Built for Power (8 page)

Bree felt her stomach flip. Her palms grew sweaty. Jeff literally wore his power, and it was hard not to be intimidated by it. Bree kept a pleasant smile on her face, but refused to stand when Jeff stopped right in front of her desk and held out his hand.

“Thank you so much for coming all the way down here to see me, Jeff.” Bree poured on her best Southern belle as she shook his hand.

“Anything for you, darlin’. It’s not every day a pretty lady asks me to come see her,” Jeff said with a wink, still holding her hand.

Bree smiled graciously. This whole scene was going to be played out on the battlefield known as good Southern graces. The sweeter the compliment, the sharper the dagger. “Aren’t you just the kindest thing? You’ll give a girl a big head with compliments like those.”

“You should hear them every day. If I was lucky enough to wake up beside you every morning, you’d dine on compliments for breakfast.” Jeff traced his thumb over her knuckles and Bree tried not to gag.

Instead she giggled and felt brain cells dying as she did so. “Oh, Jeff!” She pulled her hand out of his and flirtingly smacked him with it.

Jeff finally sat down and crossed his legs. He rested his laced fingers on his knee and took on a look of concern. “It’s so horrible what happened to you. Are you sure you should be working so soon after the accident? You’re such a delicate rose, I’d hate to see you lose your bloom.”

Bree put her hand to her chest and gave him a soft smile. “Thank you for your concern. But as you know, roses have thorns and are not as delicate as they appear.” Bree let the challenge sink in as she leaned forward conspiratorially. “Actually, Jeff, that’s why I called you. I knew if anyone could help me, it would be you.”

“Of course. What can Jeff do for you?”

“I was hoping you could tell me if you blew up my building.” Jeff’s saccharine smile froze on his face as Bree smiled politely back at him. “I’d sure hate to think you did.”

Jeff pushed his smile back into place. “Darlin’, why would you ever think I’d do something like that?”

Bree sighed and shook her head slowly. “Really, it hurts my heart to even say anything, but—” Bree pulled out her file and spread out pictures of Jeff at political rallies with the mayor, “—you’re the only one with enough power to buy the police, and we both know Trevor Marion is too dumb to pull off the sabotage of my build. He lacks your wonderful sense of finesse.”

“I’m afraid you need to go back home and rest, darlin’. Let us men handle these things for you. It was an unfortunate accident, but an accident is what it was. Don’t be ruining folks’ good names just because you lost control of your build.”

Jeff stood up and looked down at her sadly. “I expect this is the end of these silly accusations. Regardless of this minor lapse in judgment, I want you to know you don’t need to worry your pretty little head about the build. I’ve already talked to the owners and will be taking over the build in three months when you don’t make your milestone. I just want you to know I’m proud of you, and I’m sure your daddy, God rest his soul, would be, too, for attempting a project this size. You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Bree dug her high heel into the plush carpet, imagining she was squashing Jeff. “That’s kind of you to say, Jeff. Thank you for easing my mind.”

Jeff smiled at her patronizingly. “Anytime, darlin’. Now, I have another appointment. I need to finish another build before starting on the corporate center. Go home and rest, darlin’. Jeff’s here to take care of everything.”

Bree waited until he was at her door before stopping him. “Oh dear, are you talking about your build outside of town?”

“Yes?”

“I’m so sorry. I think I might have done something wrong.” Bree's face showed worry while hiding the glee. “See, since the explosion almost cost the life of my site manager, I had to get a new one. Some of my crew recommended Todd. And well, he agreed.” Bree cringed dramatically. “Not only that, but it appears Todd’s really well liked and half of the crew he was working with is coming with him to help me reach my milestone.”

Jeff’s smile fell from his face. “You poached my crew?”

Bree’s eyes went wide. “I guess I did. Was that wrong?”

Jeff’s eyes turned black. The coldness behind them scared the crap out of Bree. “Don’t worry, darlin’, I’ll find a way to make it even.”

Jeff turned and walked out the door with the threat hanging in the air. Bree let out a shaky breath. It was all fun and games until that point. Jeff didn’t mind taking her business from her, and she knew she’d just thrown down the gauntlet by disrupting his.

Mallory quietly stepped from the bathroom and took a seat in front of Bree’s desk. “I’ll give it to you, you have tits of steel to stand up to him.”

“What do you think?” Bree asked.

“I think you’d better watch out. You’ve pissed off two men today who have even more reason to see you run out of town. What are you going to do now?”

Bree looked at her watch and let her head fall forward to gently bang on her desk. “I have to go to my mom’s for dinner. She invited Logan.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I almost had sex with him against a tree last night,” Bree groaned.

“Now we’re talking!”

Bree’s head shot up as she and Mallory’s eyes went wide. Thirty seconds later, Shirley rolled into the office.

“Don’t stop. I want to hear more.”

Mallory shrugged. “Hey, I’m single now, I want to hear more, too.”

Bree groaned again and went back to banging her head on the desk. “I like him,” she whined.

“Hot damn!” Shirley reached over and high-fived Mallory.

Bree kept banging her head. “But he’s from London! And he’s cocky, but in a cute way. And he saved my life and never left my side . . . maybe it’s just hero worship. Right?”

“You don’t get frisky against a tree to say thanks for saving my life. You get frisky against a tree because you can’t keep your hands off of each other.”

“Good point, Shirley,” Mallory grinned. “I like him. Go for it. The worst that will happen is you have really hot sex and then he leaves, but at least you’ll get the really hot sex.”

“For as tough as I am, I don’t like to have hot sex and then never see the guy again. I'm actually old-fashioned. And I’m afraid I’m already getting too attached. I refuse to be that clingy girlfriend who demands he stays here.” Bree lifted her head and looked at her two friends. “I have to pull back or I’ll be a blubbery mess when he goes home in two weeks.”

Shirley snorted and Mallory shook her head. “You should pull something, but ‘back’ is not it,” Bree felt her face turn red as she stared in shock at Shirley.

“Shirley!”

“What? I’m too old to beat around the bush. Listen to me. That boy is a keeper. Plus he has a really nice butt.” Shirley turned to Mallory to explain. “When he bent over to pick up a piece of paper for me—”

“Enough!” Bree wanted to stick her fingers in her ears and sing la-la-la.

“You know you’re like a little sister to me. So I say this with all the love I have for you: this guy pushes you while supporting you, and I think you need to give him a chance.”

With a
humph
in agreement, Shirley stood and left with Mallory. Bree stared out her window. She could still feel his hands on her and knew she wanted more. Never had she lost her head over someone so fast before. Never had she both dreamed of and feared the future before. She wanted more time with him, but that time was limited. However, when Logan kissed her, touched her, all she cared about was the now, and right now, all she cared about was seeing Logan again.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Logan pulled his rental car to a stop along the street outside of Margaret’s house. He grabbed the bottles of wine and took some deep breaths. He had met Bree’s family before, but this was different. This time her mom knew he . . . well, he
liked
her daughter. That, combined with the fact he hadn’t met a girl’s family since he was engaged, meant he had no clue what to do.

A knock on his window made Logan jump in his seat. Shirley’s face peered in at him. “You’re not going to chicken out, are you?” he heard her ask through the window.

“Of course not,” Logan said as he opened the door.

Shirley just chuckled. “This will be fun.”

“You get some sort of sick pleasure out of watching me squirm, don’t you?”

“Since my soaps got cancelled, this is the most entertaining thing I’ve seen. And if it matters, I’m rooting for you.” Shirley paused at the stairs leading up to the house. “Hang onto your pecker; here we go!”

Logan looked up right in time to see Margaret open the front door. “Shirley, Logan, so glad you both could join us tonight.”

Logan smiled and handed her the wine. “Thank you for opening your house to me.”

Margaret smiled back and Logan stepped into the house. “That’s not all that was apparently opened for him,” she muttered quietly to Shirley.

Taken by surprise, Logan tripped on a rug and stumbled forward right toward Allegra’s back. He reached out to stop his fall and found his hands wrapped around Allegra, where his hands couldn’t help but grab onto her breasts. The force of his fall was too much for Allegra as she lost balance on her heels and teetered precariously before falling face first against Reid’s side. Reid’s bourbon went flying and landed on Drake as the three of them landed in a heap at Bree’s feet.

“I wonder if there is a daughter of mine he hasn’t felt up yet? Drake better watch out for Elle,” Margaret murmured as she hurried to grab some club soda for Drake.

Logan groaned in embarrassment and wanted to hide his face. Except his face was inches from Allegra’s lady parts and Bree was standing there tapping a foot with her arms crossed. Pulling his hands from Allegra’s breasts, he sat up on his knees.

“I’m so sorry, Allegra.”

Allegra smiled and reached up to grab Elle’s hand. “That’s okay. It was definitely the most memorable hello I’ve had.”

When Logan looked up Bree’s shapely leg to her face, he found she wasn’t mad at all. A huge grin stretched ear to ear. Her shoulders shook with unvoiced laughter as she looked down on him.

Reid and Logan stood up and dusted off their pants. Grudgingly, Reid held out his hand. “I saw the video. I guess I should thank you.”

“Reid!” Bree smacked her brother’s arm.

“Fine. I should also say I was wrong about you. First impressions and all that.”

Logan shook his hand. “I know all about first impressions not being right. But thank you. I’m happy to meet you all under much better circumstances.”

Margaret hurried back into the room, took Drake’s sports coat from him, and started washing it off. “Mallory just called. She’s stuck at work and can’t make it for dinner. But, she gave me some news.”

“Is it about the notes I had dropped off at her office?” Reid asked.

Logan still hadn’t seen them, but Bree had told him about them.

“Yes. Despite breaking up with Agent Wallace, they’re still friends. He ran the notes through his lab off record—but nothing. No fingerprints and the envelopes and stamps were attached with adhesive, so no DNA either.”

“Another one bites the dust,” Allegra said sadly. “What went wrong? Damien was dreamy.”

Elle just shrugged. “Who knows? But I’m not surprised. You know all of her relationships are short-lived.”

Bree’s shoulders sagged and Logan wrapped his arm around her. “I thought there would be something on those letters,” she said.

Margaret handed Drake his coat. “It’s okay. We’ll find out who’s behind this. The important thing is that you’re okay.”

Bree nodded. “I am. And I saw Marcus this morning. I only got to speak to him for a short time before the doctors shooed me out. After I stopped hugging him and thanking him for saving me, I told him Simpson Global was covering all his costs and also paying for a state-of-the-art prosthetic.”

Elle nodded her head. “Good. I wanted to do that as well. And we’ll help him with anything else he needs. He will always have a job with us if he wants it.”

“Well, there’s a spot of good news. I’ll make him up a nice basket and take it to him tomorrow. The poor man lost a leg saving my daughter. The least I can do is make sure he has home-cooked food for every meal.”

Bree squeezed Logan’s hand and smiled at him. He was glad she had stopped thanking him. Logan wanted her to like him for who he was, not one thing he did.

Talk turned to wedding plans as Drake, Reid, and Logan slowly separated themselves to head out back for guy talk. Logan was glad they started treating him as one of the guys. Maybe Bree’s whole family didn’t hate him completely.

“So, what’s the deal with you and Bree?”

Crap. Her brother wasn’t going to let it go.

“As the new guy in the family, I feel I need to stick up for him. Go easy, Reid.”

Logan smiled with relief. He had an ally. “Thanks, Drake.”

“Don’t thank me yet. Also as a member of the family, I have to give you a hard time because you’re trying to become involved with my sister. Therefore, I’ll just ask a little nicer than Reid. How are things going between you and Bree?”

“Seriously?” Logan looked between them. Hard eyes looked back at him. Yep, they were serious. “I like her and we’re trying to get to know each other.”

Reid and Drake stared at him some more. Finally they gave Logan a little nod of approval. “Just no more seeing my sister naked. I don’t think I can handle that.”

“How did you know about that?” Logan asked, surprised. Did everyone know what happened last night?

“I was there, remember?” After a short pause, it dawned on Reid. “Oh damn, you’re thinking of another time besides the hospital.” Reid put his hands to his ears. “Don’t tell me. You two better be getting married.”

Drake broke out laughing and Logan just stood there. At times like these, he figured it was better to keep his mouth shut than to dig a deeper hole.

“Boys! Dinner’s ready,” Margaret called from the patio door before disappearing back inside.

Logan didn’t know how, but it seemed an uneasy truce had been established. All through dinner, he fielded questions about his job, life in England, and his travels. By the end of dinner, he felt exhausted from the politest inquisition he’d ever had. But it was worth it when Margaret sent him a friendly smile before the discussion turned to Allegra’s upcoming Fashion Week and the resort Elle, Drake, and Reid were working on.

Reid looked to Logan and could see an idea flash across his face. “I wanted to build a small concert hall for intimate performances, sporting events, and so on. I haven’t found an architect I like yet. Too bad you’re in England. I’d really like a designer on it who understands how to match it to the Southern elegance of the resort.”

“I could do that. I can drive out and see it and then work up the plans in England. Unfortunately, I would have to get permission to do such a small project.”

Reid shook his head. “It wouldn’t matter. I’m touting this as the epitome of Southern luxury. I need a local on it. No matter that you’re from this area; your office is in England and that wouldn’t look right.”

“I understand,” Logan nodded. He’d been hired for the simple reason he was from a London firm numerous times. Clients thought it was exotic. “It’s too bad, though. I’ve wanted to take up some projects like that. I love the big builds, but there’s not much freedom in them when there are twenty owners, each having to have something he wants in it.”

Margaret picked up the dessert plates as they started talking more about projects Logan wanted to do. He’d been feeling restless the past couple of years and talking about the ideas filled him with excitement. But soon the crowd broke up. Shirley headed home, and Elle and Drake hurried out soon after with sly smiles on their faces as they raced to the car.

“Thanks for taking care of me, Mom. I’m just going to grab something from my room and then head home,” Bree told Margaret as she gave her a hug.

“Home? You
are
home.”

“Mom, I’m fine. I want to get back to my place tonight. It’s easier for me to get to the office in the morning.”

“How are you even going to get there? Your car is still in the shop,” Margaret worried.

“I’ll drive her home. It can’t be far from my hotel,” Logan offered and tried not to let the excitement show in his voice.

Reid came over and dropped a kiss on his mom’s head. “I won’t say ‘don’t worry’ because I know you will. I’ll pick her up in the morning and take her to work. She can borrow one of my cars after the doctor has given her the all-clear to drive.”

Margaret gave a sigh, but then kissed Bree’s cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Mom.”

Bree ran upstairs and was back a minute later with her purse. Logan offered her his arm and he escorted her outside with Reid and Allegra.

“Congrats on surviving the first family dinner,” Allegra joked. “We almost made Drake cry at his.”

“That was pretty funny,” Bree laughed. “You got off pretty light.”

“I’ll pick you up at seven, sis.” Reid kissed her cheek as Logan opened the door for her. Reid started down the steps and slowly moved his pointer finger back and forth, making it clear Bree was off limits.

Bree watched Logan walk around the car and tapped her foot nervously. Through the whole dinner, she was waiting for him to make a mistake so she could point to a reason to distance herself. But he never gave her one. Instead, every story and every insight gave her more and more reason to be drawn to him.

All the way to her townhouse, she tried to think of reasons to step back. But when he pulled his car into her small driveway, she knew she wouldn’t. She had fallen for Logan Ward, and it was time to face it head on. She hoped her heart would survive it.

“Thank you for driving me home. Would you like to come in for a drink or something?” Bree asked with more confidence than she felt.

She was around men all the time and now she understood what they had meant about dating not being easy. They all complained about how hard it was to meet someone and now that she had to ask, she couldn’t imagine the courage it took to approach someone and ask for a date. Men were a lot stronger than she gave them credit for.

“That would be great. Let me get the door for you.” Logan hopped out of the car with his heart pounding. All the way there he’d tried to think of a way to spend more time with Bree yet cursed himself for not taking advantage of the time alone to talk more.

He opened the door and held out his hand. She placed hers in his and looked into his eyes. Logan could see the nervousness and the anticipation reflected in them. She was vulnerable and powerful all at once. Knowing he was doing that to her stopped him in his tracks. She deserved someone who could go all in—someone who would not only be there for her the next morning but also be there every morning thereafter. His heart leapt at the idea, but his brain backpedaled. In no more than a week, Logan was going to be back in England. The thought of some other man with Bree was suffocating.

Bree led him to her door and then fumbled with the keys. “Here, let me.” Logan took the keys and unlocked the door.

He followed Bree into the cool hallway and placed the keys on the side table. The house was narrow and deep. A couple of feet away was a set of stairs leading to the upstairs bedroom and beyond that, a wide room. A soft cream-colored couch and light blue chairs sat on a red rug in the living room. A large window overlooking the street took up most of the front wall. Behind the living room was an open dining room and the kitchen.

Bree headed for the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of wine. “Would you like a glass?”

“I’d love one. This is a great space.”

“Thanks. I love the way it looks so traditional on the outside, but inside it’s contemporary without losing the traditional charm.”

Bree handed him a glass and they headed for the couch. Logan felt like an idiot. He could admit that. He felt like a fourteen-year-old boy hoping to get his first kiss. Instead of saying something stupid, he sat down next to her as his mind battled between ravishing her and being a gentleman.

Bree kicked off her shoes and sat on the couch. She watched Logan slowly sit down next to her and wondered what he was thinking. He’d been so quiet. Did she do something to make him lose interest? The thought of it hurt her heart. She was stuck. Stuck between wanting to throw caution to the wind and guarding her vulnerabilities.

“Well . . .” they both started at the same time. Logan grinned and set his glass down on the table. Then he reached up and took Bree’s glass out of her hand.

“I know I have to go back to London, but . . .” Logan let out a frustrated breath and Bree held hers not wanting to miss a word he said.