Billion Dollar Beast - Olivia Hayle Page 0,11

my ankle the next moment. Nick grips the bottom of my shoe with surprising gentleness and tugs and it slips right off.

He holds out his hands for my other leg and I lift it up, barely breathing as he undoes the zipper from knee to ankle. He yanks it off smoothly.

Embarrassment and an odd, tingly excitement are at war inside me. No doubt this is another strike in his Blair-isn’t-capable column, or perhaps his I-only-see-Blair-as-Cole’s-little-sister notebook.

He takes a step back and looks at my stockinged feet like they hold all the answers. I open my mouth to say thank you, but the arrival of my sister-in-law disrupts the moment.

Skye is beaming. “You’re both here! Nick, have you been waiting for long?”

“Not at all,” he says smoothly. For all my problems with him, I’ve never seen him be anything but unfailingly polite to my brother’s wife.

Probably because he knows he’d be thrown on his ass if he ever slipped. Not that he’s ever had such qualms with me.

Cole has his back to us, mixing drinks from the bar cart in the living room. He doesn’t need to ask what we like.

Nick and I stand awkwardly side by side, waiting to be served our brandy and martini. Why have we both been invited to dinner? It’s been months and months since the last time this happened.

“We’ve ordered in,” Cole says. Skye shoots us a guilty look at that, but my brother just grins. “There was no time to cook. Besides, they cook better than we ever could.”

“Taki’s?” I ask.

“Farang,” Cole says. “But good thinking with Taki. That’ll be next time.”

Skye takes a seat on one of the low couches and gestures for me to join her. “You two have started working together now, right? Tell us everything.”

Oh no.

Is this why Nick and I have been invited? To report on our progress? I see the same pained realization in Nick’s eyes, but he takes a sip of his whiskey, clearly leaving the answering to me.

“It’s good,” I hedge. “I mean, it’s only been two days. I spent this one deep in the storage room of one of his stores, trying to sort through their inventory.”

“And?” Cole asks, now sprawled in one of the armchairs. “Can they be turned around?”

My brother is asking, but Nick is the one observing me over the rim of his glass. Whatever I say will be commented upon tomorrow, no doubt.

“I think so,” I say carefully, “but it’s too early to tell. I think it’ll be an expensive endeavor, though.”

“Oh?”

My eyes flit to Nick’s without my consent. They’re narrowed, but with what emotion I can’t tell. “Well, truly revamping their brand might include a new marketing campaign, new models, a new logo… I’m sure we’ll talk about it more tomorrow.”

Nick still hasn’t acknowledged my words. He’s just looking at me, and not knowing if it’s in disapproval or interest makes me want to crawl out of my skin.

Cole snorts, turning to Nick. “Good thing you bought it when you did, man. Given another month, the Adams would have driven it into the ground.”

“Most likely,” he responds. “But they’re also going around and giving interviews to any journalist who’ll listen with their sob story.”

“I saw that,” Skye adds. “What did the Wall Street Journal call it? ‘The American Gem’?”

Nick nods, his lip curling in dark pleasure. “‘The American Gem falls prey to vultures,’ was the headline.”

I wonder what it must be like to carry around the weight of his reputation. To see yourself disparaged in a national newspaper like that, over and over again…

A phone rings from an adjoining room and Skye shoots up. “That must be the food.”

My brother rises smoothly to his feet. Towering over Skye, he puts a hand on her lower back. “I’ll help you carry.”

And so Nick and I are again alone. I take a sip of the martini and look over at the fireplace. A framed picture of Cole and Skye on their wedding day hangs above it. The narcissists, I think, but not without fondness.

“An expensive endeavor, huh?”

My gaze flies back to Nick’s. He’s staring at me with a furrow between his brows. “Yes. I don’t think it’s impossible to make it profitable, but it’ll need a revamp.”

“And that’s your professional opinion.”

“Yes,” I say slowly. “What else would it be?”

He glances past me, out toward the lake beyond and the glittering of houses that line it. “Why did you really accept this job?”

“Because you thought I wouldn’t.”

Nick actually smiles at that. It’s not