Page 75 of Bossy Trouble

My sneaky little girl.

A small smile crossed my lips, and I saw confusion highlight Georgia’s expression. Even before I said, “Sure. Go ahead with that plan, Georgia.”

Clear surprise filled her expression, then elation, then apprehension. Each emotion chased the other. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” I said with a nod. “There should be no reason why you can’t do it.”

“Donovan, this isn’t a good idea—” Fred started, but I silenced him with a look.

“No one knows that company better than Georgia,” I said. “She created it after all and raised it to the standard it is now. Her clients have raved about those standards for years, and it was what kept her in the business for so long, even with the scandals. I don’t see that stopping any time soon.”

A small smile crossed Georgia’s face before she beamed at me. I wanted to catch that expression, bottle it up somewhere, and hide it, only letting it out for brief periods when I needed another hit. Georgia’s smile was like a drug.

Jeez. I just turned into a full-on sap, didn’t I?

Well, there was nothing I could do about it now.

The meeting concluded without further ado, and Georgia approached me tentatively.

“Um.” She folded and unfolded her hands. “I just wanted to say thanks for backing me up in there. And for letting me take this on.”

I shrugged. “Who better than you to know how to get your client back? And also, you can consider this your final task.”

Her eyes widened in horror. “What?”

“It means that I think you’re ready. If you successfully gain the client back, then the company is yours. I will sign any documents to that effect, and you don’t need to pay back the debt.”

Her mouth dropped open. She was silent for several seconds as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. “Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack.”

“But…but why?” Confusion filled her expression. Suspicion too. I knew what she was thinking. She was wondering what the catch-22 was. Why was I being so nice to her after our huge fight?

“Lupin told me what the two of you were up to,” I told her. “About how you conspired to take me down.”

Horrified guilt filled her expression. “I’m sorry. It’s just….”

“Don’t be,” I told her. “It was a very clever scheme, and I understand why you did it.”

She was shocked into silence for the second time.

“What?” she mumbled after a few seconds.

“The sole reason I took over your company rather than just giving you the loan you asked for was because I thought you were too soft to run it properly, that you’d become a doormat. I thought you didn’t have what it took to make the cruel and sometimes cutthroat decisions. But this just proved to me that you do.”

“So me trying to spy on you was a good thing?” Her brows furrowed.

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t go that far. But it was something you needed to do, and I understand that.”

“Oh. Um…okay.” She didn’t seem to know what to say next.

“You should probably get to it then,” I suggested, and she nodded, turning toward the door. She kept throwing looks back at me as she left. I smiled. It was clear she was still suspicious and wasn’t quite sure what to do about her suspicions.

It was kind of adorable. Her cautious looks reminded me of Avery when I told her something she couldn’t quite understand.

A few minutes after Georgia left, I received a call. It was Garrett.

“Yo,” I said.

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