Page 6 of Her Billionaire Bargain (Kensington Square)

And he’d not only acknowledged her, but he’d also talked to her as if she was an actual human being with a brain, not just a dumb kid.

She’d liked him, too, to the point she’d kept bringing him up the whole night. I hadn’t understood why because they’d spent a sum total of, what, maybe twenty minutes together? But my girl was an excellent judge of character and something about his personality had struck her in a good way.

Too bad he’d had the word “player” written in invisible ink on his forehead.

“You must’ve worn one once for him to be so fixated.”

“Okay, okay, fine. I wore one once, the day I had my first parent/teacher conference at Newfield Academy.”

I’d dreaded it for days beforehand, sure I’d come across as an overwhelmed, frazzled, incompetent farce of a mother, not the together career woman and loving mom I’d hoped to seem like.

I’d met with Preston Shaw and Bishop Stone at their new office building afterward. I’d had Berry with me, since I’d pulled her out of her normal school aftercare spot because I’d needed to talk to her and give her a big hug. The first parent-teacher conference at a new school—especially an upper-crust one I had no business sending my daughter to—was always nerve-wracking.

Even if my daughter’s teacher couldn’t stop raving about her performance.

Now six months after that first meeting, the law office had been successfully renovated. I’d just finished it a couple weeks ago, in fact. Berry was still doing amazing at Newfield. Her teacher had mentioned at the last conference Berry could have mood swings, but what kid didn’t?

I still couldn’t afford her school. I was hanging on, just barely. Hoping I could manage to make it the next few weeks until summer break.

I was juggling every single plate I could to pay all the bills—the mortgage on our cottage and the utilities, along with Berry’s piano and language lessons, and my many professional organizations, plus this pricey tuition—but one by one, they were starting to drop.

Starting with the cable late payment warning I’d received yesterday.

No big deal, I reminded myself. Berry preferred streaming Discovery Plus anyway. I’d just have to look into their parental controls. She was good about not watching stuff she shouldn’t, but she was nearly nine and far too smart. And curious.

God only knows what she could find to watch.

Teej snapped her fingers. “Shelby? Are you spiraling?”

“How did you know?” I asked guiltily.

“When you’re quiet, you’re in your head. Never a good thing. He found you attractive. Which turned out to be a good thing, since he remembered you enough to want to hire you for this fucking amazing life-changing job. And not just for you. For Designing Women. Your innate hotness is going to put us on the map, baby girl.”

My snort gusted across the phone. “Innate hotness? I think you have the wrong number.”

I hadn’t showered in two days. I wouldn’t even consider how long it had been since I’d shaved my legs.

Never mind other more forest-like parts of my anatomy that hadn’t seen any action since many moons ago.

“He has a nickname for you, toots. He didn’t mean to say it, I don’t think. After, he tried to explain it away that he had memory issues, so he named people that way to trigger his recollection…”

“What nickname?” This particular question broke my no-loud-voices rule so violently that I winced, knowing there wasn’t a chance in hell my enhanced bat-hearing child wouldn’t hear it. Therefore ensuring any chance of my going back to sleep went up like a poof of smoke.

Fuck my life.

But my bedroom door remained closed. I cocked my head, listening closely for any noises that indicated Berry would soon be on the warpath. Nothing.

Which had me worrying for another reason altogether.

“Yeah, I know. It’s kinda out there, but he honestly seems nice. No weirdo vibes. He claims Bishop will give him a glowing recommendation, but he isn’t as certain about his brother, though he claims that’s due to Preston’s lifelong jealousy in his direction.”

“Oh, sure. I believe that.”

“You know how it is with siblings.”

“Actually, no, I don’t.” I sighed. “I basically grew up without my brother around, remember?” Casey was a decade older than me, and he’d split for the opposite coast the minute he turned eighteen. Visits were still rare.

“Sorry, forgot you’re the next thing to a lonely only.”

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