Hate to Love You Strong Brothers #4) Read online

It was often sexually arousing too, not that she would know that. In fact, she wouldn't know any of it. I allowed these fun exchanges for my amusement, but I’d never let on how much it delighted me when her eyes would heat with fire, or the way the pulse at the nape of her neck would speed up, and how her cupid bow lips would fire off some sort of sharp jab.

  Instead, she would see someone who was simply poking at her because he was an arrogant jerk. I did that by design because as much as I loved women and fucking them, she was off limits. She had been from the first day I saw her as an intern at my grandmother's office. She was eager and fresh-faced as a senior business student from the local university. She had an energy and a work ethic that was admirable, and she clearly adored my grandmother as much as I and my brothers did. Then there was the thick dark hair with matching intelligent eyes, packaged in a petit, yet curvaceous body. She was absolutely the type of woman I went for, but in this case, I couldn’t have.

  While I suspected she was the type of woman that would be an enthusiastic student of bedroom games, the thing that kept me from finding out for sure was the fact that she worked for my grandmother. There were certain rules at Strong Incorporated about not fucking the staff. My three older brothers had ignored that rule, but it was one rule I was going to stick to.

  I suppose the difference between me and my brothers was that they loved the women they’d broken the rules for. For me, Andi was 100% full-throttle lust. There was also the added fact that she worked directly for my grandmother, and I knew that would be a bigger problem than what my brothers had done. I respected and revered my grandmother, and although I wouldn't admit it to anybody, I feared her little bit too, as I think everyone did. She was regal and fierce and amazing, and I could see why she hired Andi, because Andi had many of her same characteristics.

  So as much as I want to get Andi naked, the best that would ever happen between us was energetic banter.

  She stopped short when she saw me, putting her hands on her hips, arching her brow, and pursing her lips. "For somebody who doesn't want to work here, you sure spend a lot of time working here."

  I grinned in the way that I knew would make her teeth grind. "You're adorable when you're pissed, did you know that?" Let the battle begin.

  Right on cue, her jaw clamped tight. She turned, lifting her nose as she walked over to my grandmother's file cabinet. "There is other office space in this building. You don’t have to use this one."

  "Gran is hardly ever here." I put my hand over my heart and tried to have a hurt expression. "If I didn't know any better, Andi, I’d think you didn't want me here."

  "I don't, but your grandmother does. So do your brothers. Why don’t you put us all out of misery and take the job that they've offered?"

  "I don't know, maybe it's because the way you treat me makes me feel like I haven’t earned it." I turned back to the computer, a little concerned that I was revealing too much. It was true that Andi often would talk about my living off my grandmother's wealth. Flaunting it. Wasting it. She wasn't the only one to think that way. Maybe that was why this project was so important to me. As the youngest son of a wealthy family, I was dismissed by nearly everyone around me as not having earned anything.

  I didn't begrudge my brothers taking their places in the company because I knew that they loved their jobs as much as they loved Gran and the company. Plus, they were all very suited to being the heads of their departments. Hunter was the only one who had additional entrepreneurial aspirations, as he owned a restaurant, and recently, with the help of the Strong Foundation, opened the community arts Center.

  I was happy to help the company out when my technical expertise was needed, but my aspirations lay elsewhere. It's one of the reasons I was seriously thinking of moving up north to Silicon Valley. There I would be at the brain center of technology, but also, it would take me away from Andi, which was important because sometimes I felt like I was having a harder time resisting her.

  At the same time, the thought of leaving was difficult too. I wasn't sure if it was because I'd been the youngest child, coddled and indulged so much that the idea of going out on my own was difficult. Or maybe I just didn’t like the idea of being away from family. We were extremely close knit, especially after my mother died when I was young. My father had dedicated his life to me and my brothers, and it felt a little bit like abandoning him if I moved away.

  My grandmother walked in the office and I fought the urge to sit up straight to attention. This is another game that I played, where I pretended to be a slouch and indifferent to her constant requests to bring me into the business.

  "I didn't know you were coming in today, Margaret," Andi said, all prim and proper. The pervert in me wondered if she would be prim and proper with her mouth wrapped around my dick.

  My grandmother turned her attention from Andi to me arching her brow and I grinned mischievously at her.

  "Take your boots off my desk," my grandmother said.

  "Oh yeah, right," I said, pretending I'd forgotten my manners. It might seem disrespectful, but in truth, I loved my grandmother, so I rose from her chair and walked over, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "How are you Gran?"

  "Actually, I'm not doing very well, Noah. I need you and your brothers in the conference room ASAP."

  The fact that she wasn't engaging in our little game told me that she was serious. But that didn't mean I was going to work for her. "I don't work here, Gran."

  "You're a Strong, Noah. And Strongs stick together. This is a family matter and I need you there."

  "I'll go get the rest of them," Andi said as she rushed out of the room.

  I couldn't be sure that this wasn't some ploy of my grandmother's to pull me into the family business, but I was loyal to my family, and their health and happiness was important to me, so I followed her to the conference room.

  2

  Andi

  I don't know why it still surprised me to find Noah sitting at Margaret's desk. He came in often enough that I should have almost expected it. For a guy who was adamant that he wasn't going to come on board to the family company, he sure spent a lot of time working at his grandmother's desk. Of course, it probably wasn't work related to the company that brought him in. I felt certain he was mooching the company resources to work on some personal project. Knowing him, he was probably building some sort of porn site.

  But I didn't have time to worry about why Noah was there when Margaret walked in looking a bit scattered. Margaret wasn't a person that was rattled very easily, but I could tell she was concerned about whatever it is that brought her in. Being the proactive person that I was, I hurried off to gather the rest of her grandsons for a meeting. I let her deal with Noah. She was the one person he listened to, even if he pretended indifference around her.

  I headed over to Ryan's office first. I knew Margaret very well, but when she made the decision to divide the company equally between her grandsons, I was surprised that she hadn't instead decided to make Ryan the CEO. It wasn't just because he was the oldest son that I thought that. He always seemed the most stable, focused, and dedicated to the company. Not that Hunter and Carter weren't qualified or dedicated, but both of them had interests that often took them away from the office, whereas Ryan hadn't had any. That is until Kellie. Now Ryan had a wife and a child, but he was still doing a good job of being focused on the company and balancing being a husband and father.

  His door was open, so I peeked in. He had a huge grin on his face as he looked at his phone. It could only mean one of two things; either Kelly had just texted him a picture of their baby, Maggie, or he was video conferencing with them.

  I gave a light knock on the door to get his attention.

  He turned to me and smiled. "I think I have the smartest baby in the whole world," he said, holding up his phone. I walked over and looked at the picture of the baby with her fist in her mouth.

  "She's adorable, Ryan," I said. "I hate to disrupt this moment, but your grandmother is cal
ling for a meeting. It sounds important.”

  He frowned. "What's going on?"

  I shook my head. "I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it’s got her little bit shaken."

  He studied me for a moment. "Nothing shakes Gran."

  "This did." Because I still had the other brothers together, I left his office and headed over to Hunter’s.

  His door was open slightly ajar too, but because Hunter and Natalie had some unusual sexual habits, I listened before I walked right in.

  "How about I come home for lunch and you can tell me all about it," he said in a voice that sounded less like having a sandwich and more like innuendo. I knocked on the door then peeked in. He waved me in.

  "Listen, I’ve gotta go Nat. But I'll be home for lunch. I'm going to be ravenous."

  I tried to maintain my poker face, but sometimes it was hard.

  "What's up Andi?" he asked me as he set his phone on the desk.

  "Your grandmother's calling a meeting. I think it's important."

  He nodded and stood buttoning his coat. "Any idea what it's about?"

  "Whatever it is, it's important." I rushed from his office and down to Carter's. Now that he was married and had a son, he was in his office more often than he used to be. Before he traveled a lot, taking advantage of telecommuting as much as he could.

  His door was closed so I knocked and waited until he said I could come in. I entered and he had his eyes glued to the computer that I imagine was loaded with numbers. Around his desk, there were pictures of his travels that now showed him with Jess and little Tanner. There were also drawings that clearly Tanner had made for him.

  "Your Gran has called a meeting in the conference room."

  "Now? I'm going over these numbers from Asia. I think there's something off about them, but I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what it is."

  "She says it's important, and she looks concerned. Perhaps it's about this Asian expansion. I don't know."

  He nodded and stood. I didn't wait for him. Instead, I left the office and made sure that the conference room was ready for the meeting. I tagged a couple of the admin to make sure that there was fresh coffee brewed and another one I sent off to the bakery just across the street to get some pastries.

  By the time I got back to the conference room, all her grandsons were there sitting attentively as they waited for her. Except of course for Noah, who was slouched back in his chair looking bored.

  Margaret came in and stood at the head of the table, looking over the group that she was entrusting to continue on her legacy.

  "We’re having a problem with our expansion through Asia. The supply chain logistics software is malfunctioning and it's causing severe delays and shortages. Now I've asked Phil and his people in the Hong Kong office to take a look at it and they've determined that the system is being manipulated from the outside."

  At that Noah sat up a little bit, leaning forward.

  "They believe we've been hacked,” Margaret finished.

  "Do they have an idea by who?" Ryan asked.

  Margaret shook her head. "No. They were looking at bringing in someone to take a look, but I'm thinking we need to keep this in-house. I only want people we can trust."

  "I was in Asia not that long ago and everything looked okay, but I will say there is something wonky about the numbers recently," Carter said.

  “Like what?” Ryan asked.

  “I’m not sure. I’m still studying them.”

  "Marcus Chen is working with us on distribution and he hasn't said anything,” Ryan said to Gran.

  Margaret’s mouth straightened into a thin line. "I think we need to keep this all to ourselves. Somewhere along the line someone is trying to hurt the company. I don't know if it's in-house or someone outside, but we need to figure out what it is." Margaret looked at each and every one of her grandsons stopping on Noah. “I need someone that we can trust to go to Hong Kong and figure out what is going on."

  Noah shook his head.

  "I can go," Ryan said.

  "I can go. I was the last one that was there," Carter said.

  Keeping her eyes on Noah, Margaret said, "Ryan, you have a new-born infant, and Carter, you need to stay home to continue the bonding with your son, so I don't think you should go."

  "I could go," Hunter said. "I don't have any kids and Natalie might enjoy the trip."

  "You don't know anything about computers," I said. The obvious choice, especially if it was a hack, was Noah.

  Hunter shrugged. "I know about graphic design, but not hacking. Still, I could go look around to see what was going on."

  Margaret shook her head again. "Noah, you need to go."

  "I don't work for Strong Incorporated, remember?" Noah said.

  I fisted my hands at my side so angry at him. Couldn't he see that of all the things she'd asked him to help him with, this was the most important?

  "You don't have to be with the company officially. We will hire you as a consultant. In some ways that might be better, even,"

  "Listen, I know about the computers that are used to run this place, but I don't know anything about your supply chains and operations,” Noah said, looking to his brothers as if he wanted their support. I don’t know why he’d think he’d get it. They were pushing him to join the company too.

  "It's a hack, Noah," I said incensed. "Aren't computers your expertise?" I bit my lip to keep from adding on something about his expertise was women. Sometimes when my mouth got away from me, Margaret would have to censure me, and I didn't like that. I wanted her respect, so I held back.

  He glared at me, this time, not seeming so amused by my comeback.

  "That's why I'm going to send Andi with you,” Margaret said.

  Wait. What? My gaze shot to Margaret. "What?"

  Margaret looked at me. "You know this company, including the supply chain, in all our locations inside and out. Noah has the tech knowledge, and you have the company knowledge."

  There was an audible snort, and I looked over to where Hunter was covering his mouth as he looked at his other two brothers who were also looking amused. I wanted to ask them what was so funny, but I was too shocked to get the words out.

  "I'll go Gran, but Andi shouldn't be the one to come. Send Hunter."

  This time, my head swiveled to Noah. "What's wrong with me going?" I demanded before I could think better of it.

  "You're not a Strong."

  It was surprising how much that comment hurt, even though he was right.

  "Noah," his grandmother chastised. "Andi is more of a Strong than you are when it comes to this company. She's going with you."

  Just because I felt qualified to go didn't mean that I wanted to go. In fact, if it meant traveling with Noah, I absolutely didn't want to go. It was quite possible he and I might kill each other.

  I started to say something, but Margaret held up her hand to stop me. "This is still my company and I've made my decision. Andi, you need to go make the travel arrangements, leaving as soon as you can."

  Like the dutiful employee I was, I nodded and stood prepared to leave the room.

  "Noah, you do this for me, and I won't ask you ever again to come on board the company,” Margaret said.

  I stopped short and looked over at Noah and his brothers. All of them look shocked.

  "I do this one thing and then I'm not going to be hassled about joining the company?" he asked.

  Margaret nodded. "That's right. I won't ask you to join the company. I won't even expect you to come in and do your periodic updates and fixes."

  Noah looked a little bit stunned, and I realized that on one hand he was getting what he wanted, but on the other hand, Margaret had also been telling him that he wouldn't be allowed in to use the company's resources.

  He swallowed. "You've got a deal."

  3

  Noah

  I remained in the conference room wondering what the hell that just happened. Had my grandmother just duped me into working for her? Granted,
she’d offered me freedom from future coercion if I found her hacker for her, but knowing her, she was hoping I’d like working for her or find some other way to hook me into the business.

  But I was stronger than that. Going to Hong Kong on short notice was inconvenient to my plans, not to mention being required to spend time with Andi, but it would be worth it. I’d hold my grandmother to the agreement that when I was done, I was free to pursue my own interests with no pressure from her.

  "I'm not sure if I should warn you that you might've just made a deal with the devil, or perhaps remind you to be careful what you wish for," Hunter said as he lingered behind while everyone else had left the conference room.

  "I don't know what you mean." Of course, that wasn't lately true, because I was feeling a bit the same myself. My grandmother didn’t grow a business empire without being wily.

  "Well, you do this for Gran and the company, and then you’re free. But I wonder if that's really what you want. It could be that you will discover being detached from the family isn’t what you want after all.”

  I huffed out a breath. Maybe Gran was sending Hunter to do her dirty work now. "Since when do you care so much about what I do or what I don’t do?"

  Hunter cocked his head. "You don't really think that we all don’t care about you, do you? Sure, we ride you a little bit because you're the baby. But you're our brother so of course, we want you to be happy. I just wonder if you really know what that means for you."

  "The problem is you all think that my future, my happiness is the same as yours. Working in this company and probably getting married. I would think someone like you, Hunter, would understand that maybe I have interests outside this company.

  He nodded. “I do have my own interests, and I haven’t had to give them up. There's nothing that says that you can't pursue those just like I do, assuming we’re talking about something other than riding a motorcycle and womanizing.”

  I glared at him. “You’re all for my personal interests, but only if I still work for the company. That doesn’t feel like much of a choice. I'm either in or I'm out —"