“Thank you, Brant,” she whispered tearfully as she stood, giving him a hug. Pulling back, she asked, “Could you please not tell anyone, even your family? I . . . just don’t want people looking at me like my parents did.”
“Of course.” He was just dropping his arms from around her when the door burst open. He saw the smile quickly slipping from Emma’s lips as she stood in the doorway. As she started to turn away, he said, “Emma, come on in.” She stopped uncertainly as Alexia turned, looking toward the door. “Emma, this is a friend of mine, Alexia, and Alexia, this is my . . .”—fuck what do I say here?—“assistant, Emma.” Both said hello. Maybe it was his imagination, but the moment seemed awkward as hell to him.
Alexia picked up her handbag. “I’ll see you later on, Brant.” With a parting smile to Emma, she walked out the door. If he had thought things were awkward before, it was doubly so now. He found himself wanting to squirm under Emma’s unwavering stare. He was just helping a friend. He really hadn’t done anything wrong. Maybe he needed to stop acting so damn guilty then.
“Good morning, Emma.” He walked over to shut the door behind her. “I’ve been waiting for you to get here for hours it seems.” Real good, now it sounds like you’re chastising her for being late to work. “I mean, I got here early, so you’re not late.” Yeah, that was much better.
“It looks like you found something to occupy your time. Did you need anything?” she asked over her shoulder as she turned to leave.
Grabbing her hand, he pulled her back against him. “She’s just a friend who came to me because she needs some help.” Looking down at her formfitting black dress, he groaned, “God, you look good today.” Just as Emma softened and moved closer to him, the door burst open yet again.
“Bro, was that your ex I just passed in the hallway?” Declan asked. Brant closed his eyes briefly as Emma stiffened and pulled away. Declan grimaced, noticing for the first time his arm around Emma. “Um, shit, sorry about that. I was just . . . surprised to see Alexia. Maybe I was wrong; it didn’t look anything like her.”
This was just going from bad to worse. He was afraid of what Declan would say next in an effort to pull his foot from his mouth. “It’s fine,” Brant said, “and, yes, it was Alexia.”
Emma pulled her arm away, saying, “I’m going to my desk now,” without making any further eye contact.
When she closed the door behind her, Brant turned to his brother. “Thanks for that.”
Declan took a seat in front of the desk, giving him a wry grin. “That wasn’t one of my smoothest moments. What’s going on here? It sure seemed like I walked in on something.”
Brant took his seat, running a hand through his hair in frustration. He had never been comfortable talking about his personal life, even with his family. He was sorely in need of some moral support, though, and knew that a newly married Declan was more likely to provide that than his sister. “Things with Emma have gotten . . . interesting.”
“Interesting?” Declan asked. “Could you be a little more specific?”
Finally Brant blurted out, “Interesting as in I want her now more than I want to choke her.”
Declan’s eyes widened before he started chuckling. “I always knew that if you two ever stopped all the bitching, you would probably be all over each other. No one argues that much if they don’t give a damn.”
“Yeah, well, suffice it to say, I can’t get her out of my head. I could probably have saved myself a few stomach ulcers if I had parted ways with her after our first verbal sparring match, but that, as they say, is history. Now thanks to her walking in on me while I was hugging Alexia and you announcing to everyone in a three-block radius that she’s my ex, Emma is probably ready to run.”
“Sorry about that. Not cool at all on my part. What is Alexia doing here, though? I didn’t think you had spoken with her in years.”
“I haven’t,” Brant agreed. “She’s in a bit of a bind and needs my help.”
“What kind of help?” Declan asked.
Brant shook his head. “It’s private and I’ve promised her not to tell anyone. It’s going to make it difficult with Emma though.” Before his brother could dig further, he decided to change the subject. “So how’s the whole family thing working out for you?”