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“No, no. Not me, sweet’ums. You see, I’ve been growing tired of the company. It’s no fun anymore since Nash showed up.” She made a face as if trying to get Hayden to agree, but he just stared at her with his jaw working. So she fluttered out a hand and kept nosing through the portfolio. “I think I’ll sell the other half to someone Nash can’t stand, making sure I undermine him and poke enough holes in the ship before I abandon it that it’ll cause them all to go under within the year.” She laughed. “Watching him sink after we leave will be the icing on the cake, don’t you think?”
Hayden opened his mouth, and I saw about a million arguments on his face. But then he paused and furrowed his brow, repeating, “After we leave?”
“Of course, darling.” She laughed and flicked a finger playfully across his chin. “Honestly, you looked so worried there. You didn’t think I wasn’t going to bring you and your brother along with me, did you? Oh, Hayden, my dear child.” Cupping his face in her hands, she shook her head sadly. “You’re my flesh and blood. Where I go, you go.”
Instead of pleased that his
mother cared enough to include him, he looked vaguely ill by her announcement.
“Besides,” she answered, letting go of him and turning away to negligently toss the portfolio on the coffee table. “I’ll need you boys to get our next venture up and running. You both are so much handier at business things than I am, and I’d rather have someone I trust doing my grunt work for me.”
Oh, for Pete’s sake! She hadn’t been including her kids in her plans because she cared; she’d just wanted to use them for manual labor. She saw them as her freaking minions to control.
Hayden glanced at me, his face tight with all the anger he was containing. Since Lana wasn’t watching, I reached out and supportively stroked his arm. He caught my hand, his warm fingers clutching tight before he drew in a deep breath that seemed to bolster him. Then he let go of me and returned his attention to his mother.
“And what exactly will this next venture entail?”
“Well, I haven’t thought that far ahead yet, but I suppose…” Lana sent him a pampering smile. “As long as you boys can make it lucrative, you can decide what you want to do this time around.”
Hayden nodded. “I’ll ask Brick what he’d be most interested in.”
“Oh, no.” Lana held up a hand. “It’s best not to let him in on our plans just yet. Not until we’re out from under JFI’s hold. Knowing him, he’ll probably try to resist.”
Hayden didn’t react to her words except to give another obeying nod to let her know he understood, and yet I could feel how very much effort it took for him to contain his true reaction. The air filled with a taut anger as if I were trapped in a pressure cooker with him. If Lana prodded him too hard, he’d blow up all over her.
I shifted closer to him. He sent me a quick warning glance as if he thought I was going to break his cover if I touched him just now. But then his shoulders released some of their tension, and he seemed more in control of himself when he turned back to Lana.
“And Kaitlynn?” he asked.
His mother laughed. “Kaitlynn?” she repeated, as if she had no idea who he was talking about. “What about her? She’ll go down with JFI, of course. I hope she falls on her face and gets what’s finally coming to her.”
Hayden bobbed his head without speaking. Then he took my hand. “Well, if you’ll excuse us…”
Lana narrowed her eyes as her gaze fell to our interlocked fingers. “What? You’re still drooling after the maid? Seriously?”
“Goodbye, Lana,” he bit out forcefully, refusing to answer.
“Well, if you manage to get her under your thrall,” she went on, following us to the door, “can you at least teach her not to be so impertinent with me? It’s quite vexing.”
Hayden glanced back as he turned the handle, and a true smile spread across his lips. “Oh, I will gladly address her impertinence. Don’t you worry about that.”
Then he yanked me into the hall and shut the door, only to push me against the wall and kiss me breathless.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he rasped between each press of his lips. “Thank you for being vexing and impertinent and amazing.” Cupping my face between his hands, he tipped my chin up gently and looked into my eyes before breaking out into another smile. “If you hadn’t been in there with me just now, I would’ve strangled her. I would’ve fucking strangled her.”
Dear Lord, his smile lit up his entire face. His eyes brightened, cheeks lifted, lips stretched wide.
It was an amazing, transforming sight that left me light-headed.
“Well.” I inhaled, trying to catch my breath and calm my racing heart in one, long draw. Then I couldn’t help myself; I laughed because I couldn’t seem not to. Something about his smile left me too giddy to think straight.
“You’re welcome,” I said, beaming the entire time.
But then he winced, one side of his cheek twitching with the edge of reality breaking into our moment.
“Come on,” he murmured, taking my hand.
Glancing up at him as he started down the hall, I saw his eyes cloud with worry and strain. His encounter with Lana was no doubt replaying through his head.
