Page 74 of Impending Consent

I headed to the door, and after a quick goodbye, I was off to work. The downtown traffic was its usual Monday morning nightmare, giving me time to mentally prepare for the questions I knew were coming. TJ hadn't said much after the dinner with our parents, but I knew my brother. He was processing, formulating his thoughts, and eventually, he'd want to talk.

When I walked into our offices, my assistant was the first person I saw. She was standing near the receptionist’s desk, sipping coffee with her eyes narrowed on her phone.

"Morning, Sheila, any messages?"

"Just a few calls to return." She handed me a small stack of pink slips which she lifted from her desk. Instead of emails she was old school and preferred to write out each message. I hated it because it was too much to keep up with but I loved Sheila and so did my siblings. She was efficient, thorough, and kept things running smoothly around here. "And your brother is looking for you. Said to send you his way when you got in."

"Thanks." I nodded, heading toward my office to drop off my things before facing my brother.

I'd barely set my briefcase down before Teej appeared in my doorway, dressed impeccably in a navy suit with his expression carefully neutral.

"Morning, Sail," he said, leaning against the doorframe.

"Morning. How was the rest of your weekend?"

"Fine. Indi and I took it easy yesterday. You?"

I thought of Rival beating the crap out of Julian, the tension between us afterward, and our quiet resolution among throw pillows at Ponce City Market.

"Same.”

TJ arched his brow but didn't call me on it. He stepped fully into my office and closed the door behind him. "We should talk about Saturday night."

"Do we have to?" I sighed, dropping into my chair.

"Yes. Sail, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I wasn't, clearly. I was drunk and impulsive."

“Not the marriage. We already cleared that up. I meant confessing to Dad. You know how he is and that's not like you."

"Being impulsive isn't like me? Please. I'm the queen of rash decisions. Hence the reason Saturday was so entertaining."

"Impulsive, yes, but not like this. Random sex? Sure. Spontaneous trips? Absolutely. But marriage? That's next level, even for you, and to fess up to Dad is…”

“Stupid, I know.”

He grinned and shook his head, then his expression turned serious. “Mature and I’m proud of you. You’re owning this, which I didn’t believe was possible.”

I couldn't argue with that. “Thank you.”

"You’re welcome. So you're really stuck with this for a year?"

"Unless I want to lose half my assets, which includes the firm, yes."

TJ frowned. "Here's what I don't get. He seems like a good guy, Sail. Solid. Why would someone like that agree to this arrangement and why would he insist on seeing it through?"

I thought about Rival's words from yesterday.You matter to me, Sailor. More than I expected you to.

"He says he sees something in me. In us," I admitted quietly.

"And do you? See something in him?"

The question caught me off guard.Did I?Images flashed through my mind of Rival's hands crafting a table in his workshop, his steady and protective presence as he faced off with my father, the gentleness in how he handled me when he didn’t have to because I was a fucking mess. I saw more in him than I expected too.

"Maybe," I whispered, more to myself than to my brother.

His expression softened. “That's not such a bad thing."

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