Page 36 of Boss with Benefits

Rachel bristled. "I don't like to lie."

"You're lying to your mom," I threw back at her.

"That's different," Rachel retorted. "It's a lie by omission. She doesn't need to know my grandfather was stalking me."

"And my mom doesn't need to know about Valeria," I snapped. "So butt out or you can take the next train home."

Rachel didn't say anything, but her lips pursed like she was holding back a retort.

"Wait. Back up." Tina put her palm up. "Your grandfather is what?"

Rachel told them about the man who was following her and how we discovered who he was and what he revealed about her birth mom.

"Whoa. That's heavy." Valeria pushed her cart, which rattled with bottles of wine, beer, and hard seltzer.

Piled back in the car, Valeria handed out canned rosé to everyone but me, since I was driving, and Frankie, who didn't drink.

"Let's toast to our fucked-up lies and lives." Valeria chugged half of her drink.

"Hey, slow down." Frankie laughed, but there was an edge of concern in her voice.

"So do you not drink for health reasons?" Rachel asked Frankie.

"I'm not, like, sober. But my dad's an alcoholic so I'm not really into it. But it's totally fine if y'all drink. I'm not all judgey about it."

We drove for a bit, taking in the lush scenery of the forested roads, towering trees, and country homes until we got to the long gravel drive that led to the house.

"Did you tell Rachel about the Jacques Family Olympics?" Tina asked.

My hands tightened around the steering wheel. "We're not doing it this year."

"It's tradition!" Valeria whined. "We have to do it."

"Oh, we're doing it," Tina said. "I made the shirts this year. I ordered extras and brought iron-on letters for Rachel’s and Frankie's names."

"What kind of games?" Rachel asked, her face lighting up.

The problem was everyone was way too competitive, and the losers were in a bad mood for the rest of the trip.

"Archery, boat races, paintball, sardines, tricycle relay, and our favorite, the scavenger hunt," Valeria listed.

"Who's in charge of the scavenger hunt this year?" I asked.

"Maria," Tina said.

I groaned. The last time she planned it, no one could find the last clue and we stayed up half the night. Mom fell asleep in the boathouse searching for a clue.

I glanced in the rearview mirror as the car bumped down the lane. Rachel's eyes met mine, and I snapped them back to the road. There were several reasons I didn't want Rachel here, the big one being her lack of self-restraint.

What if she blurted out my problem to my family? She was unpredictable like that. Despite my dick kicking into gear whenever she was around, I still didn't know if it was totally fixed.

It had been so fucking weird the other night. We were screaming at each other and suddenly I was turned on. But there was no fucking way I was touching her. She worked for me, and I didn't want to be known as the boss who dated his young employees. Peyton was enough, and that was over a year ago. People—and companies—had been canceled for a lot less.

Not to mention my partner, Isaac, fucked that intern. The intern had nefarious reasons for going after Isaac, but still. We were lucky to get out of that whole mess unscathed.

I couldn't chance another scandal. Whatever happened this weekend, I was staying far away from Rachel.

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