Once Upon A Bet: A Grumpy Single Dad Romance, page 23
“He has a little sister?” I asked.
Lin nodded. “She’s a few years younger than us. I heard Kenny keeps a roof over her head because their parents are deadbeats. But she’s super sweet, unlike her big brother. Anyway, I wouldn’t take a job working for Kenny, even if his life depended on it.”
“What if his sister’s life depended on it?” Farrah asked.
Lin rolled her eyes. “I’d rather talk about my best friend getting married tomorrow. I can’t wait to help do your hair, Harper.”
“Yeah,” Farrah agreed. “All twelve inches of it.”
Harper laughed. “Hey, it’s getting a little longer.”
After breakfast, Harper and I went out to the patio to join Gramps, who had lost his cheating buddies and was sitting by himself.
“Hey Gramps,” I said.
“What the hell is a four-letter word for something that burns?”
“Fire…” I said slowly.
“Aha!” he held his pen up high, then scribbled the word in and grinned like he’d been the one to figure out the word.
“Someday, you can graduate to the grown-up crossword puzzles,” I said.
He glared, but grinned. “Tease if you want, but I’m your boss now, remember? I can fire your ass.”
I’d thanked everyone at Stay Inn, but ultimately decided I wanted to be all-in on Fairhope. Once I actually thought logically about it, I knew I had enough money to last me a few lifetimes. It was time for me to do something I enjoyed and surround myself with people I cared about. That was why I’d agreed to help Gramps run the inn. By help, that meant essentially taking over the operation so he could wander the lobby and shoot the shit with guests. But I had Gabby to help with everything else and we’d even hired a couple employees to cover the desk at night and help clean the rooms.
“Fire me at your own risk. You need me.”
His face softened into a smile, and he squeezed my arm. “I’m damn grateful for you, Greyson. You saved my inn. That inn is my life, you know. I didn’t realize how much it hurt to see the way it had become until you came along. You fixed it and showed me what I’d been missing.”
“Any time,” I said.
“Well, I’m going to fuck off so you two lovebirds can do whatever it is you came out here to do.”
He got up and shuffled inside.
Harper and I grinned at each other.
“I like some of your family,” she said.
“Yeah, the Ashford’s seem to be half good, half bad. You may get to meet my little brother tomorrow. He’s somewhere in the middle, honestly. Kind of a prick, but I think he’ll grow out of it. He’s just too worried about keeping my parents happy.”
She nodded. “I was surprised your parents came.”
“Me too. I just wish Hailey had made it.”
Harper gave my hand a squeeze. “Maybe she’ll still come. Who knows?” There was a twinkle of mischief in Harper’s eyes.
I frowned at her. “What did you do?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Harper…”
“Well, I have your sister’s first and last name. I spent a few weeks googling and digging through social media accounts with the same name or anything similar. Once I ran out of Haileys, I started looking for nicknames people with Hailey might use for a social media handle. I eventually found her. She’s living in Florida and dating some guy who kind of looks like trouble? Tattoos, piercings, motorcycles, that kinda thing. But she looked happy.”
“You found her?” My throat felt tight, and my stomach was turning over. “She’s okay?”
“I also messaged her. I told her I was her big brother’s new girlfriend and invited her to the wedding. I figured that was a lot more reliable than you Ashford’s just hoping she still checked her old phone. I’m guessing she changed her number.”
“Did she respond?”
Harper’s smile widened. “She’s coming tomorrow. She didn’t want to stay because she wasn’t ready to deal with your parents yet, so she’s going to kind of sneak into the ceremony and watch from a distance. She said she doesn’t know if she’s ready to try to mend things with the family yet, but she’s working on it.”
“Wow,” I sat back, staring at the mountains in the distance. The sun was rising and bathing them in orange light, highlighting the rock and casting the runs of snow in glaring white. “You really found her?”
Harper shrugged. “I know it’s important to you. And you’re kind of my man now. That means it’s my job to keep you happy.”
“I like how that sounds coming from you.”
“Good,” she said. “Because if you ever decide to be an idiot and push me away again, I will kill you.”
I laughed. “Not happening.”
“The me killing you part, or the you pushing me away part?”
“Both. I love you, Harper. I’m not going anywhere because there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. You’re stuck with me now. Like it or not.”
“Hmm.” Harper put her hands on my knees and leaned in, letting me kiss her nose as she smiled up at me. “Like it.”
* * *
The End
Sign up to my VIP list to get a free copy of one of my books instantly. You’ll also get a bonus scene between Greyson and Harper! Click here>>
* * *
Not sure what to read next?
Try my Amazon top 10 bestselling story, The Boss(hole)
There are a few things you absolutely don’t do in Adrian Terranova’s world.
You don’t question him. You don’t challenge him. You don’t call him by his first name.
You definitely don’t contradict him in front of his entire staff.
Unless you’re me, apparently.
I’d love to say I stood up to the bosshole from hell and walked away unscathed,
but that’d be a lie.
Click here>> to get The Boss(hole)
Keep reading for a sneak peak of The Boss(hole)!
51
DON’T FORGET TO REVIEW!
Please consider leaving a review to share your thoughts on this book! Reviews really help me and they help readers who are trying to decide if this book is worth their time. Reading your reviews is also one of my best tools for continuing to improve as an author. I’m always making tweaks to how I tell stories and trying new things. So whether you’re a first time reader or a long time reader, your feedback is a huge help for me in deciding what’s working and what isn’t. Thanks so much!
Flip to the next page for a sneak peak of The Boss(hole)!
P.S. I’m already working on the next book in this series, Once Upon A Mistake. So keep your eyes out for that one, too!
>>>
52
THE BOSS(HOLE): SNEAK PEAK - JULIETTE
I banged my forehead on my desk a few times. “Why?” I asked out loud. “Why?!”
Was I being dramatic? Yes. Yes, I was. That wasn’t in the Coleton family code, but daddy dearest was too far away to control me. I could throw a small, uncivilized tantrum if I damn well pleased.
I heard footsteps and then a small laugh. “You okay, Jules?”
Instead of picking my head up to face her, I just rolled it to the side. Chloe was leaning against my cubicle wall, arms folded. Her desk was right on the other side of my partition. It was close enough that I could hear her accidentally start the videos she tried to watch all day with the volume on full, then swear and mute them.
Chloe was comically short, mousy, and had a different pair of glasses every day to match her outfits. Today, she had purple rimmed glasses to go with her scarf.
Was I okay? That depended. Was it okay to run away from your billionaire father because you didn’t want to be married off like some medieval princess? Was it okay to burn the family credit cards, pawn everything you could, and escape to some random part of North Carolina to hide? Was it okay to change your last name to your mother’s maiden name and hope your father never tracked you down?
“I’m totally fine,” I said, head still plopped on my desk.
“Why me!” she mocked, grinning. “Didn’t sound like nothing.”
“It’s just this email,” I said, sighing. “Maxi has been looking for an excuse to fire me, and I think she just found her way. She’s having me go do a design consultation at Coleton Publishing.” And yes, it was a branch of the family business, even if it was too small for there to be a risk of running into my father.
“You’ve never done a design consultation,” Chloe said slowly.
“I’m aware of that, Chloe. So is Maxi. She wants me to screw this up so she can fire me.” I finally lifted my head and sighed. “As I was saying, why me?”
I left the office for my appointment at Coleton with cautious optimism. Yes, the optimism had been sprinkled with a healthy dose of dread, but I could look on the bright side if I damn well pleased.
Maybe Maxi saw this as giving me a shovel to dig my own grave, but maybe I could use the shovel to whack her Brazilian lifted ass out and get myself a promotion.
Yeah, I thought.
A promotion would mean I might be able to afford to keep up this runaway Coleton gig a little longer. Then again, I was pretty determined to go homeless if that’s what it took to keep from going back to them. After this stunt, my father would have me married to a stuffy old business friend and shipped off within the month.
No. This had to work, so I was going to find a way to make it.
I survived a handful of small emergencies and near catastrophes on my way to the Coleton offices. My coat nearly got stuck in the elevator, some lady’s dog tried to bite off my ankles, and I made a baby cry just by looking at it. That last one hurt the most. Even the damn babies were out to get me today.
By the time I was calling the elevator at Coleton, my optimism had faded. My usually sunny disposition was cloudy with a chance of lightning strikes directly to the groin.
I got off at one of the top floors and found myself in the reception area for Coleton Publishing, one of many dozens of branches in my father’s Coleton empire.
A woman in her forties with a bun and huge bags under her eyes smiled at me from behind the reception desk. I smiled back, then saw that something was off with her smile. The eyes were a little too big—the smile a little too wide. Her hands were also gripping the mouse on her computer so hard her fingertips had gone white.
“Hi,” I said carefully.
“Welcome,” she said, face practically screaming run while you still can. “I’m Martha. Can I help you?”
“I’m Jules Adams from Maxi Designs. I have a consultation appointment with Mr. White.”
Martha flashed that same terrified smile again. “Just a moment.” She walked to the double doors behind her desk and actually put her ear to the crack like she was listening. I stood there awkwardly while she waited several long moments.
She pulled one door open slightly and we both flinched at the sudden sound of yelling. A man was shouting. I couldn’t make out the words, but he sounded pissed, like he was laying into someone.
Martha set the tablet down and wrung her hands together. “It might be best if you waited just a few minutes. There’s been a small mix-up with the editorial team. If, uh-”
I checked the time on my phone. “I’m sorry. I really can’t afford to be late.” I was trying my best to keep my cool. This was my one shot to prove everybody wrong. Maxi for thinking she could fire me on some bullshit trick. My father for thinking my only value was to marry me off and get some favor with a friend. And now my chance was in danger because some asshole from the editorial team was throwing a tantrum in there?
Martha blew out a breath, eyes shifting toward the closed doors again. “You’re sure you want to go in right now?”
“I have to,” I said.
“Do you know where you’re going?”
I noticed a handy little map of the offices by the door with everything neatly labeled. I ran my finger down the directory on the side, then found where the number matching “Mr. White” was. “Yes. I think I can find my way.”
Martha nodded, then held the door open. I noticed she didn’t take a single step into the room, and I grinned a little. I thought maybe she was playing up her fear for comedic effect. Nobody could really be that scared of a little office drama, right?
She pulled the door closed behind me as soon as I was inside. I was in a relatively large office with various desks and computers scattered around. All of the ten or so people in the room were hunched over at their computer like they were pretending not to hear the tirade going on.
The only man standing had his palms on someone’s desk.
I ignored the fact that he was clearly lecturing someone and very much pissed. My brain shut all that down as soon as I saw the absolute specimen of a man doing the yelling.
He was dressed in a tie and slacks with his sleeves buttoned to the wrist and a diamond-checkered vest across his muscular torso. He was leaning over the desk and every muscle in his long arms stood against the white fabric. I couldn’t quite see his face from where I stood, but I didn’t even need to. I could’ve looked at this guy’s ear and known he wasn’t born a mortal human. He was delivered to earth via a lightning bolt from some angry god’s ass. And, yes, that method of delivery almost definitely resulted in a face fit for Greek sculptures.
“Gather your things,” the man said. He had a deep voice that cut through the room like a steel whip. “I want your desk cleared out within the hour.”
“I could try to-”
“I won’t allow you to fuck this up any further than you already have. You have an hour,” he said.
I wasn’t sure if it was the train wreck of a day I’d been having or maybe temporary amnesia caused by the blinding hotness of Mr. Ass Lightning over there, but something came over me… I was marching straight toward them with pure rage on my mind.
“Do you have to talk to him like that?” I demanded.
The man’s face whipped toward me. He stood up straighter, giving me a full, belly clenching view of everything he was working with. From the looks of it, he wasn’t just working with the full kitchen. He’d taken over an industrial kitchen supply store and had more inventory than he knew what to do with. And those cheekbones.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked.
“It doesn’t matter who I am. You, though? You’re an insecure, egotistical asshole. I just thought you should know that.”
“Next time you want to play hero, wear a cape.”
I opened my mouth in disbelief. “You’re-”
Thunderbolt Cheeks stuck his forefinger out faster than I could react, pressing it against my lips. If I’d been less worked up, I might’ve bit him to teach him what happens when you assume you can put your hands on a stranger. Instead, I just stood there dumbfounded as I stared into those blazing blue pits of dream juice he called eyes.
“This is my world,” he said with a voice that probably could slice stones in two. “Make something of yourself if you want that opinion of yours to mean anything.”
I realized the entire room was staring at us with slack jaws. Even the guy who had been getting verbally reamed looked like he wished I would just stop talking. Why did they put up with this?
“You know what?” I asked, trying not to take a deep rapturous breath of whatever scent he was wearing. Sex God? Naked on a horse? Black and white lumberjack? Whatever it was, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I needed to create distance while I still could. “I don’t have time for this. I have a meeting with him.” I pointed to the door to Mr. White’s office, where I saw the silhouette of someone moving around inside. “I bet he’ll love to hear how you’re treating people out here.”
I walked with as much confidence as I could, following my memory of the map to Mr. White’s office.
I was going to do my job and get the hell out of there. That egotistical asshole might make an ill-advised appearance in my fantasies going forward, but he wasn’t going to be allowed to talk there.
I reached Mr. White’s door and knocked twice. A man in a janitor’s uniform answered, nodded his head, and then walked out of the office.
I almost glanced over my shoulder, but the puzzle pieces had already clicked together. Mr. Ego wasn’t just some uppity manager. He was...
Oh, shit.
53
ADRIAN
I hadn’t moved from Walker’s desk yet. Everyone was still as fossils, except the little firecracker who had come out of nowhere. She looked like she’d escaped from a Disney Princess parade float, ditched her outfit, and somehow wandered into my office.
She was wearing a blue dress that should’ve been conservative, but there was nothing conservative about those curves. There was no hiding that ass. Her body may have demanded attention, but her face commanded it. She had ridiculously big, slightly upturned eyes that were shaped like almonds. Her nose was pert and dusted with freckles, and her lips were full enough to immediately drag my thoughts to a very dark place.
Focus, Adrian. Remember why you’re here.
But all I did was focus on the rest of her. The blonde hair worn in a braid on one side and straight on the other. She had miles of curves, and I wondered how long I would’ve kept staring in complete silence if the sound of her knocking on my office door hadn’t brought me to the present.
This was too perfect. The meeting she so self-importantly announced was with me. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she realized.
I pulled the knot on my tie, rolled my neck, which was still a little stiff from the shit night of sleep I’d gotten, and strode across the room.
My employees finally started resuming their work once I was moving, as if they had been too worried I might notice them and annihilate them right along with Walker if they so much as clicked a mouse.
