Page 10 of Knocked Up by my Best Friend's Brothers

I laugh as the waiter comes back with the dessert menu. “I think I know what I’m ordering, assuming it’s still your house dessert,” I tell him.

“The tiramisu?” the waiter asks with a charming smile.

“That’s it.”

“Two, please,” Teagan says. “And I think we’ll go for two more glasses of wine as well.”

“Same label?”

We both nod at the same time. Once the waiter leaves with our order, I give Teagan a curious look. “I said I’m sticking around, Tee. Why won’t you believe me?”

“You also said you’d come back after CalTech,” she answers with a pair of doe eyes.

“Well, that was the original plan. I just… I saw the opportunities down there, and I changed my mind. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Teagan replies. “It’s your life, your career. I just want to give you a nudge in the right direction this time. Believe it or not, you belong here, Christa.”

“I want to believe that. I’m just not sure about the job opportunities here for me,” I say. “I don’t know what the fintech sector looks like in Portland.”

“Well, I don’t know either, but I do know that the Hawthorne Steel Mills Corporation is looking to expand into the green energy sector and the cryptocurrency sector, and they need a top-notch fintech analyst to handle an already-massive portfolio. Plus, there’s the crossover into the defense field because Nathan is about to get us a meeting with the DOD thissummer.”

“Oh, wow. The Department of Defense...

“Whatever you were paid before, we’ll double it,” Teagan says, nodding.

“Wait, seriously?”

“You’d have your own domain here. Free reins. All the equipment and software licenses you need. Clearance across the board. You name it, you’ve got it.”

“Wait, wait, Teagan, hold on,” I say, trying to wrap my head around the whole thing. “Am I hearing this right? You want me to come to work for Hawthorne Steel?”

She gives me a troubled look. “Would that be a problem?”

“God, no.”

“You wouldn’t be working for me directly. I’m not even a Hawthorn employee, remember. I’ve got my art gallery projects, the museum tours, the social media collab with the Met Gala. My hands are already full.”

“Oh, I know. You were never a steel girl,” I chuckle lightly. “But working for the Hawthornes be considered nepotism of some sort? I mean, I know we’re not technically related, but we’re like family.”

And I just screwed her brother so hard, my pussy still clenches with longing and desire whenever I think about it. Pretty sure there’s a penthouse reserved in the deepest pits of hell for me.

Teagan leans back in her chair. “I know for a fact that my brothers have found nobody they can trust who is even half as qualified for the position as you,” she says. “And they’ve beendoing interviews for about six months already.”

“Last I checked, Portland had its fair share of capable fintech specialists. A couple were recruited from here to work for Langham Corp out in Silicon Valley. I met them at a convention in San Francisco last fall.”

“Ah, well, here’s the thing,” Teagan replies with a nervous grin. “Cassius, River, Nathan… You know they had a pretty long career with the Marines, right?”

“Stellar, if their medals of valor mean anything.”

“Yes. A lot of their work was in the intelligence branch. They’ve got a bit of a trust issue, and someone’s screwup almost got the three of them killed during a mission about two years ago,” she says. “They’re annoyingly picky. I get it, though. With the family business, there is no room for error.”

“Would I be working with them directly?”

“No,” she answers quickly. “And Tony is going to do the interview. It’s the one concession I got from them since they’re not working directly with the person they want in this position.”

“Are you sure I’d be a good fit?”

“You are loyal and you are brilliant. That’s what I know about you. The rest, you can figure out during the interview, like if the company is a good fit for you and if you’re a good fit for the company. It goes both ways. But I am confident you are exactly what my brothers are looking for.”

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