AUSTIN

Being on friendly terms with Jalynn is both a blessing and a curse. While it’s nice not to have her scowl at me all the time, having her smile is worse.

Mostly because she’s so damn pretty when she smiles.

She also has to stop biting that damn lip. The way her teeth graze her plump, lower lip has me thinking about how bad I want to suck on it, and then I have to adjust myself in the middle of a meeting.

She was doing it this morning when I passed her in the copy room. I was on my way to a meeting and couldn’t stop to chat, which was a good thing because I might have decided to skip the meeting altogether just to talk to her and stare at that lip.

Yesterday, on the roof, the wind swept her hair to the side, exposing her long neck.

When she looked at me with those hazel eyes and Cupid’s bow mouth, saying how beautiful she thought it was up there, I almost replied, So are you.

Thank God I didn’t. She’s an employee and I have a strict rule against that, but I’m starting to think some rules are meant to be broken.

It’s rare for a girl to work her way into my thoughts the way she has. I think it’s her sass. Being a Sexton sometimes has its drawbacks, and hooking up with women can be sometimes too easy. Normally, they’re willing to drop their pants just to get in my wallet.

Not Jalynn.

She doesn’t want a thing from me, which makes me want to show her the world. Getting in her pants would be worth opening my wallet for.

“What’s wrong with you?” Bryce asks, interrupting my dirty thoughts about his assistant.

“Always good to see you, too, brother.”

He looks at me with a wary eye as he walks behind his desk. “Last week, I couldn’t get you to answer my calls. Now, you’re here, unannounced, for the second morning in a row.”

I hate when he’s right. “There’s no winning with you.”

He narrows his eyes, as if he’s working through a puzzle in his head. “You’re not drinking.”

“I don’t drink every day,” I say defensively, causing him to accusatorily raise a brow. “You know what your problem is? You need to get laid.”

His posture stiffens. “What I do on my personal time is none of your business.”

“Did I touch on a soft spot? What’s the matter? No assistants to …” My words trail off as my attention goes right to the door where Jalynn is seated on the other side.

Bryce doesn’t seem to notice my distraction. “It only happened twice, so stop making it seem like I sleep with all of my assistants. And, for the record, I didn’t sleep with the last one, so it would do us both a world of good if you stopped spreading rumors.”

“Yeah,” I mutter.

“Just tell me you actually did something today besides think about my damn love life.”

His love life?

I rapidly blink my eyes and try to figure out what the fuck my brother is talking about. When it comes to Bryce, the words love and life aren’t synonymous with one another. He’s driving on autopilot to becoming the world’s first living heart donor.

I throw the file I’m holding onto his desk, Frisbee-style. “Finalized and signed. Yes, that’s the Under Armour account. They’re taking digital and print ads out on all platforms. You’re welcome.”

We’ve been working on this account all year, and at one point, Bryce swore, it was a waste of time. Maybe now he’ll get off my back.

He opens the file, verifying what I already told him. Tossing it back to the desk with a nod, he goes back to typing on his computer like what I just said wasn’t a huge deal.

“That’s it? No, Hey, good job, little bro?”

“You want me to kiss your ass for doing your job?”

“No, I want you to kiss my ass for saving that account.”

“You could have just emailed it to me.”

“And miss seeing the happiness and joy on your face?”

“Fuck off.”

“As always, nice chatting with you.” I exit the room, shaking off the feeling that he tends to leave me with and am confronted with another awkward feeling. Disappointment.

Bryce’s quick-tongued assistant is not at her desk. I peer into the newsroom but don’t see her in there either. I could go on a stalking mission, but that would be … well, stalking. Instead, I head to get a cup of coffee.

I’m walking down the hall when my cell phone rings. Tanner, with his ridiculous man bun, shows up on my screen.

“Please tell me you’ve cut that hair of yours,” I say as I answer.

“Most people start conversations by saying hello,” he says with a laugh.

“Not my style. What’s up, little man? Counting down your final days of freedom?”

Tanner is set to graduate from Columbia in a few months, and once he does, it’ll be a lifetime of doom and Sexton Media for him.

“Something like that. You sound like you’re on the run. Did I disrupt anything?”

“I’m on my way to get coffee from the break room.”

“You hate coffee,” he declares. “Are you stalking a chick?”

“No, I am not stalking a chick.” I wave off the insinuation. “For the record, women stalk me.”

“You know, there are better ways to get a girl’s number than following her into the break room.”

“Again, I’m not following anyone. She might not even be in there.” I immediately smack my head at my quasi-confession.

Tanner laughs out loud. “You need to stop watching old spy movies and read some classics.”

I chuckle to myself. Tanner has always been the most touchy-feely one of the three of us. His artsy ways show through in everything he does, and I wonder sometimes if he’s actually related to us at all. But I know he gets every aspect of who he is from our mother.

Since he was the baby in the family, she spent the most time cuddled up on the couch with him. She knew he was her last son she could do that with, so it seemed like she took advantage, trying to make up for every moment she’d missed with us.

“Not all of us read Shakespeare for fun,” I deadpan.

“Obviously. And I was thinking some Jane Austen, not Shakespeare. You were named after her, you know.”

“Were you calling for any other reason than to bust my balls?”

“Not really. I’m on my way to class. Call me when you’re done stalking.”

“All right. Later, T.”

“Love ya, A.”

After I place my phone in my pocket, I straighten my tie and try to look casual. When I enter the break room, it’s to the sight of the sexiest ass I’ve ever seen. She’s bent over, looking in the refrigerator. I lean against the doorframe to take her in.

“Oh, sorry, Mr. Sexton,” Rosie, another employee, bumps into me on her way into the room.

Thud.

“Ouch. Damn it,” Jalynn cries.

I turn to see her rubbing her head where it must have smacked against the top of the fridge.

“You okay there, Pyle?”

Her eyes narrow, and I grin in response.

“Please, stop calling me that, and”—she rubs her head—“I’m fine.”

“Yes, you are, but your head doesn’t look okay.” I approach her, laying my hands on her head to examine her bump. The skin is pink around her hairline, so I tenderly run a thumb over it to see if it hurts her.

I can feel her body quiver and then stiffen as she pulls away, glaring at me.

“Isn’t this sexual harassment?”

“Making sure my employee is okay after she hit her head? No, not at all.”

“So, you take care of all your employees like this?” Her teeth graze that lip again.

I see Rosie making coffee in the Keurig, and I bring her in to have someone on my side. She used to work in my department until she got promoted, and we love to rile each other, so she knows I’m all fun and games at the office.

“Rosie, how long have you known me?” I ask her.

“Long enough to know I’ve never seen you in here,” she says with an expressive grin.

“Would I ever do something that borders on sexual harassment?”

She lets out a quick, hardy laugh. “I’m staying out of this one.” With her coffee now made, she reaches out her hand to Jalynn. “I’m Rosie, by the way. You’re new here, right?”

Jalynn takes her hand. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Jalynn, Bryce’s new assistant.”

“Ah …” She pauses, taking a sip of her coffee before glancing over to me with a knowing look. “In that case, Austin is the good brother. It’s Bryce you have to worry about.”

Jalynn’s eyes go big.

I sit back on my heels. “See? I’m the chivalrous one. Thank you, Rosie.”

“Now, I didn’t say that.” She hits my arm. “By the way, good work on securing the Sergeant Miller interview. I heard that’s going to happen.” She gives me a motherly pat on the cheek and opens the door. “Good luck, Jalynn. It was nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” she replies before tilting her head down and suspiciously eyeing me. “You’re the good brother?”

“Apparently. But don’t take my word for it,” I state with a grin, thumbing toward the door where Rosie just walked out of, but Jalynn’s not laughing as she runs her hand across her forehead. “Seriously. Is your head okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine.” She offers a small smile. “Just one of those mornings.”

I nod and watch as she walks over to the counter and grabs a coffee pod from the drawer. I rub my chest as a nagging thought hits me in the gut. “Can I ask something of you?”

She gives me a wary eye. “Depends.”

I lean my hip against the counter and sink my hands into my pockets. “Don’t sleep with Bryce.”

She nearly drops the mug she just took out of the cabinet. “Excuse me?”

“In the past, he’s had an assistant or two try to get him in bed. It must be the Sexton sex appeal. I mean, I get it. We’re pretty fucking good-looking.”

I’m making a joke, but she’s not laughing. She’s just looking at me like I’m the biggest asshole in the world for insinuating that she wants to sleep with my brother, who is also her boss.

I lean over and hit the button for the machine to make her coffee. “Say something.”

Her shoulders fall back, and her chin rises. “Austin Sexton, I have a million things to say, but while your comment was wildly inappropriate, I will respect the fact that you are my employer, so I will keep it to this. My sex life is none of your business.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She goes to turn but then thinks twice and points a finger at me. “I don’t know what you have against your brother, but he has been nothing but courteous to me. Standoffish and quite frankly stoic at times, but he is a good man. You, on the other hand, just can’t seem to keep your damn thoughts to yourself.”

“Well, I—”

Her cheeks redden. “And, if I did want to sleep with him or anyone in this company, it wouldn’t matter what you thought about it.”

“So, you do want to sleep with him?”

She stomps her foot. “No!”

“But you just said—”

“Don’t say it, or I will pour this hot coffee all over your thousand-dollar suit,” she threatens with her mug held high in her hand, and I believe her.

I sway to the side. “Actually, it’s a five-thousand-dollar suit.”

She lets out a harrumph. “You’re incorrigible.”

I watch her leave, and I kick the closest thing next to me, which happens to be the garbage pail. Trash falls all over the floor, and I curse out loud as I take a knee and clean it up. Yes, me, in the suit I just bragged about, picking up other people’s garbage.

If Jalynn were here, she’d tell me that it serves me right. She’d also get down here with me and lend a hand because she’s a decent person. Too decent for a guy like me.

I stand up and wash my hands in the sink, noticing she left her purse sitting on the counter, wide open, showing feminine hygiene products lying across the top. I know her reaction to what I said is not because she’s hormonal, but I’m sure it didn’t help.

In all my years as a single guy, I haven’t had to deal with a girl during her time of the month. The only experience I have is from my mother explaining it to me when I was ten.

I remember coming home from school, dropping my backpack on the ground, and declaring at the top of my lungs that girls were disgusting. When she asked what had brought out this sudden change of heart, I explained what we had learned about in school that day. The look on her face was unforgettable. With a pout, I crossed my arms in front of my chest as I listened to my mother say something I’d never forget.

“Don’t put down the things you don’t understand. A woman’s heart and body are far stronger than a man’s. That’s why God gave her the ability to do something that you cannot—create a life. And I’ll be damned if I let you grow up to be the kind of person who runs away from a girl just because of what is happening with her body.”

“What am I supposed to do then when this disgusting thing happens?”

“You buy her candy.”

I open the refrigerator door and see a container marked Jalynn. Inside are a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an apple. I grab her purse and her lunch and decide it’s time I do exactly as my mother instructed.