Breathless In Love (The Maverick Billionaires #1)(58)
Author: Bella Andre, Jennifer Skully

In a heartbeat, she went as cold as a Chicago night in winter. “You already told him about this? Without discussing it with me first?”

He felt the stillness settle around them. The TV played on, and so did the leopard cubs, while a chilly silence dropped over Harper and him.

And that was when Will realized, far too late, that he’d just made a huge tactical mistake with the woman who had already become the most important person in his life.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Jeremy, don’t you have some homework for tomorrow?” Harper heard the snap in her voice, but she wasn’t able to moderate it just yet.

Her brother looked at her over his shoulder. “Uh-huh.”

“Then you’d better go do it.” She heard a sound in her head like rocks grinding. It was her teeth. “And say thank you to Will for dinner.”

“Thanks, Will.”

As Jeremy turned off the TV and headed for his room, Harper continued to feel like the breath had been knocked out of her. Her brother had been verbally abused at work. And she shouldn’t have had to hear it from Will. She should have known, should have been checking in with Jeremy to make sure everything was okay at the store every day. But every evening when she picked him up, he came bounding out full of stories about anything and everything. She’d told herself that must mean things were okay.

How could she have been so careless?

She stood and grabbed her plate of food, which was growing more unappealing by the second.

“Harper,” Will said, but she stalked out of the room without answering.

Will had figured out how to fix the situation. How to fix her failure. How to fix the fact that she was a rotten sister and a terrible guardian. She thought she’d been doing everything for her brother, but had she really, when all Will had to do was walk into the grocery store and spot all the problems in a second?

“Harper,” Will said again, following her into the kitchen.

She almost slammed the plate down on the counter. The immaculate counter. He’d even cleaned up after her like she couldn’t take care of her house. Like she couldn’t take care of Jeremy. If she hadn’t folded the laundry last night, he probably would have done that, too, showing what a mess she was. And look—he’d even cleaned up Jeremy’s crayons.

Damn it, she thought as frustration ate her up from the inside, I’m doing the best I can.

But clearly it wasn’t good enough.

“How could you tell Jeremy without even talking to me first?”

“I wanted to gauge his reaction. If he wasn’t interested, the new position wasn’t something I would have pursued.”

“You should have gauged my reaction first.”

“I see that now, and I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” she snapped, because he kept saying the same to her. “Just stop imposing your will on us.”

“I wasn’t trying to impose my will.”

Will. His will. His name said it all. Didn’t he get what would happen down the road? “Look, when this car project is over—” And you’ve moved on to another pet project. “—Jeremy will be out of a job. He won’t have anything.”

“The car won’t be finished for months. Besides, the Maserati has nothing to do with his working in my mailroom.”

“So you’ll just keep on sending your driver to pick him up?”

He shrugged, shook his head slightly, like she wasn’t even making sense. “If that’s what it takes, that’s what we’ll do.”

Did she really have to spell it out for him? “What about when you get tired of doing all this for him?” And what about when you get tired of me? “Buying a Maserati because Jeremy wants it. Dreaming up a job for him. In a few weeks or even months, if you get bored with the whole thing, where will that leave Jeremy? Out in the cold. He’s not going to understand. I’ve seen this happen before. I’ve dated men who befriend him. Then they’re gone. And I don’t want to see Jeremy get hurt like that again.”

“I’ve already told you this, and I’ll keep saying it until you believe me—I’m not going to hurt your brother. I promise.”

“Right.” She was on a roll and couldn’t seem to stop. “And I’m just supposed to take your word on that.”

Something changed in him then. After she’d freaked out, he’d been on the defensive, trying to explain himself, trying to get her to understand that he’d meant no harm. But now, it looked like she’d managed to wound him.

“My word means everything. I do not break it.” He held her gaze. “I’m not like the men you’ve dated, Harper. And don’t forget, I met Jeremy first, not you. He wrote to me. I liked what I read. So what’s between you and me has nothing to do with him.” Will held up his hands. “You’re right that I should have talked to you first. But I wouldn’t have given him the job if I didn’t think it would be something new and different for him to try. He can stretch himself. He might even be fine for a few hours by himself. You’ve got to see that he’s capable of pushing himself to do more. Is there something you’re afraid of, Harper? Something I haven’t figured out yet? You know your brother a hell of a lot better than I do. What am I not seeing?”