I let out a frustrated growl and tossed my pen across the desk. I didn't need it anyway because I couldn't get any work done. But I couldn’t ruminate all day. I rose to pick up the pen that it landed on the floor, when my door burst open. My brother Noah walked in followed by my older brother Ryan. Behind him, Ryan's wife Kellie and my grandmother's assistant Andi entered.
"I hope you brought beer for this party," I said, trying to be jovial, even though the last thing I wanted was my brothers in my office.
"We're here to perform an intervention," Noah said plopping himself in one of the chairs. I arched a brow at him because I only had two chairs and manners dictated they should go to the women.
"That pathetic morose face is getting old," he finished.
Ryan approached my desk, putting a hand out to offer the chair to his very pregnant wife, Kellie. "What Noah is saying, in his own insensitive way, is that we're concerned about you, Carter." Ryan said. "We can see something is going on, and we are here to support you whatever that is."
"I bet it has to do with dad’s physical therapist," Noah said.
I glanced over at Andi who gave an imperceptible shake of her head which shocked me. Andi wasn't the one to keep family secrets, unless, of course, my grandmother told her to, which must've been the case.
"The physical therapist? Jess?" Kellie asked looking at Noah and then up at Ryan, who shrugged. It was amazing that no one, not Andi, my grandmother or my father had told them about my infatuation with Jess. But having had admitted my feelings to them, it didn't make any sense to keep them from my brothers or Kellie either.
I sagged back in my chair running my fingers through my hair. "Things on that front aren't going well at all."
"So, it's true?" Kellie asked, sitting up in intrigue.
"She didn't accept your proposal?" Andi asked.
My brothers and Kellie’s head all whipped around to look at Andi. "Proposal?" Then they all looked at me expectantly.
"What the fuck, Carter?" Noah started. "You told me there was nothing between you two. That you had no interest in her."
"You sound jealous Noah," I said, not because it was true, but because I was feeling a little bit ganged up on.
Andi flinched and for a nanosecond glared at Noah, making me wonder what was up between them.
"I'm not jealous. First of all, she works for dad, and that makes her off-limits. Unless you’re going to go by Hunter and Ryan's rules. But rules are rules."
Andi let out a derisive laugh. "Since when do you abide by rules?"
"When it comes to fucking the staff, I don't break the rules."
Andi turned her head away, and for a minute I thought maybe she was hurt. But then she turned her attention to me. "So, what happened?"
"I don't know what's going on except to say she doesn't seem to be interested.”
Noah laughed. “Is that a first for you Carter? For once a woman isn't interested in you."
"Shut up Noah," Andi snapped at him. We all flinched, including Noah. "You don't know about him and Jess so just keep your pie hole shut."
The rest of us looked at each other in surprise. It wasn't the first time Andi and Noah bickered, but there was something about this that felt different.
She was right in that they didn’t know I had a history with Jess. "The truth is, this isn't the first time I met Jess. A few years ago, just before I came to work here, I went on a cruise to Mexico and I met her there."
"And you had a relationship with her?" Ryan asked his hand on Kellie’s shoulder. I wondered if he knew he was doing that, touching his wife. Was it just an ingrained part of him to need to touch her? I was jealous that he was able to do that, when I couldn't do that with Jess.
"It was your run-of-the-mill shipboard romance." I looked down because that wasn't really the truth. "At least that's how we set out to be when we met. But by the time the cruise was over, something had changed, for me at least. But I guess not for her."
"What happened after the cruise?" Kellie asked.
"Nothing. We purposely kept some details about our lives private. It was supposed to add to the specialness of the trip. But I regretted it because I had no way of finding her."
"Now that she's here, he has a second chance. Don't you see?" Andi said to the rest of the group.
"Except she said she doesn't want that," Noah said.