Page 5 of Billionaire's Frenemy

I got into my town car, directing my driver to take me toCassel Brothers, then took deep breaths until my inopportune erection subsided. It took a minute, because every time I started to think about Willow, it chubbed back up again.

Damn her.

I called Luke while I rode back to the office.

“Tell me something good,” he begged when he answered.

“The permits will be back in place by Monday. You want me to call the crew?” I asked.

“Nah, I should probably go into the office today anyway. I’ll make the call.” I heard a pretty heavy sigh in his voice.

“How are things with Laura?” I teased.

“How are things with Willow?” he shot back.

“I just hired her to work at the firm.” I actually hadn’t planned to mention it to him. But I figured he’d find out soon enough anyway, so whatever.

“You did what?” he bellowed, his voice so loud through the speaker it bounced around the entire car.

“Calm down, dude. Y’all have wanted her there for years.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, his tone calmer. “But, you talked us out of it. Every time we’ve tried to bring her in, you gave us a hundred reasons why it would be a bad idea.”

I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see me. He wasn’t wrong. But things were different now.

“Look, I’ll support any decision you make in this firm,” Luke continued. “I know the others give you a hard time, and it’s got to be tough being the baby of five brothers, man.”

“Not any harder than being the oldest I’d imagine,” I told him.

“Anyway, if you want her to work there, I’ve got your back. But let her work,” he warned. “Don’t bring her in if you just think this will be a way for you to get some control over her.”

“First of all,” I said with a laugh. “No one will ever have any kind of control over Willow Tate. Second of all, why wouldn’t I want her to work? She’s smarter than the five of us combined.”

“You love her,” he said.

“I despise her,” I lied. “But I’m about to get her fired fromS&S, so I’m giving her a backup option to smooth things over a little.”

“Did you have to get her fired?” he asked, his tone growing sharper.

“Shultz senior called to warn me if I get the permits reinstated, he’ll fire her for gross negligence.” I had no idea how Shultz knew I’d care about what happened to Willow, but as we traveled the same circled, he must have picked up something. I blew out a heavy sigh. “What was I supposed to do? Pick one girl over hundreds of people’s jobs?”

“I think you might have grown up a little too much,” Luke said sadly. “Look, thanks for getting it done. I hope this works out for you.”

Yeah, I was pretty sure it wouldn’t.

* * * *

“You selfish, arrogant asshole!” Willow yelled, startling me as I left Luke’s office. I had no idea where my brother was, so I’d been searching his desk for some paperwork I needed. My mind had been fully on that, I hadn’t notice the woman who drove me crazy until she growled at me.

“How did you even find me here?” I asked, playing it cool. I hadn’t expected her sneak attack since it had been days since I’d seen her.

“You got me fired,” she said, stomping her foot in apparent frustration.

“Yeah,” I agreed. I turned and handed Luke’s assistant, Roz, a folder. “Can you get copies of those sent to Doug at the site, please?”

“Of course, Mr. Cassel,” she said, standing quickly, probably hoping to make a fast escape.

I raised an eyebrow at that. Roz had never called me Mr. Cassel, not once in my entire life. If she was trying to make me look good in front of Willow, it was sweet, but that ship had long since sailed. Speaking of my frenemy, I refocused on her.

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