Page 50 of The Charmer

He moved his hand, touching my naked upper back. "This was more tense, and it was visible."

My skin turned white-hot at the contact, but I relaxed into his touch. "Now that you mention it, it does feel like the tension just melted away. But I’m enjoying the prospect of another event. Good food and music..."

"Don't forget the business connections," he added.

What were we doing? Convincing each other that it was a good idea for us to pretend? The idea of kissing Julian again made me think that even running into Kyle was worth it.

"All right, then. If you're sure. But don't you have to check if you can get an invitation first?"

He tilted his head. "Don't mean to brag, but I'm a LeBlanc. I will get that invitation."

“Hmm... that sounds a lot like bragging.”

He winked. “Sometimes I can’t help myself. Besides, we should smooth out a few details if we're telling people that we're a couple."

He said the last word in a strange tone, like he'd never uttered it in his life. I was fighting laughter with all I had. I was successful only because I stuffed another forkful of food into my mouth.

"You first," I managed to say.

"So, there are six of us brothers. I'm the oldest, and then there's Chad. He runs the restaurant branch of the Orleans Conglomerate. Obviously, LeBlanc & Broussard is the flagship one, but there are many in the portfolio."

"And you're in charge of bars," I said after I swallowed.

"Exactly."

"How many do you have?"

"Twenty."

My eyes bulged. "That's impressive. All of them are in the Quarter?"

"No, but quite a few are. We have ten in the city and ten more throughout Louisiana. Then comes Xander. He’s the CFO of the Orleans Conglomerate and doesn't focus on a specific branch. I'm not even sure how that happened. One day, he started going through numbers, we all realized he was very good at it, and that was it. Then there's Zachary."

"Is he like you?"

"In some ways, yes. He's very blasé about everything, but he's also the one you want in charge if there's an emergency. He's the head of the shipping part of the company."

"The Orleans Conglomerate does just about everything, hmm?"

"Yes, though the shipping part is rarely talked about. Probably because it’s not as flashy as the rest. My youngest brothers, Beckett and Anthony, are running the rest of the branches between them—bakeries and music venues and so on."

"How are those different from bars?" I imagined something akin to Kyle’s place on Bourbon.

"Some are jazz clubs. We also have two big music venues for concerts.”

The LeBlanc family had to be fabulously wealthy. I hadn't put two and two together until now, possibly because Julian seemed so approachable. I mean, I knew they were legends in the community, but it was more than I could’ve imagined.

"And you took over from your parents or grandparents?"

"Both sets of grandparents and my dad ran it for a long time. Each branch of the family had quite a few businesses. Some were direct competitors, which was why they weren't very keen on my parents being together in the first place."

I nodded. "Family rivalry. I'm starting to dig this. It's so juicy."

"It really is," Julian went on. "And my grandparents can't stop repeating it. They add more details every time. I keep wondering if some are made up or not."

"My nana was like that too. She kept repeating stories, but they were a bit different each time. When I was small, I figured it was just that old people had a bad memory. Then I started to suspect that she might be embellishing them."

"Exactly!" Julian snapped his fingers as if he'd had a light-bulb moment.

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