it’s just the champagne. Can we meet tomorrow?”

She reached out, placing her hand gently on my forearm.

“Fox,” she said softly. “You should never be ashamed of who you are. Whatever that might mean. And if you love someone, you deserve to explore that love.”

It was as if I’d been plunged right back into the worst of my inability to express my emotions. I had so much flooding into me that I couldn’t begin to express it. I was clammed up more than I had been in years.

But one memory came crashing through all of the others.

I cleared my throat, nodding at Mariya. “Thank you,” I said softly. “I don’t speak about this very much, but I lost my mother when I was a young child. She was an amazing woman. Hardworking, smart, beautiful. A lot like you, actually.”