Page 26 of The CEO I Hate

“But do we have to get tacos nearly every time it’s your turn?” Connor complained.

“They’re reliable,” I said. I’d chosen Sharkies today, as I often did. From the outside, the place looked like a questionable dive. Inside? Best tacos in all of LA.

Finn hemmed. “You just like that it’s close to work.”

Okay, yeah. It was only a few blocks from the office, which meant lunch was a quick affair for me. I liked convenience almost as much as I liked reliability—so sue me.

“How’s Grace?” I asked, catching Connor’s eye. I hadn’t seen my seven-year-old niece in almost a month, and I knew Connor’s ongoing divorce was wearing on him and his daughter, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

Connor gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Missing her favorite uncle.”

Finn snorted. “As if. We all knowI’mthe favorite.”

“It’s currently Liam,” Connor said with a hint of a smile. A hint was the most we got out of him these days. “Since he comes over and plays that ridiculous farming sim with her.”

Finn wrinkled his nose. “I don’t understand the appeal.”

“We’re raising an army of sheep,” I said. “Don’t question our tactics.”

“I got that damn cat she insisted I get.”

I snorted at that. After visiting Uncle Finn’s place for the first time, Grace had declared that he needed to have a pet. And not just any pet, the hairless variety. “Complete with wardrobe.”

“Lord Meowington gets cold,” Finn informed me and I laughed at that. Grace had all of us wrapped around her little finger and we were fine with it.

Connor’s barely there smile faded. Outwardly, he was playing it cool, trying to keep things light for our sakes, but the cracks were there if you knew where to look.

And as the oldest, I did.

The way he rubbed his fingers together as he talked, a stress reaction from childhood, the extra shadows under his eyes…Divorce was like being forced to walk over glass, history shattering into a million pieces, and Connor was walking barefoot.

Finn flagged down our waitress, shooting her his typical flashy smile. The kind that could have sold water to a drowning man. Finn “The Face” Lockhart had come out of the womb oozing charm, and he wielded it like a weapon. My mother said that even back then the nurses couldn’t stop fawning over him. He was the king of networking—the guy who could turn a board meeting into his personal fan club.

“Can we do the trio platter?” Finn asked the waitress, his voice smooth. “And a round of horchata for everyone?”

“Will that be corn or flour tortillas?”

Finn swept his hand back through his hair, and the poor girl’s eyes glazed over like she’d just walked through a cloud of pheromones. “Why don’t you surprise us?” he said, giving her a wink that should come with a warning label.

She wandered away, half dazed, to put our order in.

I shook my head. “Can you try not to flirt with everything that moves?”

Finn turned off the charm like a light switch—a sight that never stopped being weird to me, no matter how many times I saw him do it. Though admittedly, him turningonthe charm weirded me out even more, given that I knew what a grumpy type A brat he truly was at heart.

How he managed to tuck his true self away and turn into some kind of Prince Charming on cue baffled me, as if I’d watched him squeeze into a suit five sizes too small. Part of me couldn’t help admiring how he’d pulled off something that seemed impossible…but the rest of me couldn’t stop asking why the hell he’d evenwantto when it looked so uncomfortable.

“Well,” he huffed, “how long does it take to get your damn order taken? I’d like to eat sometime today.”

Connor’s lips twitched. “You should probably take Liam’s advice in case the paps are lurking around the corner.”

Finn’s jaw clenched.

“What?” Connor said. “Even you have to agree that starring in one tabloid scandal is enough per year.”

Finn huffed, but he massaged his eyes. I knew the pictures of him and that actress that had gone viral were still fresh enough to sting. “This damn story just won’t go away.”

“Tell me about it,” Connor said. “I’m dreading the day Grace finds one of those tabloid magazines, and I have to explain it to her.”

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