“Three!” Aleck’s bravado intensifies. “You’re fucked if I get to five. Four!”

“Yeah, okay. I had Jeremy Brenan redirect your emails for a while,” Hayden finally says with a Cheshire smile.

You can do that? I guess you can do anything with enough money.

“You’re a dumbass.” Aleck turns around, calmer, but on edge enough to scare a wildcat.

I pick up my Kindle, trying to appear like I’m not hanging onto every word they’re saying. Failing miserably at it, considering I can’t take my eyes off them.

Aleck walks to the counter opposite me and leans his hip against it, leering at Hayden. “I have a job to do, Hayden. You may not give a shit about the firm, but I do. You shut down my email, you stand between me and my job, my career. You’re only putting the firm in jeopardy. Do you have any idea how much I actually juggle from day to day?”

Hayden walks into the suite, making our space feel a little less warm, and closes the door behind him with a smirk.

“I just think it’s funny how you act like nothing gets to you but—”

“So you keep fucking with me until, what? Until I kill you?”

“No. I was just ruffling your feathers, little brother. Lighten up. Mom, dad, and I are invited to this wedding, too. You would have had to face me eventually.”

“I wasn’t putting effort into ignoring you, Hay, I’m on vacation.”

Hayden stops next to the island across from where I sit, settling his eyes on me. “I can see that…”

They actually look like brothers who share blood. But Aleck’s deep brown hair and stubble make him look dark, while his alarmingly bright blue eyes make him look angelic. It’s like the devil fell in love with an angel and they made Aleck with equal amounts of each other. He’s hard to look at because he’s so perfect with his blunt, chiseled jawline, his square, broad shoulders, and a smile that could light up a football stadium.

He’s perfect if perfect was a tangible concept.

Hayden Fox stands at about six-four, Aleck’s height, give or take. His skin is fair, making the varying shades of brown and gold in his dusty blond hair look darker. He leers instead of looks through narrowed deep brown eyes. As if he’s looking through you, or into you, instead of at you. He takes in every movement, studying, scrutinizing, assessing… Every tic of his eyebrow, curve of his lips, and hard glare of his eyes make him look dangerous.

While I can see Aleck’s dark past lingering in the background like static, he doesn’t like that darkness. He stays controlled, trying hard not to give into it. Covering it well with expensive suits and an indifferent stare. Hayden looks happy to reside there, doing the devil’s bidding.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” Hayden’s voice almost lulls a drugged response from me.

Aleck takes a couple steps toward Hayden, pulling me from observing the exchange between these two formidable men.