Her Alpha CEO

Chapter 8

 “So,” Brian said, the word coming out slowly and softly, “how are things going with your sister? Are you getting along so far?”

Nina was surprised he would ask. Not just because of the whole former relationship thing, but because the evening had just been so pleasant and enjoyable with the absence of any talk that was family-awkward related. They’d met for dinner, after Brian had apologized for his high-handedness about Sabrina, and made up for it in other ways.

Brian had arranged a meeting between the two sisters, liaising with Tristan on the matter, and she was still surprised at how well it had gone. That had been two weeks ago, and Sabrina and Nina were meeting regularly, trying to rekindle their sisterly bonds.

Still, she knew Brian wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t expect an answer. An honest one, at that.

“Actually,” she said, her own reply coming out even slower and more softly than his, “so far, it’s not exactly what I expected.”

His expression changed not at all, but he asked, “How so?”

She shrugged, nudging back another strand of hair that blew into her face and pulling his jacket more snugly around herself. “Well, for one thing, Sabrina’s idea of reconciliation seems to be asking me a lot of questions about my relationship with you and Guidice Games and dodging any questions I ask about her position and relationship with Tristan at Knight Gaming.”

She waited for a smug I told you so, but Brian’s reply was instead a very careful, “I see.”

Even though he didn’t ask for more information, she found herself continuing anyway.

“Sabrina will be leaving town after tomorrow, and I know almost nothing about her and more about Knight Gaming, although the history of the company and its mission statement and where its national and international offices are located are just about anything I could find out myself by an online search.”

Brian sipped his wine, but again said nothing, just waited for her to continue, should she want to. The sky behind him was smudged dark blue, the fat full moon hovering over his left shoulder. The only other light came from the candles flickering inside the hurricane globes on the tables, but it was enough to allow her to see his expression. Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell by his expression what he was thinking, and that bothered her a lot.

Not that she wanted to know what he thought about her situation with Knight Gaming, but because she wanted to know what he thought about her. If he considered her naive for not realizing what he had about her relationship with her sister, or foolish for having disregarded his warning, or ridiculous for clinging to the idea that she had made the right choice.

Especially since she was no longer clinging to that idea. With every new meeting she had with Sabrina, her suspicions about her sister and her motives grew stronger. She had blown off their movie date tonight — regardless of her reason for doing so — doing so had only cemented her fear that what Brian had told her was true. Sabrina Jacobs, her younger sister, was only fostering a relationship because she’d hoped Nina would give her insight into Brian’s business. Which, of course, she would never do. Her relationship with the owner of Guidice Games was pertinent to Sabrina only in as much as her boyfriend and Brian were brothers. Period.

Now that she had realized she had no intention of playing corporate spy, Sabrina was no longer interested. Nina wouldn’t be surprised if, before their schedule breakfast even ended tomorrow afternoon, she manufactured some reason to never have to see her again. Thanks to her job, the position Sabrina filled at Knight Gaming was probably a ruse, an excuse to be close to Tristan, or something of the sort. Nina wouldn’t be surprised if Tristan fired her sister, or he’d discovered something in her work history that presented a conflict of interest.

Oh, he’d find some way to make it sound plausible. He might even give her a generous severance package — though she doubted it. But there was certainly reason to believe her new position at Knight Gaming wouldn’t be hers for long.

She looked at Brian. “You were right,” she said, forcing herself to admit the truth. “I think the only reason Tristan hired Sabrina was because he assumed she would share what she knows about Guidice Games with him.”

Brian eyed her warily now. “Did she ask you about New Moon Rising?”

She shook her head. “Not specifically, no. Not yet, anyway. But she did ask an awful lot of questions about you and the company. I wouldn’t be surprised if the particulars of the game were next on her to-do list.”

“And what did you tell her about Guidice Games?” Brian asked, his voice revealing

nothing of what he might be thinking about.

She smiled. “I told her about the history of the company and its mission statement and where its national and international offices are located. You know. Anything she could discover by doing an online search.”

Brian smiled back. “That’s my girl.”

For a moment, neither of them spoke, neither of them moved, neither even seemed to breathe.

Brian dropped his gaze from Nina’s eyes to her mouth, then looked into her eyes again.

She felt her lips part almost of their own volition, though whether it was because she intended to say something, or for another reason entirely, she wasn’t sure. The moment stretched taut, and still neither spoke or moved. Then, for one scant, insane instant, it almost seemed as if he were dipping his head toward hers, tilting it slightly, as if he intended to…

Kiss her? Nina thought frantically. Oh, surely not? They hadn’t spent much time together since the discovery that Sabrina was working with Tristan, and that Brian had had a relationship with her in the past. Things had been strained between them since then, but her heart began to hammer in her chest all the same, and heat flared in her belly, and her pulse rate quickened, and her entire body caught fire, and then…and then…

And then Brian suddenly, but gently, pulled his hand from her grasp and leaned back

again, and the moment full of…whatever it had been full of…evaporated. He looked down at

his glass and lifted it to his lips, filling his mouth with the dark red wine, savoring it for a

moment before swallowing. Nina was still too keyed up and confused by what she was

feeling to say anything, so she watched him instead, noting how his strong throat worked

over the swallow, feeling warmth spread through her belly as if she were the one who had

drunk deeply from her glass.

When Brian looked at her again, his expression was bland and unreadable, as if there had

been nothing about the last few minutes that was any different from the millions of minutes

that had preceded them. As if wanting to emphasize that, he asked a question guaranteed to

dispel any strange sensations that might be lingering.

“So what do you plan to do about your sister?”

Nina wished she had an answer for all the questions — both spoken and unspoken — that

had arisen this evening, but most especially for that one. Her future, at the moment, was shakier and more open than it had ever been before. And she wasn’t the sort of person who found the unknown exciting. On the contrary, she couldn’t function if she didn’t have a thorough, well-thought-out plan. The only plan she had at the moment, though, was to have another sip of her wine. Which she did. She was beginning to discover she liked wine.