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“Okay…?”
“You’re one of them.”
For the first time since I came into her space, she looked…surprised. Her gray-blue eyes rounded and then narrowed like she was waiting for a punch line as she lowered onto the bar stool across from me.
“I had plans for you, Ms. Rhodes—plans you ruined submitting your notice. I appreciate your diligence in protecting Mattie, but you have interests at stake you know nothing about. This means at some point, once your loyalty was undeniable, you would have gotten answers to every question, which I’m sure is now planted in your irritatingly sharp mind.”
“And now?”
“Nowyou’ve unintentionally implicated yourself, and I need to…adjustsome things to ensure you’re safe.”
“And this plays into the allegations?” An ordinary woman would’ve run screaming from the room, but not Alessandra. No, she was still curt and to the point.
“It does now.”
“You’re infuriatingly vague, do you know that?”
“Yes,” I answered.Honestly. The air conditioner kicked on with a whoosh and a hum as I added, “And my uncle is right.”
“About not talking tothe help?” she asked venomously.
“About the PR mess.” When she didn’t respond, we just studied each other. Some kind of muted kitchen standoff in negotiations that had yet to begin. “About needing something dramatic to keep their focus where we want it.”
Uncle Reggie had been right about a few things but wrong about another. Pursing my lips as my mind attempted to maneuver pieces on the board, I finally swallowed my pride and locked eyes on the only non-relative woman the presshadseen me with in years. The woman they’d been begging to get an inside scoop on.
Laughing at the insanity of it all, I smiled back at her. “Marry me, Alessandra?”
6
You’ve Cracked
ALICE
“You’ve cracked,” I squeaked through some manic laugh of complete disbelief as I rocketed upright, bashing my knee on my counter in the process. I was too shocked to care.
“Maybe,” he agreed, a rare, understated smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as if this was entertaining for him, but those hazel-green eyes remained locked on me. “Look, Reggie is an elitist snob, but he wasn’t wrong about the story idea.”
“You’ve gonemad,” I insisted. “Certifiably insane. I’ll call a shrink and book an appointment tomorrow morning.” He tracked my movements as I paced across the room behind the kitchen island, bending forward to brace my hands on the edge of the marble as I studied him. Partially to catch my breath—mostly bent over while pretending you’re fine, like you do after a long sprint—and partially because there was a high probability my knees would give out, and I wanted my best chance at not smashing my face in.
I was supposed to be unwinding. Recovering from what was inarguably one of the most stressful days in my career before a long stream of crisis mitigation that would likely be worse. Leighton was on the closing shift at the restaurant, which meantI was supposed to have a date with a book and a bubble bath, not earn an unhinged proposal from my boss.
Disconcertingly enough, he didn’tlookparticularly unhinged. As a matter of fact, he seemed entirely too composed. Too steady as he tracked every shift of my weight. More breathless than I meant to be, I barked, “What are you playing at?”
“Not a play, Ms. Rhodes. You have to admit, we’d be good together.”
“Did you fall off a balcony this weekend and land on your head?” I demanded, earning a rather satisfying deadpan. “You’ve done nothing in the years I’ve known you to indicate that I’m anything more than gum on your designer boot until you defended my merit to your uncle today. But I highly suspect that was because he was challengingyourauthority, not because he disrespectedmine.” I sucked down a breath, having released all my words in one rush of frustration.
“I’m sorry about my remark Saturday night. I was frustrated you’d throw away your talent.”
“Thecost of replacing mefrustrated you,” I argued. He rounded the counter so abruptly that I straightened from my place, braced on it, and backed up. Keeping as much distance between us as humanly possible. He seemed to catch how I interpreted the motion because he slowed, hands up as if to soothe a feral animal.
“I was frustrated that thegreatest talent on our teamwas about to walk away and prove me wrong.”
I scoffed. I couldn’t fucking help it. This man was insane. Greyson Hart, America’s prodigal son, had gone insane. People speculated when he walked away from a billion-dollar empire to enlist in the Navy, but something must’ve rattled his brain until it scrambled and fried because this was utter madness.
“You told me a country bumpkin would never make it in this city.”
“And then I watched you work, and you proved me wrong. Finding you is undoubtedly the best thing my brother has ever done in his career.” When my mouth popped open, but no words came out, his shoulders raised and fell with the strength of an exasperated breath before he continued. “Think critically, Alessandra. Do you truly think anassistantearns the salary you’re allotted? Has access to the company’sfinancials? Gets to sit in on board meetings with a voice just as valued as a division head?”