Page 37 of Miles & Mistletoe

I narrowed my eye on him. “Did I make a joke?”

“You might as well have. I remember saying those exact same words to you the first time you asked about Kelly.”

I inhaled and thought back to five years earlier, around the time I first remember seeing Bruce with his now-wife. I pushed out a breath when I realized he was correct. He had responded in the exact same way when I’d asked about the woman he’d brought to our company’s Christmas party. Bruce had been as possessive and tight-lipped about the woman that’d shown up on his arm that night. However, even in my inadequate understanding of relationships, I could see that something was different about whatever was going on between the two of them.

“You know, our father was wrong.”

My eye widened as I turned back to Bruce. His expression was more serious this time around. I took another sip of champagne.

“He taught us we didn’t need anything or anyone that couldn’t provide us with more power or money. That was how he lived his life, and it’s why when he died very few people had anything nice to say about him, let alone could share any loving memories of him. It was meeting Kelly that showed me life was better when you build actual relationships with others. When you learn to love and let someone love you in return.”

I gritted my teeth, hating that it was my brother saying all of this. Something in my gut was telling me it was the truth, but after more than thirty-five years of not-so-friendly sibling rivalry with Bruce, it was more than a little difficult to swallow coming from him.

“I realize I’m the last person you want to be hearing this from,” Bruce finally stated.

“So why are you telling me?” I questioned, taking the final sip of my champagne.

“Because if what you feel for this woman is anything remotely close to what I felt for my wife at the beginning of our relationship, I know you have a war going on inside of you. One you don’t have to fight.” He stepped closer, placing is arm on my shoulder, and for the first time since I could remember, I didn’t jerk away from his touch.

I stared at my brother before looking over his shoulder to Stacia who was laughing with Kelly and two other women. Something strong washed over me in that moment. I looked back to Bruce.

“For once in your life, you might be—”

“Ian, there you are,” Jamie’s anxious voice interrupted my response to Bruce.

I frowned, wondering what the hell was so urgent that she needed to interrupt the conversation so rudely for.

“My apologies, Bruce, but I must speak with Ian,” she demanded.

Bruce gave Jamie a long look before finally nodding and taking a step back. “If you need some privacy, there is a guest room down the hall, first door on the left.”

I looked at Bruce as if he’d lost his mind. I was sure whatever Jamie insisted we needed to discuss wouldn’t need to be talked about in such a private way. For some strange reason, Jamie had become more of a pest than an employee, as of late. Even once I’d informed her that I was only taking calls for emergencies during my days off before Bruce’s Christmas Eve party, she had called my office and cell phone a number of times about one thing or another. Thankfully, my assistant at the home office was able to block most of her attempts to contact me directly. The few calls she had made to my cell went directly to voicemail and I’d opted not to respond by text or email either. In all honesty, I had forgotten to respond. When spending time with Stacia alone at the cabin, it was easy to forget that a whole world existed outside of the two of us.

At that moment, Stacia looked up from the group of women she was with, directly at me. A smile creased her lips. Not the same smile she’d just given the women but a genuine one, just for me. Unfortunately, the exchange between Stacia and I was too short, due to the fact that Jamie stepped into my line of sight.

“Ian, we need to talk.”

I lowered my gaze to Jamie, gritting my teeth. “Let’s.”

I pivoted on my heels and followed the direction Bruce had given us toward the guest room. I didn’t bother to check to see if Jamie followed behind me.

****

As soon as the door closed behind her, I ripped into Jamie.

“What the hell is your problem? You have one job to do. Public relations. It’s your fucking job to make my company, and by extension me, look better to the public. I take a few days off and you’re constantly calling and up my ass, now you show up to the company Christmas party, interrupting a private conversation and demanding we talk. About what?” I screeched, causing Jamie’s eyes to widen as she took a small step back.

I took a step back as well, not intending to frighten her but she had gotten on my damn nerves. Plus, she wasn’t the woman I wanted to see at that moment. In fact, she was the woman who was obstructing my being able to see the woman I wanted to see. Therefore, Jamie needed to state whatever it was she had to say and fast.

“I just got word that we have a problem. The Collinses are threatening to pull out of the deal you made, along with our bottle maker.”

My frown deepened. She was referring to two different deals. “Says who and why?” I folded my arms across my chest.

“Apparently, Nikola Collins was informed that Zerlinger Beer has a security breach. It somehow got on the wire that Zerlinger Beer was going into business with the Collinses.”

My head jutted back in surprise. That news wasn’t supposed to be made public until the following spring.

“Who knows about this? How did they find out?”

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