“Your dick is amazing, but I don’t think—”
I grinned. “You think my dick is a secret weapon?”
“You’re changing the subject.”
This was what I loved. Andi and me bantering like tennis players hitting the ball back and forth.
“I won’t be using m
y dick. At least not in the conference room. I do have a fantasy of taking you from behind on your deck. Or any desk actually.”
Her smile was sexy and sweet all at once. “You fantasize about me?”
I rolled my eyes. “All the time. Why do you think I’m always so agitated around you?”
She looped her arms around my neck. “Me too.”
I arched a brow. “What’s your fantasy about me?”
“Sex on the plane was one. In the shower, like we did this morning. Every time with you is a fantasy come to life.”
I tugged her closer. “Flattery will get you everything you want from me.”
In the end I gave in because I wanted Andi to feel confident when she walked into the conference room. I tore myself away from her and then headed home to change my clothes before going into the office.
When I arrived, I went straight to the conference room. My brothers were already there talking and the way they'd all abruptly shut up when I entered suggested, they'd been talking about me.
"Don't stop talking about me just because I'm here,” I said.
"I thought you were going to call us yesterday," Hunter said gruffly.
I took a seat next to Carter, whose stack of papers made the skinny folder with my report seem inadequate.
Still, I came armed to defend Andi and finish this job once and for all. "I talked to Andi and then I called Gran. That's what I said I was going to do."
"You could have called us to give us a heads up on what you learned,” Ryan said.
"You're not the boss of me." I shook my head. The obstinate part of me slouched back and I nearly put my boots up on the table. Instead, I just give them my bored expression.
"We’re supposed to be working on this together,” Carter said affably and calmly compared to Hunter and Ryan’s irritation.
"This is one of the reasons why I haven't come to work for Gran. I might be the youngest brother, but I'm not a child —"
"Then stop acting like one all the time,” Hunter charged.
"Hunter! That's enough,” Ryan said, earning a glare from Hunter.
"You don't respect my work. You don't think that I can do the job that needs to be done. So why would you want me here anyway? Just because I’m a Strong isn’t a good enough reason for me to be here. I don’t want handouts or to be seen as someone who hasn't learned anything." The only thing I feel really confident about earning at this point was Andi.
"That's not true," Carter said, frowning at me. "You are really good at what you do. Without your involvement, this company would very likely be held by Marcus Chen." Carter looked at Ryan and Hunter, and then back to me. "Well, I can't speak for the others, Noah, but I respect you. And I believe you'd make a tremendous contribution here. But I also respect that, that's not what you want."
"We all know that you’re fit for the job," Ryan said in his very authoritative voice. “Gran wants us to work as a team, and part of that would be giving us a report on what you learned from Andi yesterday."
I held up my folder. “This is your report.”
"That the reason he didn't call was because he gave in to her," Hunter said. "You always had a thing for her. Did you consider that maybe her new interest in you was to use you?"
“Sometimes you’re a real asshole, you know that?” I said to Hunter. Hadn’t he been the one to tell me to go after what I really wanted?