Twenty

Patrick

I stood between Austin and Julia outside of the Wright Construction building.

It was two weeks since Morgan and I had returned from San Francisco and the day of their annual Christmas party that they threw for the entire corporate headquarters. The top floor restaurant would be cleared out for dancing while hors d’oeuvres circled, and an open bar would pour drinks all night. I’d gone every year since college when Austin and I would crash his dad’s party for the drinks. It was strange, not to be here as an employee, and I found it was equally strange not to be here on Morgan’s arm.

Ever since she’d gone out with Sutton, our relationship had been even better. She was still working herself into the ground, but it was pretty much impossible to deny that this was the best and most stable relationship I’d ever been in. The only one I’d ever really thought of as a relationship.

That should have been an indication that it was time to come clean to Austin. To her whole family. But, every time I thought about it, it was with dread. She hadn’t brought it up again, but I knew that she wouldn’t stand for it much longer. A girl like Morgan deserved more than hiding anyway. I hated that I just wanted to enjoy the bliss with her rather than deal with the inevitable drama…but I did.

Fuck.

I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to. Not yet.

“Your tie is crooked,” Julia said.

I snapped out of my melancholy and adjusted my tie. “Better?”

“Eh,” she said noncommittally and then fiddled with it herself.

“What would I do without you?”

“You’d be lost,” she confirmed.

“Definitely.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Austin said, bumping in between us. “That’s my girl.”

I laughed. “I’m well aware of that. I remember all the groveling and single-man tears.”

“There were no tears.”

I held my hands up in defense and displayed my classic smile. “Sure, bro.”

“Fuck you.”

“I know. I love you, too.”

“Okay. If you two are finished with your little bromance, can we go inside?” Julia asked. “It’s fucking freezing.”

Austin pulled the door open. “After you.”

When Julia walked in, he butted in front of me and tried to shut the door in my face. I flipped him off. He laughed and then let me inside.

“You’re a real dick, you know that?” I said.

“I think that’s why we’re friends.”

We both laughed as we moved into the elevator and upstairs. I wished that I had come here with Morgan, but I’d been stupid and said I’d come with Austin. Too late to fix it now.

“How does it feel to be back?” Austin asked. “Can’t believe you’ve been gone from the company this long already.”

Of course, Austin didn’t know that I’d been at the company a lot after-hours. Now that David knew about my relationship with Morgan, it was easy to be there with dinner and ruin their evening work sessions. Both of them worked too fucking much anyway. But saying that to Morgan was a whole lot of in one ear and out the other. She was a workaholic. That was just who she was.

“It’s good. Feels like home.”

When we exited onto Morgan’s floor, we all piled out and found Sutton and David chasing after a particularly rambunctious Jason. I laughed as he ran around my legs and clung to the back of Austin. He scooped him up and onto his shoulder.

“Who’s the biggest now?” Austin asked, bouncing him up and down.

“Me!” he called. “Da, go!”

Sutton gasped softly and covered her mouth. I could see her threatening to break down.

“Excuse me,” she muttered and then disappeared down the hall to the restrooms.

We all stood there in awkward silence at what had just happened. No one was willing to acknowledge that Jason had just called Austin the D-word. And not the one I’d used earlier.

“Hey, slackers, are you going to get in here?” Landon asked, stepping out of Morgan’s office.

“Yeah,” I answered for everyone.

Austin pulled Jason off his shoulder, and we all entered the office as a group.

“What’s going on?” Landon asked. “I feel like I walked in on a ticking time bomb.”

“And where’s Sutton?” Heidi asked next to him.

Julia shook her head as she strode eagerly toward Heidi and Emery. “She’ll be back.”

At Julia’s comment, Jensen glanced at Jason in Austin’s arms. Then, he pushed his way out of the room without a word. I was sure he was on his way to talk to Sutton.

My eyes drifted away from the rest of the Wright family and significant others to the stunning woman standing behind the desk. Morgan was radiant in a slim black cocktail dress. Her hair was down, and she looked fierce and beautiful. All I wanted to do was force every single other person out of this room and take her right then and there on that desk.

She caught my gaze, and the room heated. Fuck, she was wearing red lipstick. Gorgeous fucking red lipstick. It suited her. Maybe I could convince her to wear it all the time. I didn’t care if it got on all my clothes…and anywhere else, too.

Her smile dropped when she realized I hadn’t made a move to walk forward. Our distance was suddenly that barrier again. The one that kept me from announcing to our friends and her family that we were dating. There was so much history keeping me from speaking the words.

She glanced away from me without a word. “Once Jensen gets back, we can all go upstairs. The party has already started. I’ll give my speech soon, and then we can all enjoy ourselves. Thanks for another successful year. And thanks for believing in me to be CEO of Wright Construction.”

“Were you practicing your speech on us?” Austin joked.

“Ha-ha,” Morgan deadpanned.

“It was pretty well done if that’s part of it,” Landon agreed. “I’d keep out the part about believing in you as CEO. That’s sentimental.”

Morgan rolled her eyes. “You know I can fire both of you, right?”

Austin clutched his chest. “Threats! I’m going to take this to the head of HR.” He turned to his girlfriend, who was the current head of HR. “The CEO threatened to fire me for making fun of her.”

“Eh, you deserved it,” Julia said, crossing her arms.

“Whose side are you on anyway?”

“Probably Morgan’s.”

Austin scrunched up his face at her and then smacked her ass. Her eyes rounded, and she smacked him back.

“Watch it! That hurt!” she shrieked.

He grinned like a fool. “I meant for it to.”

“Please keep the sexual harassment claims to a minimum,” Morgan said dryly.

“Or just in the bedroom,” Landon muttered under his breath.

“Children,” Jensen said, entering the room, “are we fighting again?”

“No, Dad,” Morgan said with an exaggerated eye roll. “We’re well behaved, competent, and productive members of society.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Jensen said.

Everyone laughed.

It was a good day when Jensen got in on the jokes. He was usually too busy with fixing everyone’s problems and acting like the only parent of the bunch to join in on the antics. When he cut loose, he was a really fun guy though.

I usually stayed out of all of it. I was treated like family, but I wasn’t family. They all had their own dynamic that no one else, even people like me who had been there from the beginning, could entirely breach.

“Sutton is going to meet us upstairs in a minute,” Jensen announced. “And our other guest should be here”—he glanced out of the office—“now.”

The Wright family’s uncle walked into the office.

Owen had been perfectly nice to me both times I met him—at Thanksgiving and on campus. He seemed like an upstanding guy. Maybe even one who had been misunderstood all these years he was away in Vancouver. It might have helped all the Wright siblings if they’d actually had a parent or relative around to help raise them. Their mom had died too young, and their dad had been a chronic, abusive alcoholic. Jensen acted more like a parent for a reason.

But I could feel Morgan’s death glare from where I was standing. She had every reason to believe that Owen hated her. It had made her do a one-eighty, too. Working a hundred hours a week and pushing herself to the brink of collapse. Even if he wasn’t really trying to harm her, he was doing it anyway.

“Hey, everyone,” Owen said with a bright smile and wave.

They all seemed happy to see him. Relieved even. Like he just seamlessly fit in with their family. But I knew Morgan was silently seething and trying not to erupt.

“Glad that I could be here for the annual Christmas party. Of course, I’m sad to be missing the one back home. It’s a lively affair. I usually make a big speech.” His eyes landed on Morgan. “If you need help with yours, let me know. I’ve been doing this a long time.”

Morgan clutched the desk until her knuckles turned white. “I think I’ve got it covered.”

“That’s a nice offer though,” Jensen said.

“Yeah. Super nice,” Morgan said flatly.

“Also, I brought this,” he said, holding up a bottle of Moët & Chandon champagne. “I thought we could all toast to another great year at Wright.”

I froze in place. And then, suddenly, all eyes shifted to Austin. He’d only gotten out of rehab six weeks ago. The fact that he was coming to the Christmas party at all was a big deal. It was his first event where he’d be around alcohol again. But to just toss it in front of him like Owen was doing was tantamount to treason.

“We don’t drink,” Morgan bit out. Her voice was clipped.

“Oh,” Owen said. “I’m sorry. I thought it was an open bar upstairs. I wanted to bring my favorite champagne to toast with.”

“I said, we don’t drink. Not here. Not between us,” Morgan snapped.

“Mor,” Austin muttered, “it’s fine. It’s a nice gesture. I’ll just go outside.”

“You are more part of the family than he is. You’re not leaving.”

“Morgan,” Jensen hissed.

Owen’s eyes were round with concern. I didn’t know if it was fake. If it was, he was a good actor.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. It seems the family has inherited Ethan’s problems,” he said about his brother. “I should have known better.”

“It’s fine. You didn’t know,” Jensen said. “Come on, everyone. Why don’t we all go upstairs?” He said it to the room, but his eyes were on Morgan.

I couldn’t read whatever conversation passed between them, but it wasn’t good. Morgan was already all over the place between working too much, not eating enough, not sleeping enough, and now this speech. She did not need this shit about her uncle, too.

I acted like I was following the rest of the family out of the office but stopped. “Hey, man, I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Cool.” Austin nodded his head and hurried after Julia.

He was swatting her ass, and she was busy with trying to land a decent punch.

I waited until everyone was on the elevator before pulling the door closed behind me and turning to face Morgan. She’d dropped down into her office chair with her head in her hands.

“Hey,” I finally said.

“Oh, am I worthy of your speech now?” she grumbled.

“Morgan.”

“Just don’t. All right?”

“Should we talk about your uncle?”

“No,” she growled low.

“He shouldn’t have asked you about your speech.”

She slammed her hands down on the desk and looked up at me. “I said, no. I don’t want to talk about Mr. Doucheface. I don’t want to talk about his passive-aggressive attacks on me or the fact that I look like the bad person when I call him out on his bullshit. I have to deal with his smug face enough during the hours I’m here at work, so I really don’t want to fucking talk about him now. Not when I’m supposed to stand on that stage and give a speech. Not when I’m supposed to be holding things together, and it all seems to be falling apart.”

I stood there, frozen from her anger. Her blistering anger. But I knew it wasn’t directed at me. Not really. This was about work and her uncle. I just happened to be the only person in her life who would let her vent it all out of her system and not care.

“Come here,” I told her as I stepped around the desk.

“I don’t want to do this tonight, Patrick.”

“What don’t you want to do? The speech? Cool. I’ll do it.”

I reached for the piece of paper on the desk, and she snatched it away from me.

“You can’t do it.”

“Why not? I’m funny and charming, a little goofy, but I’ve been told I’m a pretty good public speaker.”

“You’re not funny. Stop trying to be funny.”

“You know what you need?” I asked, holding my hand out.

She scrunched up her eyebrows. “What?”

“A dance.”

“What?”

“Just give me your hand.”

“Patrick.”

“Trust me, okay?”

She sighed and then placed her hand in mine. I pulled her away from the desk and out in the middle of the room. Her high heels brought her up to my shoulder as we swayed in time to the music in our heads.

“What are we dancing to?” I asked, moving her in closer until our bodies touched.

“Nothing,” she whispered.

She tilted her head up to glance into my eyes. All I saw was her in that moment. This unbelievably strong woman who took on the world. There was weariness but also hope and determination and joy in those eyes.

No matter what that uncle of hers was putting in her head, Morgan Wright was the future of this company.

She was my future. I could feel it then. And, without thinking another thing, I crushed her closer to me and pressed my mouth against hers.

It barely registered when the office door opened or when someone stepped into the room.

I only heard the words out of Austin’s mouth. “What the fuck is going on here?”