Her Alpha CEO

Now Nina nodded. “Right. Got it. It’s all coming clear now. Anything done for the sake of one’s business makes perfect sense.”

“It used to,” he said. “Back before I realized what was really important. I guess I just never really thought marriage was such a big deal. And when I did think about it, it seemed like the things that screwed up a marriage always resulted from the emotional investment people made in it. I concluded that by not investing emotionally, my marriage to Sabrina would be successful. As long as she and I looked at it pragmatically, everything would be fine.”

“And what did Sabrina think?”

“At that point, she agreed with me. Like I said, she’d been engaged three times because she thought she’d been in love, and all three times, she ended up abandoned. She hadn’t wanted the arrangement to be based on love any more than I had. Until she came to her senses one day and realized how unrealistic she and I both were being about it.”

“And until she met up with your brother, Tristan.”

Brian waited for the stab of…something…that should have come with the comment. A stab of jealousy maybe, even if he hadn’t been in love with Sabrina when Tristan set out to seduce her. Or a stab of anger that his brother, even though the two of them had barely been speaking at the time, would deliberately seduce his brother’s bride. Or even a stab of resentment that Tristan had won some misguided competition between the two men over a woman.

But all Brian felt was relief. Profound, unmitigated relief that Sabrina, at least, had been smart enough to know they’d be making a huge mistake if they married. Then he met Nina’s gaze again, and he felt something else, too.

Something he’d never felt before, but he recognized nonetheless. Something his brother had ultimately found with Brian’s ex-fiancée, something that had made him propose to Sabrina instead. Something that made Brian realize there was a lot more to life than work.

“Love,” he said aloud. “Sabrina didn’t just meet up with my brother, Tristan. She fell in love with my brother, Tristan.”

Nina said nothing in response to that, only gazed at Brian in silence. She had to know, though, he thought. Not only had he told her, but her hands were placed right over his heart, and the way his heart was racing now, as he looked back at her, feeling what he felt, knowing what he knew, she had to feel it. She had to.

Finally, softly, she asked, “And how do you feel about that? That your brother, Tristan, is going to marry a woman you once planned to marry yourself?”

“I’m happy,” he told her. “Sabrina’s a nice woman. I’m glad she finally found someone who allows her to realize that about herself.”

“And Tristan?” Nina asked. “Are you happy for him, too?”

Brian recalled the last time he’d seen his brother, how desperate and terrified Tristan had been when he thought he’d lost Sabrina. Helping Tristan win her back was the first time he and his brother had worked together to gain something since… He smiled. Wow. That had probably been the first time in their lives they’d ever cooperated together by themselves to achieve a common goal. That it had been to enable one brother to win the heart of the woman who’d been engaged to the other…

Well. That was actually pretty cool, now that Brian thought about it.

Things between him and Tristan were better than they’d been in quite a few years, but they still weren’t quite settled. Brian wasn’t sure if he and his brother could ever go back to the glory days of college, the one period in their lives when they’d been as close as, well, brothers. But he was willing to put forth the effort if Tristan was. In addition to reuniting what was left of the Guidice family, burying the hatchet with Tristan would be nice.

“I’m happy for Tristan, too,” Brian said.

“Really?” Nina asked.

He nodded. “Really. He’s a good guy, even if he’s acted like a jerk over the last several years. I guess, in a way, he had his reasons.”

Of course, his reasons had been totally misguided, since he’d thought Brian had cheated him — both years ago and as recently as a few months ago.

“Tristan and Sabrina both deserve to be happy,” Brian said. He smiled at Nina. “Just like you and I deserve to be happy.”

“You should call him,” Nina said.

Brian nodded. “I will. I have a few things to talk to him about, not the least of which is to build a bridge that we should have built years ago.” He met her gaze levelly now, wanting to gauge her reaction when he said the rest. “I also want to ask him about being best man at the wedding. My wedding, I mean, not his.” He held his breath as he added, “Provided there’s going to be my wedding in addition to his.”

She studied him in silence for a long time, her eyes never leaving his. He had no idea what she could be looking for but she must have finally found it, because she smiled. Not a big smile, but it was enough to tell Brian that everything was going to be okay.

He hoped.

Finally, she said, “What do you mean your wedding? I assume there will be someone else at the altar, too, right?”

“God, I hope so,” he told her. “It wouldn’t be much of a wedding without her.”

“It wouldn’t be much of a marriage, either,” she pointed out. “Since, I assume you’re taking into consideration that after the wedding ends, there will be a marriage hanging around your neck.”

He tilted his head to the side, feigning consideration. “Mmm, I don’t know. I thought I might wear my marriage on my sleeve. Next to my heart.”

Now she rolled her eyes. “No one could ever accuse you of wearing your heart on your sleeve, Brian.”

“Maybe not before,” he told her. “But I do now.”