All of Me (All Series Book 2) (17 page)

In the Fire

“Hey, shorty. Finally came to your senses and decided you want the better brother?” Alec asked the following week when Sophia walked into Harper Construction.

“You mean there’s a fourth brother?” Sophia asked seriously.

He snickered. “Good one.”

“I’ve been known to hold my own before around you boys.”

“You need to with Phil. But if he gets out of line, you come to me first. I’ll knock him around. It’s been awhile, so I wouldn’t mind an excuse to do it again.”

“You wish,” Phil said, chuckling and stepping into the open hallway.

Sophia assumed he’d heard the whole conversation from his office. It was pretty quiet in the building at the moment, and noises carried. She walked to him and reached up to give him a quick kiss on the lips. “Hello, handsome.”

“How come you never say that to me when you greet me?” Alec asked.

Sophia turned, laughed at Alec and said, “Because Phil doesn’t call me shorty.”

“But he thinks it,” Alec countered.

Sophia narrowed her eyes and looked at Phil questioningly. “Is that true?”

“No, it’s not.” Then he turned to face his brother. “Keep your lips sealed.”

“You don’t have to think it,” Alec explained, “because it’s a fact.” He hopped out of the way when Sophia went to lightly punch him in the arm.

“Bye, Alec,” Sophia said sweetly, “the lesser-handsome of the twins.”

“I heard that,” Alec said by the doorway a few feet away from where he stopped in the process of leaving. “And remember, I know how to rig the appliances in your house if you get on my bad side.” With that last comment he walked out whistling.

“He wouldn’t, would he?” she asked Phil.

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t put it past him. Not with someone he knows he can pick on and who holds her own,” he said, throwing her words back at her. “So what brings you by?”

“Not you,” she said, laughing at his reaction. He was so easy sometimes. “I actually have a meeting with Sean. But I’ve enjoyed seeing you.”

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s been a crazy week between the framing going up on the houses, a few last minute changes I knew were going to be made, and helping Alec out. We finished up the cabinets in his kitchen last night. Tonight we’re installing the countertops, and then he’s on his own.”

“You’re going to leave him to do it by himself?”

“He normally does. I help with the bigger jobs if he is pressed for time or he’ll call in some crew. Even though it’s his side project, it’s still part of the business. The same with the plans I do for projects out of this area—the things we don’t build. It all goes in one pot.”

She nodded. She figured they were like that. Everything was joint. It made it easier family-wise, but she was afraid it might be an accounting nightmare. Part of the reason she was meeting with Sean today. To get a better understanding of how the business was broken up before she sent her staff over to audit. “Sounds like you have it all figured out.”

“Family normally does.”

Not always, but she kept that comment to herself. “Well, I won’t keep you. I’m on a bit of a time crunch myself.”

“I’ll walk you to Sean’s office.” He led her down the hall, knocked on Sean’s open door, then shifted down and gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll call you later tonight if I’m not too late.”

“I’ll be up whenever you get home.”

***

“Do you have a minute?” Sean asked Phil an hour later.

It seemed like today was the day for interruptions, and Phil was stopped from getting any work done again. Not that he minded stopping to see Sophia a little while ago. He hadn’t, not at all. He had been missing her, but he was right when he said he was swamped at work and with helping Alec. Summer was their busy season, and it was heating up. “Sure, come on in.”

“I was hoping to catch you and Alec together, but he hasn’t been in lately and I’m sure I won’t see much of him the rest of this week either. Unless we get some rain.”

“Bite your tongue,” Phil said. “That will put us behind. No rain until those roofs are up and the windows are in. Then it can rain all it wants.”

“It looks to be dry for the rest of the week, so you might get your wish.”

“I think we were crazy taking on ten houses at once, but it seems to be working. Of course it helped by more than doubling the crew. Hopefully we will have enough work for most of them during the winter.”

“Speaking of that,” Sean said. “I’ve got a list of jobs lined up.”

“What do you mean? I thought Alec took care of that?” Phil said. “When did that change?”

“It didn’t. With everything going on, I’ve asked Mary to make a list of everyone calling looking for new homes and rehabs. This week alone we’ve gotten fifteen calls.”

“What?” They were never going to be able to do all of this. There wasn’t time. “Let me guess: everyone wants it done right this minute?”

“Not at all. All the rehabs I’ve been pushing off as winter projects. If they can’t wait that long, then they will go somewhere else. It won’t hurt us. But half of the calls were for houses in the development.”

“That’s good,” Phil said. He and Alec had never expected it take off this fast. On one side it was great for business, on the other, horrible for their personal lives.

“I came in here for three things. I just told you the first. And that leads me into the second. We need to rush on this new position. Mary and I have been fielding the calls, and I’m running numbers as fast as I can on builds, but Alec is the one who needs to sit with them to find out what exactly they are looking for. This new position will be able to take that off his hands.”

“Agreed. How are we doing with that?” Not that Phil was looking forward to interviewing, but he knew he would have to. This was an important position and everyone needed to have some input.

“Mary and I have narrowed it down to five candidates for you and Alec to meet for second interviews. Now I need to get you guys to give me some dates to meet with them. If you can both carve out one day, we could do them all at once.”

Phil groaned. One full day spent interviewing people. He would rather pull his fingernails out slowly. But on the flip side, they could get it done all at once. “Okay, I’ll talk to Alec tonight and we’ll figure out a day. Most likely next week. This week is definitely out.”

“That works,” Sean said easily.

Phil liked that Sean was pretty agreeable with everything. He fit in well at Harper Construction. He had a good understanding of the construction side with the costs and ran the office efficiently. They trusted him completely and never had any issues. Since they were extremely profitable, Sean was doing his part. “So what is number three?”

“Sophia,” Sean said, hedging.

“What about her?” Phil asked, not sure he liked the way Sean was looking.

“The meeting went well. I explained the ins and outs of the business, between the development, Alec’s rehabs, the rental properties, the flips, and your side projects. There are a lot of pokers in the fire.”

“She’s aware of all of that,” Phil explained.

“I know. She knew more than I realized. I was amazed, to be honest.”

“Why’s that?”

“You aren’t normally so forthcoming with your business.”

Phil couldn’t take exception to the comment since it was true. He had always been very close lipped about Harper Construction and he hated when anyone he dated asked questions, personal or not. Alec and he didn’t flaunt their wealth, not at all. At the heart of things, they were both pretty simple.

But it was common knowledge that their father owned Harper Investments. Aside from their own company, they both had very strong portfolios. “Sophia is different. She’s been close to our family for years.”

Sean put his hands in his pockets and looked around the room for a minute. “I get that. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t tell you she is going to have full access to everything. Not just your personal income, but the worth of Harper Construction, along with all those pokers in the fire.”

Phil paused for a second. He hadn’t thought it through, but he honestly didn’t have a problem with any of it. Alec wouldn’t either. If he did, he would have said something already. “It’s fine, Sean.”

“Are you sure?” Sean asked again.

Phil tried not to get surly, but again, he understood where Sean was coming from. As much as he stopped comparing Linda and Sophia, this was one thing that had been a big issue.

Linda was always trying to find out what projects were going on, how much things cost, how much they made, and how much each property rented for. She even went so far as to visit Sean and ask questions—for her friends, so she said.

Linda always had a friend who was looking to buy, build or rent a place and wanted to know the costs. Those friends never materialized when Phil told her to have them call and make an appointment.

But Sophia wasn’t Linda. Not even close. She did this for a living. She saw people’s finances everyday and never thought anything of it. Seeing his shouldn’t make a difference. “I’m positive.”

Besides, Sophia’s family had plenty of wealth themselves, at least that was what he’d gathered from the bits and pieces of things he’d seen and heard.

“Okay, I’ll give her a call and let her know we’re ready when she is.”

“I’ve been ready for a long time,” he said to the now empty doorway.

Right Time

Sophia had been pleasantly surprised when Phil called her two days later and asked to take her to dinner before they headed to his house for the weekend. Always happy to go out, she agreed.

“Hey, there,” she said, smiling bright when she opened her door. She’d barely had time to set her briefcase down before he pulled in the driveway. “Why do you knock? You own the house.”

“True,” he said, leaning down for a kiss. “But I don’t walk into any of our rental properties without their knowledge. You’re no different.”

“I would think I was different in some aspect,” she replied.

“Very true. Nevertheless, I don’t feel right walking in.”

“I don’t care if you do. It won’t bother me in the least. But whatever you choose is fine.” She watched him walk into her bedroom and followed quickly. “What are you doing?”

“Changing my shirt. I’ve had this on all day and have been to the job site. It’s probably got dirt on it somewhere.”

She watched as he exchanged one button-down shirt for another, then rolled up his sleeves to his elbows. “Why don’t you wear a short sleeved shirt?”

“Button-down short sleeved shirts are for old men,” he said, his lips twitching.

She couldn’t agree more. “Why not a polo or golf shirt then? Or a T-shirt like Alec?”

“Alec works on the site. It doesn’t make sense for him to wear anything other than jeans and a T-shirt. But I’m in the office more. I should look more professional.”

“You call that professional?” she asked with a lift of her eyebrow.

“Sorry it’s not a three-piece suit. I leave that to the lawyers and doctors. We Harper men are more comfortable in jeans and cotton shirts.”

“Your father wears a suit,” she reminded him, having fun with the teasing. He knew she was picking on him.

“My father also wears short sleeved button-up shirts on the weekend,” he reminded her.

“Good point.”

“Should I change?” she asked. She was dressed down from her normal suits, but still dressed up more than him, in linen pants and lightweight summer sweater with her customary heels.

“Absolutely not. I love the way you dress. Even though you don’t like the way I do,” he said, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“I never said I didn’t like the way you dressed. You assumed that when I pointed out that your normal attire isn’t really professional,” she said back, missing their bantering more than she realized. It had been a long several weeks, and when they were together, it wasn’t often as carefree and fun as this.

They usually were too busy getting each other’s clothes off, or talking about what was going on in their lives, then either leaving for the night or going to sleep. But she’d always loved the playful flirting they did in the past.

“I suppose. And if you’re ready, we can go eat because I’m starving.”

“Lead the way.”

Thirty minutes later, their appetizers cleared away, and now waiting on their dinner, Phil asked, “How long will you be in the office auditing our books?”

“The girls won’t be there too long. Maybe three days, longer if Sean wants some more things looked at.”

“The girls?” he asked.

“Yes, two of the staff accountants will come in and go through the basic things. Then once they’ve done their testing and preliminary work I’ll look it all over, sign off on it and come back and present it to you and Alec if you like. Or just Sean. That will be your choice,” she explained.

“You won’t be there at all for it?”

Was that a hint of disappointment in his voice? She would have thought he wouldn’t want her underfoot when he was working. “No. Part of being a partner now is I don’t do the ground-level work. I review their work, then finalize any reports and such.”

“So what exactly do you do?”

She tilted her head at him. “Are you really interested in my job? Aren’t you the one who hates dealing with the finances at the office?”

“Yeah, I do hate meeting with Sean. All that stuff goes over my head. But I’m just curious. I know you have a lot of client meetings, but I figured you were there doing this type of work.”

“No. Most of my meetings are sales pitches, for lack of better words. Offering our services. Which is anywhere from tax preparation, to general bookkeeping for small businesses, and auditing for larger. Not to mention we do financial advisement, too. Not to the extent of your father. This is more along the lines of investments for tax write-offs, how to improve their business models and such.”

She paused while their food was delivered. “Am I boring you yet?”

“No, astonishingly you aren’t.”

“Well, the last little bit is final reporting. Once all the basic legwork is done by my staff, I review what they did, sign off and meet with the clients to give an exit interview and summary of the findings.”

“Makes sense. So that is what you’ll do when you’re done? Come back and tell us what you found?”

She didn’t know where this was going but thought she might have an idea. “Are you worried about what I’ll find? I can assure you that Sean does an excellent job, so I don’t believe there will be any problems.”

“No, Sean is great. Loyal, trustworthy and on the ball. I’m not expecting any surprises.”

“Then are you worried I’ll find out more personal information on you?” She was sure that was at the root of his questioning.

“Not really. Sean already warned me you would have access to it all. But it really doesn’t bother me.” He reached over and grabbed her hand. “I’m being truthful. I don’t care if you find out.”

“Good. Because it’s only numbers on paper, Phil,” she assured him. “I see numbers all day long. They all look the same to me. I don’t sit back and analyze or compare my clients. Once I’m done working on one client, I move to the next. Nothing more than that.”

“I believe you.”

“But,” she added, “it’s a big step for you to put yourself out there like this. I understand it. And I appreciate it for what it is.” She had been flabbergasted when they asked her to file their taxes, but that didn’t give as detailed of a look as auditing their books. It was giving her access to his personal information. And she knew he was very private. But she took it as a step in the right direction for her and Phil.

Not that she would have been upset if she never took on Harper Construction as a client. Not at all. But in doing so, he opened himself up to her. Something he never did with most women.

***

Phil looked up at the end of their meal and made eye contact with a man sitting behind Sophia. He tried to block all emotion from his face and quickly glanced in the other direction, but she caught him.

“Something wrong?” she asked, and turned her head to look behind her. “Is that a friend of yours?”

Looking over at Linda’s brother again, seeing his stare of contempt, Phil said humorlessly, “Hardly.”

“An enemy then?” she asked playfully.

He answered seriously. “He is now.”

She turned her head again, then looked back at Phil. “Who is it?”

“Nobody for you to worry about.”

Twenty minutes later as they were leaving the restaurant, Phil heard his name called and turned, his face void of expression. So much for leaving without a confrontation. “Roger,” he said, nodding his head.

“She’s heartbroken, you bastard.”

Phil looked at Sophia, knowing that she would easily figure it out. “I’m sorry for that, Roger. But there isn’t anything I can do about it now. It’s been over nine months.”

“She still loves you. You dragged her along for more than five years. Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” Roger asked, his eyes narrowing.

“I didn’t drag her anywhere. You don’t know anything about it.”

“I know plenty. And what I know is that you’re a sick bastard that plays with someone’s emotions, carries them along until you decide something better has come along,” Roger said, turning his eyes on Sophia.

Phil had had enough. He could only imagine the lies Linda fed her brother during their relationship. Even more so in the last year, but that wasn’t Phil’s problem. He couldn’t let it bother him, wouldn’t let it bother him. But he wasn’t going to let Sophia be pulled into this. “This has nothing to do with Sophia, and more to do with Linda.”

“What does that mean?”

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t know what lies she has told you, but it’s over. I’m sorry if she got hurt in the end, but I can assure you it wasn’t one-sided.” Phil turned to leave, his patience at its end. He was getting sick and tired of these scenes in front of Sophia. It felt like it was never going to end.

“I’m not done talking to you,” Roger said and gripped his shoulder.

Phil turned quickly, knocked Roger’s hand off his shoulder, grabbed him by the shirtfront and slammed him into the side of the building. “I’ve had it with you. I’m done talking today. I don’t know what filthy lies Linda has told you, but if you knew the truth you would be apologizing to me and going after her.”

He dropped his hands and took a step back, appalled by his loss of temper. He never imagined doing anything like that before and was embarrassed he did it in front of Sophia. But he would be damned if he was going to apologize for it; he didn’t need to be attacked right now. “I always liked you, Roger. I can’t help if she is feeding you a sob story, but you don’t know what happened.”

Roger backed away, probably shocked over Phil’s behavior. He had always been quiet around Linda’s family. He got along with them fine. Roger was a good guy, just protective of his sister, and obviously siding with her, however much it was all based on lies.

Linda’s mother had actually pulled Phil aside at times. Never to make excuses for Linda’s behavior, not at all, but rather to console him on how difficult Linda was and to apologize for Linda’s behavior.

The first time it happened, Phil should have realized it would only get worse, but he didn’t. And he fell for it again and again.
He
was to blame for that. But he would be damned if he would be accused of dragging her along and then dropping her when something else better came his way.

“I don’t know what went on with you two,” Roger started to say. “But all I know is my sister is heartbroken. More so the last month. I have to hear her crying all the time about how fast you moved on, even after you told her you only wanted a small break.”

Phil looked over at Sophia, saw her face pale and cursed. “I never said that, Roger. I packed her stuff up and dropped it off at her house, then changed the locks on my home. Does that sound like a small break to you? I told her it was over. I’ve told her repeatedly for months it was over. She knows exactly why, but she’ll never tell you.”

“Why don’t you tell me?” Roger challenged him.

He glanced at Sophia again. No way. He didn’t want anyone to know what happened. And he didn’t care about Linda anymore. Linda would only deny it and get all worked up again. It was best to end it and move on. Just like he had been trying to do for months. “It’s a moot point, isn’t it? It’s over.” He turned to Sophia. “Let’s go home.”

“Are you okay?” she asked after a few minutes of silence in his truck on their way back to his house.

No, he wasn’t. But he lied. “I’m fine. I’m sorry about that back there. I’m sorry you witnessed it. I’m sorry I lost my temper. And I never said I wanted a small break from her. I hope you believe me.”

“I do. It was a shock to hear him say it. I’m sure you saw that on my face. But deep down I know you, Phil. You aren’t the type to drag anyone along. Actually, I’m baffled you stayed with her as long as you did, but it wasn’t my business.”

“It was your business.”

“No, it wasn’t. You were off limits to me back then. I won’t say I wasn’t bothered or hurt when Kaitlin talked about your relationship, but I kept my opinions to myself.”

“I’m sure Kaitlin didn’t,” he said grimly.

“No, she didn’t. And that did make things harder. Not only did I have to tell myself you were taken and I couldn’t have you, but also I had to sit back and listen to your family say how much they didn’t care for her. Or didn’t know why you stayed together as long as you did.”

He didn’t know either. But it was water under the bridge. “It’s over now. I’m sorry I lost five years of my life with her. Years I could have spent with you,” he said, tenderly.

“It wasn’t the right time. That’s what I choose to believe.”

“Is now the right time?” he asked.

The look on her face was almost sad and his heart started to beat frantically. “I think it is. But the question is, do you?”

“Of course I do,” he said earnestly. “But you don’t believe me, do you?”

“I believe you.”

“Then why do you look the way you do?”

“How is that?”

“Like you’re upset?”

“I’m not. Not in the least. I guess I’m sorry you’re still going through what you are with Linda and her family. And I wonder if that is still what’s holding you back a little.”

He knew what she was talking about now. But it wasn’t the time to say it. Not after what she just witnessed. “I mean it, Sophia. I feel it and I mean it. You know that.” He had told her those same exact words multiple times, and she even repeated them.