Chapter Six
‡
Aubrey had told Griffen she would think about the job, but she really didn’t want to take it, not given the way it would look. Besides, she knew what he was really doing: making her more accessible. Since she was already thinning out with the strain of trying to hide their affair, she had pretty much made up her mind to refuse.
Of course, being Griffen, he didn’t give her a choice.
She was on her way into Drake’s lab on another matter when she discovered Griffen was in the building, with Drake.
“…coupled with the lower property taxes will make the company more viable,” Griffen said.
Aubrey dropped her hand from starting to push the cracked door inward, glancing up and down the hall to see if anyone was witnessing her blatant eavesdropping.
“What does Aubrey say?” Drake asked.
“We’re not in agreement, but I’ll make it happen.”
“Here’s the thing,” Drake said. “When I learned I could get the funding I needed if I worked with my half-sister, I thought it would be falsely sentimental at best and a complete nightmare at worst. Turns out she and I work well together. We both inherited our father’s for the people gene, maybe. She doesn’t question what I make or how I make it. I trust her to make the right decisions for the front end. Put another way, if she doesn’t want to move, then I don’t want to move.”
“It would be a shame to do this without you,” Griffen said.
Aubrey felt her nails dig into her palms. Her brother only snorted.
“You think this is my first rodeo? While Aubrey was fainting in your office, I was moving all my records off the company equipment. I can walk out today and you’ll have a few half-baked prototypes and a skeletal staff because most of the engineers and techs will come with me. Aubrey will come with me.”
“I’ve just given her a crown jewel posting to keep her happy. The only place she’s going is headquarters. You’re bluffing or you would have left the day I took over. You already need a bigger workspace. Design it from the ground up with room for growth this time.”
Crown jewel posting? To keep her happy? Like a fucking tennis bracelet for a corporate mistress?
“She must really hate the idea if you’re bribing me to tell her I want to move,” Drake said. “Forget it. I’m not getting between you two.”
“Look,” Griffen said in a soft tone that she recognized as one of his most dangerous. “Whatever personal relationship you think she and I have—”
“Think?” Drake interjected. “Listen, long before you pounced she was paranoid that you would. I couldn’t figure out if she was afraid or hopeful. A few days ago, I made the mistake of asking her if she invited this takeover and she’s barely spoken to me since. Thanks for that.” Drake filled the word with his patented hundred-proof sarcasm. “But I knew this takeover was personal from the get-go. There’s no other reason someone like you would come after a company like this.”
Silence except for a few light clinks of items being moved around.
Aubrey continued to hover, ears tuned to hear if Griffen would admit he had come after her. Her.
“If I hadn’t grabbed it, someone else would have,” Griffen finally said. “I saw it first. That’s all.”
She winced, trying to hold off the sting in that nothing personal remark.
“Yeah, well, no one else would have done it to Pretty Woman my sister.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Isn’t that what that movie is about?” Drake asked, faltering briefly. “Some corporate guy turns a woman into his call girl?”
Call girl. Awesome.
Did Griffen protest? No, he only said, “Do I look like someone who watches rom-coms? Get on board with this move or I’ll hold a garage sale. Got it?”
It was the final straw.
*
Griffen was still fuming at Yarrow over that call girl remark when he caught up to Aubrey in her office. She was removing personal items from her desk and setting them into a file box.
He blew out a subtle breath of relief. That’s why he’d come today, to ensure she was making the move.
“I came to take you to lunch,” he said, voicing the excuse he’d invented. “Work related, of course,” he added dryly.
“I’m meeting my father. I just texted Drake to join us. You should, too. Work related.” She didn’t look at him, only set aside her phone and pulled her laptop off its dock to tuck it into its bag.
An old, ugly tingle of danger crept across Griffen’s skin. He used to get it when his Dad was high or drunk. A punch was coming. He looked around, bracing himself, but saw nothing. Nevertheless, his gut never lied.
“Aubrey—” He stepped into her office, starting to close the door behind him.
“I have a lot to do right now.” Her head finally came up and she looked the way she had the day she’d seen Marla kiss him.
He remembered judging that look as cool indignation, callously thinking a blasé, Sorry, Darling, in response. It hadn’t been until he’d forced her back into his life with the takeover that he’d begun to see she’d been more hurt than she’d let on.
Now, as he saw that look on her face, an all over body ache filled him, the kind that was not just the physical throb of a punch, but an anticipation of treachery.
“What’s going on?” He was trying not to reveal his unease, but his voice came out harsh and aggressive.
She flinched.
Behind him, someone knocked, making him spin, as primed for a street fight as he would have been in a dark alley.
“Come in,” Aubrey said.
Griffen wanted to keep the world at bay, but watched the door push inward.
Drake looked between them. “Are we going together?”
“Might as well,” Aubrey said with a tight smile, shouldering her purse and laptop bag, leaving the box on the floor by her desk.
Her brother skimmed his gaze across the empty desktop. “So, you are moving.”
“To my building, yes,” Griffen said, watching Aubrey closely as she came alongside him.
She only kept that frozen expression on her face and sailed right past him.