Page 27 of The Broke Billionaires Club
“I’ll fill you in later,” Trey promised her, before pulling the back of her hand up to press his lips against it. “I’ll miss you,” he added sappily as she sauntered dreamily back to thestorefront.
Trevor caught himself just before rolling his eyes. It was so odd to see his brother madly in love. Wanting to get down to business, he asked, “You want the bad news or the worse newsfirst?”
Sitting down at the card table that served as a break room and ushering Trevor to the other chair, Trey answered, “Start with the bad, Iguess.”
“I am falling for Millie,” Trevor told him without furtherpreamble.
If Trey was surprised by the announcement, he hid it quickly. “And that’s a bad thingbecause…?”
“Because she’s your assistant, well, my assistant,” he amended. “She works for us, and she does a damn good job, but relationships between someone with a position of power and an employee are strictly forbidden. It’s in the company handbook. I looked it up,” hegushed.
“You looked it up in the handbook?” Trey raised one thick, dark eyebrow in his brother’s direction. Seeing Trevor’s affirmative nod and the pathetic look on his face, made Trey turn serious. “Is Millie open to a relationship?” heasked.
“She would be, but she doesn’t want to lose her job.” Trevor tried to keep the whiny tone out of his voice. It was an impossible situation, so he wasn’t sure what he expected his older brother to do aboutit.
“If the two of you have a fling and things don’t work out, will you fire her?” Trey’s piercing, hawk-like gaze rested on his brother. He looked more like the imposing man Trevor was used to dealing with than the happy baker he had first encountered in thekitchen.
“Of course not!” Trevor was insulted by theinsinuation.
“Would you demote her?” Trey continued along those lines, even though his brother was obviously becomingagitated.
“No,” Trevor answered firmly. Deciding to stop this conversation in its tracks, he added, “Millie and I are both professionals. We would continue to work together, despite any awkward feelings over our personalrelationship.”
“Then I’m not seeing what the problem is,” Trey stated matter-of-factly over his foldedhands.
“Human resources… the handbook… rules,” Trevorspluttered.
“YOU are in charge now. YOU make the rules.” Trey sat forward in his chair and pointed a finger at his brother as he spoke. “So, change them if you want to,” he added as if it were the simplest thing in theworld.
“I’m sure the rules are there for a reason,” Trevor responded logically. “What if we getsued?”
“What if we do?” Trey raised his shoulders. “We’ll deal with it. Next issue?” He almost sounded bored by these problems that had been eating away atTrevor.
Trevor blinked several times, in an attempt to comprehend that Trey had just given him permission to date Millie. Scratch that… he didn’t actually need permission from anyone to see her because he could make the rules now. The fact that he was the one in charge finally began to sink in, and his chest puffed upinvoluntarily.
The realization was both liberating and enlightening. He had assumed that his brother would keep tight reins on everything important, even during this sabbatical. The proof that he was truly trusting Trevor and stepping back was exhilarating, if a littlefrightening.
This next revelation would be a true test. He doubted his brother would be able to keep his fingers out of this one, and to be honest, he wouldn’t mind having Trey rescue him just this once. Taking a deep breath, he admitted, “We are losing the mall deal to SelenaChase.”
His brother narrowed a dark-eyed stare at him, taking a few deep breaths of his own. When he finally spoke, his words were not at all what Trevor had expected to hear. “Let’s go for a walk,” Treysuggested.
