Page 45 of Sexy Bad Boss

“Give him time to settle in. You couldn’t stand Simon to start with either.”

“That’s different. The cat doesn’t keep sticking its nose in where it isn’t wanted.”

“Neither does Alex.” I walk over to help James turn about so we can go back into the living room. “He’s just a friendly guy whom your clients old and new will love. He’s going to be an asset, you’ll see.”

“The clients love you.” He reaches over his shoulder to squeeze my forearm. “You know them, you’ve been with them every step of the way. They won’t be happy with a substitute.”

“Of course they will.” Is he talking about Frost Inc.’s clients or himself? But needing me isn’t going to cut it anymore. I don’t want to be a commodity, I don’t want to be fun or just another person he cares about. I want to be the one he falls in love with.

“I still don’t understand why you’re going. Or what happened the other night to land me in this mess. We need to talk about that, don’t you think? And what’s happening now.”

“What is happening now?” I catch my breath while a swarm of bees take up nesting in my belly. Pretending not to care is not my forte. He said we were fun, but maybe...was that for Abby’s sake? If he wants to talk about it...

“I don’t know, Myra. This whole situation is new to me too. And a little bit weird, but—”

“Guess what, Daddy?” we hear from the living room. “I saw Uncle James kiss Myra on the lips. Myra said they don’t love each other, but kissing on the lips is for adults that love each other. That’s what you told me. Are Uncle James and Myra going to love each other even though they told me they don’t? Are they going to get married and have babies now? I want them to have babies and Uncle Paynt and Aunt Chloe to have babies. Can Spot have babies too?”

“You’ll have to ask your uncle Paynt about Spot, although I’m pretty sure if he had to choose, he’d rather work on giving Aunt Chloe a baby. As for your uncle James, well, I don’t know, pipsqueak. This one’s news to me too,” Garrett says, warmth and amusement coating each word.

“Shit,” James exclaims. “Cat’s out of the bag.”

Simon enters the kitchen at that point, her tail up in the air like an exclamation mark as she meows at James and then bounds into his lap.

I try not to laugh at the cat’s timing, or James’s irritation over Abby tattling on us while I push him back into the living room. “We’re never going to hear the end of this.”

“Probably not,” he agrees. “Garrett will make sure of it. I just wish we’d had a chance to talk between ourselves before my entire family hears about it from that big mouth.”

“Don’t talk about your niece like that,” I scold him.

“I wasn’t. I was talking about my brother. But first, let’s go find out how much it’s going to cost me to acquire your damn cat.”

“My cat?” I smile. He might not want to admit it, but he’s fond of our new furry friend.

“Anything for you, Myra.”

Anything at all? I’ll take one order of you for the rest of my life. I pretend I don’t hear him as we enter the living room.