Page 22 of Greed

“You too.” She nods.

“I’ll drop the document I picked up from Mrs. Collymore by Svea’s desk on my way out, sir,” I say to his back as he leaves.

“That’s fine,” he responds with one last look at my stepsister.

As soon as he’s out of sight, I close the door. “What the hell was that all about?”

“What?” Carrie points at my leg as I walk over to my desk. “What happened to your limp?”

“My leg is fine.” I take a seat on my white leather office chair. “It was a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding that ended with you scoring half of a day off.”

“Crazy, right?” I laugh. “By the way, I need a bucket of whatever scent you’re wearing because it took the Hyde right out of Mr. Thorsen. He was straight up Jekyll just now.”

Carrie laughs at the reference to the first classic movie we saw together. The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of her favorites. “You’re not serious, are you? Mr. Thorsen seems like a pretty nice guy.”

“A pretty nice guy?” I laugh my way through the words. “He’s not. He’s a very strict boss, not to mention demanding and ruthless.”

Her brow furrows. “On social media, he’s a big teddy bear.”

I push to my feet. “What?”

“I might have made a fake account to follow his socials,” she admits. “He posts a lot of content with his daughter. Her mom is a supermodel. She’s gorgeous, Abs. It’s no wonder they made such a beautiful baby together.”

“Kirby is sweet.” I smile because who wouldn’t when thinking about the little blonde-haired, brown-eyed, five-year-old daughter of my boss?

“I bet her mom is too.” She sighs. “All the nice guys like that are taken.”

I ignore the nice guy comment because my boss does not fall into that category. He’s nowhere in the vicinity of being labeled that. “I’m pretty sure they aren’t together anymore.”

She taps the toe of her shoe against the floor next to the rug. “He flew to Paris to see her for a weekend last month. They’re together. Chesca posted a picture on her Instagram of Rook, Kirby, and her in front of the Eiffel Tower.”

I overheard Svea telling another lawyer that Rook and Chesca broke up last year, but the heart can be unpredictable. It’s likely for the best because Rook Thorsen is a wolf in every way, and Carrie is a sweet little lamb that needs to steer clear of men like that.

“I need to get back to work.” She moves a step closer to me. “I’m going to make tacos for dinner tonight. Shredded beef with all the fixings, including homemade salsa.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Good.” She tilts her chin down. “You can tell me later about the fake limp.”

“It’s a short story, but I’ll fill you in.”

With a nod, she turns to leave. “I noticed the big sneakers weren’t by our door this morning. Does that mean you’ll see the one-night stand guy today?”

“No,” I answer honestly. “It means he’ll get his shoes back, and I’ll enjoy my unscheduled half a day off alone.”

CHAPTERELEVEN

Declan

“A package was delivered for you.”My assistant, Huck, waves a hand toward my open office door. “It’s a big one.”

“A big one?” I stop mid-step to contemplate what it could be.

I wouldn’t put it past my brother to send me something to put a smile on my face. Sean has been known to drop a few dollars on unexpected gifts I never asked for, including a three-foot tall ceramic sculpture of a clown and a miniature likeness of the Empire State Building crafted entirely of Popsicle sticks.

His reason behind every one of those gifts has been that he wants to do his part to support the creative souls of this city.

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