BIG: (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance) (33 page)

A tide of panic took over which she swallowed back because she was so ashamed of it. What if their parents got back together again? Oh my God, it was every kid’s dream—and her nightmare.

It would make for one painfully long, secret engagement for her and Ric.

Oh, don’t be so selfish.

Her appetite suddenly gone, Annalesa picked at the dry end of her cheese-stuffed roll. She finally made the mistake of looking up at Ric sitting beside her. Their eyes met and his were troubled. He nudged her with his knee beneath the table in a silent promise that they’d talk later. She looked back to her mother and Brad to find them staring at her and Ric, their heads cocked at the same curious angle.

“You kids okay?” Brad gave a bad impression of a laugh. “You’re very quiet.”

“This is delicious.” Annalesa shoveled the spoon of soup into her mouth—some kind of minestrone-like mulch—and forced a bright smile. “Did you make it, Brad?”

“Uh... I ‘made it’ to the Rema 1000 in time to buy it. It’s decent enough, I guess.”

“You know how he is in the kitchen, darling.” Elsa chuckled. “Brad’s no Gordon Ramsey.”

“Hey! I defrost like a pro. I’m king of the microwave, just like my son.”

Annalesa linked her arm with Ric’s. “Actually, he’s shown himself to be extremely good with raw—and frankly, unpromising—ingredients.”

“Ah, the cave diet.” Brad chuckled. “Yeah, I gotta admit, when Anders and I were done with the whole rebirth ritual, I was right back on the chopper, heading to the nearest burger joint. I’m kinda surprised Ric kept you in that cavern the whole weekend. What the hell did you kids do? Swimming races? Play hide and seek with the local wildlife?”

“You and Ric spent a whole weekend alone in a
cave
?” Elsa frowned.

“We spent a lot of time exploring the cave decorations. I never got to take the module in primitive art.” Annalesa swallowed a sudden image of Ric in his loin cloth. “I was teasing him about the extreme Norseness of the graduation party and how much he was getting into it all, so he surprised me with this trip.”

Elsa’s lips quirked. “But you enjoyed yourself?”

“Oh yeah! I thought it’d be freezing but the cavern was really warm, and the rebirth lake was amazing. I’ll be seeing the Northern Lights in my head for months.” Her cheeks burned as she caught herself babbling.

Crap, now
you’re
over-explaining things.

A silence fell as they ate, draining their bowls and nodding as a top-up was offered. Well, all of them except Ric, who was just pushing his soup around his bowl. He’d barely touched his bread.

“So how’s it going with the rental apartments and the gallery?” Elsa smiled brightly.

“Fine! Good.” Annalesa swallowed her mouthful of bread. “We’ve told the builders we want students to be able to move in for the start of the new semester as a lot of modular courses kick off in January. The gallery’s being refurbished as we speak.”

“Hmmm. It sounds like a hell of a lot of work, darling.”

“It is. But it’s satisfying.” Annalesa shrugged off her mother’s mildly reproving tone, as if she was getting in over her head. “It’s nice to stand on my own two feet. Well, sort of. I’m appreciative of the start-up funds, of course.”

“You’ve done really good with your project, hon.” Brad clinked glasses with her. “I’m proud.”

“Me too.” Ric gave her a friendly elbow. “My sister, the badass businesswoman.”

“Just make sure she doesn’t overdo it, please, Ric.” Elsa looked at him.

“How am I supposed to stop her?” Ric snorted. “I’ll always be there for her, but she’s like you—you’re both gonna do whatever you’re gonna do.”

“Just be a good big brother. That’s all I ask.”

Annalesa cringed at the familial reference.

“Right. Well.” Brad cleared his throat. “I think we can agree that we’ve officially exhausted family small-talk. There’s something Elsa and I need to tell you guys, and we’re not sure how it’s going to go down, so... I’m just going to blurt it out.”

“You’re getting back together?” Annalesa bit her lip. She felt Ric’s spine straighten beside her.

“Honey, I said
I
was going to do the blurting.” Brad smiled and took a deep breath. “You’re actually right, in a way. Elsa and I had a long talk and we’ve both agreed that she’s coming back on the board of Ryker Arms as an active member.”

Ric sat up even straighter, his back going rigid. Annalesa tried not to look over and kept her voice as level as possible as she looked from Mum to Brad and back.

“Wh—what about the racing stables?”

“Oh, I’m keeping those, but I’ve appointed a wonderful man to run them for me. No, I need to support Ric and Brad right now, so that’s where my focus is going to be.” Elsa gave Ric a long look and reached across the table to put her hand over his. “There’s no need to look so traumatized, darling. It’s really not very flattering.”

Ric broke out of his staring spell. “Sorry... yeah. No, I mean... Congratulations.”

“Like I said, I’m doing this to
support
you and Brad. It seems that you need another noisy voice on the board to keep some of Ryker’s traditions.”

“Here’s the awkward part.” Brad cleared his throat and gazed at Annalesa and Ric, suddenly looking nervous. “Annalesa, I can’t tell you too much about what some of the board members are planning to do, because the less you know, the better. But I need to ask you a big favor—and I’m not expecting you to like it so much.”

“Go on.”

“Your Ryker stock is a huge part of your inheritance and as far as I’m concerned, you’re my daughter. Okay? You deserve your share of the business, and I hope that, in the next year or so, I’ll be able to give it back to you. But right now, we’re facing a crisis and I need more control than I have.”

“Okaaaay... so... what does that mean?” she asked, trying not to be distracted by Ric’s hand gripping her thigh hard under the table—and not in a sexy way, either. It actually hurt.

“I need to transfer your whole stock to Elsa, so she has a majority stake on the board. There should be a document in the folder you got at your trust meeting. It’ll have mine and Ric’s names on it.”

This time Annalesa couldn’t help looking over at Ric—he’d slumped a little in his seat and his grip on her leg had gone slack.

Then he dropped sideways onto her.

“Ric?” Annalesa snatched her arms around his chest and back just as his weight threatened to press them both onto the floor. As she grabbed him, he gave a sharp gasp, his hands coming back to life. He gripped the corner of the table, hauling himself back upright again.

“Hell, Ric!” Brad half-stood. “You all right?”

“I’m fine!” Ric tried waving his father away as Brad pulled him from the table and manhandled him onto the couch in the den.

“Damnit son, you’re not.” Brad pressed his fingers against Ric’s neck, his eyes snapping wide open. “We might need some help, Elsa.”

“Give him a moment, darling.” Elsa darted in from the kitchenette with a huge glass of juice, pressing it into Ric’s hand. “Drink. Now.”

“Didn’t you kids eat out there at the cavern?”

“I’m... not sick.” Ric downed the juice in one go, the glass rattling against his teeth. He breathed out hard, squeezing his eyes shut. “Really... I’m fine now.”

“Sure you are, kiddo.” Brad frowned in disagreement.

Annalesa finally got her feet to move and walked over to the back of the couch, resting her palms on Ric’s shoulders. They were rocky, trembling spheres of muscle.

She knew what it was—he was nervous enough at the prospect of telling
Anders
that there had been a change of plans without the shock of having to admit his covert actions to
his father.

She stroked his upper arms until he’d got his breath back and did her best to give him a little help by telling Brad, “I’ve already told Ric I’ll sell the moment he needs me to. Selling out to you or Ric makes no difference to me, if that’s what it takes to help Ryker.”

“Thanks, sweetheart.” Brad gave her a bright smile. “I knew I could count on you. I’ll call the lawyers to fax those papers over and get the transfer arranged.”

“Dad... the papers...” Ric’s voice was hoarse and he cleared his throat. “They’re in my name. And... Arenson’s.”

“No they’re not. They’re in... what?”

Ric wiped sweat from his brow with his forearm and tilted his head up to meet Brad’s incredulous stare. When he spoke, his voice came out as a rasp. “There was... a change of plan.”

“Bullshit!” Brad exploded, already waving his arms like he did when he got really mad. “What the hell? Who cut me out—did you do this? Or was it Arensen?”

Elsa put a cautionary hand on Brad’s arm. “Give him a chance to explain.”

“I am—you’re getting in the goddamned way.”

“Bradley Karl Ryker, you talk to me like that when I’m back on the board and I won’t hesitate to beat you with the nearest solid object. Now, sit down and open your ears.”

“See, that’s why I need you back.” Brad shot her a grim yet affectionate smile as he sank onto the armchair opposite Ric. The moment he locked gazes with his son, his smile went south. “Let’s hear it.”

Annalesa climbed over the back of the couch next to Ric and took his hand in hers as he slowly, hesitantly, explained that the document had been put together fast—too fast—before he’d retreated to the caves for months. Ric kept giving her looks of apology for being unable to admit to his true under-handedness.

White-lie after white-lie trotted out about how Brad had been away the first time the threat of board dissent had arisen, and that the document was a knee-jerk reaction.

The harsh lines in Brad’s face softened as Ric explained, but by the time Ric came to a halt, he was raking his fingers through his hair in exasperation.

“It was a dumb thing to do,” Ric muttered. “I know that. But it was done with the best intentions.”

“Ric, you’re in a very senior position for a young guy, and you deserve that position because you’re damned good at what you do. But you still answer to me, and as the owner, founder and CEO of Ryker Arms, you’d better be discussing your best intentions with me next time you plan to do something off-script. Got that?”

“Yes, sir.” Ric looked as if he couldn’t sink any lower into the couch.

“Do you still have those stupid-ass papers?”

“Look, stop barking at him. He’s sorry.” Annalesa answered for him. “He was sorry enough to burn them.”

“Well, that’s something, at least. Any electronic copies anywhere?”

Ric hung his head. “We’ll need to get the lawyers to over-ride them.”

He sighed and gave his father a look of desperate appeal. “You’re mad, and you have the right to be mad, but I need one favor.”

“You want to tell Anders about the change of plan before he finds out from me?”

Ric nodded, looking miserable.

“That’s fair. Because after that, I’m going to have a long talk with my old buddy about over-stepping the line. If things are being done for my own good, I’d rather know about them.” Brad sighed. “Okay, what’s done is done. I’ll get the stock transfer papers drawn up and you can sign electronically, Leesa. They’ll be emailed to you in a couple business days, so whatever’s going on with your buildings and your gallery, I need you to drop what you’re doing and sign them.”

“Sure.” Annalesa’s hands trembled a little around Ric’s and she stayed where she was for a few minutes, wondering if her knees would be as shaky if she tried to stand.

Ric was still sickly pale and a little sweaty, but his arms slowly relaxed. She leaned against him as he dropped an arm across her shoulders, both of them staring into nothing. They didn’t dare get much closer than this—and she wondered if he, too, was envisioning an endless wait until they could stop hiding their true feelings for one another.

Neither of them moved while Elsa and Brad clattered around, cleaning up dinner. After a little while, Brad came over with a bottle of Courvoisier and poured a generous measure of it into a crystal tumbler for Ric, handing Annalesa a smaller one.

He reclaimed his seat in the armchair and Elsa squeezed onto the far end of the couch, next to Annalesa. Brad took a swig of his liquor and put it down onto a grey slate coaster on the table next to the chair. The ‘ting’ of crystal on slate sounded like a loud crack in the silence.

“Well, I didn’t mean to kill the family reunion,” her stepfather muttered. “But that talk didn’t go as planned.”

“Onwards and upwards, please, Brad.” Elsa put a hand on Annalesa’s cold foot and rubbed it. “Brrr. You
could
put some socks on, rather than use your brother as a hot-water bottle.”

“Fine, I’ll get some.”

She didn’t mean to sound so snappy, but bolted off the couch, suddenly shocked by how cozy she’d allowed herself to get with Ric in their parents’ presence.

Running upstairs for socks gave her a moment to clear her head, and when she got back down, some of Ric’s color had returned, along with Brad’s easy-going manners. She came in just as they were discussing probate and inheritance.

“Is this about Anders?”

“Yeah.” Ric nodded. “Dad just told me he’s had a change of fortune. Turns there were conditions on the inheritance. Anders’ youngest brother, Nils, found out he had to carry on the family business in order to keep the money.”

“What’s the business?” Annalesa asked.

“Forensic auditing,” Brad chuckled. “Can’t say I blame Anders for running away to join the arms trade. Jesus, I wouldn’t blame Nils for running away to join the fuckin’ circus.”

“He didn’t really join the circus.” Elsa laughed at her daughter’s raised eyebrows. “He just started his own publishing business several years ago and he’s doing quite well.”

“So who gets the inheritance, then?” Annalesa asked.

“Nils signed it over to Anders,” Ric told her.

“Just like that?” She blinked in surprise.

“Nils has always had that sort of entrepreneurial spirit. The good news is, Anders is no longer in a financial sinkhole.” Brad gave Ric a sideways smile. “Which should make it a little easier for you to talk to him about—”

A phone buzzed and Brad paced across the kitchenette to snatch it off the top of the refrigerator. After a moment of murmuring, he hung up and strode back into the den.

“Looks like you’ll be getting that conversation over and done with pretty soon.”

Ric took a calming breath. “How soon?”

“The next couple hours. Anders is on his way. I invited him to stay so he could have a glass or two.”

“Good.” Ric got up and took a few steps over to the kitchenette to top up his Courvoisier. He tossed a couple of fingers back, refilled, then glanced back at Annalesa. “You look tired.”

“Is that code for ‘go to bed and let the grown-ups talk’?” She smiled and stretched, knowing what he wanted. The last thing he needed was the distraction of her presence while he was trying to straighten things out with Anders. “The truth is, I’m exhausted.”

Annalesa approached him, going up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. The returning brush of his lips against her cheek spoke volumes about his gratitude, and after a reasonably convincing goodnight to Brad and Elsa, she took off up to her room.

She’d been on her bed trying to read but occasionally nodding off for about half an hour when light footsteps sounded outside her bedroom door. There was a quiet knock, and then it opened a crack.

Annalesa sighed and put her book to one side. “Hi, Mum.”

“How did you know it was me?”

“Because you never leave more than a second between knocking and opening.”

Elsa grinned guiltily as she approached the bed and sat down on the corner. “I thought I’d make myself scarce, but I’m not ready for bed yet.” She patted Annalesa’s leg. “You did well sticking up for your big brother down there.”

Annalesa managed a weak smile. “I thought Brad was going to spend the whole night kicking Ric’s arse. He doesn’t know when to stop sometimes.”

“Don’t you worry about Ric. He’s got a thick skin.”