Page 72 of Boss's Baby: A Fake Fiance Romance

“There you two are. Dad wanted to know the moment you arrived.”

“Well,” I said. “Here we are.”

“Here you are.” He glanced over at Cass in a way that was hardly friendly. “Anyway, come with me to the study. Dad’s waiting for us.”

“All of us?” I asked.

Sam shook his head. “He’s not upset with her. Only you. Definitely you.”

Small relief. I turned to Cass. “All right, make yourself at home. I’ll handle the Dad situation.”

“Good luck.”

I leaned in and gave her a small peck on the cheek, the kiss having a surprising effect on me. After all, it was one of the first we’d had since agreeing to make this real. Well, kind of real.

But it wasn’t the time to worry about that. At the moment I had a fuming patriarch in the other room. I stepped to Sam’s side, and together we wordlessly headed down the hallway, eventually reaching the open doors of the study. We both entered. Sure enough, Dad was at his desk, his hands flat on the surface. I knew the old man well enough to understand this meant he wasn’t happy at all.

“Shut the door.” I did. “Have a seat.” We did.

Once Sam and I were seated, Dad let his heavy gaze fall onto me. I was a grown man, but damned if he wasn’t able to make me feel like a little kid with a single look. He let the silence linger for several moments—a normal tactic for him to make sure I knew when I was in trouble.

Finally, he spoke. “Is there a reason you left one of the most important social events of the year last night without saying a word? Do you have any idea how that looked?”

I waited a moment before responding, not wanting to say anything careless. “I know. But I could tell Cass was feeling overwhelmed by the whole thing, and I wanted to give her a chance to have some breathing room.”

Dad narrowed his eyes. “I see. Now, this would be bad enough normally—I don’t like people asking questions about the behavior of my family. But you are aware that I’m slating you to take over for me as CEO, correct? You haven’t let that tiny detail get lost among all the holiday cheer?”

“I haven’t forgotten, of course.”

“Sure didn’t act like it last night.” Sam’s tone suggested he wanted to make sure Dad knew he was on his side in this matter. But Dad didn’t acknowledge his words.

“You haven’t forgotten. Good to hear. But obviously you weren’t thinking too much about it, otherwise you might’ve considered that I had more planned for you last night than simply introducing Cassidy to our friends—which you didn’t even do, by the way.”

“More planned? What do you mean?”

“Joshua. You know who was there last night, you know that Jonas and the rest of that circle are some of the most influential people not only in Pine Shades, but in New York City. Hell—the entire country. If you’re going to be taking over for me one day, those are people you need to know. They’re people you need to be tight with. And slipping out of a party like that isn’t exactly how you make the impression of being a dependable business partner.”

He was right, and I knew it. Dad could be harsh, but it was rarely without good reason. But the more I thought about it, the more I remembered I wasn’t telling the truth. We hadn’t left simply because of Cass being overwhelmed. There was more to the story than that.

“OK, we didn’t only leave because Cass felt weird.”

Dad was intrigued. “Is that right?”

“We bumped into a few friends of mine from back in the day. You know Mike and Paul and Carter?”

“Vaguely. Truth be told, the spoiled brats you ran around with were all fairly interchangeable.”

“We saw them, and they were total pricks to Cassidy. They used to tease her back in high school, and they didn’t waste any time getting back to it.”

“They teased her?”

It was a weird word to use, had to admit. But how else to describe it? I had to try. “They were assholes, gave her shit for coming from a humble background.”

Sam piped up. “And she couldn’t even defend herself?”

“They hit a sore spot. Cass is usually tough as hell—one of the reasons I love her.” Love her. Damn, that sounded strange to say after what happened last night, how things became so fucking real. But I moved past it. “But between the party and the news getting out and everything else, she took it hard.”

“And what did you have to say to these friends of yours?”

“I told them to fuck off. Excuse the language.”

To my surprise, a small smile formed on Dad’s lips.

Sam was shocked. “You what? I know who those guys are, and they come from some pretty important families.”

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