Page 9 of The Enemies With Benefits Deal

He says nothing as he glares at me, his eyebrows pulling together. His body is practically vibrating as he looms over me. “I’m going to do everything I can to keep you from running this company into the ground.”

“Really? It looks like I’m standing in the rubble of a company that used to be great, with a spoiled brat trying to get in my way.” I give him a polite smile. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do.”

“This conversation isn’t over,” he says. “You’re going to kill this company, and we both know it.”

I press my fingers to my temples, rubbing the ache that’s starting to form there. “Look, I just want to do my job and move on with my life. I’m not here to try and take the CEO position from you, no matter what you think.”

He shakes his head. “Still a liar, I see.”

I head back to my desk, not wanting to keep arguing with him. There’s no point when to him, I’m always going to be the woman who jeopardizes his ability to impress his father.

That’s fine. The sooner I can get this company fixed and return to my normal life, the better.

I pick up my phone, glancing at him one last time. “Hate me if you want. Just stay out of my way while I save your company.”

As he turns and storms out of my office, an ache starts in my stomach.

This is starting to feel like a massive mistake.

CHAPTER 3

GRAYSON

My best friend looks at me as I sit down at the raw-edge table, grabbing the drink menu from the center. “You look like you’ve been through hell and back.”

I groan and put the menu down. “It’s been the longest week of my life, and it feels like it’s going to get longer.”

Mac chuckles, fingers wrapping around the long neck of his beer bottle. “Maybe it’s time you stop trying to impress your father, then.”

“This time it has very little to do with him.” I turn to the waiter as he approaches the table, glancing at the drink menu again quickly. “Can we get a pitcher of whatever blonde ale you have, please?”

The waiter nods and hurries through the restaurant, dodging around a toddler who is busy racing up and down the aisle between tables, tossing crayons onto random tables.

Mac takes a long swig. “Then what is it? The last time you wanted to go out for dinner here instead of one of thosefancy places was when that girl gave you a fake lead for that internship.”

I glare down at the knots in the wood grain, wishing that I could travel back in time and push Dad harder to change the company.

If he had just listened to me for the first time in his life, I might have been able to prevent this disaster from happening.

The waiter comes back with the pitcher of beer and a glass. I take them both and pour myself a drink, downing a third of it before leaning back against the black vinyl booth.

Mac’s eyes widen. “Is this about the same girl?”

“Yeah.” I take the food menu and flip open the red cover, though I don’t fully read any of the words on the page. “The company is going down. The budget meeting was the worst it has ever been. The board is insisting that we have the next quarter to get the business back into the black before they shut down.”

“It’s that bad?”

“Second quarter in a row that we’ve dipped into the red. Last month I had to lay off four different people. Two of them were new, but the other two were from the obituary department and had been with the paper forever.”

Mac winces, drumming his fingers on the table. “That sounds like another reason to bail while you can.”

I shake my head. “I’ve been working my entire life to earn my place at the head of the company. I’m not going to give up on that just because it’s going through a tough time right now.”

“And what does this have to do with the girl who ruined your chance at the internship?”

“She’s the one the board brought in to fix the business.”

Mac chuckles as he looks down at his menu. “That’s too good.”

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