Good Girls Don't

“I don’t give a damn what the reason is. His life is all fucked-up, and you don’t need any part of that.”

“Like my life is so un-fucked-up right now?”

“Watch your language,” he muttered.

Tessa closed her eyes and tried to call up the patience of a nineteenth-century noblewoman.

“And,” Jamie continued in a lower tone, “it’s my life that’s messed up, not yours. By the way, what the hell did you post on Twitter last night?”

“Nothing. It’s not important. Just …” She made a frantic gesture for him to close the door. Jamie shook his head, so she slapped his arm as hard as she could. He glared at her, but closed the door.

“Give me Monica’s number,” she hissed.

“No.”

“Are you going to call her back?”

“I don’t know.”

“Come on! I can’t get in touch with her dad and we need to find out if he knows!”

“He looked right at me, Tessa. He knows. We need to stop screwing around and tell Eric before he finds out from Kendall.”

“No! We can’t! Just let me … I’ll go down to Kendall’s office right now, okay?”

“No, I’m going to tell Eric. This is one disaster you can’t cover up. I don’t even want you to.”

As he turned toward the door, Tessa leaped up and grabbed his shirt.

“Hey!”

“Please don’t. Please!”

Jamie seemed alarmed to find her sprawled over her desk. Her pack of paper clips slipped to the floor with a crash. “Tessa, calm down.”

“Tell me you won’t tell him and I’ll calm down.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“I’m not.” She felt tears spring to her eyes, and she hadn’t even summoned them to soften him up. Jamie’s shoulders fell, and when she knew he wasn’t going to dart for the door, she let go of his shirt and climbed off her desk. “He’s going to be so mad, Jamie.”

“I know that.”

“He’ll never let you take on more of the business.”

“Maybe I don’t deserve to take on more.”

She knew that wasn’t true. He didn’t have any responsibility, so he didn’t act responsibly. But Eric didn’t see the logic in that reasoning. He wanted Jamie to prove himself first, and every year the tension grew between the two men. Something had to give. And Tessa was afraid her family would be the thing to break.

“You said you’d give me a chance,” she pleaded.

“I didn’t say that. I just stopped arguing with you.”

“Please, Jamie.” His jaw tightened in stubbornness. She grabbed his hand and wrapped both of hers around it. “Pleeease?”

She knew the moment she had him. She always did. And not a second too soon. Her office door snapped open again, and Eric stuck his head in.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing!” she answered.

Jamie held her gaze, and for a moment, the serious line of his mouth worried her. She gave her head one tiny shake and squeezed his hand one last time before letting him go.

Eric clearly didn’t buy that they were just having a cozy brother/sister talk. “Guys,” he said flatly.

Jamie took a deep breath and Tessa closed her eyes. Please.

“The person Tessa was with last night? It was Luke.”

Oh, great. She opened her eyes and narrowed them at Jamie. Surely he could’ve thought of a save that didn’t throw her under the bus.

“Luke Asher?” Eric’s voice sang like a blade drawn from a scabbard. “I hope you’re kidding.”

Tessa was done with this. If Luke really had gotten his partner pregnant, then Tessa wasn’t going to see him again. And if he hadn’t … then it was still none of their business. “Forget it, both of you. It was one meal, and it’s over, okay?”

“Promise?” Jamie asked.

Tessa scowled at him. “I’m not a kid anymore.” But she crossed her fingers just in case that still counted. Both her brothers glared at her. They looked nothing alike, aside from their height. Eric was dark-haired and pale-eyed. Jamie looked like a golden-haired mess next to him. But they both wore identical expressions of stern disapproval, and she could picture the exact same frown on her father’s face. They loved her. They wanted what was best for her. Just as she wanted the best for them.

She snatched up her purse. “Okay, boys. I’ve got to go. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Their expressions turned even darker. “Why?” Eric asked.

“Because I have a doctor’s appointment.”

“What’s wrong?” he demanded.

“Um, it’s a girlie thing. You know …” She leaned forward and cupped her hand over her mouth. “The gynecologist.”

“Oh.” Eric stepped back so quickly that his shoulder hit the doorjamb. His face turned red. “It’s just a checkup, though, right? You’re not, um, engaged in anything that …”

“No,” she answered with mock seriousness. “I’m not ‘engaged in anything.’”

Sometimes she wondered who had raised whom in this family.

Now that she had both her brothers backing out of her office in horror, Tessa was free to go. She bit back a self-satisfied smile as she kissed Eric on the cheek. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

But once she hit the door, she raced to her car. She was wearing jeans and a brewery T-shirt, and she didn’t want to see Roland Kendall that way, so she had to stop at home before she drove to Denver. No matter what it took, she was going to get an answer from that man today.