His Cybernetic Secretary

15. Dante

Dante Holden had known his brother his entire life. Literally. Same birthday, same parents, same blood, same damn face, depending on the lighting and which one of them was trying to piss someone off.

He knew Xavier better than anyone alive, which was why the sight in front of him was so entertaining. His brother was nervous. Not enough for anyone else to notice, but Dante noticed.

The slight tightening of Xavier’s jaw. The way his shoulders had gone rigid. The extra half-second before he answered a question.

And his eyes. His eyes kept finding her.

Chrysanthemum. Dante looked at the woman he’d just delivered into his brother’s world and understood immediately why.

Beautiful didn’t begin to cover it.

There was something almost unnerving about her. She was composed, elegant, perfectly controlled. Her movements were deliberate, her expression carefully neutral. And yet Dante could see the tiny imperfections.

A flicker in her eyes, a pause before she answered, the subtle change in her breathing when Xavier stepped closer.

Human reactions.

Buried beneath technology, programming, safeguards and directives. Dante had read her file. The file hadn’t prepared him for her.

Her attention then settled on his brother.

The air changed. Dante felt it immediately. So did Xavier. His twin extended his hand.

“Welcome back to the English Continent.”

She looked at his hand for a moment before accepting it. “Thank you, Mr. Holden.”

Their hands touched, and Xavier froze, just for a heartbeat. Dante almost laughed.

Oh, this is bad.

Not bad for Xavier, bad for Xavier’s carefully constructed little system of rules. His brother had never been afraid of women.

Women were unnecessary, unless they were. They wanted something, he wanted something, they enjoyed themselves, they left. Simple. Xavier liked simple, but this woman had him standing there like he’d forgotten the f*****g alphabet. And then she looked at him.

Not through him, not at the powerful businessman whose company she would be working for. At him.

Dante watched his brother swallow. There it was- Uncertainty. Something Dante hadn’t seen in decades. It made him strangely protective, and deeply amused. “I’m sure you’ll work well together,” Dante said.

Xavier looked at him. The warning in his eyes was unmistakable.

Dante smiled innocently.

Chrysanthemum turned toward him, and the smallest smile touched her lips.

“Dante.”

There was warmth in the way she said his name.

Not professional warmth, familiar warmth, and Dante caught it immediately.

So did Xavier. “Already tired of him?” Xavier asked dryly.

Chrys’ smile grew, as did both men’s eyes at the sight of such raw beauty. “Not quite.”

Dante laughed, running his hands through his hair. “See? I told you we’d get along.”

“You talked for six hours.”

“And you listened.”

“You made it difficult not to.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It wasn’t.”

“Still taking it.”

Her eyes met his, and for a moment they slipped effortlessly into the rhythm they’d found on the plane. Dante liked that, probably more than he should.

She was comfortable with him now. Comfortable enough to tease him back, comfortable enough to let that carefully controlled expression soften when he made her laugh.

And Dante couldn’t help noticing something else.

She liked him.

Dante knew it. Maybe she didn’t fully understand how much yet, but he knew. And the uncomfortable truth was that he liked her too, much more than he’d intended to. The thought of her spending every day beside Xavier suddenly didn’t feel quite as amusing as it should have.

Dante glanced at his brother. His twin was watching her with that unfamiliar intensity. Something possessive stirred in Dante’s chest.

Mine.

The thought came so instinctively that he almost scoffed at himself. She wasn’t his. She wasn’t Xavier’s either. But the idea of his brother getting the version of Chrys Dante had discovered on that flight—the quick smile, the dry little comments, the warmth that surfaced when she forgot to be guarded—made something dark and selfish curl inside him.

Maybe he should steal her away. The thought was ridiculous, and yet…

Dante had always enjoyed taking the road nobody expected him to take. He could make her laugh, he could make her forget the rules for a few minutes, and he already knew how easily that beautiful composure cracked when he teased her. Screw her directives, he would crack her code and strip her of all her restraints. The visual that followed that thought gave him goosebumps.

And if Xavier wanted her?

Well. That suddenly made the game considerably more interesting. Dante looked at his brother again. Xavier caught him watching.

Neither man spoke. But they both understood.

Competition.

Dante laughed as they started toward the convoy parked outside the airport doors, waiting to take them to Holden Minerals. He watched Xavier glance at her, then at him. Dante’s grin returned.

Oh, this was going to be fun.