Page 15 of Boss's Baby: A Fake Fiance Romance

“That’s what I’m talking about—cocky, smartass Josh Taylor. Like he’d never gone anywhere.”

I leaned forward. “Listen, is this because I didn’t call you or anything? I guess I didn’t know that was what you wanted. Thought it was a fun, one-off kind of thing.”

And it was what I’d thought. Was she suggesting she’d wanted it to be something more?

Her reply was quick and sharp. “No. Not that. More that I never do anything like what we did. One-night stands aren’t my thing. I know they’re yours, though.”

I wanted to say something in my defense, but my reputation was my reputation. Hard to argue the contrary when you’re speaking to someone who’s got years of evidence to the contrary of whatever you’d have to say.

“Haven’t been in a while.” I was being truthful. Well, maybe not that long of a while, but still. “And I’m sorry to hear you’ve got bad feelings about what happened.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then you have good feelings about it?”

“Not really that either.”

“Then totally, completely neutral.”

“Just don’t like rewarding bad behavior.”

“Might be how I’d describe you in the back of my car.”

Another eye-narrowing, and I realized she was about hitting her limit. Damn, was she right? It felt like there was something about her making the old Josh come out, the one who had a smartass remark for everything, who never took a damn thing seriously in his life.

I decided to keep my mouth shut rather than potentially dig myself into an even deeper hole.

“Well, whatever. It’s done, and that’s it. And now you’re going to be buying out my firm and doing god-knows-what with it.”

“We’re keeping things as-is. The reason we picked MacLand-Glass was because of the talent—it’d be pointless to toss all that aside.”

“I suppose we’ll see what you’ve got in mind for this place.”

“You will. And I hope you see that you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Easy for you to say—you’re the one with all the power in this situation.”

She was still having doubts, both about me and the buyout. And it was obvious as hell I wasn’t going to change her mind on either of those subjects right then. So, I decided to change the topic.

“Anyway, Christmas is coming up. You doing anything fun?”

Not the most stimulating topic, but I figured it’d be better than digging myself into an even deeper hole. Cassidy took in a slow breath through her nostrils and let it out, as if pushing what we’d been talking about out of her mind.

“Same as Thanksgiving, actually—going back home and spending it with the family. But this time I’m going to make sure I have nothing but quiet nights in. Don’t want to do anything else that I’d regret.”

“What, maybe stay in with the family and take in some Hallmark Christmas movies?”

Hated to admit it, but I had a soft spot for those flicks. I watched them every damn Christmas, always convincing myself that I’d be mentally making fun of it. But without fail, every damn time I found myself rooting for the couple, totally thrilled when they finally got together at the end.

Cassidy’s eyes went wide for a moment, as if she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t. “Huh? What?”

That was weird. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she liked them herself. Part of me wanted to poke a bit. But I figured I’d given her enough razz for one day.

“Never mind,” I said with a small smile. “If you change your mind and decide I’m not too much of a prick to get a drink with, here’s my card.”

I slipped my monogrammed card case out of my inner suit jacket pocket and handed one over. She took it and regarded it like it was a Magic Eye poster or something else she couldn’t quite figure out.

“It’s not that I think you’re a prick—” She trailed off.

“You just think I’m an asshole.”

She sighed in mild frustration. “Not that. It’s that this thing—”

“It’s all very sudden and complicated. I get it. You’ve got a lot to process. But if you want someone to talk to about this whole thing, you’ve got my ear.”

“Thanks.”

With that, I got up. “See you around.”

“I’m sure you will.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I stepped out of the office. I had a feeling this was all going to be a very interesting holiday indeed.

Chapter 7

JOSH

The day wasn’t over. I’d come to MacLand-Glass for the purpose of checking in with the owners and making sure they were ready for the next stage of the plan. And man, had it been fun to see Cassidy. It was hard for me to figure out whether she wanted to fuck me or kill me, or maybe both, but I had a feeling I was going to find out over the next few weeks.

But that wasn’t the only plan on my agenda. What I had next promised to be much less entertaining—a meeting with my dad and my younger brother, Sam. The acquisition of MacLand-Glass was only part of the big plans for the next year, and Dad wanted to make sure that everything was in order. The old man left nothing to chance, and the upcoming year was sure as shit no exception.

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