Bidding On The Billionaire (The Sherbrookes of Newport Book 8) (2 page)

He met her eyes. Without a doubt, Aunt Marilyn would keep pestering him until he gave in. Derek glanced down at the four unexpected names again, a plan forming that would make his aunt happy, and even better, keep him in control. “Okay, fine. I’ll do it.”

Two weeks later

Brooklyn Novak stopped in front of her apartment door and searched through her gym bag for her keys. She’d spent the last hour downstairs in the pool, just one of the fabulous amenities the Hillcrest offered its residents that made it Providence’s most sought-after residence. Not to mention one of the city’s most expensive.

She could have easily spent another hour down there. Swimming was her favorite form of exercise, although she didn’t really consider it exercise. In fact, she enjoyed being in the water so much when she was young, her father had often joked she should’ve been born with gills and flippers rather than ears and hands.

Tonight though she’d headed down more because she hoped it would tire her body out than because she needed a good workout. The past two nights she’d had the worst time falling asleep at a decent hour. Her body seemed to think it was still on West Coast time. She guessed it was to be expected. She had spent the last three weeks in California for her older sister’s wedding and all the pre-wedding festivities, many of which she would have preferred to skip. Unfortunately, family was family even if you didn’t always get along with them.

Finding her keys underneath her swim goggles, she pulled them out and unlocked the door. Behind her she heard the elevator doors opening, and she expected to hear Roberta Warwick, the fortysomething stockbroker who lived next door with her husband, call out to her. Since she’d moved into the building the year before, Brooklyn had grown close to the outgoing woman. Perhaps not BFF close, she already had two of those anyway, but they frequently got together for lunch or to go shopping. In fact, it wasn’t unusual for Roberta, or Robbie as her friends called her, to pop in on a random night to just chat. Brooklyn suspected the woman was lonely. Her husband spent a great deal of time traveling for his company and they didn’t have any children or family in the area.

Brooklyn pushed open her door and turned, prepared to say hello and invite Robbie in for a little while, but it wasn’t Robbie crossing the distance between the elevator and her door. Instead, it was Derek Sherbrooke, one of her two BFFs, although she’d never call him that to his face. Regardless, she suspected he knew how much she valued his friendship.

She’d met Derek on her second day at Harvard. She’d been heading to her first class and despite her campus map she’d been utterly lost. Derek had spotted her and, perhaps sensing her confusion, he’d stopped to help. Although he was also a freshman at the university, he’d spent his fair share of time on the campus because his oldest brother, Trent, had graduated from the school and his other brother, Gray, was a junior. Since it turned out they were both heading to the same freshman English lit class, they’d walked together. That had been the beginning of their friendship. A friendship that remained strong today. In fact, Derek was one of the few people from Harvard who remained a permanent part of her life.

“I hoped you were back,” Derek said, giving her a quick hug.

For a moment her body forgot she’d long ago accepted they’d only ever be friends, and her heart gave an extra little flutter.

“I got home late Friday night.”

“Did you go for a swim?” He pointed toward her gym bag. He knew how much she loved the water. In fact, he shared that particular love. In college they’d often meet up at the pool and do laps together.

“Yep, I spent about an hour downstairs. My body still thinks it’s in California. I’m hoping the swim will help me fall asleep earlier tonight. Otherwise, tomorrow will be a long day at the office. Come on in.” She walked through the doorway and switched on the lights.

“You should’ve called me Friday. I would’ve picked you up at the airport and we could’ve grabbed a drink or something. It hasn’t been the same without you around.”

Brooklyn dropped her gym bag inside the half bath off the kitchen. Later she’d wash out her swimsuit and hang it to dry. For now, she’d visit with Derek, perhaps the friendliest face she’d seen in three weeks.

“I figured you’d have plans. I arranged for a car to pick me up. No big deal.” Rarely did a Friday night go by that Derek didn’t have plans. More times than not those plans involved some beautiful woman, although occasionally he did spend time with one of his brothers or another friend in town.

Derek shook his head as he made a beeline for her refrigerator. “Nah, just hung out at my place this weekend. It’s been a crazy few weeks, and I needed some downtime.” He popped open the can of cream soda he’d pulled out. She only kept it around for him and his frequent visits. She couldn’t stomach the stuff.

“How’s Allison doing?” She’d read all about the events that had transpired in Virginia and she couldn’t imagine what Derek’s twin sister must be going through.

He took a long swig from the can before he answered her. “Better. She’s all settled in at Rock’s place, and her town house is on the market. She even went in to work this week for a couple of days. I think she’s going to be fine.”

Brooklyn was glad to hear it. She knew how close Derek and his sister were. Actually, she knew firsthand how close the entire Sherbrooke clan was, and more than once she’d envied him. Her own family was nothing like Derek’s. While her two older sisters were extremely close and got along well with their parents, she’d always been the odd man out. That wasn’t to say they didn’t love her, because in their own way she realized they did. However, none of them understood her or made an effort to. The only two relatives she was close to were her Aunt Felicia and her cousin Cheyenne, her other best friend.

“So what are you doing here tonight?” Brooklyn asked. Part of her wanted more details about what had actually happened down in Alexandria. Every media outlet in the country had covered the story for days, but she knew it didn’t mean they’d gotten all the facts correct. However, she wouldn’t pry. Enough people poked their big noses into Derek and his family’s lives, and because of that, she’d always gone out of her way not to.

Derek gave a little shrug before he dropped down on the couch, his favorite place to sit in her living room. “I stopped upstairs to visit my nephew. Then I decided to see if you were back yet.” Derek’s eldest brother and his wife lived in the penthouse, which occupied the top two floors of the building. Even his second-oldest brother lived in the building now with his fiancée. “Weren’t you due back this morning?”

Her original travel plans had her coming home this morning. She’d changed them the previous Wednesday, unable to take any more quality family time. “I was, but then I changed my mind. It seemed acceptable to leave right after the wedding on Friday afternoon.” She hadn’t even waited for the reception to end. Once the bride and groom had made their exit, she’d headed for the airport herself.

“I’ll have to stop upstairs and congratulate Trent and Addie. How is the baby doing? He was really early wasn’t he?” The birth of Derek’s nephew had lit up the Internet, so even though she’d been in California when it happened, she’d known about it.

“About a month, but he’s doing great,” Derek said, sounding quite proud. She knew he’d been looking forward to the birth of his first niece or nephew. As a general rule, family was important to all the members of the Sherbrooke clan, as she liked to think of them.

“Does he look like your brother or more like Addie?”

“Definitely Trent. There’s no mistaking Kendrick is a Sherbrooke.”

She couldn’t keep from shaking her head. “I still can’t believe he’s married with a baby. He’s the last person I ever saw as a family man. Your cousin, too.”

“Never seen either of them happier.”

“I’m not sure the world is ready for another generation of Sherbrooke men,” she said with a chuckle. “Three in less than a year. Is that some kind of record for your family?”

Derek considered her question. All his cousins were around his age, but Brooklyn didn’t think any were as close as the babies born recently.

“Might be,” he said.

“Do you think anyone else will be adding to the family tree soon?”

He shrugged and took another swig from his soda can. “Don’t think so. Sara’s wedding is this month, but I don’t think she’s ready for children. And Gray and Kiera don’t plan on getting married until next year. But who knows? My family has been full of surprises lately.” Stretching out his long legs, he said, “So how was your sister’s wedding?”

Brooklyn couldn’t contain her eye roll. “It fit Paris and Seth to a tee.” The entire affair had been elaborate and over the top, much like her supermodel older sister.

Derek grimaced, an indication he understood her comment. “That bad, huh?”

“I don’t think you’d call it
bad
, but not anything I would ever want. Paris looked radiant though. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her so emotional. It might have been a trick of the light, but I think I saw her shed a few tears as my dad walked her down the aisle. And Seth couldn’t keep his eyes off her. They’re a perfect couple.” She spoke the truth. Paris was the second-oldest daughter of Scarlet Knight, now Scarlet Novak,
the
supermodel of the late seventies and early eighties. A beautiful model herself, she’d recently started to dabble in acting. Seth Vallencourt was a Hollywood hunk and the son of former actor Cal Vallencourt. Today Cal directed some of the best movies out of Hollywood. It was a match made in heaven.

He broke the tab off his soda can before he spoke again. “And you hated every minute of being out there. That’s why you came home early.”

Derek knew her well.

“What did your family do this time?”

She heard the annoyance in his voice. Her family was not on the top of his favorite people list. And the feeling was mutual. At least it was as far as her dad was concerned. He didn’t care for any of the Sherbrookes, especially Derek’s father. The fact that she and Derek were such good friends irked him to no end. Her mom never said much about their friendship. Then again, she never said much about any of Brooklyn’s friends. Brooklyn considered it a positive thing.

“They were just themselves.” Since she’d graduated college, her mom and sisters had been constantly trying to set her up with men. Men they would never even give the time of day to. Brooklyn suspected they figured, since she wasn’t as drop-dead gorgeous as them, she’d never land a man herself and needed all the help she could get. Even worse than assuming she needed help was insisting she needed an unattractive man since she’d inherited her father’s looks, rather than her mom’s like both Paris and Milan had. No Hollywood hunks for her; at least that’s what she’d surmised, based on the men her family set her up with. Not that she needed a Hollywood heartthrob. She’d rather be with the ugliest man on Earth if they shared similar interests and he treated her well, instead of a self-absorbed jerk who looked hot in jeans. However, her mom and sisters routinely set her up with not only unattractive men, but men who turned out to be creeps as well.

“At least it’s over and you don’t have to worry about them anymore.”

She wished. Her date—no, she wasn’t going to think of it like that—her dinner out with Trevor Jones on Friday proved Derek’s statement wrong.

“It’s good to be home. I’m actually looking forward to going in to the office tomorrow. I did a lot of work while I was away, but it’s not the same. Anything new and exciting happen there while I was gone?” Hale and Associates had hired them both, following their graduation from Harvard.

“Max announced he’s retiring at the end of the summer. Otherwise, same old stuff.”

Brooklyn’s eyes almost rolled onto the floor. “No way. He can’t retire.” Max Hale was the oldest attorney in the firm his grandfather and great-uncle had started ages ago. Despite his ruthlessness in the courtroom, the man was as friendly as a puppy in the office. She’d miss seeing him around every day.

“He keeps insisting the end of August is it for him. I think the heart attack he had in the fall scared him. Maybe it made him realize he isn’t going to live forever and that he needs to start enjoying himself,” Derek said, standing. “I’m starving. Do you mind if I grab something to eat?”

“Help yourself. But there’s not much here right now.”

Derek strolled into the kitchen, and she couldn’t help but watch him. Even when he walked you could detect his confidence. In fact, it all but oozed out of the guy. No doubt about it, he was comfortable and happy in his own skin, and his family accepted him just the way he was. Too bad you couldn’t somehow absorb some of another person’s confidence by simply being around them. Then again, if you could, she’d have oodles of confidence by now, considering all the time they’d spent together over the past ten years.

“You weren’t kidding. You don’t have much in there.” He returned carrying an unopened bag of pretzels and another can of cream soda. Sitting, he tore into the bag, offering her some before taking any himself.

“All set.” She’d indulged enough while out in California, something her mom had pointed out more than once. She needed to get back to eating healthy again, which meant more salads and less turkey clubs with extra mayo. “Next time you stop by, the kitchen will be fully stocked again.” It wasn’t unusual for Derek to stop by after work during the week.

He popped a handful of honey wheat pretzels, her favorite kind, in his mouth and chewed before he spoke again. “I have a big favor to ask.”

Okay, he had her absolute attention now. Derek almost never asked for a favor. In fact, she’d known him for a decade and could probably count on one hand the number of times he’d asked her for any type of help. She suspected it was a good thing she was sitting down already.

“I’m all ears.”

Derek cleared his throat. Somehow what he’d considered a fabulous plan a few weeks ago when his aunt sat across from him now didn’t seem so wonderful. What other choice did he have? Backing out on Aunt Marilyn was out of the question. That left him with two options: either he asked Brooklyn for her help or he left things to chance and prayed to every possible god Tasha Marshall didn’t win him at the auction. Of those two choices, begging Brooklyn for her help was the less painful. Although he didn’t suspect he’d have to do much begging. Brooklyn was the nicest, most caring individual he knew. He couldn’t think of a single time he’d seen someone ask her for help and she hadn’t complied.