Her Alpha CEO

Chapter 10

They weren’t able to find the ingredients for chocolate strawberry cake, but with a mischievous grin, Nina threw some whipped cream into the basket. They did lots of other things there — shared a banana split at the ice-cream parlor, played air hockey at the arcade, selected fresh produce at the farmer’s market and enjoyed a late-afternoon beer at the pub — but the little community market was fresh out of strawberries by the time they arrived. Interestingly, Brian wasn’t even halfway through the banana split when he forgot all about it. And when Nina made mention of it again halfway through the afternoon beer, he had to take a minute to remember that, oh, yeah, that was one of the reasons they’d gone into town, wasn’t it? Because by then, he was enjoying himself so much with Nina that he couldn’t even remember why strawberries had been important in the first place.

Nor could he remember the last time he’d played air hockey. Probably because he had played with Tristan, and it had probably been one of those death matches the two of them never seemed able to avoid. With Nina, they hadn’t even kept score. Brian couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a banana split, either, and he’d certainly never shared one before, thanks to the I-got-mine mentality he’d grown up with under his father’s misguided tutelage. Even the afternoon beer was unusual for Brian. He never took time out of his day to engage in things that had no purpose other than to make the day a little nicer. And the thing was, the day would have been nicer even without all those things, simply because Nina was a part of it.

Why had he never realized before how much he liked having her around? he wondered as they drove back to his house, chatting amiably the whole way. She’d been with him for five months — five months — and not once had it occurred to him that the reason his life was as good as it was was due in large part to Nina’s simple presence in it. All that time, he’d thought he valued her for her efficiency and organizational skills. It was only after she’d left that he’d realized she’d brought so much more to his life.

He liked Nina. He liked her a lot. Not just as an employee, but as a person. As a friend. As a companion. The two of them had an easy camaraderie with each other after such a short time that he hadn’t even realized had developed. A give and take, an ebb and flow, an itch and scratch that was as well orchestrated and choreographed as a Broadway show. And now he understood that that camaraderie transcended their working relationship. Today, they’d enjoyed an ease of conversation Brian didn’t share with people he’d known twice as long as Nina.

And that night, out on the terrace with Nina at his house, in his bed … That had been one of the most enjoyable evenings he’d ever had. Even as they unpacked and put away their groceries, they spoke easily and moved in concert with each other as if they did this all the time. The preparation of dinner, too, was another perfectly executed team effort, as was the cleaning up afterward. As Brian opened a

second bottle of wine, Nina reached into the cupboard for two fresh glasses. As he poured, she dimmed the lights, and, together, they retreated to the house’s lush living room. The sun was setting over the mountains, leaving the lake midnight-blue and smooth as silk. Brian watched Nina head for a lamp, then hesitate before turning it on. He understood. The lighting outside this time of evening was just too beautiful not to appreciate. When she moved to the massive windows to look out on the vista, he joined her. But it wasn’t the lake and mountains that drew his eye. It was Nina’s expression as she looked at them, all soft and mellow and contented. The way he felt himself.

“This place is truly gorgeous,” she said.

He nodded, still looking at her. “Gorgeous,” he echoed.

“I can’t believe you actually live in a place this beautiful.”

“Yeah, pity about the fact that I turned out to be a man just like my father.”

“And what kind of men did he happen to turn out to be?” she asked.

Brian inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Men who are too busy building our

empires to remember why we wanted to build them in the first place. Men who work so hard, we’ve forgotten how to live.”

But he realized as he said it that that hadn’t been true of him today. Today, Brian had

forgotten all about work. Today, he’d forgotten all about empires. Today, he’d thought only about Nina. And today, more than any other day of his life, he had lived. He’d lived, and he’d enjoyed living. He’d enjoyed it a lot. More, even, than work.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Nina turn toward him, but he continued to gaze out the window, looking for…something. He wasn’t sure what.

“You miss him, don’t you?” she said softly.

He nodded. “It happened so quickly. By the time the doctors found the cancer, it was too late to do anything to save him.”

“It must have been hard on you and Jen and Tristan.”

Hard wasn’t the word, Brian thought. “Devastating,” he said instead. “It tore us apart, in more ways than one. Jen was the one who kept us all together, but Dad’s will drove a wedge between me and Tristan so big, that I don’t know if we’ll ever mend it. Jen keeps us together now.”

“What?” Nina asked. “I thought you guys didn’t get along.”

“We don’t. Didn’t,” he immediately corrected himself. “But in college, we did. Somehow Jen made us see past all the animosity and one-upmanship our father generated in us.

Tristan and I were friends — real friends — in college. But after Dad died…”

He didn’t continue. What had happened to Brian and Tristan was complicated and unsettled, and he didn’t want to talk about anything complicated or unsettling tonight.

So he only said, “We all drifted apart after college. We all did well, at least professionally, but we lost each other.”

He did turn to look at Nina then. “Until now,” he said, smiling. “Somehow, your reconciliation with Sabrina has led to Tristan reaching out to me. I’m not sure how, but maybe she had a hold on him that I didn’t realize. A way to influence him. He’s asked me to meet them for dinner. Him and Jen and Sabrina” Although he had no idea what possessed him to do it, Brian added, “Would you like to come back with me for that?”

Her eyes widened in surprise at the invitation. And truth be told, Brian was surprised he’d extended it. But once said, it seemed perfectly natural. Perfectly normal. Something about having Nina there with his brother as they tried to mend the past — the people who had always been more important to Brian than anyone else — felt right.

She nodded slowly, smiling. “I’d love to come,” she said. “It would be nice to spend time with Jen again. And Sabrina. And your brother, too.”