There was a knock at my door different to the little taps Summer would give it so I knew it wasn’t her.

Disappointment filled me. I hadn’t seen her properly last night because I got home late. Her lights were out so I figured she’d gone to bed.

Preston came in before I could answer.

“What’d you want?” I asked straight away. I wasn’t in the mood for his shit today. It wasn’t often that he came to see me at work. And, he didn’t come unless if he wanted something.

“I need to talk to you.” He replied, walking up to my desk. He stopped in front and sat on the edge.

I leaned back in my chair and focused on him.

“What for?”

“Are you busy?”

“Always.”

“Do you need help with Devon’s case?” His eyes wandered over the desk looking at the stacks of paper.

It was strange for him to ask me if I wanted help. “No.”

“You sure?” He raised a dark brow.

“Why’d you think I need help, Preston?”

He probably came to see how far I’d gotten in my research and hoped that I would mess up.

“Just checking, little bro. Maybe I want to make sure you’re taking this case seriously.” He gave me a look of concern now that caught my attention. “Maybe I just want to make sure that in a few months I’ll be welcoming my brother to the senior partnership instead of Johnson.” Something sincere flashed in his deep blue eyes.

“I’m working hard, Preston. Should be a straightforward case.”

“Dad’s being serious you know.” He nodded. “I saw him in the meeting room with Johnson yesterday. I asked him what they were talking about and he said it was the partnership. He wants to be ready in case you don’t make it.”

Disappointment gripped me. I wanted to act like hearing all that didn’t bother me but it did.

“Wow. I feel so encouraged right now.” My pulse raced. This wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Definitely not because I’d tried hard over the last two weeks to get my head around this case.

“I wanted to talk to you last night but you rushed off. He’s just preparing, Alex. He wants to retire and know that the firm is in good hands” Preston smiled.

“You think he’s going to pick him, don’t you.” I inferred.

“I think you should try not to mess up.”

“I don’t trust Devon, Preston.”

“Neither do I,” he revealed. “There is something not quite right about him that I’ve never been able to place my finger on. Which is why if you need help you got it. Just ask me.”

I appreciated hearing that. Seeing we were on the same page of suspicion, I decided to test his thoughts on my fears.

“Preston. Devon doesn’t want the case going to court. He seemed very adamant about it, and I don’t see that not happening.”

“If you don’t think you can settle don’t bother with the settlement meeting, just move to get a date set for court.”

“I would. In fact I feel like I should in this case because he’s just going to give a refund. They won’t accept that.” I pulled in a breath.

Preston raised his brows. “From what dad said the case should be a straight win for us. It’s odd Devon doesn’t want it in court.”

“I don’t get why and I don’t want to jump to conclusions.”

“Publicity, maybe it’s that. There’s a lot going on in the investment world and maybe he just wants his company outside all that.”

“He mentioned the press, but I feel like he has other reasons.”

“Like what?” He squinted.

“I don’t know. Why would you want to stay away from court?”

“To keep things private. A deeper investigation is always needed and you’d have to show more evidence to support your case.”

I considered that already, but hearing it made me think again and I couldn’t get past the feeling that there had to be something more.

What if he was hiding something? Something he wouldn’t want revealed if he had to provide evidence.

“It’s going to be difficult to keep my personal feelings out of this. I don’t trust him and it’s wrong for me to represent someone I think is shady.”

“I get it, I do but you need to reign in how you feel and stick to the basics. Go with process.”

If I were going with process I would have done a number of checks on Devon before taking him on as a client.

But maybe I needed to indeed go back to basics and process, so that meant doing what I normally did. My own vetting, for my own peace of mind.

“Okay. Basics and process.” I agreed.

“Good.” Preston nodded. “Just stick to that.”

The little tap on the door I’d grown accustomed to sounded. My eyes darted straight for it as it opened and Summer came in.

She stopped when she saw Preston, and damn him he gave her that look I’d seen him give the women he was interested in.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t realize you were busy.” She apologized.

“It’s fine, I wasn’t busy.” I replied eyeing Preston with a crude stare.

“I don’t believe we’ve met properly. I’m Preston. Preston Sullivan.” He spoke before I could so he could do that thing he did when he introduced himself and place emphasis on his name. It was his James Bond impression that he said grabbed the ladies from hello.

Not my girl though – okay she wasn’t mine yet – but, I was working on it.

Summer didn’t look grabbed. She looked at Preston the way she looked at everyone else, and not the way she looked at me.

When he put out his hand to shake hers she took it and smiled.

“I’m Summer, Alex’s PA. Nice to meet you.”

The asshole kept hold of her hand for a moment longer than what was expected from a normal handshake.

“I hope Alex is treating you good. You let me know if he steps out of line.” He was still holding her hand.

“I will.”

Finally, he let go, and I felt the annoyance that seeped into me fade.

This Summer Daniels had me acting like a teenager. A jealous teenager, and with my own brother. And I was still jealous from the way that he was still looking at her.

I was grateful for the one to one pep talk we just had but it didn’t move me to look beyond the fact that Preston was doing his best to impress Summer, and he looked at her like he wanted her.

I cleared my throat, grabbing his attention and Summer’s too.

“Preston, are we done here?” I couldn’t hold back on the sharpness in my tone, which showed the way I felt.

Being my brother, he knew straightaway –just from that –that my interests in Summer ran deeper than our business relationship. Mischief flickered in his blue gaze when he looked from me to her.

“We’re done. Remember what I said.” He answered, focus now on me. “So you might want to keep your extra-curricular activities under control.”

Narrowing my eyes at him, I plastered a tightlipped smile on my face. The asshole couldn’t leave well enough alone. He had to say something and the manner in which he said it too, although ambiguous, spoke droves what he meant.

“Certainly.” I nodded.

He had to look at Summer one last time before he left. The look to my annoyance made her blush.

I kept my eye on him until he went through the door and it closed. When I looked back to Summer I saw that she was already looking at me.

“I saw you first,” I declared.

She smirked. “What?”

“Don’t what me, he was flirting with you and doing that I’m senior partner Preston, Preston Sullivan mojo to impress you.”

“Are you kidding? He was simply introducing himself.”

“Right and I’m going to visit the pope tomorrow for tea.”

She laughed and once again I relished the sound. “Okay Alex, I hope you have fun with the pope.”

“I’m actually serious, and make no mistake about it he’ll make a move on you if he can. I’m the better brother. I don’t show off, I look better, smell better, not full of myself.”

“You don’t think you’re full of yourself?” She gave me a soft smile.

I straightened up and grimaced. “No, not always. But he’s like that all the time.”

“Okay, noted. You’re the better brother.”

I looked her over and noted that something seemed off with her.

“You okay, angel?”

The minute I asked the look became more pronounced. Her cheeks flushed and that pained look engulfed the beautiful green of her eyes.

“I am.” She pulled in a breath. “I was wondering if maybe I could take you up on the offer to work from home for the rest of the day.”

“Of course you can, but how about you just take the rest of the day off.”

“I couldn’t. There’s stuff to do.”

She wouldn’t have been asking to work from home for no reason. It was clear from the first day that we entered the office that Summer worked hard. Maybe a little too hard.

“Can it wait until tomorrow?”

She thought for a few seconds. “I guess.”

“Then leave it.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“Anytime, angel.”

There it was again, the flicker of something in her eyes that told me she wasn’t as okay as she said.

Seeing the pensive shimmer in the shadow of her eyes, I got up and walked around to her. I took her arm and pulled her closer so I could lean down and kiss the top of her head. She seemed to like that.

“Thank you.” She whispered.

With her long, graceful fingers, she reached up and touched my chin. I caught her hand just as she was about to withdraw it and held it to my chest.

“What’s up with you?” I asked.

Summer shook her head, opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. It was the gesture of someone who wanted to talk about what was wrong, but would rather not.

“I’m okay.”

“Do you want me to come home with you?”

“No, I’m good.” She stepped away from me and backed away. “I’ll see you later.”

Although she gave me a little smile, I knew it was forced because it didn’t reach her eyes the way it usually did.

She left quickly too.

I thought I’d get to work on Devon’s background checks now so that I could fit in everything around my afternoon meetings. If I could get home early enough I’d see if maybe she wanted to go out or make her dinner.

I got the same off feeling about her as I did when I thought that something wasn’t quite right with Devon.

It made me wonder what she must have gone through with her ex. It had to be him she was thinking about.

If it was feeling bad about her father, I figured she would tell me.

It got to me that some other man could have this hold on her.

The question was, could I do anything about it?