Page 12 of Fireworks & Forehead Kisses

Since my grandfather’s death, neither of them had set foot in the office. I couldn’t get a hold of my brother. And Hannah hadn’t been able to get a hold of Raquel. For now, the VP of operations for both subsidiaries had stepped up and was handling day-to-day operations, but the first board of directors meeting since my grandfather’s passing was next week, and I needed to retain the trustee’s confidence that the company wasas strong as ever. If my brother and Raquel were not stepping up, I needed them to step down.

I sat down at my desk, and Hannah went over my schedule for the day. When she got to an interview with GQ, I stopped her.

“What? What interview?”

“Sexiest Billionaires Under Forty. You are number one.”

“No. I’m not doing that.”

Technically, I wasn’t a billionaire. I didn’t have a billion dollars sitting in my bank account. The business was worth billions, but as of right now, I was only acting CEO. But the monetary descriptor wasn’t what I took issue with. I’d already done the Forbes interview. I didn’t want to do another one, especially when it had the word ‘sexy’ in the title.

“Why not?”

“It’s ridiculous.”

“It’s fun,” she reasoned.

“Would you want to be named the sexiest billionaire under forty?” I questioned.

“First of all, I’m underthirty. But yes, if I were named the number one sexiest billionaire under thirty, I would do the interview.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“I would,” she stated matter-of-factly, telling me that she honestly would.

It didn’t matter. There was no way I was doing it.

“They will ask your brother if you say no.”

Derek and I did look similar. We’d both inherited our father’s thick brown hair and square jaw. My brother stood a couple of inches shorter than me, but we both had athletic frames that neither of us had to work too hard for. Genetically, we’d been blessed with broad shoulders, a muscular chest, arms, and legs. He didn’t share the dimple I had on my left cheek, but since I rarely smiled, I doubted it was the reason I’d been considered.

If Derek were asked to do the article, he would say yes. If he said yes, I had no clue what answers he’d give to the questions or how high or drunk he’d be when he’d show up for the interview. The last thing I wanted was for the company my grandfather built from nothing to be tainted by my brother and his issues.

“Fine.”

I didn’t want to do the interview. But my life had never been about doing what I wanted.

5

ASHLEY

“Hi,I’m Ashley. I’m twenty-four. I just graduated from SCAD with a degree in fine art and Georgia Tech with a bachelor’s in psychology. I love ’90s R&B music, I like watching true crime documentaries, and I’ve always wanted to be married. Whenever I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always replied, ‘a wife.’ I was a bride eight times for Halloween, which is funny because I don’t actually care that much about having a wedding. I was never one of those girls who had their wedding all planned out. I just love the idea of having a partner. A person who is your best friend to go through life with and?—”

My phone rang, interrupting my recording.

Oh well. It’s not like that was the winner anyway. As the words came out of my mouth, I could hear myself and knew I sounded like a psycho. Who dresses up as a bride eight times for Halloween? I wished that I had some feedback on what I should say, but I was just trying to go off the cuff and sound natural, not rehearsed, so I hadn’t written anything down.

I woke up this morning and realized it was the final day to apply. I considered asking my sister for help, but she hadn’t been feeling well lately. Nadia was my next choice, but she was busy atschool teaching and molding young minds. Zoe was a nurse who was pulling a double at the hospital, saving lives. Daphne was busy running her family business. Also, she just got engaged, so I didn’t want it to seem like I was trying to steal her thunder.

I grabbed my phone from the books I was using as a makeshift tripod, and when I saw the number, I didn’t recognize it.

“Hello,” I answered.

“Miss Thompson?”

“Yes.”

“Hi, this is Dorothy.”

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