Page 45 of The Wrong Boss

SIXTEEN

COLE

Boisterous conversation rangout from all sides of Rome’s dining table. I sat to his left while Alba chatted animatedly on the other side of me. She was speaking to Rome’s wife, Nikki, who was dressed in a vintage dress that was vaguely reminiscent of pinup, the style accentuated by her shiny black hair and vampy red lips. I caught Rome glancing over at her, and the look in his eyes was one that, up until he’d met Nikki—when he hired her for averyunconventional position at his company directly following a major screwup by me—I’d never seen before. It was a look that was a secret language all on its own. The depth of emotion that they exchanged with a brief glance and a half-smile was something I’d never experienced.

Alba didn’t look at me like that.

“What do you think, Cole?” my fiancée said, turning to glance at me. Her look wasn’t darkly amused and promising fun later, the way Nikki’s was with Rome. It was a glance that said,Iknow you have no interest in this conversation, but don’t you dare embarrass me.

“What’s that?” I asked, reaching for the cut crystal wine glass filled with a rich Bordeaux wine.

“Penny says we should get a dog.”

I wrinkled my nose, peering past Alba to the redhead sitting on the far side of my soon-to-be wife. “I’m not a dog guy.”

“That’s a red flag,” Penny announced.

Marcus Walsh, Penny’s husband, let out a huff that, coming from him, was basically a tears-running-down-your-cheeks kind of laugh.

“I agree,” Alba said, a tinkling giggle falling from her lips. “How else am I going to know if you’re going to be a good dad?”

A sour gurgling went through my stomach. Becoming a dad? WithAlba? I hid my reaction by sipping my wine and arching a brow. “A child isn’t the same thing as a dog.”

“True,” Penny said. “I love all dogs, but I only love a select few children.”

That made me laugh, and I tilted my head in agreement.

Alba clicked her tongue. “Penny said when we get a dog, she can set us up with an entire dog wardrobe.”

I met my fiancée’s gaze. “First of all, ‘when’ we get a dog?” I shifted my gaze to Penny. “And a dog wardrobe? What’s that?”

Marcus stretched his arm around the back of Penny’s chair, a glittering in his eyes. “You’re telling me Cole Christianson didn’t research everyone coming to this dinner party ahead of time?”

“I know you just sold Sellzy,” I told the other man. He wasrich enough to buy a few small countries now, if the reports I’d read about the deal were accurate.

“I’m a kept man,” he said, and Penny rolled her eyes.

“My business wouldn’t even sustain your coffee habit, babe,” she told him, elbowing him in the gut while a smile bloomed over her face.

Across the table, Bonnie glanced up. She was another one of their friends who was married to a man I’d met at a charity event a few years back. Arlo Noble was known for creating and launching companies, and I always kept an eye on what he was doing; it was certain to impact the markets when he decided to make a move.

Bonnie leaned forward and said, “Don’t you dare sell yourself short, Penny. Didn’t you just open your third physical location?”

“She’s had to start working with another manufacturer because her previous one couldn’t handle all the orders,” Marcus bragged.

Penny, copper-haired and fair-skinned, went bright red. “He drinks a lot of coffee.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes. “You’re a businesswoman in your own right, Penny. Just because Marcus made a silly little deal to get rid of his own business doesn’t take that away from you.”

That “silly little deal” was upwards of nine figures, but I made a mental note to check out Penny’s business. It sounded like she was well-matched with Marcus, and that was the kind of information that was valuable to note, in case she ever went public with her company.

Alba lifted her glass. “Ladies, please don’t distract us fromthe matter at hand. I was convincing my husband-to-be that we absolutelymustget a dog.”

Laughter rang out, and I made a show of putting my arm around her shoulders while the staff cleared our dessert plates. “I’ll consider it,” I said, and Alba patted my thigh with a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

My thoughts circled back to her throwaway comment—the one about the dog being good training for a kid. I tried to imagine a child fitting into my life, a little mini-Alba or mini-me. A minius.It felt wrong, and I didn’t know why.

“Hey,” Rome said, pushing his chair back. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

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