Page 37 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

“Laura, you can’t quit just like that,” said Lucien.

I gave him a deathly stare, but he ignored me and carried on with his little speech.

“You passed your probation. You’ve got the job. And I’m planning the Parkland development for the next few weeks. I need your help, Laura.”

I looked down at my hands and saw that my fingernails were clenching, almost cutting into my palms. I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“What about me?”

“Huh?”

“I said, what about me? About what I need? You hate me, Lucien. And I know that it wasn’t fair, what happened and the way I wanted to just forget about it. But that doesn’t give you the right to barge into my house.”

As much as I was drawn to his face, to the dark hair of his beard streaked with red and his sharp cheekbones, and the white line of his scar, I couldn’t help looking over his shoulder to the hallways. If Kyle came home and found him in here…

“I appreciate you coming round here, but I’m not the right person to be your PA,” I finished, hoping he’d go.

“Laura, I know I’m not the easiest person to work with,” he began. But before he could go on, I crossed my legs.

“You’re right about that,” I snarled. “You can’t treat someone like that and expect them to come and work for you.”

“But you’re good at this,” begged Lucien. “In fact, you’re the best. And at least until I can find a replacement…”

“So that’s it,” I chuckled humorlessly. “You just want someone to do your work for you. You know, when I heard about what you did for the library, I thought that maybe, just maybe, it was because—”

“Because what?” said Lucien. His face was serious now, inquisitive. He really wanted to know what I had to say. For the first time since the trip away, I felt like he was actually interested in hearing what I had to say…

“Because of something I said,” I told him. It sounded arrogant and silly, I know. But to my surprise, Lucien seemed to relax. And then he nodded.

“It was.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re right,” he murmured, and then sighed.

“You look exhausted,” I said. I didn’t mean to say it. But I couldn’t help it. After all, I still cared about him on some level.

“I didn’t sleep much last night and I’ve been opening letters all day.”

“You could always go back to your place for a nap,” I said sarcastically. On some level, I was trying to provoke him, to make him leave. But at the same time, I wanted nothing more than to stay in his company, to be around him. Even though I was sure I couldn’t stand him. Even though I was sure he couldn’t stand me.

“What you said…” Lucien told me, ignoring my jibe, “…really made a difference to me. Laura, I grew up in a small town too,” he said, his eyes shifting left to right. “And there were problems there. There still are, I guess. But I want you to know that—”

“Lucien,” I said, standing up and going through to the kitchen. “I appreciate that. I do. And everyone is so grateful for what you did—”

“And I know it doesn’t change anything,” he frowned as he got up and followed me across the hall. “But I want you to know that you made that happen. You showed me how I could do some good. Not think about myself all the time.”

“Huh? Where did that come from?”

“You’re always helping me so much. And I know that’s impressive. You’re working and looking after your son, and helping them raise funds for the library? How long have you been here? Two weeks? You’re a force of nature. If you’ve got time to help the library, then I sure do.”

There was silence in the kitchen, and I looked down at my feet.

“I’m sorry…” said Lucien, “that was a lot to say.”

“A lot?” I replied. “Lucien, that was…that was just about the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

“So,” said Lucien. “Will you come back?”