Page 83 of Of Pranks and Passion

Still, I was polite enough to nod at her. “Hello.”

She waited, like she expected a reaction to her outfit, but before I had to force myself to say something nice, my phone rang. I picked it up automatically and put it to my ear.

“Warner.”

“Good evening, Mr. Warner. I’m sorry for the interruption, but your request to meet with the head of Samsung was approved for next week. Did you want me to arrange a flight?”

Angel was such a fucking shit. I should have gotten some kind of acting award for not laughing and sticking to the script.

“That sounds good. Is the jet available?”

“I’ll make sure it’s fueled and ready, sir. Is there anything else I can get you?” he purred. He told me he’d call and flirt, to make me look less attached to Gary when he wasn’t around me. Flirting with a secretary was supposedly expected of execs in billion dollar companies. Which was fucking gross, honestly.

I forced myself to smirk. “I’ll call you if I can think of something. Send me the details for that flight.”

“As you wish.”

Ugh. I wanted to shudder at the thought of Angel flirting with me. I swallowed the urge down and hung up, tucking my phone away again. “Sorry. Business,” I explained to the family, who was watching me avidly.

Brienna sat beside me, putting her talon tipped hand on my forearm. “You’re a busy and important man. We understand that. I hope my brother isn’t demanding too much of your time. I know he can be… needy.”

Only in the ways I enjoyed. Gary was perfectly fine entertaining himself or hanging out with the guys if I was busy. He was probably looking over his class list right now to see if he could get ahead in his reading. Nerd.

Angel said to be aloof. He didn’t say I had to badmouth Gary. I wouldn’t agree to that if I had to. Instead, I pretended notto care. “I dropped him off at his dorm after he met with my parents. He’s busy trying to get ahead of his classes.”

“So he’s ignoring you then?” Brienna mock frowned. “That’s not very nice. You work hard. He should be taking care of you. If it was me, I would dedicate all my attention to you and you alone.” She squeezed my forearm, leaning forward suggestively, trying to draw my attention to her tits. She did that the last time I spoke to her. Did flashing her tits normally get her what she wanted?

I gave her a placid smile. “It’s fine. I’m busy with work a lot. You said you had something you wanted to talk to me about.”

GARY

“Wasn’t it your idea to send him alone?” Angel asked.

My shoulders slumped. I’d been pacing since Easton texted me that he’d arrived. The only time I stopped was when Angel called him and pretended to be his secretary to make him look important. I was still annoyed with him about the flirting, though.

I shot him a dirty look before I started pacing again.

Angel threw his hands into the air and walked away. “I give up. No matter how many times I say the flirting was fake, he’s still pissed at me. The possessiveness goes both ways with you two.”

Maybe. Okay, probably. One reason I was so freaked out right now was because I knew Brienna would take every opportunity to steal Easton. I didn’t want her touching him. He was mine.

“Want a hit?” Smiley offered. “It’ll calm you down.”

I shook my head. “Shouldn’t he be done? He said an hour, right?”

“They’re probably dragging things out to keep him there. He wouldn’t linger. Just relax, Gary,” Angel called from the kitchen.

Easy for him to say. He actually got to talk to Easton. Flirty bastard.

The door to The Hideout swung open, and I spun around, nearly tripping over my own feet. Easton walked in, suit jacket gone and tie loosened, but he had the biggest grin on his face. He walked straight up to me and grabbed my face, hauling me to my toes for a filthy kiss. I was so shocked, my mind couldn’t catch up until after he released me.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Chuckles asked.

“We’ve fucking got them,” he crowed. “They asked for the most ridiculous bullshit, right to my face. It’s all recorded. It is going to be so much fun ruining this for them.”

Slowly, my brain came back online, and I blinked rapidly. “Wait. Wait. What happened?”

Grabbing my hands, he dragged me to the couch and tugged me down next to him. The rest of the group followed, sitting closely so they could hear his explanation. “Alright, so first of all, Gary, you’re definitely right. Your sister’s goal is to seduce me. She came downstairs in this dress that I could practically see through. I’m surprised she’d wear that thing in front of her own parents. It was basically lingerie.”

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