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Chapter Eighteen
Per usual, it seemed, the Hargreaves showed up on her doorstep that evening, sans their eldest and arguably sexiest brother. He was, no doubt, off somewhere licking his wounds.
As Sabrina had found to be true many times over the years, men of their caliber often had fragile egos that demanded constant worship. She’d bruised his today and she doubted she’d be hearing from him again for a long time. Well, at least not until he realized he wasn’t returning to the States on the company dime.
If only she could bar him from returning at all, but she didn’t wield the proper authority for that.
“What are you doing here?” Sabrina was in no mood for confrontation. Hence the reason she held the door in an iron grip with her other hand propped on her jutted-out hip. She didn’t want to give Oliver or William any illusions that she was happy to see them.
Although, she wasn’t being too successful when it came to herself. Inside, she was a bubbling mess of emotion, both wanting to slam the door shut in their faces and pull them inside for an impromptu make out session that would lead to some heavy petting and possibly hardcore penetration.
If they had it their way, that’s probably exactly what would happen, but Sabrina was a woman of strong will, and she wasn’t about to give in to her desires just because they happened to look delicious in their jeans and T-shirts that perfectly matched their stormy eye color.
Stormy because they weren’t any happier than she was at the moment.
“What’s this about you sending Conner off to the UK?” William brushed her aside like a flea and entered her apartment without invitation, as if he owned the place. With their financial struggles, though, they definitely didn’t.
“Yes, please, come in.” Sabrina was laying on the sarcasm, making no bones about how she felt. If he was going to lay it out, then so was she. She raised her eyebrows in expectation at Oliver, who at least had the decency to wait for her to let him in.
See? That’s why a part of her still liked him. He was courteous. He didn’t stomp all over her rights like his brothers.
But she had to remember that he was still a Hargreaves and couldn’t be trusted.
She locked the door and stood in place, waiting for the inevitable fight to start so she could put them in their place. William wanted to barge into her home and assert himself? Then he was going to have to go toe-to-toe with a master.
“We have business there, and he was the man for the job.”
William scolded her with just a look. “Come on, ‘Brina, we both know you could have sent anyone else. Hell, you could have shot off an email! The whole thing is so simple, even a monkey could do it. It’s a waste of corporate dollars.”
“I don’t see it that way.” He was right, of course. Anyone with half a brain and comatose could seal the deal. All it really needed was a quick read through the fine lines of the agreement and a signature. Shawna had handled them many times for her. “I prefer to make a personal impression. To show our partners that we’re in it to win it. We’re family.”
It was obvious by his stance—arms folded over his chest, legs wide, scowl firmly rooted in place—that he didn’t believe a word she said. “That could be accomplished with a phone call. This is just a waste of money. Money better spent elsewhere. If this is how you do business, then you’ll run it into the ground in no time.”
“You would know all about that,” she sneered.
William’s arms dropped to his sides, fists balled. His lips pressed together so tight the skin around them blanched, and he had the devil in his eye, giving her a tremor of awareness that she might…possibly…most definitely have touched on a sensitive subject.
“Low blow,” he ground out. “Every business sees its share of struggle. It doesn’t make them weak or ignorant. It makes them typical.”
“And here I thought you were all so exceptional as to be gods. Lord knows your father sure has sold himself that way for years.”
“He has a big ego. So what,” William argued. “It takes ego and cajones to make it in this field. Hell, in this world.”
“And I’m sure next you’ll tell me that I don’t have what it takes. That I’m just a little fish swimming in an ocean surrounded by big fish in danger of getting devoured.” She’d heard it all before. No one took the woman at the head of the table seriously. She’d proved them all wrong, and she would continue doing so until the day she passed the company down to her daughter. Which she probably needed to get on with having before her eggs all dried up. It was the one thing she needed a man for, however, and right now, she didn’t really like her options.
“You carry around so much attitude,” William accused. “Don’t you think if that’s how we felt we would have made it clear by now?”
“Isn’t that what you’re here to do?” She looked from him to Oliver and back again, waiting for something chauvinist to leave his mouth so she could feel warranted in upping her level of anger and kick them out with a good riddance and a “Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya” farewell.
William stopped his rebuttal and just stared at her, studying her for a moment too long, before his features softened. Sabrina didn’t know what he’d seen or what conclusion he’d reached, but it was disconcerting because for some strange reason, she felt disarmed. As if, with just a look, he had that kind of power over her.
“What ever made you think something like that? Welikeyou, ‘Brina. Wecareabout you.” He approached slowly.
Sabrina’s gaze flickered to Oliver, who so far had chosen to take to the sidelines and let his brother do all the talking.
“It’s always difficult getting to know someone, to merge personalities and lives, and I can imagine it’s even harder for you—three times as hard, in fact—when you have all three of us nipping at your heels, but I can assure you, our interest is in you, not the company. Has been since the first day we walked into that boardroom and you put us all in our place with class and grace and a ferocity that has yet to be matched in any woman we’ve ever known.”
He was standing directly in front of her now, and he dared to reach out and touch her, smoothing her hair back from her face with light fingertips. “You’re the most incredible woman we’ve ever known. That’s why we’re so attracted to you, why we want you so badly that none of us could bow out gracefully but had to agree to share you so we didn’t end up killing each other.”
