“What do you mean she left?” Brody demanded.
“Um…”
“When did she leave?” he snapped and when the poor girl flinched, he knew he needed to calm down. After getting up and going for his morning run, he had gotten waylaid by his father and Travis regarding a deal with a contractor for their new facility going up in Tennessee. That had led to multiple emergency phone calls and by the time he showered and went back downstairs, he couldn’t find Leanna anywhere.
Which was how he ended up yelling at one of her staff.
Doing his best to calm down, he forced a smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name,” he said gently.
“Emilie, Sir. I’m Leanna’s assistant.”
With a nod, he asked, “And you’re sure she left?”
“Yes, Sir. We helped her load up the van an hour ago. Half of us stayed behind to make sure nothing was needed during brunch and then we’re going to do a final cleaning here before we go. I hope that’s okay.”
She was nervous and he felt a little bit bad about it, but he was beyond frustrated that Lea would leave without saying goodbye.
Especially after last night.
“Thank you, Emilie,” he said before walking out of the trailer. If he had stayed there and let his mind wander for even a second to what he and Leanna did last night, he would have embarrassed himself for sure because…wow. She had rocked his world in a way he hadn’t expected and it killed him that he had been stupid enough to leave her bed this morning because he didn’t want to mess up his stupid triathlon training.
He’d gladly skip the whole damn thing if he could be back in bed with her right now.
“Obviously that’s not going to happen,” he muttered as he stalked back into the house.
There was no way he was going to sit through brunch by himself–or rather, without Leanna–and since that was the only reason for him to still be here, he knew he could leave.
And he’d deal with any fallout from his family later.
If anyone asked, he’d say there was a crisis on the job–which there was–and he needed to get to the office to deal with it.
Jogging up the stairs to the third floor, Brody did a quick sweep of his rooms and packed up what he needed, then jogged right back down. The only people in the house were the staff so he was able to go out and go right to his car without having to stop. It wasn’t until he was behind the wheel that he pulled out his phone and contemplated calling Leanna.
But he didn’t have her number.
Muttering a curse, he slammed his fist on the steering wheel and wondered how he could have missed that one important detail.
Probably because you didn’t see this as anything beyond a weekend hookup.
Maybe that was how it started, but it sure as hell didn’t stay that way.
Last night he had been hell-bent on letting her know that he wasn’t looking for any kind of relationship or entanglement, but now he wasn’t quite so sure.
Without the annoyance of the never-ending engagement party, he was curious about what it would be like to go out with Leanna on a real date–to take her to dinner and back to his home where he could be the one to seduce her this time.
“Going to be hard to do without a phone number,” he reminded himself. With another curse, he started the car and quickly sped down the massive driveway. It wasn’t until he was on the highway that an idea hit him.
He might not be able to do anything about talking to her today, but tomorrow she’d be back at work and he could definitely call her there. As much as it annoyed him to have to wait, there really was a crisis with King Hospitality that he needed to wrap up.
But once that was resolved, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that he was going to do a little research into Meet Me at the Altar and the sexy little baker who he couldn’t get out of his mind.
Fortunately, the drive was relatively easy with very little traffic and as he made his way toward Raleigh, he began to question just why it was that he couldn’t get Leanna out of his mind.
She was beautiful–that was a given–but he’d been out with plenty of beautiful women that he’d been able to move on from once the night was over.
Maybe it was his guilt for getting up and leaving her in bed this morning, he thought, and then immediately pushed that thought aside because, again, he’d done that countless times before without any regrets.
“So where the hell does that leave me?” he wondered out loud.
He got off at his exit and really forced himself to think about the weekend and for whatever reason, he knew talking about it out loud was odd but effective for him.
“Okay, it’s not just her looks–even though she truly is beautiful. We do have a lot in common,” he went on. “We’re both workaholics who don’t like to delegate because we know no one can do the job as well as we do.”
That actually was a strong point in her favor.
“She has no trouble speaking her mind and I appreciate that.” He thought of all her snarky comments the day they met and found himself laughing softly at them. “So she’s no pushover, that’s for sure.”
Throughout the entire weekend, there had never been a lull in the conversation and she wasn’t someone he felt like he had to pretend with.
Which was ironic considering they were pretending to date all weekend.
No, she accepted him for who he was–even in a fake relationship situation. His own family didn’t accept him for who he was and Brody realized how much it actually meant to him that Leanna did. And on top of that, it was something else they had in common because she struggled with the same thing from her own family.
Just minus the open hostility his family threw his way.
So they were compatible on many levels even before they got to the bedroom.
He shifted slightly in his seat just thinking about all the ways she had turned him upside down last night. All weekend long he figured her to be quiet and reserved in bed. The kisses they had shared each night were amazing in their own right, but Brody had her pegged as a woman who either didn’t have a lot of experience or who would be shy in the bedroom.
And it was just another way she proved him wrong.
If he weren’t driving, he knew he could close his eyes and still see that sexy-as-hell dress slithering to the floor and the sight of her in nothing but panties and heels.
He pressed the heel of his hand against his fly because apparently he didn’t need to close his eyes to still feel the effect of how she looked.
With a groan, he turned into his gated community and sped toward his house. It was going to be good to have a little peace and quiet and return to his normal routine without having to walk on eggshells all damn day. He had given his brother what he wanted, but now that the celebration was over, it was back to business as usual, and in the offices of King Hospitality, he was the one calling the shots.
Pulling into the garage, Brody shut off the car and let out a long breath. “Home sweet home.”
And really, it was.
The historical, mid-century modern home was a project he took on five years ago and only recently finished all the renovations on–including a massive addition. Now, at 6,000 square feet, the house had everything he wanted. His master suite was as big as the suite of rooms he had at his parents’ home, and the master bathroom had been featured in several architectural design magazines. There were four other bedrooms and five other bathrooms, an office, a gym, a gourmet kitchen, and a man cave that housed some of his favorite sports memorabilia that made him the envy of his friends. All of it was located on two acres of perfectly-manicured property that would never house a party tent or trailers.