One Good Reason

“But—” There were so many objections crowding her throat she couldn’t decide which one to voice first. “But he’s not a cabinet-maker or a French polisher, is he?”

“He’s a builder, and he’s good. He’ll pull his weight.”

“So, is this a temporary thing? A couple of weeks? A month?” Gabby asked.

“It’s for as long as it needs to be.”

“What are you? Yoda? As long as it needs to be? What the hell does that mean?”

Tyler sighed. “Sometimes I forget what a pain in the ass you can be. Can’t you just do what you’re told for a change?”

It stung. Useless to pretend it didn’t. She was only looking out for him. Worrying about his business. And he thought she was a pain in the ass.

“Fine. I’ll add him on as a permanent employee.” She picked up a pen and poised it over her notepad, ready to take down his instructions verbatim, since that was clearly the kind of employee he wanted her to be. “Anything else I can do for you?”

“Gabby. Come on. Don’t go all cat’s-bum-mouthed on me. You know I was only joking.”

Nice to know he found her hurt feelings amusing.

“Way to smooth talk me, silver tongue.”

“I’m sorry I called you a pain in the ass.” He said it like a dutiful schoolboy reciting his times tables.

She raised her eyebrows.

“And the cat’s bum comment was completely uncalled for,” he added.

“No kidding. And good work with the sincerity there, too. It’s really convincing.”

Tyler grinned. “Are we friends again?”

Friends.

For three years, they had been a lot more than friends. He’d been her lover, had practically lived at her place. She’d built all kinds of white-picket dreams around him. Then she’d realized that he was never going to share himself with her in the way she needed, and she’d pulled the pin on their relationship. He’d been angry at first. Convinced that she was asking for something he didn’t have to give. But after a while they’d settled into a friendship and she’d come to work for him.

Then he’d fallen in love with Ally and given all of himself to her freely and openly without a second’s thought.

“Your minute’s up,” she said.

Tyler laughed. Despite the fact that she was still annoyed with him, she couldn’t stop her mouth from twitching in response to the rich sound.

He pointed a finger at her. “I saw that.”

“Stop pretending you’re charming, because you’re not. You can’t ask for my opinion and advice one minute and then tell me to pull my head in the next.”

Tyler must have picked up on the seriousness of her tone because his smile faded.

“I was only joking, Gab, okay?” He was sincere this time, his eyes very sober.

She nodded, feeling ridiculous for being so prickly. She blamed the stranger she’d found at her desk this morning—Tyler’s brother had thrown her off her pace and she was still trying to regain her equilibrium.

“I’ll get the paperwork sorted today. What do you want me to set up as far as payroll goes?”

The million-dollar question—exactly what was Tyler paying his underqualified, transient brother?

“I’ll take care of that.”

She frowned, but this time she didn’t say anything. Before she’d joined the business, Tyler had handled the administration himself, so he was more than capable of adding an employee to the payroll. Why he suddenly chose to do so now when she’d been taking care of it for years was a whole other issue.

“Right. Then I guess we’re sorted,” she said.

“Good stuff.” Tyler stood, lifting his coffee mug in a casual salute before heading out the door.

She focused on her work, pushing all the nagging voices in her head to one side. At the end of the day, the name on the sign was T.A. Furniture Design. He was the one taking the risk, therefore he got to make the decisions.

Meaning she was going to have to get used to having his brother around.

It was an unsettling thought. Which was stupid. She got along with all the guys; she’d always been the kind of woman who got on well with men. They ragged on each other, told jokes, had the occasional beer together after work. They were her mates. And despite their not-so-great start, there was no reason why she wouldn’t rub along fine with Jon, too.

No reason at all.

JON TURNED OFF THE ORBITAL sander and ran his hand over the tabletop. In the very early days of his apprenticeship he’d dabbled in furniture making, but he hadn’t had the patience for it then. Now, he felt the smoothness of the wood beneath his fingers and felt a definite sense of achievement and satisfaction.

He was about to switch the sander on again when someone touched his arm. He looked up to see his brother standing there.

Jon slid off his ear protectors. “What’s up?”

“It’s quitting time. In case you hadn’t noticed.”

He glanced around in surprise. He’d been so lost in his work that he hadn’t registered that the rest of the guys had gone home for the day.

“Right. Well, I’ve still got a way to go with this.” Jon indicated the tabletop.

“You can finish it tomorrow. We’re ahead of deadline on that job.”

“I told Dino I’d have it ready for him in the morning. I’m happy to lock up if you want to head home.”

“Gabby usually does that. She’s still working.”

“Is that safe?”

Tyler raised his eyebrows. “You worried she doesn’t know how to handle a lock and key?”

Jon ignored the joke. “What if someone was hanging around? She probably doesn’t weigh more than a hundred pounds.”

In fact, his brother’s office manager was so slight it had taken him longer than it should have this morning to figure out that the slim woman glaring at him was an adult, let alone Tyler’s right-hand woman. With her boyishly short hair and jeans and T-shirt, she’d looked more like a skinny teen than a woman who helped run a multimillion-dollar business.

“Don’t ever let Gabby hear you say that,” Tyler said. “She’ll tear you a new one.”