Page 75 of Built to Last

“Hey, what’s this about some viral video with your brother?” Tom, the director, has his hands on his hips and looks ready to face Armageddon. “If this is another sex tape, I quit.”

Poor Tom. He thought he was doing a staid little reno show and he got us. “It’s him admitting he swapped places with his brother after an accident because he was super drunk and likely high and then he got blackmailed by a supermodel.”

A long sigh comes from Tom. “Finally something normal. All right. Carry on.”

I can’t help but laugh.

“We should get to the war room then,” Reid offers.

I let him lead me out, but I wonder deep down if he’ll ever be truly happy working at Ross Construction.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“So now this Swedish chick is threatening to sue, but the lawyer says it’s all a smoke screen because once she sees the evidence Jeremiah has, she’ll drop it.”

I’m sitting in the boardroom in the Ross Construction office, surrounded by cousins who are treating me like a rock star. Who would have guessed all it took was dating a reality TV star and getting mired in scandal to become popular in my family? Although I should note that popular doesn’t mean they like me.

“It sounds messy,” Aunt Helen says with a disdainful sniff.

“That’s what we’re hoping.” Reid sits beside me. “The lawyers seem to think this isn’t something we should worry about.”

It’s weeks later and Jeremiah has already made his peace with the police. He pled to a misdemeanor, paid his fine, and is doing PSAs about drinking and driving. He’s so at peace and staying at Patrick’s place in Brooklyn when he’s not traveling. Reid’s at my place. Again, when he’s not taking meetings since surprise surprise, no one is blackballing the Dorsey brothers. They’re actually hotter than ever and have several companies vying for their next show.

Which Reid claims won’t happen since he’s staying here with me. He’s only taking the meetings for Jeremiah’s sake. He plans to leave the show to him and sit here in an office and waste all of his talent.

It’s making me crazy. I can’t convince him to leave me. Or that we can manage long distance for a while.

“Margie, I don’t even know how you’re dealing with this.” Helen pats my mother’s hand, and I can see my mom nearly preen under the attention.

“Well, I for one am shocked.” My mom makes her presence known. Not that she needs to be here for the meeting. She doesn’t have stock in the company, but she does like to bring cookies and sit in judgment of everyone. It’s what she lives for. “I guess I suspected someone who acts as nice as Jeremiah Dorsey would be upstanding.” She blushes slightly as she turns Reid’s way. “No offense meant, of course. And you turn out to be the loyal one. I wouldn’t have expected that. I’m honestly shocked you’re here. I would have thought you would have moved on once the job was over.”

I barely manage to not roll my eyes. I want this meeting complete so Reid and I can figure out what we want to do.

We.

The word plays in my mind.

“My brother is very loyal, but he also doesn’t care what small minds think of him,” Reid shoots back, proving he knows how to deal with pettiness. “As to moving on, there’s no moving on from Harper. I love her and we’re going to be together, so you can have this relationship with me where you snipe and swipe and I call you on all your shit or you can start being polite. If things go the way I plan, I’m going to be in this office every day.”

“What?” Paul sits up straight, a frown on his face. “We’re not hiring your fuck boy, Harper. We don’t even know if you’ll have a job at the end of today. The way you’ve ignored this company needs to be addressed.”

“Ignored?” Reid sits up, his jaw squaring. “She’s been on a sabbatical and yet she’s had to be in this office or on site every single day because of your mismanagement.”

“I inherited a mess,” Paul announces. “We’re down from last year, and I’m dealing with all the stupid changes she decided to make. So, no, I can’t promise she’ll have a job at the end of today, but I can tell you if I’m the CEO, I won’t be hiring you, Mr. Hollywood.”

I put a hand on Reid’s wrist, silently begging him not to engage with my cousin. He’s not worth it.

I’m starting to wonder why I’m here at all.

“Well, of course, she’ll have a job.” My mother ignores Reid’s testy ultimatum about their future relationship, but then she’s good at ignoring things she doesn’t want to deal with. “You can’t fire her. She’s invaluable to the company, and she owns a good piece of stock. If you decide to go a different way, perhaps she can take over something like human resources or accounting.”

In other words more feminine departments, though I’m sure she would say girls aren’t good at math, so maybe she’ll put me in charge of janitorial. But only until I marry my somewhat surprisingly loyal boyfriend who will still probably leave me for someone prettier and more feminine than me. According to my mother that’s pretty much all women.

“Will she? Or if she survives the vote and I can’t save us, will she hand the company over to this celebrity person?” Paul asks, looking Reid up and down. He’s sitting at the opposite end of the conference table, his sister, two cousins, two aunts, and an uncle between us. My uncle Jed is half asleep. He’s eighty-two and once was really salty since his two younger brothers formed the company and didn’t give him a job. He moaned and complained enough they let him buy in, hence the extra cousins. He doesn’t care anymore and comes around because he likes to vote.

“I thought only relatives could be on the board,” Claire says with a pout. “If we’re bringing in anyone, then I want my boyfriend here.”

“I don’t understand why we’re hiring this man when Harper told me she couldn’t find a place for my Gavin,” Aunt Helen says, pressing her glasses up her nose and giving me serious side eye. “I don’t think positions should be given to anyone unless the family doesn’t have someone to fill it.”

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