Page 87 of Forbidden Boss (Manhattan Billionaires)

Cole braided his fingers together, then opened them up and stared at his palms as if the answer were written there. He let out a long sigh. “Ever since we found out about the exposure from hiring so many independent contractors,” he admitted.

“You fixed that,” I said. “You’re not leaving because you think I’m mad about that, are you? I’m not.”

“It’s not that,” he said, lifting his gaze to mine. “I realized I’ve been coasting. I should have caught that years ago, Rome. I should haveknown. But I’ve been…” He cringed, and finally finished his sentence with, “bored. I’ve been bored, Rome. I need a new challenge. Something I can’t do on autopilot. And I’m sorry to do this right before the holidays, but I wanted to tell you as soon as I was sure.”

It hurt. It hurt that he called my company boring, that he wanted to move on, that he was nervous about my reaction in the first place. It hurt that I’d have to keep running this company without my good friend at my side. It hurt that he was just another person who turned his back on me when I needed them most.

But I rallied myself together and stood, extending my hand across the desk to him. “You’ll do great,” I told him.

“I’ll stay until the Monk contract is settled,” he promised, pumping my arm.

I gulped through a tight throat and nodded. “Thanks, Cole.”

He nodded, then slipped out the door again. An email pinged, reminding me of my responsibilities, and I threw myself into work to distract myself until I could go see Nikki and feel her arms wrap me in their warmth. I’d feel better once I was next to her. This wouldn’t hurt so much once her fingers were running through my hair, her lips dropping soft kisses on my jaw.

Everything would be okay once we were together, which was just a few hours away.

Except those few hours stretched when I got a call from my mother, who needed me to stop by their place as soon as possible. When I told her I couldn’t make it tonight, she pulled out her top-shelf guilt trip and convinced me. I’m not even sure how she did it. She barely said anything but, “I really need to talk to youtonight.” But there was a flavor to her silences, a weight to the emphasis of her words. She twisted a particular screw that tightened just the right bands around my heart, and I heard myself agreeing to meet her at five o’clock.

I’d resisted becoming that little boy in his boarding school bed when Cole was in front of me, but apparently I wasn’t strong enough to resist my mother beckoning me to the estate on Long Island. There was still a part of me that wanted my mother’s approval, even though I hated myself for it.

When the helicopter landed, I checked my phone for the hundredth time. Nikki hadn’t responded to the text I’d sent telling her I’d be over after I visited my parents, but it didn’t look like she’d seen the message. She was probably sleeping off whatever illness she’d caught during our trip.

A staff member met me at the back steps, which I took two at a time. I was led through the ornate hallways to my mother’s favorite sitting room, where she sat on an overstuffed couch with a laptop on the coffee table in front of her, papers strewn all around, and glasses perched on the edge of her nose. Beside her lounged my brother, who barely looked up from the phone screen he was staring at when I walked in.

“Good,” my mother said when she saw me. “I was worried you’d try to play the rebel tonight. Come here.”

Her words rankled. Play the rebel? Just because I didn’t like being summoned? Even though I washere. I’d come running when she’d snapped her fingers, and I felt weak and stupid for it. Instead of having my arms wrapped around the woman I lo—the woman I wanted to see, I was miles away gritting my teeth and clenching my fists at being chastised like an errant child.

But just as I always did, I stuffed the discomfort down and took a seat next to her on the couch. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the papers on the coffee table were seating charts for a wedding. My brother’s wedding to Natasha. I frowned. “What was so important that you needed me to rush over?”

My mother pulled her glasses off her nose and folded them carefully. “We’ve been completing the seating charts, darling. I’m sorry, but there’s just no room for your plus-one.” Her face was utterly calm. Serene, even. She met my gaze with her icy blue eyes and didn’t even blink.

“There are three hundred and twenty-five guests at the wedding, Mother,” I said through clenched teeth. “What difference does one more or less make?”

“It makes a world of difference,” she clipped.

“The girl can’t come,” Will said, finally looking away from his phone. He arched his brows at me. “Got it?”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s my wedding and I said so.”

I narrowed my eyes at my brother and then shifted to look at my mother. She was busy straightening the pages on the coffee table, tapping them together as if the discussion was over and we could all pack up and leave.

“No,” I said, standing.

She paused and glanced up at me. “Excuse me?”

“I said no. I’m dating Nikki. She’s…important to me. I want her beside me at family events.”

My mother let out a long sigh and stood up to face me. She smoothed her hands down her tweed skirt, then held her hands at her stomach and met my gaze. “I understand why a man would be attracted to a woman like her, Rome, but the fact of the matter is that just isn’t done.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t speak to me like that,” my mother snapped. “You know precisely what it means. Every one of those three hundred and twenty-five guests will be dignitaries, businesspeople, connections, and family members. What would they think when they found out that you hired her to be at your side?”

I blinked, rearing back. “What are you talking about?”

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