Page 98 of Grumpy Boss of the Year

“Ah, don’t make me blush,” I say in response, and she laughs even harder. I can hear Elisabetta groaning next to me.

“Some people find me attractive.”

“The ones who don’t know you,” she says under her breath, and I just smile.

“Here’s your card, and we have your credit card on file. Drinks and dinner will be served this evening at 7:00 p.m. You know where to go.”

“Thank you, and I take it that you’ll check me out automatically? Our flight is early in the morning.”

“Of course, Mr. Gallagher. That’s what we always do.”

“Thank you. Are you ready?”

“What about my bags?” Elisabetta asks.

“They’ll be brought up.”

She nods, and we walk toward the lobby. “Is this the way to the elevator?” she asks me in surprise.

“We’re not going up an elevator,” I say. We take a couple of steps down and walk past the oasis of a pool.

“Wow. It’s beautiful here,” she says, blinking.

“I know. It’s gorgeous, right?”

“It’s okay,” she says quickly.

I give her a small smile and continue walking. “Come on, this way.”

I stop outside an oversized, dark wood door and open it.

“Ladies first,” I say.

“Wow, aren’t you a gentleman?”

She walks inside, and I can see her eyes widening as she looks around. I know that this suite is the best one they have, and it’s amazing. It has dark wood floors and bright, colorful paintings on the wall. There’s a large bamboo fan spinning in the living room area, where a large couch sits across from a TV. There’s a small little kitchen with white marble countertops and a stainless steel Bosch fridge. On the countertop, there’s a bottle of champagne with two glasses, a little note, and some chocolates. Next to that is a fruit bowl with pineapple, some mangoes, oranges, and bananas.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Are you kidding me?” she says, looking at me. “You think I’m about to drink champagne with you right now so that you can get me tipsy and into bed and make me forget that I just found out that you are disgusting and vile and…”

“Maybe we can discuss this before you continue to call me names.”

“I just think it’s absolutely fucking ridiculous. You weren’t upset on the plane because I called you a grumpy asshole; youwere upset because I said that I couldn’t stand anyone who would do business with my father and that I was so glad I got this job because you didn’t have anything to do with him. And you probably felt guilty. That’s why you told me, isn’t it? Not because you wanted me to know; it’s because I made you feel guilty.”

“That is true.” I nod. “But I didn’t come to the States to marry you. One hundred percent, on my life.”

“Okay, what are you? A cat with nine lives because you’re telling a lot of lies to me, Liam.”

“I’ll give you that. I haven’t exactly been truthful about everything, but I haven’t actively lied. Look, your father owns some hotels in Greece and Italy that I’ve been interested in purchasing for a long time. He finally let me know he was willing to sell them to me. I figured it was because he was having financial difficulties. I didn’t realize it was to this extent,” I say quickly.

She glowers at me.

“He told me that he had a very independent daughter he was very interested in seeing get married and that he wanted to introduce her to some eligible bachelors because he wanted to get her to Italy.”

“That’s me. You can say my name.”

“Yes, it’s you, obviously. He wanted to ensure that you got to Italy this summer. He said he had a feeling that you weren’t as excited about the ball he was going to throw for you, so he wanted to give you some incentive.”

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