Page 106 of Love In Hiding

Straight shot. No warm-up. No reason to dick around on either of their parts.

“Yes,” he said without hesitating. “Very. It’s early, but I know what I feel. I think I know what she does.”

West nodded. “You might be one of the first besides Paris. I can’t profess to know her well, but she’s family, and she’s here.”

“And you’re the head of the family,” he finished for his boss.

“I am. I owe my Uncle Austin a lot for my success early on.”

The unspoken words that meant Spencer could easily be cast aside in the blink of an eye.

“Understood.”

West sighed. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that London… she’s fire. And trouble. And half the time she acts tougher than she feels. So if you’re screwing around?—”

“I’m not.” He stepped forward, his shoulders squared. “I don’t play games. And I don’t start something I don’t plan to finish. But what we’ve got is between us and no one else. I’m positive she’d tell you the same thing. We’ll keep it separate, but we don’t owe explanations either.”

There was only so much of a lecture he was going to take when it came to his personal life.

West’s jaw flexed, but it wasn’t tense. “You know how this family is. We’re a lot. Loud. Loyal. We close ranks. Especially around the women.”

“I’m aware,” he said.

West’s brow lifted just slightly. “You don’t scare off easily if you’ve gotten close to her.”

“I’m an attorney,” he said, snorting. “Patience, pressure, and chaos are my daily job.Especiallyaround London.”

West huffed out something close to a laugh. “Fair enough.”

“This is a line I always told myself I wouldn’t cross, and because I have, I’ll be more cautious than ever. Not just to stop hurt on anyone’s part, but to keep chatter to a minimum. I’m sure it’ll come out at some point. Hopefully later than sooner.”

“You’ll figure the line,” West said. “You know, you were hired because your personality was exactly what she needed for her business.”

He wasn’t sure he liked where this was going. “So I was only hired for her and not your company?”

“Oh, you were hired for a lot of reasons. Don’t mistake that. But knowing what was coming with the twins, we worried about her... tongue. Let’s say right away, Braylon was drawn to you with her in mind. Not the way we thought it’d go.” The fact West grinned with that said the worst might be over.

“Nor me after the first meeting,” he said drily.

“It’s on you two now where it goes from here. We all mess up, just make sure if you do, it’s outside of the office.”

“You have my word.”

“Are you going to tell me what West said to you in my office?” she asked him when they were walking to his condo. They’d stopped at her place first. She got a change of clothes and was going to spend the night.

It was the first she was doing it when they had to go to work the next day, but after that meeting, he wanted the time to decompress and see how she was feeling.

“We are almost at my place. We can’t wait until then to talk?”

“No. It’s been twenty minutes since we left the office. I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to ask.”

“Neither can I.”

“So tell me.”

She’d keep pushing if he didn’t start. “Not much. I’m not going to betray his confidence in me.”

“Oh shit,” she said. “Did he pull the whole he’s head of the family and he owes my father?”