Ensnared (The Accidental Billionaires #1)(22)

“I’m sorry, Jade,” Brooke responded. “I know how much you want to keep researching, but it might take some time.”

“It seems I have plenty of that,” I teased halfheartedly.

“You can pretty much do whatever you want,” she answered.

I was starting to feel bad because I was such a downer for Brooke when she was so happy. “I’ll be patient. At least I don’t have to just take something in order to work, thanks to our windfall. I’ll keep volunteering so I can network more.”

“You deserve this rest, Jade. Remember that,” Brooke said adamantly. “We went hungry as kids, and every one of us worked to bring in money as soon as we were old enough. You busted your ass to get somewhere. It doesn’t matter that you got lucky with the money. You’ll be successful because you’ve always been driven. Maybe none of us expected to end up quite this rich, but we’ve worked hard since we were kids. Martin Sinclair was our father, and he left our mother destitute while he lived a life of gluttony. Bastard children or not, we deserve to join the rest of our family and to get back what we never had when we were younger.”

I sighed. “Sometimes I wish the money would just go away and I could go back to how things were before. I’d probably be working in a government job of some kind by now. I would have found a full-time gig as soon as I could, even if it wasn’t in my area of interest or expertise. But now I feel like I’m in limbo.”

“It will go away, Jade,” Brooke said. “I know it all seems weird right now, but you’ll figure it all out in time. Don’t push yourself too hard. Evan will handle your portfolio as long as you want.”

“I know. But I feel like I should be doing more than I am right now.”

“Because we’re all used to being so busy we don’t have time to think,” Brooke explained. “But that’s never been healthy for any of us. We all need some balance. Have fun with Eli. And if you sleep with him, I need to know immediately,” she teased.

“I’m not going to go to bed with him,” I said hastily. “I guess I’m just hoping for some enlightenment. Eli has been rich his entire life, and he got a whole lot richer after his father passed away. He’s a good businessman.”

“He’s a gorgeous billionaire,” she corrected. “And I think you want more than an educational experience. I’ll be dying to find out how it’s going.”

“I’ll keep you posted,” I promised.

“Are you going to be okay?” Brooke asked. “Do you want me to fly home so we can spend some time together?”

“That would make Liam my enemy,” I joked. “No, thanks. I like my new brother-in-law. And I’ll be fine. I’m just a little bit overwhelmed, but I’ll work it out.”

“You know that I’m always going to be there for you, right? Even though I’m married now, I’m still your twin sister.”

I blinked back the tears that sprang to my eyes.

Brooke might be far away, but our twin bond was ever-present. “Thanks. Maybe I needed to hear that. But I’ll be fine.”

I had no doubt that if Brooke thought I needed her, she’d drop everything to be here. It was a comforting thought. But I wasn’t about to drag her away from her new husband.

“I love you,” Brooke said tearfully.

“I love you, too,” I answered as a tear hit my cheek.

“Call me,” she insisted. “I have to know how your experiment is working out.”

We talked for a few more minutes, and then hung up with the promise to call each other more often.

I relaxed as I hung up the phone. I’d been missing Brooke, and because of her travels, we hadn’t had a lot of time to talk. But I should have realized that none of my siblings, no matter how busy, were ever going to forget how much we meant to each other.

We’d all grown up as a group, fought for each other, and because we were all together, we flourished as people despite being poor.

My mood elevated after my short pep talk, and I rose from my couch to go put things together for the morning. Eli had texted me to let me know that I needed to bring a swimsuit and dry clothing.

My heart skittered as I pictured his face the morning after I’d practically blabbed out every emotion I was feeling into the darkness the night before.

His gray eyes had remained fixed on me until we’d departed from the cabin, but he hadn’t appeared to get any less fierce since hearing about all my insecurities. In fact, I sensed that he somehow wanted to protect me from something.

Unfortunately, the thing I actually needed to be shielded from was him.





CHAPTER 8

JADE



I was gathering up my backpack the next morning when I heard my doorbell ring.

A quick glance at the clock confirmed that Eli was right on time.

I smiled as I realized that he was probably trying to prove that he didn’t always leave people cooling their heels because of him.

Picking up my things, I made my way to the door, trying not to admit that I was curious about what we were doing for the day.

But I was pretty unsuccessful.

I’d worn my swimsuit underneath my jeans and T-shirt, and I had clean clothes in my pack. So yeah, I had to assume that we were doing something near the water, but that wasn’t really a stretch since we lived on the coast.