Page 40 of Runaway Bride for the Boss

“Me?” I squeak. I pick up my glass of water and quickly wash down the bread, which is suddenly sticking to my throat and making it hard to breath. Greg walks forward, extending the box. I hesitate briefly then accept the package from him. What is Alex thinking by sending me a gift in front of Andrea?

“Well? Come on, the suspense is killing me.” Andrea nudges me, a hard edge to her tone when I only clutch the box in my hands without attempting to open it.

I glance at her but her expression is closed off…so different from the warmth and playfulness from earlier. What is she thinking? Oh, God, does she suspect something? Greg nods at us and exits the kitchen quickly, clearly not interested in joining our chit chat. Mrs. Staten murmurs an excuse I can’t really hear over the pounding of the blood in my ears. She leaves the kitchen, so it’s just Andrea and me.

I swallow hard as I lift the box lid and fold back pieces of tissue. I lift out a bag filled to the brim with nail polishes of different colors. What…

“Polishes?” Andrea frowns at them like they’ve personally offended her.

I glance at my nails, which are a total eyesore with what’s left of my wedding manicure. Did I mention loving painting my nails in his presence? Then I remember. The library. When Andrea was there, and he was looking like he was ready to attack me.

What am I going to do with this man? Why am I getting giddy over nail polishes? My grip on the bag tightens and something crinkles. I peep inside to see nail polish remover as well as a package of cotton balls.

Alexander.

I hear the sound of Andrea pushing back her stool from the island and look up to find her glaring at me. “Andrea, it’s not what it l—”

“Don’t,” Andrea cuts me off. “Just don’t.” She shakes her head and stands up from her stool, the rest of her breakfast forgotten as she stalks off in a huff.

“Andrea.” I call after her, quickly getting to my feet. By the time I follow her outside, she’s already in her car and driving off. I don’t have a car to follow her so I just helplessly watch her disappear down the driveway, skidding over the ice.

CHAPTER 23

ALEXANDER

“Heads up, your sister is in the building and headed to your office. She looks reallyreallypissed. What did you do?”

I frown at Noah’s furtive tone over the phone. I can count on one hand the people my assistant is scared of; Mom and Andrea. Before I can reply, my office door is thrown open and the little she-devil strides in.

“Alexander Fitzgerald Beaufort. How dare you?” she growls, her chest heaving.

“How did you get here, Andrea? I know for a fact that the roads aren’t salted yet, so you couldn’t possibly have driven.” I glance out the window where sure enough, there’s still traces of the heavy sleet on the road. There’s her car parked right in front of the building. She fucking drove here. I frown at her.

“Don’t start with the overprotective big brother bullshit, Alex. In case you can’t tell, I’m furious.”

I raise a brow. “I can see that. Can I assume that you’ll enlighten me as to the reason for this condition of yours? If not, you can leave because I’m not going to guess.”

That seems to piss her off more. She makes a rude gesture with her hand, then stomps right up to my desk, making sure to slam the door shut behind her.

“Autumn? Seriously?”

I sigh, finally realizing the reason for this little display. “What about her?” I ask, not sure how much she knows; there’s no way in hell I’ll willingly tip her off. I know a thing or two about torturing information out of a man, and while this certainly feels painful, I’m not giving in.

“What about her? Are you seriously going to pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about? First, it was giving her a ride home, then getting her a brand new phone, and now a box of fucking nail polishes?”

Damn it, did Greg give Autumn the damn gift in front of Andrea? “And?” I ask calmly.

Her hands form tiny fists at her sides, and she makes a frustrated sound that’s a cross between a groan and a short scream. “No, you can’t have her. She’s mine.”

“Actually, you’ve got that part dead wrong, Andrea. Autumn ismine.”

Her jaw drops, and she stares at me quietly for a moment before making a wheezing sound like she can’t believe my audacity. “Is she the reason why you’ve been stalling on repairing my roof?”

Yes. “That’s none of your business. Besides, you’ll be happy to know that I’ve made arrangements for my men to start working on it tomorrow.”

She wasn’t expecting to hear that, and it seems to take the wind from her sails – at least for a moment. She starts issuing commandsto me.Who the hell does she think she is?

“You’ll stay away from her, you hear me? She’s fresh off a relationship that ended badly, and she doesn’t need you or our family problems hanging over her. She was my friend first!”

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