Page 55 of Her Bossy Daddy

Chapter Fourteen

Lacey

Milly, Liam, and I were out at a casual restaurant. His sexual harassment case was dropped yesterday morning but Milly got fired for false accusations. The company could not keep such a liability around, and I didn’t blame them. I had dreaded this lunch since I threw the invitation out to Milly, and the overall tone is uncomfortable but I needed answers. Liam encouraged this meet-up, and he hoped it would bring all of us closure. Raegan had advised us not to meet with Milly, and she insisted on sticking around an extra day to ensure everything went according to plan.

“Let me start.” Milly sipped her strawberry lemonade, but kept her eyes locked on mine. “You heard details, Lacey, but I only spoke with human resources. Deductive reasoning states the only person who could have told you is either someone from human resources, which breaks confidence at our job, or Liam himself. Which is it?”

“I’m not at liberty to say. But I can tell you I lied about the fiancée part. I was fishing for information from you.” I tucked a stray hair behind my ear. “After the incident between you, me, and Rebecca? I figured you had your hand in this.”

“Then what exactly are we doing here, Lacey? I already sorted out everything with the lawyers. I lost my freaking job. Are you here to gloat?” Her eyes darted to Liam. “And why the hell are you here?”

“I asked Liam to be here as a partial observer and to get some of his questions answered. I know you don’t like me personally, but this is beyond all of that.”

“Well, I don’t like you personally but you’ve got my respect professionally speaking. It was wrong of me to make snarky comments about your weight and to talk about you behind your back.” Milly patted her lips with a napkin, and then folded it into her hand.

“Why did you lash out at me?” I asked the burning question. One that had been on my mind for a while.

“Are your ears not functioning? The entire office was up in arms the day you passed out. Did you not hear all of the women, literally all of them, gushing? That scene was straight out of a romantic comedy. Enter a brand new swoon-worthy boss, who catches his curvy coworker after she faints?” Milly rolled her eyes. “Please.”

“You were upset that I fainted?” I took a long sip from my iced tea, then another. “It wasn’t funny and it sure as hell wasn’t planned.”

“I thought it was a show,” Milly shrugged. “Then I caught wind of some gossip.”

“Gossip?” I laughed, but wasn’t amused. “You’re grasping at straws with that. There has never been any gossip about me.”

“Someone saw you and Liam holding hands out at a pub.” Milly gave a smug smile and sipped from her lemonade. “But that’s none of my business.”

“Okay, if you say so. Why did you go back to human resources and try to clear Liam’s name?” I kept my eyes forward, because if I dared a glance at Liam I’d freak. When had we held hands in public? Oh, shit. The night that drunk guy hit on me at the pub.

“Sarah told me how upset you were. It was pretty easy to connect the dots after that.” Milly picked up a breadstick and broke it in half. She buttered it slowly, and then bit off a big chunk.

“Connect the dots?” I raised my eyebrows.

“You still have a job, Lacey. Let’s not talk about the dots.” Milly turned her attention back to Liam. “Why are you here?”

“There aren’t any dots! Focus on me, not him.” What the hell did Sarah say to her?

“There are so many they are practically numbered.” Milly bit off another large bite then chewed thoughtfully. “Answer my question, Liam, or I’m out of here.”

“Curiosity. Attempting to ruin someone’s reputation is one thing, but sexual harassment can carry a stain on your person for life. So, why? Why did you accuse me of something so awful?”

“It wasn’t personal. Don’t get your feathers ruffled.” Milly rolled her eyes. “In case you haven’t realized, you are the most attractive man in that entire office. It really wasn’t against you. I pulled on a previous unfortunate incident with human resources where I was the one who was called out for the same shit. Except I didn’t do anything. They never dreamed I would make some shit like that up. I’m sort of brilliant.”

“I wouldn’t use brilliant,” I started but Liam squeezed my knee and I stopped my train of thought.

“Mid-management is a completely different game, Milly. Why bother to send me an email?” Liam skipped right over the attractive part of her speech and I could kiss him for that.

“You’re one of the best bosses I’ve ever had. It wasn’t personal, like I said.” Milly leaned her chin on her hand.

“Right. You’ve got a funny way of showing it,” Liam scoffed. “One of your best bosses,” he repeated in disbelief. “I think you’ve been stuck in the same position for years and believed the case would paint you as a victim. If the company saw you in such a vulnerable state, surely they would promote you to keep things under wraps.”

“Perhaps, but a lot more of it stemmed from Little Miss Airhead. As soon as you showed up in our office, she became discombobulated in her everyday tasks. Rebecca and I came up with the plan, but after she got fired I had to go on with it alone. I didn’t mind Lacey as a supervisor. As a matter of fact, her hands-off approach, meaning no micromanaging is perfect for someone as independent as me,” Milly mused.

“I’ve heard about you and your motivations. I don’t quite believe you,” Liam retorted as he grabbed a piece of bread from the basket and buttered it. “Something doesn’t add up.”

“Stop. Please? Listen, Milly, I’ve been very distracted by some things going on in my personal life, and it leaked out at work.”

“You’ve got stuff going on?” She took a long sip from her glass. “Why didn’t you just say something?”

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