Page 37 of Nothing to Win

“Maybe if I really was involved with him, I’d believe you.To be honest…”

“To be honest…?”

Putting the peach down, she licked each of her fingers and twisted to examine him.Either this guy was genuine and wanted to be her friend or this was manipulation meant to hurt her.

Giving in to the truth was easier with the man who didn’t befuddle her hormones.

“I can’t figure this out,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“Brogan wanted this for a reason, and he insists it wasn’t to hurt my family.But he had a reason.”

They assessed each other for a few seconds, neither going to break.It wasn’t a hostile tension, it was more curious than sinister.

“You’re smart,” he said.“He did do it for a reason.Brogan has a reason for everything he does.”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

“If you suspect him of something sinister, you should talk to him.I’m sure he’ll allay your fears.”

“Perhaps,” she said.“I have a bad habit of forgetting my reservations when we find ourselves alone.”

“Yes,” Julius said, pondering her.“He implied as much himself last night.”

She didn’t like the idea of Brogan discussing any of their intimacies.Though “implied” suggested Brogan wasn’t outright bragging or ridiculing.

“You must know a lot about me,” she said.“You’ve known my father a long time, haven’t you?Did he know Stefan Spurn too?”

“He did.”

For more than half an hour, Gia listened to Julius’s stories of Brogan’s father, some of which included her parents.Yep, DadandMom.It was difficult to imagine them socializing.While it was clear there had always been tension between the families, in their college years, none of them worried too much about conflict or business.

Finishing off her peach and washing her hands, she was interested to hear about Brogan and Jarrod’s mother.

Shanna had told her some stories of Belinda Duchy, Jarrod too.Although he’d never been close to his mother, there was a tenuous, somewhat sporadic, relationship.

“How often does Brogan see Belinda?”Gia asked, drying her hands.

Before Julius could answer, a phone rang.He left his stool and went to pick up a handset from the wall at the top of the stairs.

“Yes?”he said into the handset.“I see… Yes, send him up… No, under no circumstances… Thank you.”

He hung up.That was stern, and, judging by his expression, he hadn’t warmed up on his way to the end of the kitchen island.

“What?”she asked.Where was Brogan?She should’ve asked already, he couldn’t be in bed, surely.“What is it?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Ihave a visitor?”she asked, just as the elevator pinged and the doors whooshed open.

Leaving the kitchen, she went to the rail to see who’d emerge from the elevator beneath.

Startled by the sight of her brother, she gasped his name, “Bram?”

When he looked up, his expression of horror got her gathering the edges of her robe together above her breasts.

“Gia?”