Page 62 of Inked Obsession

Eliza stood by my side, and I did my best not to notice every breath she took, but I felt the heat of her at my side.

Why had I ignored my attraction for so long? Yes, it made sense that I had and needed to. But now that I thought about it, there had always been heat there—at least on my side. Even if it was taboo.

“So, how’s the Jackson project coming?” my dad asked, and everybody stopped speaking to look over at my father. He was looking directly at me, a small smile on his face. “I’m not asking to jump in. But Iaminterested. I love what we do. I love the company. But I’m not going to butt in. Unless you want my opinion. Still, I want to know where you’re at. I don’t know, I feel like I’m off-balance here.” He shrugged, then stuck his hands into his pockets. My mother linked her arm with his and patted his chest.

“It’s okay, honey. I know you’re trying.”

He smiled down at her and blinked. They looked happy. Much less stressed than they had in recent years. I met my siblings’ gazes, and they shrugged.

We were all trying, doing our best not to fuck up. But life didn’t make things easy. No, it made things a little more complicated. Brenna and Lee stood off to the side, a little apart from the rest of us, and I hated that. I wanted to know what Brenna was dealing with, but I’d wait until she felt comfortable enough to tell me. Lee was never good at the whole big-family thing, but he hung out with us because he was our friend.

Paige’s significant other, Colton, was slightly off to the side, as well, but still with our people. Eliza stood behind me, closer to Annabelle and Jacob, yet still in my periphery.

We were all part of a whole, yet the complicated pieces didn’t quite fit together. Maybe it was my secrets that had made me feel slightly off. Maybe it was the way Dad had treated us at the company. I didn’t know. But I was the eldest brother; I needed to fix things—somehow. I couldn’t fix what was going on with Brenna right now, not that it was my place to do so, but I would damned well try when and if an opportunity presented itself. And I couldn’t fix this feeling inside me when it came to Eliza, at least not yet. But I could be the big brother, and I could try.

I cleared my throat.

“We’re right on track. Annabelle’s working up a new set of plans for the addition to the project that the client was asking for.”

Annabelle cleared her throat as she gave me a small smile. “Yes, and I’m having fun with it. I think you and Mom might actually want to look it over. It’s something different, but it reminds me a little bit of what you guys did back in the mid-nineties.”

“Oh?” my mom asked, grinning. It looked as if somebody had pulled a thousand pounds of weight off each of their shoulders. They both leaned forward, wanting to know more.

We weren’t quite there yet. We weren’t the cohesive, funny, loud, and sarcastic Montgomery bunch the rest of my cousins were, but we were getting there.

At least, I hoped so.

“Maybe you can come in on Monday and look?” Paige asked, bouncing on her toes. Colton had his hand on her hip, keeping her in place, and she smiled up at him. “I mean, if you want to come into the building. If it’s not too much.”

Benjamin cleared his throat. “There’s a couple of things you might want to look at. Just to see. We’re pretty proud of it.”

My dad looked at me then, and then at Archer. Archer shrugged. “We’d love to have you.”

I looked at my dad. “Seriously. We love you guys. We’re figuring this all out, but you’re our parents. You built this company. And now it’s ours, but we don’t hate you guys. We don’t want to push you out completely to the point where you’re never part of anything we do.”

“And I’ll do my best not to barrel through like a bull in a china shop and fuck things over.”

“Language,” my mom said, and my dad rolled his eyes.

“I’m pretty sure you’re the one who taught the girls to say ‘fuck’ before I did.”

“It’s true,” Annabelle said, as my mom blushed.

“Okay, okay. We can talk about coming into the office later. Speaking of, I’m sorry that Clay couldn’t come tonight. I sent him some soup though for the little one.”

I frowned. “Clay couldn’t come?” I asked, just now realizing that my assistant and his brood weren’t here.

Benjamin leaned forward. “The littlest one has an ear infection, and he didn’t want to leave the baby with a babysitter. Mom sent over food, and I’ll send some more over tomorrow.”

“Thanks. I’m sorry I didn’t know about that.”

“You were just getting back when everything happened, and I know you’ve been a little busy,” Annabelle said pointedly, her gaze going over to Eliza.

“Well, if there’s anything I can do, let me know. I mean, I should call him anyway and see if I can help. Out of all of us, my schedule is a little freer.”

“I love all of you so much,” my mom said as she looked around. “You are so helpful and sweet and wonderful, and our family keeps growing.” She looked at Colton and Marc and Jacob. And then at Lee and Brenna and even Eliza. “I know you guys aren’t technically Montgomerys, but in my heart, you are. I love that we can joke about cheeses, and the fact that our dear Annabelle can’t have any.”

“Way to rub it in, Mom,” Annabelle grumbled.

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