Page 51 of By His Rule

I shake my head, picturing my kid sister staring out of the window instead of paying attention at school.

Kian: You should be in class.

Makenzie: I am. It’s history. I’m over it.

Kian: If you listen, you might actually learn something.

Makenzie: You’re meant to be the fun one. Come and get me, let’s go and do something crazy.

Kian: I’m at work.

Makenzie: As yes, the big important CFO of Callahan Enterprises. Don’t tell me, you’re in a boring meeting too.

Kian: Nope. I’m too busy trying to make my new assistant cry.

Makenzie: I never want you to be my boss. You’re mean.

Kian: Pay attention, Makenzie. I’ll test you later.

Makenzie: You don’t even know the topic.

Kian: Maybe not but you can bet that I’ll find out before you get home.

Lorelei might not be looking at me, or paying me any kind of attention, but I know she’s just as hyper aware of me as I am her. The skin down the right-hand side of my body is burning red hot despite the fact there’s more than a handful of inches between us.

“So,” she says, finally breaking the silence between us. “There really is nothing that I need to know about this meeting that will help me assist you?”

I don’t say anything. Instead, I continue to keep my eyes trained outside of the car as I take slow, calm breaths.

If this is going to work, I’m going to need to let her in.

I’m going to need to trust her.

But…do I even want this to work? Or did I just want to fuck with her head?

“We’re meeting Kingston, our father, and our lawyer to discuss a possible investment. We’re still in the beginning stages of the process. No decisions have been made. We’re just information gathering to see if this would be a good move for Callahan Enterprises to make.”

“What is it?”

“There is a chain of British hotels that are weeks away from bankruptcy. King is interested because?—”

“Of Tate,” she finishes for me.

“Because it could be a good investment,” I correct. “Business deals are made with the head, Lorelei, not the heart.”

“You mean you have one?”

My teeth grind at her quick comeback.

“We’re talking about Kingston here if I’m not mistaken. Not me.”

“Right,” she muses as her rapt attention burns the side of my face.

I want to turn farther away from her, stop her from seeing more than I want her to, but I hold firm and keep my head high.

Let her look all she wants—my mask is better than her inquisitiveness.

“We don’t have a lot of assets in the British market. It’s somewhere we’ve talked about branching out to in the future, so this is just a part of that. If the numbers don’t add up, it won’t happen,” I explain simply.

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