Page 67 of Billionaire Unexplained: Kaleb

“It’s Sunday for fuck’s sake,” I told him, irritated. “You would think they could wait until tomorrow.”

The only reason I’d agreed to discuss this project with Tanner tonight is because I knew that Anna would be tied up in a meeting.

Otherwise, I would have told him to go screw himself until we go into the office tomorrow.

“You’re really uptight,” Tanner observed.

Hell, yes, I was irritated.

I’d waited all damn day to get Anna alone at home, and we were sitting in two separate rooms going over business on a Sunday.

A few months ago, this would have been a normal occurrence. I’d worked every single day. But I hadn’t even looked at a business document on the weekends since Anna had come to stay with me, and now I liked it that way.

“We’ll deal with this tomorrow,” Tanner said sympathetically. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said dismissively. “I just don’t feel like dealing with business on the weekend.”

Tanner raised a brow from his chair across the desk from me. “Who are you, and what did you do with my workaholic older brother?”

“I told you that I was evaluating my priorities. If you must know, I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to convince Anna that we need to see each other after she leaves for California.”

That very issue had been on my mind all day.

There was no way in hell that I could take her to bed and casually say goodbye to her in two weeks’ time.

That was not going to work for me.

Not. Going. To. Happen.

“I’m glad you finally figured out that you need her. I’ve never seen you live a somewhat balanced life, and you haven’t had a single nightmare about Shelby since you met Anna. I think she was that priority that was completely missing from your life, Kaleb. You needed a reason to live a more balanced life,” Tanner said, his voice relieved. “You’ll work it out. If you care about her, there’s no reason why you can’t see each other. It might be complicated, but I think she’s worth it. I don’t think it will take much convincing. She’s crazy about you, too. She’s going to want to see you. It’s not like you can’t work remote if you want to stay in California for a while. Devon and I are both in the office most of the time.”

“I’ll talk to her about it later,” I told him. “What are you doing here anyway? Isn’t Lauren coming home soon? How is she doing?”

Lauren Collier was extremely close to Tanner. In fact, she was almost like an honorary little sister to him. He’d been watching out for her since her brother, Keith, had died. Keith Collier had been Tanner’s best friend, and when he’d died suddenly just when Lauren had been leaving for college, Tanner had made it his business to take care of her. Keith had been Lauren’s guardian, and she’d had no other family.

“Still as smart as ever,” Tanner said with a grin. “She’ll be staying with me for a few weeks. She’s coming home permanently. She’s tired of living on the East Coast and she has enough experience to move back to Montana now and work remotely. She wants to find a place of her own before she makes that move.”

Lauren had a PhD in economics, and she’d been working as a market researcher for the last few years on the East Coast.

I liked Lauren. Always had. She was gifted, and she’d flown through her PhD in record time. I’d also known her most of her life, and she’d become like a member of our family over the years.

“I’m sure you’re happy,” I commented.

Even though Lauren had a doctorate and was all grown up, I knew that Tanner still worried about her long distance.

He nodded. “I am happy. She’ll be arriving in a day or two. It’s been too long since I’ve seen her in person.”

I hadn’t seen her for a while. Tanner had flown for brief visits with her in Boston, but she hadn’t been back to Montana for a few years. “Bring her over,” I suggested. “I’d like to see her, too.”

“I’d like to,” Tanner said hesitantly. “But there might be a problem with that. She’s a huge Annelise fan.”

“You really think she’d recognize her? No one else has,” I reminded him.

He shrugged. “Maybe not. I guess we can deal with that if it happens. Lauren would never tell anyone if she knew it was a secret. I trust her. Did you tell Anna about the shell company?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “She took it pretty well considering she lost a few million dollars. She wasn’t that concerned about losing the money. She’s more worried about the fact that it was an unusual investment for her father. I think she suspects the same thing we do. That it could be connected to her parents’ murders.”

“It’s honestly the only thing that makes sense since her mom and dad really had no enemies,” Tanner said thoughtfully.

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