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Right now they were standing in the middle of foot traffic with pedestrians swerving around them frustrated over having to change their route.
Got to love it here. He was used to it now but had to admit he missed some of the quieter living he’d had in his life.
But as his older brother, West, had said years ago, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.
His billionaire brother proved the truth to that statement.
And Braylon had been by his side from the minute he’d graduated law school, turning down job offers that could have helped them both financially, his family included.
Instead of being the hero to his family, he ended up being the sidekick to his brother.
He’d gotten over it, mostly.
“I don’t have far to go,” the woman said. “Just next door.”
“Me too,” he said. Imagine that. Not that he’d seen her in the building before, but why would he have? The building had thousands and thousands of employees in it. “I’m Braylon, by the way. I’d shake your hand, but it’s filled with coffee and then if anyone was still watching us, they’d know I made it up about being your fiancé.”
“Lilian,” she said. “Thank you again. I hate how I can’t get a simple coffee order without someone bugging me.”
“Sometimes men are desperate,” he said. And though he’d noticed her for a few weeks he wouldn’t call himself that by any means.
He could get any woman he wanted and had. When he had time. Which he hardly ever did.
“I’m learning that,” she said. “I know I might come off as naive, but I’m not.”
“I don’t see that,” he said. “I see someone that just wants to do their job and be left alone. You could have easily made a scene any number of times and didn’t. Why?”
“I’m not one for doing that if I can avoid it,” she said. “Plus, my employers really like their coffee from that shop. It’s horrible, but I wondered if they got a bad cup if they’d let me change places, but most likely they’d just call and complain to the owners that a worker screwed up. It’s happened before. I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”
So even though she was being hit on and bothered, she wouldn’t sacrifice someone else for her comfort. He liked that trait. Maybe he saw some of himself in it too.
They got to their office building, she pulled the door open for him and he walked toward the elevator. “I take the stairs,” she said. “It’s faster as I’m on the second floor.”
She didn’t recognize his name and that was fine. He didn’t give his last name anyway and it’s not like West had pictures of himself in the building as the owner as many wanted him to do.
He was just West’s brother anyway. Not as many paid attention to him unless they wanted to get to his brother.
He handed over the tray of coffee. “Have a great day, Lilian.”
“You too, Braylon,” she said. “Thanks again.”
He nodded and walked to the elevator, then hit the button for the top floor. It was early still and not as busy as it would be in about twenty minutes.
Braylon wasn’t surprised to see the lights on in his wing. Maintenance would have switched everything on an hour ago, but the door was open to his brother’s office and that wasn’t normal.
Sure, his brother was always here early, but his door was usually shut, not open.
He walked down and leaned his head in. “Hey,” he said to West. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” West said and put his head down to go back to his laptop.
He didn’t take that as a sign to leave but rather walked in. “Doesn’t seem it to me. No more problems with the press, right? I haven’t seen anything.”
“No,” West said, leaning back and looking at him.
A few weeks ago it’d been leaked to the press that his brother was in a relationship. For most it wouldn’t seem like big news, but for a billionaire who stayed in the shadows and never dated, the fact he was with someone younger and an average citizen was as juicy as it could get.
Braylon did what he did best and squashed it as fast as he could, but it didn’t stop Abby Sherman from getting a ton of press and phone calls back in her hometown of Colonie a few hours away.
