2. The Sidekick

Braylon Carlisle had been watching this young woman being bothered while she got her coffee for over a month.

Did he find her sexy like the rest of them in a sweet girl-next-door vibe? Hell yeah.

But she was engaged, for one thing. And young, maybe just out of college.

It seemed that everyone moved here to find a big dream and didn't realize what they were signing up for.

"Thanks for your help," she said when they were outside on the sidewalk.

He turned and said, "Sorry about that. Didn't mean to come off strong, but you're a popular person in there."

Lilian snorted. "Seems it. No one wants to take no for an answer."

She paused and looked at him. He was somewhat engrossed in her brown eyes and found he was at a loss for words.

When she cleared her throat, he said, "Sorry again. Guess that means me too. But since there are a lot of people watching, why don't I walk you to your office?"

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.

The long-distance thing wasn't something Braylon thought he could do, but West and he were two different people.

"You know," Braylon said. "Not to be a jerk, but you're acting a little bit like you did before Abby came into your life."

"You mean a grumpy asshole?" West asked with a smirk on his face.

"That would be the one," he said, laughing. "Everything okay with Abby?"

"I think so," West said. "She's been quiet. Or I've been busy. We haven't talked much."

"Is that normal for you?" he asked. West was always private about his personal life but had opened up much more in the past several months.

Actually, his older brother became more like he was when they were kids before their lives took a turn for the worse.

West shrugged. "It ebbs and flows. I try not to bug her too much and she does the same with me. We are both working."

"You didn't spend the weekend with her, did you?" he asked.

Abby would often take the private jet for the hour trip from Albany and stay with his brother at his Hamptons home, but Braylon tried to stay out of it.

If he was jealous his older brother was finding something that none of them in the family had been able to yet, he'd held it in.

It wasn't only Abby. He'd always been jealous of his older brother but never let it show. What good would it have done anyway?

Braylon was the second oldest of eight kids. West got the most attention as the oldest and the one who had to step up when their father died. Braylon was the oldest left at home while West was in college and he helped his mother the most, but at fifteen it's not like he had a car or driver's license and spent most of his time babysitting and breaking up fights. He could be the peacemaker of the family in some people's eyes.

"No," West said. "Maybe this weekend. Not sure. We'll figure it out."

"Figure what out?" his sister, Laken, said, popping her head in. "Your door is open. Is there a meeting I don't know about?"

Laken worked for West also. She oversaw all the new acquisitions that West invested in. Braylon took care of most of the legal work, but it's not like he was the VP of Legal like Laken was of acquisitions.

Nope, Thomas Draken had that responsibility. Though Braylon understood he needed more experience, that at thirty-three, West was more or less having him groomed, it still hurt he wasn't the head honcho like his brother was.

"No meeting," West said. "Just had my door open because I hadn't shut it. Braylon stopped in to say hi."

Laken looked at him. She was the oldest girl, and just two years behind him. He'd have to say he was the closest to West, not just in age but also in their relationship, but no one ever got that close to West he'd learned.

Laken and he were close too, but there were some things you just didn't talk to your sister about.

Not that Laken was even around much, as she was on the road more times than not.

"Aren't you leaving today?" he asked.

"Yep," Laken said. "I came in to get a few things and then I'm heading to the airport. I'll be back on Wednesday. So if there is no meeting, I'm out of here."

He watched his sister leave. West went back to work so Braylon took that as a sign to go too and turned.

It felt as if there might be something going on with his brother, but if West wanted to talk, he'd do it. Or at least he'd like to think so.

"There you are," Thomas said when he turned into the legal wing. "We've got a few issues in Utah."

He hated when Thomas said that. He'd say the state and not the company. It's like it was a test of sorts for Braylon to know every single one of his brother's business ventures, where they were located, when they were purchased and how many windows were on the building. Stupid shit.

He continued to put his stuff away and hang up his jacket. He wore a suit to the office but didn't leave his jacket on most times if he wasn't leaving.

It gave him time to think of the business Thomas was talking about. "Are we running out of granola in the plant?" he asked. Protein bars or other snacks on the go. That came to him fast enough.

"No," Thomas said, shaking his head. The guy had no sense of humor. "One of the stores we ship to is wanting to cancel the next shipment due to packaging issues. Someone needs to fly out there and find out what is going on because I don't trust the plant manager running things."

He rolled his eyes. Thomas didn't trust anyone. "You're not thinking of me flying there, are you?" he asked. He didn't know the first thing about manufacturing and packaging. He knew the law.

"No," Thomas said. "I need you here. We've got a team for that." They had teams for everything it seemed.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked.

"We've got a call in four hours with the store. Go over the contract for any breaches. In two hours we'll be talking to the plant to get more information and go from there." Thomas was tapping his Rolex. "We are on the clock, so get to it."

It didn't matter he was the CEO's brother; he still got bossed around and never said a word. He'd heard it more than once that he had to earn his place, even if he helped build his brother's empire from the day he graduated law school almost ten years ago.

He got to work and put the interaction with Lilian from his mind. It was nothing more than trying to be the hero like his brother was with Abby months ago in Aruba.

Funny, now that he thought of it, he'd done the same thing West did, saving Abby from being hit on in a bar, only this was in a coffee shop. He wouldn't get the girl though because she was already taken by a guy who was her real fiancé.

Damn it, why didn't he think of that before he opened his big mouth? He probably just made it more complicated for her.