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“Oh, sorry,” said Chelsea. “This is Grant Dawson. Grant, this is my big brother, Smoke—or Cole Hamilton the second, if we want to give him his full title.”
That made Smoke smile again. “Yeah, let’s stick with Smoke.”
Grant held out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He was glad to know the guy was Chelsea’s brother. The way he crushed Grant’s hand when they shook let him know there was definitely an alpha male play going on. At least it was a brotherly protection deal and not a competitor for Chelsea’s affection.
“You’re the guy dad brought in?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
Smoke nodded slowly then turned to Chelsea. “And you’re still speaking to him outside of work?”
Chelsea laughed. “He’s not as bad as I thought he’d be.”
Grant shrugged. “What can I say?”
“I don’t know,” said Smoke. “But I can tell you that if Chelsea doesn’t hate you, then my father probably won’t be impressed.”
“No, it’s okay,” said Chelsea quickly. “Dad and I have an agreement that Grant’s only observing for now. He’s going to tell us what could be done, and then we’re going to decide what happens from there. I think I’m going to end up trying to buy Zosca and run it my way.”
Smoke smiled through pursed lips. “I like that idea.”
Chelsea grinned. “Good, because I need to pick your brains about how I can raise the money. I think I’ll have to sell my shares and …”
“Don’t you need to get those cakes to the kitchen?” Grant was pretty sure that Smoke cut her off because he didn’t want her talking about selling shares in front of him.
“I can take them.” He already had one tray. He took the other from Chelsea and headed in the same direction Mary Ellen had gone, hoping he’d find the kitchen. He understood that Smoke wouldn’t want him to overhear that conversation. He just wished Chelsea had answered him about going out. He’d have to wait.
~ ~ ~
Chelsea shook her head at her big brother. “Way to get rid of him, Smoke. That wasn’t exactly subtle, was it?”
He smirked at her. “Sorry, I don’t do subtle; I don’t know how. Just ask Laura, she’ll tell you.”
“I’ll bet. I guess you were right, though. I shouldn’t really talk about selling my shares in front of anyone.”
“No. Especially not someone like him.”
“He’s a good guy. I think you’d like him.”
Smoke pursed his lips. “Maybe, but I don’t like him sniffing around my little sister.”
Chelsea laughed and hoped it might cover her guilt. If Smoke didn’t like Grantsniffing around heras he put it, she doubted he’d be thrilled to know how the two of them had started out. Cam hadn’t had a problem with it, but then he was the laid-back brother. Smoke had always been more intense, and he was also very protective of her. “Whatever. That’s really not what he’s doing, we were …”
Smoke gave her a dark look. “I do my best not to worry about you. I usually succeed, because I know that in your own strange way, you’re fairly street smart. But I’m second-guessing myself now, because if you can’t tell that that guy’s got a boner for you …”
Chelsea laughed. “Don’t. I’m not dumb. I was just hoping that you were. I was hoping you wouldn’t notice because I don’t want to get into the whole story.”
Smoke raised an eyebrow. “There’s a story?”
She nodded.
“Okay. I’m not going to interfere, then. You can tell me all about it when you’re ready.”
Chelsea leaned her head against his arm—she couldn’t reach his shoulder. “Thanks, Cole. I will. It’s a bit confusing right now. It might turn out to be a very short story.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her into his side. “Short or long. I hope it has a happy ending. You deserve that.”
She burst out laughing and looked up at him.
