Page 11 of Secret Marriage To My Bosshole

The best part about a star baseball player being my best friend is that interruptions like this happen all the time.

Jake loves speaking with his fans, especially the kids just getting into baseball.

Which means I have time to figure out how to steer the conversation away from Cora.

The boy walks away, and Jake turns back to me. He reaches for the glass of orange juice in front of him.

His gaze is locked on me as he takes a long drink. I shift in my seat, unsure why he is staring at me like that.

Did Cora tell him what happened? Does he know that I’m keeping secrets about the retreat from him?

“Griff, you look like you’re on edge.” Jake sets the glass down and starts picking pieces of bacon from the skillet. He pops them into his mouth, a good-natured smile on his face. “I thought the purpose of corporate retreats was to come back more refreshed than when you left.”

“You’d think that’s the case, but when you’re the boss, you have to deal with a lot going on behind the scenes.”

“Nothing happened with Cora, did it?” Jake wipes his mouth and leans forward. “I know she’s only been with the company for over two months. Is she doing okay, considering she wasn’t keen on working for you?”

“No. Nothing is wrong with Cora. She’s… great at her job.” I pick at the eggs benedict in front of me.

Except I kissed her, and she kissed me back… And that is a very big problem.

While I liked the way Cora felt in my arms, there was nothing I could do about it. She might be addictive and charming, but Jake is my best friend.

Starting something with his younger sister is out of the question.

When I get to work later, I have to make sure that she knows our kiss was nothing but a momentary lapse in judgment.

Jake drums his fingers on the table in time with soft background music. “Good. She needs the job.”

“Yeah. She mentioned something about having a lot of debt to pay down.” I’m fishing for information. It doesn’t feel great to ask Jake instead of Cora, but she would just bite my head off. “Is she in trouble?”

Jake shakes his head, his eyes rolling to the ceiling. “No. She’s just stubborn. I told her that I have more than enough money to make everything go away, and she told me to shove my money up my ass.”

Chuckling, I lean back in my seat. “Yeah, that sounds like her.”

Jake reaches for another piece of bacon and wags the floppy end at me. “Her problem is that she is convinced she has to face the world on her own. She’s always been that way—you’ve seen her. I wish she would do what she wants with her life, but she insists that taking care of the debt her ex saddled with is more important right now.”

It feels like my eyes are about to pop out of my head. “What did her ex do?”

“Doesn’t matter. He’s a scumbag. Everyone knew he was wrong for her, though there was no telling her that. She thought he was the best thing that ever happened to her. When he proposed, I knew I was losing my sister.” Jake pretends to gag before stuffing the bacon in his mouth.

A slight wave of jealousy rolls through me, the same as it did when I saw Cora dancing with other men.

I don’t know what’s happening to me. In a matter of weeks, she’s managed to worm her way under my skin. I’ve spent too many cold showers thinking about her.

How the hell am I going to convince us that touching her was a mistake?

I swallow down the jealousy and have another bite of my food. “I don’t think I ever met this guy.”

Jake snorts. “Consider yourself lucky. He’s not the kind of man anyone would ever want to meet. I still don’t understand how he fooled Cora.”

“Well, she’s out of that relationship now.”

Jake nods and scrubs a hand down his face. “I hope she keeps it that way for a while. She lost a lot of herself when she was with him, and I’m just starting to get my sister back. She’s always had so much she wanted to accomplish, and then he seemed to steal that light from her.”

I swallow hard, knowing that I definitely have to speak to Cora about what happened between us.

I’m not going to kiss her again. I won’t be the man that steals her light.

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