Page 51 of Extreme Romancing in Idaho

“Lili!” Angie yelled. “Get the papers!”

Lili attempted to take a step toward the contents of my briefcase, but Myles stepped in front of her. “I think we should stay out of this. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Oh good.” Her shoulders drooped over her pregnant belly. “I am sooo thirsty. I had no idea Angie planned to go this far. Otherwise, I would have packed a water bottle.” Her large belly protruded much more than I’d expect for someone only seven months pregnant.

Must be the two babies in there, instead of one. Then again, I hadn’t been around many pregnant women.

“Come on.” Angie sagged in my arms as she watched this exchange.

Ha. I won.

She must have sensed me lowering my guard. At that precise moment, she grated her heels down my shin and bit into the fleshy part of my thumb.

“Ah-hh.” I released her and waved my hand in the air, checking to see if she’d broken through my skin.

She sprinted to the pile. Not slowing, she scooped up some papers and ran to Lili’s side at the kitchen table.

My chest heaved up and down with each of my labored breaths.

Angie dropped her eyes to the white sheets, briefly taking in their contents, then looked at me, her gaze clashing with mine. The air in my lungs vacated as if I’d had the wind knocked out of me.

I admired Angie’s ability to be as open as a book, but now I wanted to shield myself from what I read in her eyes. Betrayal. Hatred. Anger, nofuryignited in her crystal-blue depths. I waited for the inevitable slew of heated words she’d sling at me. This wouldn’t be the first time I’d been despised.

This job taught me how to have thick skin, but Angie pierced right through it like she had x-ray vision.

“You’re with Cockrell Development.” Her accusation burst out with a healthy dash of venom. “Remington JamesCockrellthe Third. Left something out there, didn’t you, you lying son of a—this changes everything.”

“It changes nothing. I still work for you.” I grasped at the only leverage I had—my one chance to stay in Angie’s life. “Or do you want me to go to the bar and tell Smoot all about our arrangement?”

Myles and Lili sat at the table, rubbernecking from Angie and back to me. Some friend Myles was. Not lifting a finger to help me.

“I’ll find another Daniel. You’re fired.” She let the documents flutter to the ground and scowled at me. “Now it makes sense. The reason you’ve been so cagey about your life before you came here. You’re not a cog in the corporate machine. You’re the jerkoff making the cogs turn.” She shook her head once and trudged past me toward the door. “Come on, Lili. Let’s go.”

Lili shoved a large chunk of muffin in her mouth, not moving. “Can’t I finish my blueberry muffin first?”

“Take it with you.” Angie paused, within reach, and turned to her friend.

“You know how finicky Blake is about food in cars.”

“You ate sauerkraut and peanut butter in your car.”

“That was an emergency.” Lili sipped from her glass of iced tea.

Angie stomped her foot. “And this isn’t?”

I wiped the sweat beading on my upper lip. This situation was spiraling out of control. I couldn’t let Angie leave. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I’d dealt with unexpected kinks in negotiations before, but it never felt like a red-hot poker had been shoved into my abs.

If she succeeded in firing me, I’d no longer get to look forward to bickering with her daily. Not to mention, my dreams with Myles would be a bust. Somehow, they came in second to never seeing Angie again. The power she held over me scared the shit out of me.

“Are you saying your feelings for Smoot aren’t genuine?” I grabbed Angie’s upper arm, and she filleted me with her eyes. “You’ll have to keep up your charade all on your own.” It was my one play before everything unraveled.

“I’ll tell him the truth.”

“Go ahead. And he’ll split faster than a wet log.”

“A wet log?” She rubbed her temple. “Where do you come up with …”

Lili raised her hand like she was in a classroom. “Does a wet log split better than a dry one?”

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