Page 27 of Love Me Forever

Reese pressed her lips together. I could tell she wanted to say more and was making an effort not to.

"If you say so," she said finally.

"I do. Though I wouldn't mind seeing Bonnie again, once she’s back in Chicago." I clapped my hands together. "All right, it was good catching up with you all. I'm going to my office. I need to make a few calls."

"Wait, what? No. You can't leave us like that," Reese said.

I grinned. "Yes, I can. I believe gossip hour is about to begin, and I don't want to participate in it."

Marjorie, my assistant, was already inside my office. Her gray hair was pulled back in a tight bun. She and I went back more than ten years. She used to be the secretary at the dean's office at my college and once told me how bored she was, so when I started my software business, I asked her to come work for me. After I sold the company, she went into retirement. As soon as I decided to go into the hotel business, I interviewed dozens of candidates to be my assistant, and none of them were even 10 percent as good as Marjorie, so I brought her out of retirement. In truth, she hadn't needed much coaxing. I’d personally gone to her house to convince her, and she told me she couldn't wait to start working again, that retirement wasn’t for her.

"Congrats. I knew you’d make it," Marjorie said.

"Thanks, Marj. What's new around here?"

"I printed a review of the past week. Nothing much yet. Not compared to how it used to be."

I sat in my chair, glancing down at the stack of papers.

"We're going to have our hands full soon, don't worry. Though the pace will be different." Things moved fast in software. I expected a different experience with hotels, but time would tell.

"Okay, I'll be in my office. Let me know if you need anything." I had her take the space next to me. It was good to have her back.

My cell phone rang once she left. I belatedly realized I'd pressed the green button without looking at the number. It wasn't a name, which meant the caller was unknown.

"Hello," I said.

"Is this Travis Maxwell?"

"Depends who's asking."

"I'm from theGlam Reporter. I would like to do an interview with you about your new business."

I didn't reply right away. TheGlam Reporterwasn't exactly known for having an interest in new businesses. They served more as a gossip rag as far as I was concerned.

"I see. And what else?"

"Well, your cousin Reese—"

I hung up before she could finish the sentence. Pain throbbed in my head.What the fuck? How did they get my number?I worked very hard to keep my name out of social media so no one would have any way to contact me, yet somehow a reporter had gotten my personal number?

Reese was in an ongoing war with the press. They’d always taken an interest in the Maxwell family, but we never gave interviews, nor did we give them much of a reason to bother us. Reese did a center-page spread for her wedding, which spiked their attention, and then after the wedding was canceled, the reporters started hounding her. She refused to talk to them at first, but then her ex threatened to make the story public for money. That’s when my cousin decided to give an interview where she laid everything out. She’d hoped the press’s interest would fade after that. Unfortunately, the opposite happened. At least that moron she almost married didn’t get to put his spin on the situation.

I went straight to Marjorie's office. She looked up in surprise when I came in. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon."

I put the phone on her desk. "I need a new number. Today."

"What? Why?"

"A reporter got a hold of it."

"That's impossible," she said.

"I just got a call, and I don't want to wait long enough for them to call again."

She nodded. "Of course. I'll get you a new number right away.”

I got to work while she was gone, catching up on things that had happened over the past week. Marjorie returned to my office with the phone one hour later.

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