Page 49 of Beauty and the Bosshole
An idea occurs to me. Maybe I could put her mischief-making and incredible ability to wrangle resources at short notice to good use. Reese might kill me for this but I’ve got to take the chance.
“Nina, can you do something for Reese?”
She opens her arms theatrically. “Anything.”
I hesitate, not knowing where Reese draws the line with his mother and his business. But it’s obvious Nina’s bored and needs something to channel her energy into.
“Can you find me every alternative battery source in the country?”
Her brow creases for an instant, but then her mind gets to work. “Producer or supplier?”
“Producer. They’ve got to produce the goods in the USA; that’s part of our brand promise. I’m talking solar-powered batteries, but not the built-in kind. They’ve got to be removable.”
Nobody wants to leave their dildo out in the sun to charge.
“I’m on it, doll.” She’s already got her phone out with a look of determination on her face.
“Nina.” She glances up. “It’s important Leon doesn’t know about this. He’s trying to take over the business.”
She falters. “My Leon?”
“He’s not a nice man, Nina. Promise me, for the sake of your son, you won’t breathe a word of this to Leon. Even if he tries to bribe you with luxury items and pretty words. You can’t tell him anything about this.”
She gives me a conspiratorial smile. “You have my word. I won’t tell Leon a thing, even if he turns up with a hundred elephants.” Which is a weird thing for a paramour to turn up with, but perhaps not unusual in Nina’s world.
She heads back to her suite, and I shut the door and lock it with the key one of the staff gave me.
I lean against the door and exhale a huge breath, letting the silence settle around me.
It takes another few minutes to get Max’s items set up and release him to do his worst in the suite. He dashes off to hide behind the curtains.
I’ll have to leave him to get settled in by himself. My husband needs me. No matter in what capacity, I’m here for him. I open the door to the bedroom and go to Reese.
Chapter Seventeen
Reese
When I was eight years old, a bully pushed me down in the schoolyard. It was a tale as old as time: there I was, skinny as a popsicle stick, with knobby knees and chalk-pale skin that bruised easily, and there was my bully, ten inches taller and twice as wide.
By all laws of nature, he should have kicked the snot out of me. He was bigger, meaner, filled with pent-up aggression, and way too restless after hours of sitting still in class. He should have swatted me like a bug.
Shouldhave.
But it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes, the scrawny little kid with knobby knees has an eccentric mother who takes him to judo classes every weekend. Sometimes, the small, unassuming-looking boy has a spark of defiance inside him, ready to roar to life when he needs it.Sometimes,the sun shines in the bully’s eyes at the exact right moment, and the smaller kid tackles him to the dirt.
The bully and I both learned a valuable lesson that day. We both got official warnings from the school, too, but hey—it was worth it.
And when I came home with a busted lip and a big grin on my face, my mother swept me into her arms and spun me around like a hero.
That’s why I can’t yell at her properly now, even as her meddling threatens my business. Even after she’s caused me one headache after another.
My mother loves me. For all her many flaws, she loves me—and Ava, too.
So, Leon goddamn Anderson had better learn to stay away.
“I had no idea.” My mother trails me around the suite as Itryto talk on the phone. Declan’s on the other end of the line, rattling off ideas for new solar battery suppliers, and Ava sits cross-legged on the bed, squinting at my laptop and calling out her own list of names. And all the while, my lace-covered mentalist of a mother chatters in my ear, following me round and round the plush carpet. “Honestly, Reese, you never tell me anything. Did you really think I’d spend all that time with Leon if I’d known he wanted to sabotage the company?”
Yes. Perhaps.