Page 68 of The Reading

“No,” she confessed. “I’m usually too mad and miserable to pay attentionto anything else.”

I just sighed. “Look, even though I’m a man, that doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate what you women go through. I have a mother and sister, and my sister use to have periods bad enough that my parents would let her stay home from school. So, yeah, once a month, I run my own life, so that you can take it easy.” She was staring at me as if she were seeing me for the first time. “What?”

“I…I think…well, I’m pretty sure that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,” she mumbled.

“Doubtful,” I drawled out. “Especially, since it’s not that big of a deal. Now, get back to work.” I needed her out of my office before I did something that I couldn’t take back.

Maybe I really did need to fire her.

Chapter 2

Hudson~

We were working Christmas Eve because Christmas fell on a Friday this year, and I wanted to be able to give Zara a full three days off to go visit her parents if she wanted to. I knew that she was an only child and that her parents lived a couple of states away, so I had sacrificed Christmas Eve to be able to do that for her. However, it wasn’t anything that I could tell her because that’d be crossing a personal line with us.

As for my family, they were used to my work schedule. Besides, they were off doing their own thing. A few years ago, my mother had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and my father had immediately gone to transferring his company over to me. My parents had wanted to live life while they were still able to do so, and I had made Royalcorp my life. The plan had always been to take over the business, just not so soon. However, in the short few years that I’d taken over, it was three times the conglomerate that it’d been when my father had been in charge.

So, now, they traveled and did the damn thing, and my sister, Franny, was a journalist, and she traveled as well. We did a lot of video chats, but we didn’t always get together for the holidays. We were all busy living our best lives, and that was okay for my family. No guilt. Besides, if my father giving up everything to be by my mother’s side wasn’t inspiring, then I didn’t know what was.

At thirty-three, I wasn’t in a hurry to start a family, but I wasn’t opposed to having one. I had more money than I would ever be able to spend, so it wouldn’t hurt to slow down a bit. The only problem with that train of thought was that Zara was the only woman that popped up in my head whenever I thought of a wife and family.

My phone rang, snapping me out of my musings. Grabbing it, I answered on the third ring. “Hey.”

“Let me guess, you’re at work,” Franny chuckled.

“Let me guess, you’re in a hotel room somewhere becauseyou’reworking,” I shot back.

“You would be right, big brother.”

I leaned back in my chair and smiled into the phone. “I miss you, kid.”

“I miss you, too.”

“Where are you now?”

“Tangiers,” she answered, and I loved how brave and independent she was. Franny wasn’t afraid to explore, and it showed.

“A story or photos?”

“Both.”

“Well, be careful.”

“I always am, Hudson,” she chuckled.

“So, did you call to wish me a happy holiday?” I asked, knowing that she didn’t. She was saving that for tomorrow when it was actually Christmas.

“Nah, I was just sitting in my hotel room, and I started missing you.”

“Awwweee,” I teased.

“Then I started to wonder if you were ever going to get off your ass and make a move on Zara,” she added, and I just laughed. My sister and I were close enough for her to know all about my issues with Zara.

“Well, I caught her flirting with our gay security guard earlier, so probably not.”

Franny let out a laugh. “I take it that she didn’t know that he was gay?”

“She did not,” I confirmed. “But she’s still convinced that he’s her Christmas soulmate because the psychic palm reader in Las Vegas told her so.”

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