Sophie Oak - Back in Bliss

Mark turned on him, canines bared. Yeah, he was going to be a peach of a brother-in-law. “Somehow I think we’ll manage, Mr. Businessman.”

“She’s not dumb,” Ben insisted.

“She’s not.” Win seemed determined to placate his most reasonable brother. He sent Ben a long look, and Seth wondered how it would feel to be able to communicate with someone through a single look. Ben settled down. “She’s not dumb, but she can be a bit naïve. She claims that she’s not sleeping with him, and there’s nothing between them. Is that true, Mr. Stark?”

“I’m not sleeping with Georgia.” He let a little sigh of relief run through the crowd. He found it deeply interesting that Ben alone seemed upset by the news. And then Seth dropped his hammer. “I’m not sleeping with her yet. The time isn’t right.”

He stood because this wasn’t as much fun as he’d thought it would be. He meant to marry Georgia Dawson, and now all he could think about was the fact that she seemed to love her brothers. He wasn’t sure why, but she did, and she would very likely be upset if she knew they were all fighting.

He didn’t like it when Georgia was upset.

Seth made his way around the table, placing a file folder in front of each Dawson brother. “Gentlemen, if you would care to open the folders in front of you, we can begin.”

Win pushed his away, a stubborn look on his face. “What the fuck is this, Stark? This isn’t some business meeting. I’m not in negotiations with you. I’ve come to take my sister home, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

“What the fuck is this supposed to mean?” Drew held the contents of his folder up. He and his brother Mark were a very simple fix. His folder contained one simple phone number, a match to his brother’s.

Seth settled back into his chair. It was time to get comfortable. “That’s the phone number to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States. I recently did some programming work for the Pentagon. They were grateful. I have dinner with the old guy now and again. He’s a very nice man.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Awesome. You have a phone number. Good for you, buddy.”

“This is stupid. I’m getting Georgia. I’ll just tell her to come home.” Win started for the door.

“Brother, I would sit down if I were you. I think the little shit is serious.” Chase frowned. “Is this what I think it is?” He held up a crystal-clear photograph of himself sitting at his computer desk, his back in full view.

“That was taken with a high-powered rifle from a building one block down from your office in Dallas. As you can see, there is a sniper position that works for your desk.” He’d learned from Georgia that Chase was the smartest of all her brothers and had a paranoid streak that went a mile wide.

“Motherfucker. He’s going to snipe me.” Chase sat back, his hand slapping at the table. “I like the little shit. You have my full support. Get at her, man.”

Drew stared down at that number. “Are these ways you’re planning to get rid of us? Is he serious?”

Seth shrugged casually. “Perhaps I’m not completely serious about taking out Chase. But I will spend an enormous amount of time and effort pointing out all the ways his security plans don’t work. He’ll be like the little Dutch boy trying to plug all those leaks with too few thumbs.”

“Dude, I told you I’m good. You’re mean. We’re going to get along nicely.” Chase grinned a little, the only one in the room who seemed to be having a good time. “How are you going to kill Ben?”

Ben held up his note. It was blank. “I’m just nothing to any of you.”

“You’re the reasonable one,” Seth explained. Ben was deeply simple. If logic didn’t work, he knew who to talk to. “And I do have a plan to deal with you. If you give me trouble, I’ll talk to your wife.”

Ben paled a little. “I’m with Chase. Go get Georgia. Don’t look at me like that, Win. Nat can be a little brutal when she wants to be, and she won’t like us pushing Georgia around. They’ve got that whole ‘girl power’ thing going.”

“She’s your sub, Ben. Tell her what to do,” Win shot back. “Or have you two taken her collar? Do you understand the Master-sub relationship? Has Julian Lodge gone soft? What the fuck is he teaching you?”

“Yes, Julian is such a softie,” Ben replied, rolling his eyes. “There’s a reason you’re not married, you freak. Go on, Win. I really want to see how Seth here handles you.”

“I still don’t know how this phone number is supposed to scare me.” Mark seemed to struggle with the concept. Maybe they weren’t as smart as he’d imagined.

“Dude, he’s going to call the big brass and get you kicked off Delta Force, you freaking pansy.” Chase shot his brother the finger, and for the first time in his life, Seth was genuinely happy he was an only child. The level of testosterone in the room was ridiculous, and the brothers looked like they were going to start throwing punches any minute.

“He can’t get me kicked off.” Drew stood up, leaning over the table. “Now he might have been able to get a sad little SEAL kicked out, but we all know you guys take it up the ass from anyone.”

Ben got up, too, proving the reasonable guy could only be pushed so far. “I have something I’ll shove up your ass, Drew.”

“Shut up, all of you.” Seth had been forced to shout down protesters before. He could handle this crew. He turned to the Delta contingent. “I assure you if I call and offer the United States military my expertise at no charge, with the only codicil being you and your brother’s immediate forced retirement, you two will get kicked to the curb.” He turned his gaze on the former SEALs. “Don’t think I can’t take care of you two. I can make Natalie think I am the greatest human being in the world. I just set up a fund for victims of rape. I just endowed it with fifty million dollars and set her up as an advisor. I intend to let her know about the new charity this evening. Who is she going to think is best for Georgia?” And Win. Win was the hard case. Win was the one who wouldn’t go down easy. “And you. Please read that file because I set that up so carefully. I want you to understand how far I am willing to go.”

Win’s face was red, his whole body stiff and stubborn, but he sat back down and the rest seemed to take their cue from him. The whole group calmed, a détente obviously reached. Win opened his folder and began to read. His was the most convoluted, complex plan, but he would get the gist very quickly.

Seth waited and wished Logan was here. Logan Green was his best friend despite the time and distance between them. They’d bonded at a young age. He’d been older than Logan, and it might have meant something if they’d met at Seth’s school in New York. But in Bliss, those months didn’t mean a thing. Bliss, Colorado, had been his sanctuary, the one place where he could be a kid, and Logan had been his brother in every way but blood. He’d spent every school year working hard so he would be allowed to spend each summer and Christmas break with his granddad in Colorado. If he’d earned even one B , his parents would have forced him to stay in New York and spend the summer with a tutor. Seth Stark had graduated with a perfect GPA. He’d been a National Merit Scholar and gained every academic award his private Manhattan high school had offered, and all because he wanted those months of freedom with his brother.

He was too close to having the family he wanted to screw it up now. He’d found the right woman thanks to someone named Kitten. He wasn’t going to allow her brothers to fuck it up for him.

And he wasn’t going to let Logan fuck it up either.