Page 54 of The Enemies With Benefits Deal

Lara shakes her head and walks out of my office, heading to her desk and grabbing a letter-sized envelope. She shoves it into my chest. “Before you keep accusing Jade, maybe you should take some time to actually look at the proposal she was working on.”

I hold it back out to her. “I don’t need to see this.”

“You really do.”

She spins on her heel and walks out of the office, slamming the door shut behind her.

The last thing I want to do right now is look at the copy of Jade’s proposal. I already know what’s going to be in it. She’s going to be requesting a CEO position, and then she’s going to lay out whatever plans she’s been working on.

But what if I’m wrong?

I stare down at the envelope, torn between reading it and finding out exactly what Jade was planning and moving on with my life.

If I open it, I might find out that she’s been telling me the truth this entire time — even though I didn’t know about the proposal before she submitted it.

On the other hand, I could finally get confirmation that everything I thought about her when I was at my worst is true.

With a sigh, I reach for the envelope. I slip my finger beneath the flap, lifting it up before taking the bundle of papers out.

As I sit down, stretching my legs out in front of me, my heart hammers in my chest.

I might be wrong about everything. I might have ruined something good between me and Jade. Something better than good.

Groaning, I look down at the first page.

When Grayson becomes CEO, I believe that the following plan would be beneficial for him to follow regarding the rebranding of the company and the app as it continues to develop.

The longer I stare at that first paragraph, the worse I feel.

She never wanted to be the CEO, and though she told me that a million different times, a dozen different ways, I didn’t listen to her.

I put the proposal back in the envelope, not needing to see the rest.

How did I have such little faith in her? She wrote a proposal telling my dad that I was going to be the next CEO, for goodness’ sake.

My office is a thousand degrees, and the walls are closing in around me.

I get up and sling my bag over my shoulder, heading for the door. Nausea courses through me.

Even though I know I should go find Jade and talk to her, I can’t right now. Not after I’ve made a massive fool of myself.

The things I said to her were horrible, and I have no idea how I could possibly come back from that.

Mac opens the door, leaning against the frame. “You look like death warmed over.”

“Thanks. It’s good to see you too. How’s your day going? Mine is fine.”

Mac laughs and holds the door open wider. “Sure, come on in and tell me about whatever it is you did now.”

“Why do you assume I did something?” I enter his house, kicking off my shoes and heading straight down the hall and into his kitchen.

He follows me, leaning against the counter as I pull out a bottle of beer and pop the cap off it. “You don’t show up at my house in the middle of a workday unless you did something wrong.”

“Wow.” I take a long pull of the beer before setting the bottle on the counter. “I screwed things up with Jade.”

“I knew this no-strings thing the two of you were doing was going to blow up in your face.” His smile is smug as he shoves off the counter and heads for the back door.

I follow him into the backyard, sipping the beer before reclining onto one of the cushioned loungers beside the pool.

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