Page 16 of Baby for My Billionaire Rival

“I get it. I hear you both. You don’t think you’ll be able to accomplish this project together.”

“No,” I say.

“Definitely not,” Caroline says.

I look at her. “I don’t know about ‘definitely.’”

Caroline gestures to me. Her nails are the color of a crunchy, orange leaf. “Oh my God. He always disagrees with me.Always.”

I have to keep from saying, “Not always.”

“You don’t think you could possibly find a way to align your business goals and ethics to come up with a business model that would be acceptable to present in front of your peers and the faculty, is that what I’m hearing?”

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” I say.

Fig rolls her eyes. “I’m sure, Simmons.”

“Fig, it’s clear to everyone,especiallyus,” Caroline looks at me and for once, her eyes are pleading for help. Like I can somehow aid her in this argument.

For once we’re on the same side. Go figure. “Yes, especially us,” I echo.

“That we have very different standards of practice when it comes to our family businesses and our own goals,” Caroline continues. “Right, Simmons?”

My gut turns molten.Don’t tell me you’re horned up over a woman talking business to you, Simmons.I clear my throat. “Right. There would be no world in which the two of us would find a business venture that would suit both of our interests, our business objectives –”

“Our value statements!” Caroline adds.

“Yes! Our value statements.” How could I forgetthat? We’ve been forced to write and rewrite these since the very beginning of our tenure in the program. It’s been hellish for someone like me who is fond of the written word, but not myownwritten word.

“Have you read each other’s value statements?” Fig asks, cocking her eyebrow.

Caroline and I exchange a look. There would be no reason to have read one another’s statements. We aren’t each other’s critique partners. “Um –” I start.

“Yes,” Caroline says firmly.

I resist smiling. Damn, she’s just going to lie straight in the face of our professor. That’s… another reason why she and I just wouldn’t work well together. I’m honest to a fault. However, if she perhaps was a different woman and not Caroline Gladstone, her audacity would be pretty sexy.

“Gladstone, you’re full of shit,” Fig says with her signature devilish grin.

Caroline sinks lower in her chair, looking into her lap like a kid who has been sent to the principal’s office. I almost feel kind of bad for her. “She’s – we did. Share,” I say, shifting in my chair.

Am I seriously lying for this girl right now?

“It was, you know, we didn’t trade, but we passed them between people and they just ended up in our hands.”You’re going to hell, Jake. Straight to hell.“I mean, why do you think I gave her such a hard time about her thoughts on organizational culture.”

I swear I feel Caroline smile at me and dammit that feels good. What’s happening to me?

“You’re a worse liar than Gladstone, Simmons.” Fig tilts her head to the side. “You know what this tells me?”

Caroline nearly leaps out of her seat. “You’ll reassign us?”

“No. We’re beyond reassignment at this point.”

The coffee with heavy cream I drank on the way here curdles in my stomach.

“Besides, I did this on purpose. You don’t always get to work with people you align with in the real world.”

Caroline and I both sit there for a moment, totally stunned by what she’s just done. Put us on the same side of an argument. Made us allies. I think I’m going to be sick.

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