Page 32 of Three Little Wishes

After filming this morning—a disaster, but what else was new—she’d changed and headed straight to the farm where the pet rescue event was being held. In an hour, she had a meeting with the organizing committee for the silent auction. No matter what the Big Boss wanted, she had no intention of missing the committee meeting. It had taken her months toconvince her mother to donate three of her paintings. Willow couldn’t wait for everyone to see how talented her mother was, including her mother.

So yes, she was ticked Noah was demanding she meet with him with no thought whatsoever forherschedule. And if he was using this meeting as a way to show Willow he was her actual boss, not her sort-of boss, to strengthen the case he’d made against them indulging in a summer fling, then she’d be unhappier than she already was.

As she walked through the lobby and took note of the hum of activity at the station, she thought she might have to give Noah a pass. At least when it came to pulling her away from helping set up the pet rescue event. It was possible no one at the station had had time to inform him that she was busy too.

She would’ve informed him herself if she’d seen him. But no, after they’d gotten back to the beach house from her place the day before, he’d stuck around long enough to eat five slices of pizza and then headed to the station to work. She had no idea when he had gotten back. She only knew that he’d been gone by the time she’d gotten out of bed that morning. Something else that had contributed to her bad mood, and she was rarely in a bad mood.

She’d been right. Noah was annoying.

“Who peed in your cornflakes this morning?” Naomi greeted Willow as she approached the reception desk.

She raised an eyebrow. “Was that your body double behind the camera this morning?”

“They didn’t pee on—” Naomi began before being interrupted by Veronica.

“The Big Boss is waiting, Will. You need to get in there right away,” Veronica said, her smile blinding.

Willow stared at her friend, who’d barely been able to crack a smile this past week, now wearing one so wide that it had to be hurting her cheeks while passing on Noah’s edict. There was only one reason Willow could think of for Veronica’s blinding smile, and she felt as if she’d been punched in the chest. In the past week, the one time Veronica had been as happy as she appeared to be right now was when Willow asked her to fill in for her. Noah was giving Veronica her job, and Willow knew why.

“Veronica’s right. Get your butt in there, babe,” Naomi said, smiling.

Willow blinked at her friend and cameraperson, whispering, “You’re smiling.”

Naomi shared a glance with Veronica and then shook her head. “I’m not smiling,” she said, turning her smile upside down.

Willow looked around the station. Several of the crew and newscasters gave her big waves with big smiles on their faces. She wanted to yell at them. To remind them that they loved her weather reports. They thought they were hysterical. They were the bright spot in their mornings and afternoons. They’d told her so themselves.

“Willow, get in there. The Big Boss is waiting,” Don said with a wide smile as he walked up to the reception desk, three boxes of doughnuts from O Holey Glazed piled in his arms.

Don didn’t smile, and he didn’t bring in doughnuts. Willow brought in doughnuts. She couldn’t believe it. They were celebrating her being fired!

Her throat got tight, and the backs of her eyes burned.Do not let them see you cry, she ordered herself. And without looking at her friends and colleagues, she stomped to Don’s formeroffice. She didn’t knock or wait for Noah to wave her in. She swung open the door and stomped to one of the two chairs in front of the desk.

He was on the phone and smiled, and then, obviously sensing she was not in a happy place, his smile faded. He pointed at the chair she stood behind, indicating that she should take a seat while waiting for him to finish his call.

She stayed where she was. Her fingers curved around the back of the chair, her knuckles whitening with the strength of her grip.

His brow furrowed as he returned his attention to whomever he was speaking to. “Thank you. I appreciate you thinking of me but I’m not interested in the position at this time.”

Willow shook her head. Here she was trying to hang on to a part-time job, and he had job opportunities he wasn’t interested in falling into his lap. He probably didn’t even have to work.

He smiled at whatever the person said next. She wanted to tell him they couldn’t see him, but then he laughed. Not his deep, rumbly laugh that she loved, or that she used to love, she reminded herself, lowering her gaze from his gorgeous face. It was a polite laugh.

She looked up from her hands gripping the chair to see his gaze moving over her, and she shifted from one foot to the other. She’d wiped her sneakers on the sidewalk a few times to ensure she hadn’t brought anything from the barn in with her. She’d picked hay off her frayed denim shorts that were almost but not quite short-shorts, and off the sleeveless white cotton shirt she wore tied at her waist. She tugged it down to cover the strip of bare skin there, but it rode up as soon as she put her hand back on the chair.

Noah’s gaze moved to her hair, which she wore in a ponytail, her sunglasses holding back the tendrils that had escaped when she was helping wrangle the dogs. She imagined Noah was horrified that she hadn’t changed before meeting with him.

He, it had to be said, looked every inch the successful CEO in a shirt that matched the color of his eyes and fit his broad shoulders and his wide chest to perfection. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, showing off his powerful forearms. Distractedly, she wondered when he found time to work out.

“I will. And again, thank you for the offer,” he said before disconnecting. He put his phone on his desk, leaned back in the chair, and opened his mouth.

She didn’t give him a chance to get a word out. “If you think by firing me that will leave us free and clear to have a summer fling, you had better think again. Because it doesn’t matter that I was all for us having one. If I’m honest, and I always am, unlike some people I know,” she said, keeping her gaze focused on his chin, “I might’ve been the one to suggest a fling or at least strongly hint at it, but you’re gorgeous and you can be considerate and kind, and even when you’re in annoying, demanding CEO Noah mode, it’s all kinds of sexy, so it’s understandable why I’d want to make out with you. But now?”

She shook her head. “That’s totally off the table so you should reconsider firing me if that’s the reason you were going to, and I can’t think of any other reason…” Her shoulders drooped, and the fight went out of her. “I guess I can. I suck as a weatherperson, but you’re closing the station so can’t you just leave me with my dignity and a paycheck until you do?”

She blew out a breath. “Veronica’s my friend, and I know she wants to work on camera, and she did a great job replacing me. But I need my paycheck, Noah. You know I do.”

“Willow, sit down. Please.”

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