Dylan began to grin.“So.I’m learning two big things out of this.First, you’re going to go kick somebody’s ass with a bankroll smackdown.Second, you love Brooklyn.”
Lucas met his gaze, his handsome face dead serious.“I love her.I know myself well enough to understand the feeling, even if it hit me like tidal wave out of nowhere.And I’m going to do everything in my power for her.”
Dylan felt warm right in the center of his chest.Like he’d downed a hot chocolate on a cold day.“Sounds like you and me are on the same track.Because I love her too.”He crossed his arms, grinning.“And hell, it just so happens, I love you too.You know, since we’re blurting this kind of stuff out right now.”
He threw that admission out there without fear.Life was wasted if you weren’t bold.If you didn’t pursue what you wanted.And Dylan knew exactly what he wanted.
Lucas stood from his chair and came around the big office desk.Dylan stood his ground, watching.Lucas slipped his arms around him and went in for the kiss.Dylan didn’t submit, but he didn’t dominate either, he simply kissed back with all he had.After all, they were equals.
As the kiss deepened, he could feel the other man’s passion for him too.When Lucas finally drew back, a gentle smile graced his lips.Dylan looked deep into his eyes.
“I love you, too,” Lucas said.“Now, let me fix this so the three of us can focus on what’s important.Us.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Brooklyn’s shift was over, but not her nightmare.
It was twilight.She was sitting in her car in the parking lot, staring at her phone.There were voicemails and texts from Lucas and Dylan, but she hadn’t glanced at any of them.She couldn’t.
Late this afternoon, Dr.Harvey Gibson had summoned her back into his office.No reason given.She’d been terrified that she was going to not only lose her chance at the promotion but lose her position at the hospital entirely.Walking into his office for the second time that day had been one of the hardest things she’d faced in years.
This time it was as if she’d been caught in the Twilight Zone.Dr.Gibson was furious.She could tell by his eyes and the thin slash of his mouth.But what he’d said to her nearly floored her.
“Congratulations, Dr.Foster,” he’d told her in a voice so polite it was nearly cracking under the strain.“I’ll get right to the point.You will be the head neurologist and director running our new, fully funded traumatic brain injury center.”
She stared at him, certain she’d misheard him.Or that he was playing some kind of cruel trick on her.
“I’m sorry…what?”
“The board of directors just let me know their decision.I apologize for any earlier confusion.You are the candidate they have chosen.”His cold eyes told her that she definitely wasn’t the candidate he’d wanted, and his barely suppressed anger told her how much he resented it.And her.
“When did this happen?I thought—”
“You are far better at glad-handing than I suspected.Nicely done.I’m not too proud to admit I’ve been outmaneuvered.You have powerful friends.”
Her heart was in her throat, but her stomach felt as if it had plunged three floors down.“What do you mean?”
But she thought she knew exactly what he meant.
“I mean your apparently extremely close friendship with Lucas Fox.He has agreed to fund the trauma center construction in full.Providedyourun the center.”Again came that icy smile.“How could the board of directors turn that down?”
“I see…” She felt like she was all broken glass inside.In a way, she felt even worse getting what she’d wanted than she’d felt when Gibson had denied her any chance at it.
Because she hadn’t earned it.Lucas had used his money to solve the problem.To toss her a bone.This was something she’d pursued all her career, a culmination of a dream, and she had to rely on a billionaire to hand it to her.
Thank you so much, Lucas Fox.
Her anger and her sorrow deepened.First, they’d somehow lured her into that crazy nighttime ride into the desert…and what in God’s name had she been thinking?It had been a complete lapse of sanity.Then she’d proven herself cognitively unsound by pretending she was a wild kid again and racing that big truck over the off-road track, only to have that bite her in the ass.
Thank you so much, Dylan Pierce.
So now she had zero desire to read a bunch of texts and calls from them, congratulating her on something she hadn’t earned.Listening to those calls or reading those texts might even make her break down in tears.She would be an emotional wreck.
Like the responsible person she truly was, she waited until her hands stopped shaking before starting the car and leaving the hospital.She turned on the radio but didn’t really hear any of the music.It was white noise.She was headed for Lucas Fox’s condo.They were going to have dinner tonight.
The doorman let her into Lucas’s luxury condo tower.The desk clerk signed her in.She stood there, letting them do their jobs, her mind a blank, but her emotions roiling inside her.They let her through.She walked through the fancy lobby to the fancy elevators and took one to the top floor.
This place was luxurious beyond belief, but she wasn’t really seeing that either.Her head was throbbing.She could feel her pulse in her temples.
