coltish twenty-year-old he’d first met. “Well done. Would you like a glass of wine? I have a bottle on ice.”
Anna hesitated. “It’s probably best if we keep our conversation strictly business.”
“There’s no business between you and me without the personal creeping in. Your family and I are forever enmeshed.” She could turn this point on him later if she learned of the War Chest’s plans, not that he cared to change a thing about it. The ball was rolling.
Anna nodded in agreement. “How about this? Talk to me about Sunny Side and I’ll stay for a glass of wine.”
Was it really as innocent as that? His skeptical side wanted to think that it wasn’t, but it’d been a long day. At least he could enjoy a glass of good wine and derive deep satisfaction from admiring his nemesis’s little sister. “I’ll open it right now.”
“So, Sunny Side,” Anna said. “They could be an amazing acquisition for LangTel.”
Jacob opened the bottle at the wet bar, filled two glasses and brought them to the lacquered cocktail table. He sat near Anna and clinked his glass with hers. “Cheers.” Taking a long sip, he studied her lovely face, especially her mouth. He’d only had her lips on his for a few moments, but he knew the spark beneath her composed exterior. She could so easily be his undoing. He hadn’t anticipated this beguiling creature resurfacing in his life. Or that she might disrupt the riskiest investment venture of his career.
“Well?” she asked. “Sunny Side?”
“Yes. Sorry. It’s been a long day.” He shook his head, trying to make sense of the situation. “Is there a point in discussing it? Sunny Side might consider an offer from LangTel, but the problem is Adam. I don’t see him wanting to acquire a company I’m so deeply entrenched with and frankly, I’m never getting into bed with him either.” Getting into bed with Adam’s sister might be another matter. Loyalty was no longer standing in the way.
She nodded, intently focused. “I’ll take care of Adam. I just want to know if you can put me in the room with Sunny Side.”
“Just so you know, it’s about more than money. The founder is very leery of big business. It took months for me to earn his trust.”
Her eyes flashed. She was undaunted by obstacles. If anything, it brought out her enthusiasm. “Of course. The technology has limitless applications.”
“It will revolutionize the entire cell phone industry.” One thing dawned on him—the War Chest’s interest in LangTel was with the mind of turning the corporation into a bigger moneymaker once Adam was gone. Sunny Side would be a major player in the industry, so why not put the two together? It could have an enormous upside.
“So, can we make this happen?”
Jacob admired her persistence. Among other things. “Only if Adam stays out of it.”
“Tech acquisitions is my department. Think of it as doing business with me.”
“How long do you think you’ll stay in that job?” He’d been surprised she’d taken a job with LangTel at all. She always seemed to hate being in her brother’s shadow.
“Not forever, hopefully.”
“Setting your sights on bigger and better things?”
She smiled politely. “Yes.”
He was relieved that she saw herself eventually leaving LangTel. She’d still make a boatload of money from her personal stock if he was successful with a takeover, and her career wouldn’t be derailed. Adam was his target, not Anna. “Okay, well, if we’re going to talk about Sunny Side, Adam has to stay out of it. A negotiation requires compromise and he is incapable of that. He hates it when you disagree with him.”
“I’m familiar with that aspect of his personality.” She ran her finger around the edge of the wine glass, her eyes connecting with his and sending a splendid shock right through him. “I could never get Adam to tell me exactly what happened. Between the two of you.”
Although Jacob wasn’t certain what made Adam react the way he had, he suspected Roger Langford was at the root of it all. It started when Jacob spotted problems with Adam’s central idea for Chatterback, the social media website they were starting. They needed to rethink everything. Adam vehemently disagreed. He brooded, they argued for days on end. Jacob suggested Adam consult with his dad—maybe he could talk some sense into him. The next day, Jacob had been cut out entirely. “I find that surprising. I assumed he bad-mouthed me to anyone who would listen.”
“He did some of that, but he mostly just never wanted to talk about it.” Anna wound her arms around her waist.
Did he care to venture down this road tonight? Absolutely not. The details were too infuriating—money lost, countless hours, passion and hard work unfairly yanked away. Plus, he couldn’t tell Anna that he suspected her father had been the problem. She was likely still grieving him. “I don’t want to be accused of trying to taint your opinion of Adam. He is your brother, after all.”
“Okay, then at least tell me that you’ll put me in the room with Sunny Side.”
His mind went to work, calculating. There were myriad ways in which this could all go wrong. Of course, if it went right, that could be a real coup. “I’ll make it happen, but this is only because of you. I don’t want Adam interfering.”
“Believe me, I won’t let him get in the middle.” Anna took a sip of her wine. When she set down the glass, she laughed quietly and shook her head. “It was bad enough when he was the reason you didn’t want me to kiss you.”
Adam’s fiancée, Melanie, pointed to the dog-eared pages of bridal magazines spread out on the dining table in Adam’s penthouse apartment. “Anna? What do you think? Black or eggplant?”
Bridesmaid’s dresses. Talking about the dress she’d have to wear for Adam and Melanie’s January wedding felt like a speed bump. Anna’d been trying to broach the subject of Jacob and Miami for nearly the entire week, but Adam kept putting her off.
“Do you have a preference?” Melanie asked.
Anna shook her head, setting down her dessert spoon. The chocolate mousse Melanie had served with dinner was delicious, and perfect, just like Adam and Melanie’s life—a well-matched couple giddily in love, wedding a few months down the road. “I’m sorry. What were you saying?”
“Classic black A-line or strapless dark purple?”
Anna choked back a sigh. She was happy for Adam and Melanie, really she was, but their wedding had taken over Langford family life. It was the only thing their mother, Evelyn, wanted to talk about. Just to make things especially fun for Anna, her mother usually added a comment about how her first project after the wedding was helping Anna find the right guy. January couldn’t come—and go—soon enough.
She loved her brother dearly. Melanie had become a close friend. It was just that it was painful to watch them reach a milestone Anna was skeptical she’d ever reach. At twenty-eight, being hopelessly single in a city full of men who didn’t have eyes for women with lofty aspirations, there wasn’t much else to think. Most men were intimidated
