Page 147 of Boss of the Year

“Not unless youtoldeveryone!”

To my surprise, my other siblings had nothing to say for several long moments, all of them entranced while I poured some ice water onto the mixture and started the process of bringing the dough together.

After the shock wore off, however, they all started talking at once.

“Was it good?” Kate wondered.

“Jesus, I don’t want to hear about that, Katie!” Matthew sniped.

“Please tell me you kept it out of my bed,” Frankie put in, followed by Xavier’s voice off-screen: “They didn’t shag in the onsen, did they?”

“I thought she was in love with the younger brother,” Lea added.

“Isn’t the pool chlorinated?” Kate wondered. “It’s probably the most hygienic place to lose your V-card. Automatic clean-up.”

“Ew!” shouted at least two other sisters along with a booming “what thefuck!” from Matthew.

“Tell me you used a rubber,” Lea interjected. “You’re too old to be playing hide the salami without a wrapper, capeesh?”

That actually made me look up. “What does that even mean?”

Matthew turned, clearly speaking to his wife, also off-camera. “Doll, why do all my sisters go for assholes I gotta punch in the face?”

“Oi! Not all of us deserved it.” Xavier, who had been a recipient of said punches, popped onto Frankie’s screen.

Matthew scowled. “He’s your boss, though, right? Say the word, and I’ll drive to New York today with charges of sexual harassment in the workplace.”

“Oh my God, Iliterallyasked him for it!” I exploded, my face burning as I hurled the ball of dough back into the bowl hard enough that the metal clanged on the counter.

I scowled at it too. You weren’t supposed to over-handlepâte brisée; otherwise, it would shrink and weigh down. Now that my family had essentially forced me to use the dough like a stress ball, my crust wouldn’t be flaky. Jerks.

Everyone continued with unintelligible commentary—Joni defending my choices, Kate asking for details, Lea worried about contraception, Matthew threatening legal action, and Frankie trying to shush everyone while her daughters climbed all over her.

I waited for the chaos to die down, methodically rolling out the crust, then pressing it into a pie pan. The familiar rhythm of cooking gave me something to focus on besides their yammering.

“Mimi.”

Only when everyone was quiet enough for Joni’s voice to break through did I finally look up after putting the crust in the oven to parbake.

“Yeah?” I asked as I started cleaning up the flour.

“How…how did it happen? Withhim, I mean. We thought you were crazy about the younger brother.”

To my surprise, everyone remained quiet.

I sighed. I should have known that would be the question they were all interested in. Not whether I was okay or if I was safe, but how, exactly, a man like Lucas would ever want to sleep with someone like me.

“It just…happened,” was all I could manage. “We’d been traveling together for weeks. We got close.”

No one looked convinced. I also heard more than one snort off-camera that told me their respective partners felt the same.

“Hold on,” Matthew said, holding up a finger while he leaned off camera. There was a murmuring that was undoubtedly his wife, Nina. When he reappeared on screen, he was frowning. “Yeah,” he told her. “I’ll tell them.”

“Tell us what?” Kate asked.

“Just that Nina’s family has known the Lyonses for years. They ran in the same circles.”

“You mean Upper East Side rich people circles?” Lea put in.