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“Well, yourboyfriendtold me it was none of my business.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. And it isn’t your business.”
“I get that.” Meg hesitated. “I think he likes you, Caroline. Are you sure nothing happened?”
“Am I sure? I think I’d know if anything happened.”Evade!Caroline already felt perspiration forming on her brow. She couldn’t lie. Caroline was a crappy liar. If Meg had asked the question in person she would have folded instantly.
“Okay, okay, don’t get defensive.”
“We’re friends. That’s all.” Was he a friend? That could be considered truthful, even though she told him they weren’t. Would turning into a puddle of goo when he touched her make them friends? A stretch, but she was willing to go there. “We understand each other.”
There was silence on the line and Caroline was trying to anticipate what Meg might say next. “Meg? You still there?”
“Uh-huh. I’m just wondering howmuchyou two understand each other.” She giggled.
Great, she was giggling.Giggling.“Meg, I’m going to hang up now. I’m working. And I won’t be mocked.”
“I’m not mocking you.” More laughter.
“Stop it! Yes, you are.”
“Okay, maybe a little. Let’s meet for dinner this week. I want to hear all about your writing.”
That stunned her. Now it was Caroline’s turn to go quiet.
“You do?” She forgave her sister for the giggles almost immediately.
“I do, and there won’t be any mocking,” Meg said. “I’ll call you in a couple of days. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Night, Carly.”
* * *
Josh walkeddown the short hallway and stopped just short of the office suite where his father was holding court. Campbell Holdings was a well-established and respected private equity firm, although lately Josh didn’t know how the reputation held up. It was true that any investment harbored some sort of risk, and venture capitalists were putting their money into more high-risk projects than anyone, but the firm didn’t need to be reckless.
And that’s what Will Campbell was doing—playing fast and loose with this development project and everyone’s money.
Deep down, Josh wasn’t surprised.
He’d always given his parents the benefit of the doubt. Unlike his siblings, Josh hadn’t had a burning desire to separate himself from his nuclear family. He’d always prided himself on being loyal and thought that was a good trait. Unfortunately, it alienated him from Jason and his sister, Grace, and it was only when Grace and her husband were killed in a car wreck that his parents’ true colors, and their motives, became clear.
When they made a ruthless attempt to get custody of his niece Molly, including falsifying court documents, Josh woke up and saw the kind of people he was defending.
He still didn’t know how his father didn’t end up in jail after that. But getting away with it only made his father more arrogant, bolder, and it made Josh wonder what he was going to try next. There was nothing worse than being in business with someone who felt untouchable. Except maybe when that person was a relative.
Josh had a substantial stake in the firm because his grandfather had left it to him years before. That was Josh’s driving motivation. His grandfather trusted him, and the more Josh thought about it, he wondered if Grandpa knew he couldn’t leave the things in Will’s hands.
There’d been some creative accounting under his father’s leadership, and with every high-risk project Josh worried about the financial fallout. Would this development be the one that drove the firm into the ground? He couldn’t let it happen and now armed with Caroline’s take on the site assessment he could make sure his father didn’t do something truly stupid, unethical, or both.
Josh held the site assessment, the very one that Caroline told him wasn’t complete, ready to go into a meeting to tell his father, two investors and the architect that the engineering firm had dropped the ball. It wouldn’t be easy; in fact, he expected a lot of resistance, especially since he was pretty sure Dad was the one who told the engineers to cut corners. The investors trusted his father, and that was Will Campbell’s strength. He was charming and he could get anyone to do anything.
Josh looked at the report in his hand, and it was like Caroline was there again, her voice in his head. Since the morning she left the apartment, all he could think about was how she felt, tasted and smelled. The sounds she made, from her laughter to her ecstatic cries in the bedroom, replayed over and over. He was truly going insane.
He almost called her this morning to ask for her help. He could have used more insight, asked more questions. He stopped himself and leaned against the wall. Who was he kidding? He just wanted to talk to her. To apologize for... hell, he wanted to apologize for everything. For taking her to bed, for blowing her off, for making her feel like she didn’t matter.
He should leave it alone. He knew he should but he couldn’t, and it made Josh wonder if an arrangement between them could work. He knew he wasn’t marriage material, but he really liked Caroline and he wanted to spend time with her. Could they be “friends with benefits”?
