Brandon (Anderson Billionaires #3) - Melody Anne Page 0,13

or play. Chloe was a bit jealous of the dynamics of the Anderson family. They were so different than her own. Brandon didn’t truly realize how lucky of a man he was.

He’d lost his mother, which was beyond horrible. And he’d lost his father when he was young, which had been a blessing since the man was so terrible. But he’d inherited a family unlike anything she’d ever seen before.

The Andersons were beyond wealthy, but they were also filled with love and happiness. They were the family everyone wanted to be a part of. They made mistakes and weren’t belittled because of it. They were encouraged to forge their own paths. She wasn’t sure who she would’ve turned out to be with a family like theirs. Would she still have been a chef? Would she have been married with children? Would she have ever been happy being mediocre?

She didn’t know, because she hadn’t been raised in a home like that. She’d been raised with love, of course, but she’d been raised with drive and ambition. Could a person fight against that?

If she’d been brought up in a different home, would her competitive nature have been squelched? It was an interesting theory. It was something she hadn’t really thought about—not before meeting Brandon and all of the Andersons.

They were obviously filled with just as much, if not more, drive as her parents—as her, as well—but they did have a loving, wild, almost crazy family. Would they be rulers of the entire world if they were as strict as her parents? She wondered if research had been done on that.

Maybe somewhere out there twins had been separated at birth. One given to a set of easygoing sleep-on-Sundays-all-day-long parents, and one given to a type A, go-go-go set of parents. And then the babies were followed, watched, observed, day and night. Maybe it was a Truman Show type of experience.

Even if someone had done something like that, they’d never admit to it, so there wouldn’t be a way of showing studies. It would be unethical—unlawful in most places. She wasn’t quite sure why her mind worked the way it did or why she thought of things like this. Maybe because she was always trying to achieve more. And most people did that by constantly thinking.

She kissed her father goodbye and made her way to her assigned classroom. She was going to put away her thoughts and enjoy her day. If it was a good group of students, it would be fun. If it wasn’t, then she could tell herself at least she might learn something new she could use in her restaurant.

If she was positive about each moment in her life, then she’d have no regrets when looking back—just plenty of wins and a lot of learning experiences.

CHAPTER FOUR

Brandon sat on his back deck, his thoughts on Chloe. Of course, that seemed to be where his thoughts were every second of the day. It was now interfering with his work. He wondered if he was truly as into this girl as he felt he was or if the thought of having to chase her was what made him chase her that much harder.

He didn’t normally chase women—not even when he was younger and didn’t have much to his name. It had taken him time to make a name for himself. And he wasn’t talking about the Anderson fortune. He’d built a successful career long before he’d found out he was one of those Andersons.

He had gone to trade school, gotten his electrical license, and owned his own business by the time he was thirty-two. He’d worked hard at building trust with clients, and they’d gladly followed him when he’d branched out on his own. Now with the veterans center under his belt, he felt as if the sky was the limit. Not because it was with the infamous Anderson collection of projects, but because the world’s eyes were going to be on it and see that everything had been done right and fast. He didn’t slack because of who he was. That only made him push that much harder.

He heard his brother approaching before he saw him. This wasn’t unusual. He’d always been close to his siblings. There was no need for knocking on the door when it was always open to those he loved and trusted.

With four siblings, sometimes that door never had a chance to fully shut. He wasn’t complaining. He couldn’t imagine what a quiet life would be like. Probably