The Hot Mess: Brother's Best Friend Read online

  The Hot Mess

  Heartstring Dating Agency Series

  Lauren Wood

  Copyright © 2021 by Lauren Wood

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Prologue

  1. Jack

  2. Jada

  3. Jack

  4. Jada

  5. Jack

  6. Jada

  7. Jack

  8. Jada

  9. Jack

  10. Jada

  11. Jack

  12. Jada

  13. Jack

  14. Jada

  15. Jack

  16. Jada

  17. Jack

  18. Jada

  19. Jack

  20. Jada

  Epilogue

  Picture Perfect Love

  Chapter 1

  Also by Lauren Wood

  About the Author

  Exclusive Offer

  Prologue

  I tapped my pen on the corner of my desk, keeping the report in my hands positioned just so anyone walking by wouldn’t see the romance novel hidden behind it—the real focus of my attention. My family owned and operated Heartstring, a dating app. A romance novel wasn’t entirely unrelated to my job, right? Plus, I was on a deadline. My weekly book club meeting was happening after work, so I needed to get the book finished by then.

  I reached for the coffee on the corner of my desk and brought it to my lips for a sip, promptly spitting it out when I realized it was yesterday’s coffee—cold and gross. I accidentally sprayed the pages of the book I needed to finish.

  As I was trying to assess the damage, a reminder popped up on my computer. It was time for another meeting with my siblings—the Heartstring executives. I quickly blotted off the book the best I could and laid it out flat to dry before rushing off to the board room.

  I don’t know why I bothered rushing. I was always the first one to arrive, followed by my older sister, Camille. Lucas would follow in behind her. Our other brother, Joshua, would straggle in last. But at least he showed at all, which was a big problem with him up until recently.

  As predicted, Camille arrived three minutes after me, rushing in with her fresh coffee in one hand and a briefcase in the other. Sometimes it amazed me that she could snag a hottie like her fiance, Mark Silver. She was more hopeless than I was in her tailored suits and thick-rimmed glasses. We were both gorgeous under all of our fashion dullness, though, something we inherited from our mother.

  Lucas came in a few moments later, looking ready to get straight down to business as always. He sat at the head of the table, as our CEO, and started glancing impatiently at his watch every few seconds. Despite Joshua’s improved work performance and attendance, Lucas still watched him like a hawk, criticizing him for being even just a few minutes late. It must have been some sort of weird brother rivalry. Like they were constantly competing with each other, both wanting the other to succeed but also maybe secretly hoping they’d fail.

  He sighed when Joshua finally did come in. Maybe because he had showed up right on the dot, so Lucas had no right to comment on tardiness.

  “Now that we’re all here…” He jabbed at him anyway. “Let’s get started.”

  “What’s on the docket for today?” Joshua smirked, ignoring Lucas’s critical tone.

  “Something pretty important,” he announced. “I’ve been reviewing the numbers, and we’re getting into a position where we can start shuffling some people around.”

  “Promotions?” Camille asked.

  “For those who are interested.” He nodded. “I’m still working out the logistics and where I want everyone, but if any of you are looking for more on your plates, and in your pockets, now is the time to tell me.”

  His words faded as I drifted off into a daydream about the book I had just been reading. It was a steamy office romance, and it was hard not to picture a scene where the main guy seduced his secretary right in the boardroom, just like the one I was sitting in.

  I knew the promotions Lucas was talking about weren’t intended for me anyway. We all knew I wasn’t the type who did well with a lot of responsibility or pressure. And even if I was, they had the stronger personalities and the drive to go with them. It was no competition. If anyone was moving up, it’d be Camille and Joshua…not me.

  The meeting went by in a flash, and no one seemed to care that I wasn’t more interested or engaged. Joshua and I were similar in the sense that we seemed to be of little consequence to the success and function of the company. The only difference was that I was smart enough to show up and look busy. For the longest time, he didn’t even bother with that much.

  Finally, it was five o’clock, which meant I was free to rush off to my book club. I slipped my now coffee-stained book into my bag and headed out the door. It was springtime in the city, which meant the air was filled with the fragrant blooms of the trees. And it was just starting to get warm enough to not need a jacket if you were in the sun.

  I watched the sunset over the tops of the buildings as I walked to my friend Jane’s house, just a few blocks from my office. She was an editor with an apartment that looked like the cover of one of her magazines. The only thing she loved more than interior design and pastel florals was romance novels—a shared love between us.

  She answered her door with the book still in hand and her reading glasses perched on her nose. “Oh hi, Jada! Come in, come in. I was just finalizing my notes for the meeting this evening. You’re always the first one to arrive.”

  I checked my watch just to ensure I wasn’t ridiculously early. In fact, I was right on time. So the problem was really more so that everyone else was always late. That was the kind of social etiquette I somehow managed to miss. I never got the memo that said the cool kids were always fashionably late.

  Jane showed me into her Victorian-style sitting room with tea and cookies arranged on the coffee table. There were also the makings for cocktails sitting on the bar cart in the corner, but Jane was always nice enough to make tea since she knew I wasn’t a big drinker.

  We talked about how our weeks were going until Lucy showed up. She was a dog groomer from the other side of town who looked closer to age fifteen than her actual twenty five. She was endearing and sweet, but could surprisingly drink anyone under the table.

  “Where’s the vermouth?” she asked immediately. “I’m making us martinis.”

  “Oh, no…Make something sweeter,” Jane suggested. “You know Jada will never drink a martini.”

  My own idiosyncrasies were starting to get on my nerves. Always on time or early—the first to arrive. Reads and daydreams on the clock. Doesn’t drink martinis. But I smiled politely and let Jane play hostess as she wished.

  “Cosmopolitans?” she asked.

  Jane turned and watched for my approval.

  “Now you’re talking,” I smiled tightly. I didn’t know why it mattered. I would only drink one.

  Lucy followed Jane into the kitchen just as Magda was arriving—a Swedish supermodel who didn’t look like she belonged in our little group. She had a Kate Moss smokey eye look that I would have sworn she was somehow born with, since you never saw her without it. She always wore tight little dresses and boots and baggy coats. She’d often interrupt discussions to go out onto the balcony and smoke cigarettes—another glamorous trait I was smart enough not to start. But sometimes when I watched her do it, I wished I had. It somehow added to her allure.

  I pulled that night
’s book out of my bag while the others filled their glasses and one for me since they always insisted on including me on every little thing whether I liked it or not. While they gossiped and chatted about their latest life updates, I trailed my thumbs along the heroine’s silhouette on the cover. She was so sassy and bold. Outspoken and daring. She wasn’t a smoker or a drinker, but she would dip her toes in either on the right night.

  Maybe that was what I needed in my life, I thought. More flexibility. I needed to learn how to go with the flow.

  I got so lost in my own thoughts that I hadn’t realized the discussion was well under way, and my glass was nearly empty. I had been taking mindless sips as I drifted off in my head.

  That’s when everything changed. I decided to do a thing I never did.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” I announced. “But could someone make me another one of these?”

  Conversation came to a dead halt as everyone turned their heads, eying the empty glass I held up in the air.

  “Of course!” Magda marveled, jumping to.

  “You know if Jada is having two cocktails, it’s a real party.”

  The worst part about poking your head out of your shell was everyone commenting on it, immediately making you feel less cool all over again.

  But by my third cosmo, I could see why the ladies liked them so much…or any other cocktail they guzzled down. A warm fuzzy feeling settled in over my body, and I started to feel so much less…restricted.

  The feeling puzzled me all through the night, following me home after our club meeting was over. I got to thinking…Why should you need to drink three cocktails to feel that way? To loosen up your inhibitions? Magda didn’t seem to need to drink to speak her mind. Lots of people seemed to have mastered the art of crawling out of their shells without needing alcohol as lubricant.

  But lots of people lived with an ease that had eluded me, I remembered as I crawled into bed. Like the very thing I had spent half the day reading about, and the other half of the day thinking about. I turned on my pillow and reached for the vibrator in my drawer, but stopped myself.

  Was it pathetic to be a twenty-five-year-old virgin who had grown bored with her vibrator? Her only tool for sexual release? Well, I supposed it wasn’t the only tool. I had my fingers after all, but somehow that seemed even more sad.

  I shoved the drawer shut again and stared up at the ceiling with the covers draped over my chest. I felt a hunger inside that I couldn’t quite put words to, much less find a way to fulfill. How could you satisfy a need if you didn’t exactly know what the need was?

  I rolled over in a huff, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew exactly what I needed, but it wasn’t just one thing. I didn’t need to read anymore romance novels or retire to another night with my battery-operated boyfriend.

  No. I needed a real-life romance with a boyfriend who was all flesh and blood. I needed my siblings to actually notice me at work. I needed not to be the one who brought the whole room to a halt if I dared to have more than one cocktail or if I was, god forbid, five minutes late.

  I, Jada Meadows, was in desperate need of a change. Or maybe a few hundred changes.

  1

  Jack

  The thick smog of the city was nothing like the tropical air I had grown used to over the past few weeks. The gas smell from the plane certainly wasn’t helping any. It made me wonder why I bothered coming back at all as I stepped down the stairs on the airstrip.

  A driver in a black Buick was waiting for me as the other guys hopped to, transporting my luggage to the trunk. I loved to travel more than anything, but coming home was a different story. It always weighed heavy on my heart, making me restless all over again.

  I had barely made it into the backseat when my phone started ringing. I expected it to blow up with messages now that I was back on the ground, but I didn’t expect to see a call so soon. Especially not from Lucas Meadows.

  “Lucas, my man,” I answered. “You certainly don’t waste any time.”

  “You said you were getting in last night,” he defended.

  “Ah, that’s right. Got caught up on a last-minute scuba diving thing and decided to stay an extra morning. My bad.”

  “Do you ever get any actual work done on these trips?” He laughed. “Or is it all just an excuse to play in the sun?”

  “You know I like combining work and pleasure,” I replied. “What can I do for you?”

  “I was hoping you could swing by to meet with me.”

  “What…like, now?”

  “If it’s not too much to ask. I have something I’m kind of eager to discuss with you.”

  The last time I had been integral to matters at Heartstring, Lucas’s whole reputation and company was under fire thanks to his notorious playboy reputation. Each of the Meadows siblings had been criticized for the same thing. No one trusts a group of single people to sell them true love. But with three of them spoken for now, the scandal had died down.

  “What did you do this time?” I teased.

  “It’s good news for once. Can you make it?”

  I considered the trunk full of luggage and the inevitable jet lag that would be setting in soon. But then I considered the thrill I got from being presented with a problem and knowing how to solve it. That’s what I did for a living, after all. So of course when Lucas and his siblings needed to earn back the fortune their father wasted away up until his death, and doing so involved an idea to launch their own company, I was the first one they called. I would have helped regardless, since I had been a family friend for so long, but it certainly helped that I was one of the most coveted advisors in the business world.

  I told the driver to take me by the Heartstring headquarters before taking me home, and within the hour I found myself walking into Lucas’s office once again.

  “Thanks for coming,” he said, shaking my hand before we sat down. “There’s a reason it was so urgent.”

  “You promised good news,” I reminded him.

  “And it is! I take it you’ve seen the latest numbers?”

  “I haven’t had time to catch up on things around here, but judging by the smile on your face, they must be good.”

  “Very good,” he nodded. “Good enough that I’d like to extend an offer to you. To come on with us full time.”

  “No way you can afford me,” I chuckled. And I wasn’t just being cocky. I was paid more as a consultant, plus all the free travel, than Lucas could ever afford.

  “Executive Vice President,” he announced, full of pride.

  He looked so happy and sure of himself, like he just knew it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. But he was wrong. I was very good at refusing all sorts of offers. And the idea of taking a pay cut to be permanently trapped in one city at the same job every day wasn’t as appealing to me as he seemed to think it would be.

  “What’s wrong?” He frowned, picking up on my tension. “I knew there would be some things to negotiate. I just thought…with everything that happened last year…you might want to be closer to home. You know, to settle down and put in roots for a while.”

  I cringed to remember the rough times from the year before, as if I was ever able to forget for very long. My sister and I were officially orphaned adults. Our dad dying when we were teens only made it harder to lose our mom so suddenly. I thought losing a parent once you were grown would be easier than when you were young. But it wasn’t.

  “Thanks for thinking of me,” I told Lucas before pausing to consider it. He wasn’t wrong. It would be good for my sister to have me around more, and it wasn't like I hadn’t thought of settling down at some point.

  “President,” I added as a demand.

  His face dropped with a heavy sigh. “I was going to offer Joshua the role of president.”

  “I wouldn’t plan on retiring at Heartstring,” I assured him. “Joshua could always fill my shoes when I move on.”

  He shook his head. “I guess it wouldn’t be such a hard change to make. I hadn’t ta
lked to Joshua about it yet. Alright, fine, Jack. You drive a hard bargain.”

  “Oh, I haven’t even started driving the bargain yet,” I grinned, writing a number down on a slip of paper before sliding it across his desk.

  He picked it up slowly and winced just before opening it to read my salary demand. He blew out a long breath, but seemed on board once it had time to fully sink in.

  “Okay. Again…Not easy or ideal. But…doable. And I really want you working with us. So, we’ll make it happen. Please tell me that’s as hard as the bargain gets.”

  “I’m not saying yes just yet,” I added. “I’d need some more time to think about it. But no use wasting my time in doing that if you can’t provide what I’d require.”

  “No more demands?” he quipped. “A new car? A private jet?”

  “Now that you mention it…”

  “Enough,” he barked playfully. “Now, I did consider your living arrangements. I know you’d need a bigger apartment if you’d be staying here full time. I’ve already got my assistant scheduling tours at a few penthouses. Only prime real estate. I know you have fickle, expensive tastes. You might as well see what’s out there while you’re thinking it over.”

  “Helps paint the picture of what life would be like,” I agreed, already feeling a tug to say no. I didn’t really want to imagine a life outside of jet-setting.

  “You’d have the office right next to mine, and total control in whatever areas you need,” he explained. “Plus, of course, your own assistant and secretary. You can pick which employees you want reporting directly to you. I haven’t had a real vacation since my honeymoon. So I’m all about you assuming as much responsibility as you’re comfortable with.”