Secret Moves (Secret Dreams Contemporary Romance 3) by Miranda P. Charles Read Free Book Online

set-up. When they needed to meet with clients, they hired a hotel conference room or a serviced office. But if it was only the three of them, they took turns convening in one of their home offices.
    Even their team of employees worked from home. They met with them through video conferencing, and once every two months they'd take them all out to a nice lunch or a cruise in the harbour for some social interaction and group bonding.
    The structure wasn't without challenges, but their company had grown exponentially year after year, and so had their bottom line. Their strong friendship, rather than being the hindrance to a successful business some people had warned them it could be, was the very thing that made everything tick. It made them more accountable and willing to work harder for each other.
    His phone rang again and he let out a loud sigh.
    "Do you want to get that, Trey?" Adam asked.
    "Not really," he said but excused himself to answer it.
    He walked to the window and gazed out unseeingly at the Sydney Harbour Bridge. "Hello, Mum."
    "Hello, Trey. How are you?" his mother asked.
    "I'm in the middle of a meeting. What's up?" he said rather coldly.
    "I'm checking to see if you could join me and your sister for lunch? I believe Rebecca already sent you a text, but you haven't responded to her yet."
    He suppressed a sigh. He already knew why his mother wanted to meet with them. His grandmother had called him the night before and had pleaded with him to be "nice".
    He didn't want to have lunch with his mother, but he supposed he might as well get it over and done with.
    "Okay, I'll be there," he said resignedly.
    "Thank you, Trey. I'm looking forward to seeing you again. I haven't seen you for a long time," his mum said softly.
    "I have to go," he said, cutting the conversation short. A one-hour lunch would be more than enough for his mother's chit-chat.
    "Everything okay?" Dylan asked as he trundled back to his seat.
    He made a face. "I have to meet my mother for lunch. No prizes for guessing what her news would be about."
    "Again?!" both Dylan and Adam exclaimed in surprise.
    "Yup," he said with a mirthless laugh. "So what's new, hey? The last fiancé must have run out of money."
    "Have you met this new guy?"
    "Are you kidding me? After she divorced husband number three and broke up with her last fiancé, I'm not interested in her love life anymore."
    Dylan patted Trey on the shoulder. "At least she still makes an effort to communicate with you and Bec."
    Trey snorted. "As far as I'm concerned, it's better if she doesn't. I only see her because of Grandma."
    He couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice. When he was eight and his sister was four, their mother had walked out on them to be with a wealthy Frenchman who promised to take her travelling around the world. They were left in the care of their maternal grandparents who had, for all intents and purposes, been the ones who raised him and Rebecca.
    He had never known his own father, and their mother broke up with Rebecca's dad when Rebecca was only two years old.
    Oh, his mum had moments when she was a doting mother, when she was between relationships and was with them at his grandparents' house. However, it was never long before she found yet another man who would take her travelling everywhere, and disappear again.
    When his grandfather became gravely ill, his granddad asked him and Rebecca to do only two things after he passed. The first was to look after their grandmother, and the second was to never, ever close their doors on their own mother. He'd said that regardless of what their mum had done, they should still show some respect to the woman who gave birth to them.
    Trey had loathed promising the latter, but out of love and appreciation for the man who had lovingly and painstakingly raised him and his sister, he'd agreed. That promise was the reason he could remain civil with his mother.
    A few years ago he was prepared to think that not all women could be