What Might Have Been: Daniels Brother #4 (Daniels Brothers) (3 page)

“He’s a lawyer. Corporate stuff, mostly. Contracts. Mergers. That sort of thing.”

“And you’re his personal assistant.” He tried not to put too much emphasis on
personal
, but when she raised her eyebrow at him, he knew he hadn’t succeeded. “Sorry. It’s just that you two seem to have a rather . . . casual relationship.”

She straightened her shoulders and the little vein in her forehead pulsed—a sure sign she was annoyed. “We’re friends.”

“Okay.” He figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to push her.

Abby wiped her hands and got up to throw her trash away. He followed her lead. The walk back to the truck was a quiet one. It was obvious that he’d overstepped.

Trent waited until they arrived at the next property before broaching the subject. He pulled into one of the visitor spots, turned off the engine, and twisted in his seat to face her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“You didn’t.” Her abrupt response told a different story.

“Well, either way, I am sorry if I put my foot in my mouth. Whatever your relationship is with Maxwell Collins, it’s none of my business.”

She didn’t respond.

Trent sighed, picked up his notes, and climbed out of his truck. Whether he liked it or not, he had work to do.

***

Abby sat in the cab of the truck and watched as Trent strolled around the property. It was an office building and she knew it wouldn’t take him long. When she told him she’d wait in the truck he hadn’t argued.

It wasn’t as if this was the first time someone had assumed her relationship with Max was of the intimate variety. They were friends—good friends—but that was all. In a lot of ways, he was like her big brother. There wasn’t anything romantic about it and there never would be.

So why did it bother her so much that Trent insinuated the same thing so many others had? That was simple. Abby actually cared about his opinion of her. She shouldn’t, but it was there all the same.

Forcing herself to get out of the truck, Abby joined Trent along the side of the building. He looked up when he heard her approach.

She stopped several feet away and cleared her throat. “I may have overreacted.”

Trent gave her his full attention. “No. You were right. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s none of my business.”

“You’re not the first person to think there’s something going on between me and Max.”

He glanced at his notebook then back at the bush he’d been examining before she’d interrupted him. “That doesn’t make it right.”

Abby was frustrated. She shouldn’t care this much. The Daniels family was part of her past, not her future. When Max got things turned around, he’d appoint a new CEO and the two of them would be on their way back to New York. Rebuilding a friendship with Trent wasn’t smart and her soon-to-be-changing zip code was only one of the many reasons it wasn’t a good idea.

“Can we start over?” she asked. Whether she liked it or not, they were going to have to work together for the foreseeable future.

He’d knelt down beside the bush, but he glanced up at her question.

“Please?”

Trent stood and walked over to her. He extended his hand. “Trent Daniels. Nice to meet you.”

She laughed. “That’s not what I meant.”

He smirked. “I know. But it was too good to resist.”

As they stood there smiling at each other, Abby felt that old connection returning—the one that made her want to spill all her secrets. The thought brought her up short. She pushed past him and focused on the plant he’d been inspecting. “Do you like being your own boss?”

It took him a second to answer. “I do. Gives me freedom to come and go when I need to.”

Abby nodded. Things never used to be this uncomfortable with Trent. He was her rock. The friend she could always count on. Now things were awkward and she knew it was her fault. “I guess I never saw you as the type that would want that kind of responsibility. You were always . . .”

“So laid back?”

“Yeah.”

Trent resumed his inspection of the area, making notes as he went. “I still am. Usually. Most of the hardcore stuff I leave for my office manager, Trinity. She’s a hardass when she wants to be.”

The smile on his face when he talked about his office manager left her feeling irritated. Her reaction didn’t make any sense. She didn’t even know the woman. “I guess that makes you two a good match.”

His cell rang, interrupting their conversation. He dug it out of his pocket and answered the call with a genuine smile on his face. “Hey, Trinity. Not at all. What do you need?”

He walked back toward his truck leaving Abby to stare at his retreating back. She couldn’t hear what they were saying and it bothered her that she wanted to know. They weren’t even friends anymore. Why did she care?

Needing a distraction, she pulled her own phone out and checked her e-mail. There were twenty unopened messages, half of them from Max. It looked as if she’d be working this evening.

“Everything all right?” Abby snapped her head up to see Trent coming toward her.

“Yeah. Everything’s fine. Just checking my e-mail.” She waved her phone at him before shoving it back in her pocket. Then she tilted her head in the direction of the cell he still held in his hand. “You?”

Trent glanced down at it as if he’d completely forgotten it was there. He tucked it in his pocket. “One of my crew went home sick. Nothing out of the ordinary, but Trinity wanted me to know she’d had to move a few things around.”

“The fun of being a boss.” She wanted to ask him more, but knew she shouldn’t.

“Exactly.” He looked around before returning his attention to her. “We have four more places to hit before we can call it a day. You ready to go?”

“Ready when you are.”

It took them another two hours to finish. Trent had pages upon pages of notes. She had no idea what he had in there, but by the sheer volume Abby was guessing things were in worse shape than Max had thought. It wouldn’t matter, of course. Max would do whatever it took to get things fixed for his family.

At five thirty, they returned to where their day had begun. Trent pulled into the same spot and put the truck in park. “Thanks for going with me today. Let Max know I’ll go over my notes and have a proposal to him by Friday.”

“No problem. It was . . . educational.”

He grinned. “Just what a man wants to hear after spending the day with a woman.”

Abby chuckled and reached for the door. The longer she stayed the more she longed for things to be the way they were before. “Have a good night, Trent.”

“Same to you, Abby.”

She walked over to her car and unlocked the door. It didn’t escape her notice that he was still sitting in his truck, probably watching her. His mom used to stand on the front porch and watch her walk home. Even though Abby’s house was only three doors down, Marilyn Daniels would wait until she saw Abby walk through the door to her house before going back inside. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, not with any of the Daniels boys.

Once she was behind the wheel of her vehicle, Abby checked her phone. She had a text from Max.

Call me when you get home. - Max

Abby shook her head. What would she do with all these overprotective men in her life?

That thought made her pause. Trent wasn’t in her life. Not anymore. Today didn’t count. Chances were she wouldn’t see him again after he worked out the contract with Max.

Tears pricked her eyes as she started the vehicle and maneuvered out of the parking lot. She blinked them away. This wasn’t something to cry over. It was for the best. They couldn’t be friends anymore. Too much time had passed. Too much had happened.

It took Abby almost twenty minutes to reach her apartment. Max had offered to let her stay with him at his parents’, but she hadn’t felt right about it, so he’d arranged an apartment for her. His father was dying and she didn’t want to intrude on their family time.

Abby let herself in, turned on the light, and kicked off her shoes. She crossed the living room to her small kitchen. Lunch had been hours ago and she was starving.

She pulled out of the refrigerator some chicken that she’d made the night before, and popped it in the microwave. While she was waiting for her dinner to heat up, she dialed Max.

“Well, how was it?” he asked. It wasn’t unusual for him to forgo a greeting when she called. Max liked to get to the point.

She leaned against the counter and watched as the numbers on the microwave counted down. “Hot. I should have worn something other than a suit.”

He chuckled. “I’ve spoiled you with the air conditioning.”

“Is that what you’re calling it now? Spoiled? Last time I checked, you enjoyed the same benefits of the air conditioning as I do.”

“Yes, but I’m a high-powered lawyer. Perks of the job, you know.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “I saw you sent me enough work to keep me busy for the rest of the evening.”

“Nothing pressing. It should be fine until tomorrow. Take the evening and relax. I’m sure you earned it.”

The microwave beeped, and she took her food over to the table. “That I did. I know we drove by all the properties the other day, Max, but they’re worse than we thought.”

“How so?”

She took a bite of her chicken and made him wait until she’d swallowed for a response. “Some of the properties need all new sod and mulch. And I think some trees might have to come down, too. Trent said he’ll have a proposal to you by Friday, but given all the notes he took and some of the stuff he said, it’s going to be extensive.”

Max was quiet for too long.

“Max? You there?”

“I’m here.” He paused. “Trent, huh? So after spending a day with the guy, you’re on a first name basis? He must have made quite an impression.”

“Oh. Um. Not exactly. We kind of know each other. We grew up together and . . .”
And he’s Chris’ brother.

Of course, Max realized she wasn’t telling him everything. “Did he do something, Abby? Do I need to make his life a living hell?”

Abby shook her head and grinned. “No. Not at all. The Daniels family was great to me. Better than I deserved.”

It was then that Max seemed to put two and two together. “Wait a minute. Was his brother . . .”

“Yeah.”

“I see.”

They sat quietly for a long time. She pushed the plate away. Her appetite had completely disappeared.

“Do you want me to find someone else to work with this landscaper? My first choice is you, but I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, Abby. That’s the last thing I want. If I’d known he was—”

“Max, it’s fine. I’m fine. It was a long time ago.” It was a long time ago, but that didn’t stop her from reaching for the charm that dangled from her neck. She closed her eyes and clasped the tiny lamb in her fist.

“That may be, but you aren’t fooling me.”

Abby took a deep breath. “Really. I’m good. Trent is a great guy. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Well, if you change your mind—”

“You’ll be the first to know.”

After they hung up, Abby took her uneaten chicken and put it back in the refrigerator. What she needed was a glass of wine and a good book. That would get her mind off the past. At least, that’s what she was hoping.

Chapter 3

Friday morning, Abby sat at her desk outside Max’s office trying to weed her way through the purchase orders she’d found the day before. There were receipts for everything from printer ink to comped lunches. Everything was mixed together without any apparent rhyme or reason. They’d all been stuffed in a boxed underneath the desk.

Abby was so absorbed in what she was doing that when the phone on her desk rang she jumped. Taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart, she answered it. “Maxwell Collins’ office.”

“This is Chuck over at the Perimeter Building. We’ve got a problem over here. Mr. Collins said he wanted to be notified personally if—”

“Yes, I’m glad you called,” Abby said. Given how out of control things were at all the properties, Max had wanted the property managers to call his office directly if there was a problem. “What seems to be the issue?”

She jotted down all the information Chuck gave her. For some reason the toilets on the fourth floor weren’t working and nothing he’d done so far had been able to fix them. They were going to need to call a plumber.

As she was hanging up the phone, the elevator dinged. Abby saw two women from their sales department exit. They were deep in conversation and didn’t even bother to look her way as they hurried down the hall in the opposite direction.

Shaking her head, she focused on the task at hand. She needed to call a plumber and get them over to Chuck so the toilets could be fixed. What she didn’t need, which was exactly what she’d been doing since she got there, was to keep an eye out for Trent. He said he’d have the proposal to Max by Friday. He never said he’d be dropping it off personally. For all she knew he would be sending it via courier or having his office manager, Trinity, drop it off. She had to admit she was curious about Trinity, even though she knew she had no right to be.

Ever since he’d dropped Abby off in the parking lot, he hadn’t been far from her thoughts. None of the Daniels family had. Growing up, she’d spent more time with them than she had her own father. They were her lifeline—what she’d clung to when her world had been flipped upside down.

How were they? Were any of his brothers married? Paul had been engaged to Melissa when Abby had gone off to college. Did they get married? Were they still together? She thought she’d read somewhere in the sports pages that Gage had recently gotten hitched—in Vegas if she remembered correctly. It was hard to think of Gage, the baby of the family, all grown up with a wife.

She blew out a breath and started searching the Internet for a plumber, but it didn’t keep her mind from wandering. Trent didn’t wear a ring, and he hadn’t mentioned a wife, so she was pretty sure he wasn’t married. Then again, maybe he was. He was thirty-one years old, one year younger than her, and one of the best guys she’d ever met. Surely he’d found someone he wanted to share his life with by now.