The soles of Alex’s polished work shoes clacked quietly against the marble of the foyer as he crossed from the elevator to his office, a steady beat under the noise of his employees going about their business. He nodded to Justin at the secretary’s desk, and again to Miss Eriksson as she went by with her own quick tap-tap-tap of heels. He stepped through the door into his office, and shut it behind him.

Standing at the desk, Alex looked out over the view from the window, Manhattan spread below him, and felt the heady rush of power. All of this, this building standing tall among the skyscrapers of one of the greatest cities in the world, he’d built. Reid Enterprises and everything that came with that was his.

And yet, as he sat down at the big desk of sleek wood and logged into his computer to begin the day’s work, he couldn’t help feeling that something was missing.

Less than a year ago Jamie had been here with him, working in the room next door now occupied by Miss Eriksson. Even after all the months that had passed since the twins were born, he still felt the lack of Jamie’s presence, and not only because she was the best PA he or anyone else had ever had. He missed their trysts in his office, and the way she would smile at him when he passed her in the halls. Some days now she dropped in to leave things, or to run a meeting, but those incidents were few and far between. She had the twins to take care of, after all, and even with the nanny giving her a few extra hours each day, she refused to take enough time to come in to work for more than an hour or two, and usually just worked from home. Alex understood it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t wish she could be here with him, helping him keep the company he’d built running smoothly and out of enemy hands.

Alex growled low in his throat at the thought. He’d been sure they were rid of Nicholas after what happened with Gina. He’d been kind enough to settle with the man out of court, and this was the thanks he got: a third of his company quietly bought out from under him. That was just another reason he needed Jamie here, with him. He’d lost his brother to the golf course, and his wife to stay at home motherhood, and as much as he hated to admit it was feeling a little lonely at the top.

He’d never felt that way about his job before. Even back in the days before he met Jamie, when things were starting to be too much for him to carry on his own, he had never felt anything less than secure in his position. Now, he was trying to fend off interlopers without the family he’d become accustomed to working beside, and somewhere the surety that he could handle anything on his own had slipped.

At least Mark’s business was going well.

He hadn’t been by the country club as often as he would have liked after his brother officially opened — there was too much to do with his own business, and when he wasn’t working he was with the twins and Jamie, but he’d been hearing good things about it from clients who had visited. They’d had nothing but praise for the amenities, and for Mark himself, and Alex was proud of the little brother he’d once refused all but the barest of contact with.

What the hell?

Another client had sold half their stock shares, Alex saw when he glanced down at the computer screen. His jaw tightened. The company wasn’t in any real danger. He’d convinced two of the stock owners to sell to him, and he owned fifty-two percent of the company, but that didn’t mean that Sunrise Investments owning thirty-eight percent wasn’t a concern. The rest of the stock owners were loyal to him, but he’d thought that some of those who had sold were, too. Anyone would do anything for enough money, and Nicholas had enough money and enough charm to buy a lot of things he shouldn’t have been able to get his hands on. Like Alex’s stock. Like the secretary who had been with him since the birth of Reid Enterprises.

It didn’t matter, he promised himself. He wasn’t going to let Nicholas tell him how to run his company, no matter how much stock he’d managed to gobble up. Alex owned Reid Enterprises. It was his, and no one else’s, and Nicholas certainly wasn’t going to take that from him. He shook his head, and settled in to get to work before the day got any later.

Time passed. The lunch hour came and went, and Alex hardly gave it any notice. He was wholly focused on the numbers he was running, the calls he was fielding. Miss Eriksson popped in from time to time to give him some file or bit of news. It was two-thirty when he finally looked up from the screen he’d been staring at for the last two hours, and found Zander standing in the doorway of his office.

“You know,” his senior advisor said, crossing the room and dropping into the chair across from Alex’s, “I’ve been standing there for probably ten minutes, waiting to see how long it would take you to notice me.”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind,” Alex answered, hitting send on the email he’d been wrapping up. He raised his eyes again. “What can I do for you, Zander?”

“You can eat something, to start. Emelei says you haven’t yet.”

“I don’t see what business it is of Miss Eriksson’s if I haven’t eaten lunch.”

Zander sighed. “It’s her business because I told her to tell me. And it’s my business because I got a call from your wife last week with orders to make sure that you weren’t forgetting to eat for entire days. I’d say she knows you pretty well.”

Jamie had called to make sure he was having lunch? The knowledge warmed Alex. Just after they’d met, when she’d collapsed one day on his office floor from too much running and not enough food, he’d taken it upon himself to make sure that she was eating every couple of hours. Now it seemed the roles were reversed, and he couldn’t bring himself to mind too much. It was nice to know that his wife was thinking of him.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll eat something.”

“Good.” Zander stood, and dropped a file on his desk. “After you eat, that’s the Berwick file. The analyst in charge wants you to take a look at it.”

Alex reached for the file, and Zander cleared his throat.

“If you don’t eat, I’m calling Jamie and telling her. Read the file after.”

“You’re overstepping your bounds, Zander,” Alex warned, but he smiled anyway.

Zander just grinned at him and slipped out of the office again.

Maybe, Alex thought, watching him go, Jamie would like to satisfy her concerns with her own eyes. It had been too long since he’d seen her. He reached down and picked up his phone, hitting the speed dial, then lifted it to his ear and listened to it ring.

“Hey, baby,” Jamie said, picking up on the second ring. “What’s up?”

She sounded a little breathless, like she had just been running, or laughing, and Alex smiled.

“Trying to keep up with the twins?”

“Something like that. You’d think washing a baby’s hands would be easy, but it’s surprisingly difficult, especially now that they’ve learned to walk. Give it a month and I’ll be chasing them all over the house.”

Alex laughed. “You eaten yet, baby?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “No,” Jamie said. “I was busy feeding the kids. Why?”

“Just wondered if you might like to leave them with the nanny for an hour or so and come meet me for lunch.” He held the phone a little tighter. “I miss you.”

“I would love that,” Jamie answered. He could hear her smile even through the phone. “Give me ten minutes to get ready, and I’ll be on my way. Where are we meeting?”

“That café a few miles from here?” Alex suggested. “Easy stuff to eat in a reasonable amount of time, and they have a nice atmosphere.”

“Sounds good,” Jamie said. “I’ll see you then.”

“See you then.”

Alex hung up the phone, and glanced down at the file that Zander had dropped on his desk. He had ten minutes before he had to leave. It wouldn’t hurt to take a quick look at it, see what the analyst was having a problem with. He’d told Zander he would wait until he had eaten, but the man wasn’t his boss. Or his mother. He opened the file.

***

“There you are,” Jamie said as Alex hurried into the restaurant fifteen minutes later than he’d meant to be.

She stood up from her seat and Alex stepped forward to wrap his arms around her, kissing her long and slow in apology as much as in greeting. It took a moment, but she melted against him the way she always did, warm and soft and perfect, and Alex held her closer, reluctant to pull away.

“Sorry, baby,” he said when he finally drew back. “I decided I had time to take a quick look at something while you were getting ready, and it took a little longer than I thought. I didn’t mean to leave you waiting.”

She gave him a narrow-eyed look. “I suppose I can forgive you this time. But next time you invite me to lunch and show up late, you’re getting it.”

“Getting what?”

Jamie looked thoughtful. “I don’t know,” she decided. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. So I’d better not come to it.”

“I promise never to be late again,” Alex said sincerely, and her attempt at a stern look dissolved into the smile he’d known was hiding under it.

“Alright, then, you’re forgiven. Now, what are we going to eat? I’m starving.”

Alex was hungry, too, and he took a few minutes to look over the menu, deciding what he wanted to order.

“How are the twins doing?” he asked when he’d made the decision.

Jamie, still looking at her menu, held up a finger, and Alex waited for her to finish picking the dish she wanted. His mind drifted back to work. There was still so much that needed to be done to keep Nicholas off their backs for good. Some of it was strategy, but some of it was going to require luck, and he wasn’t sure that would be enough. Before the attempts to undermine his company had come to light, he’d been slowly giving more and more of his work to Zander, but now he couldn’t afford to let someone else take the lead, which meant more time at work. And more time away from his family. It wasn’t a circumstance he was particularly happy about.

“Okay,” Jamie said. “Sorry, baby. I’ve figured out what I want now.”

He dragged his attention back to her, and smiled. “So. The twins?”

“They’re doing just fine,” she said, closing her menu and setting it aside. “They miss you during the day, though.”

Alex sighed. “I miss them during the day, too. You know that. I want to be home more, but this mess with Nicholas…”

“I know.” Jamie reached across the table and entwined her fingers with his. “We’ll get through it, though. Just like we’ve made it through everything else.”

He wanted to believe it, but this time felt different. Last time, he’d had Jamie at his side through everything. He hadn’t lost her support, but not being able to be with her and not being able to be with his children was taking its toll. Alex wasn’t sure how he could balance the two. Keep both of them afloat with everything trying to pull his business under. What if his family was dragged down with it?

The waitress appeared at the side of their table, a pad of paper in her hand, and asked for their orders. Alex let Jamie order first, and then gave his selection. Against the backdrop of his worry, the sandwich didn’t sound all that appetizing anymore, but he knew Jamie wouldn’t be happy if he didn’t eat.

“Maybe I can make it home early on Friday,” he said when the sound of the waitress’ shoes moving away from them had faded into the general background noise. “We can have some family time.” He smiled. “And then you and I can have some mommy and daddy alone time.”

“I would love that.” Jamie’s hand squeezed a little tighter around his. “It’s been way too long since we managed that.”

“Didn’t I take you to bed just two days ago?” Alex teased.

“See? Way too long,” Jamie said. “And by Friday, it’ll have been four days. That’s a ridiculous length of time.”

Alex laughed. “I love you,” he said, low and sincere. “You keep me going, Jamie. Never stop being you.”

She leaned a little closer across the table, and he met her in the middle to steal a brief kiss before the slab of wood between them got too uncomfortable.

“I don’t think I could even if I wanted to,” she said as she sat back. “So it’s a good thing you like me the way that I am.”

“Always,” Alex promised. “Just the way you are.”

BOOK: Brother to the Boss: Billionaire Romance (Managing the Bosses Series Book 8)

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