Page 121 of Push

A cautious smile spread across my face. John wanted me…around? I wasn’t sure if he’d ever understand how much it meant to me to work with him and have someone to talk to. He was agoodman. The type of man I’d always wanted to be but never quite got there.

I answered him honestly. “I’d love that.”

38

She Saw the Mother

Gwen

The anger knotting mystomach had everything to do with Toby, but that didn’t stop me from charging down the white corridors of Cumberland Investments with Liam in my crosshairs.

A memory stripped from Toby’s statement shot through me.

I was getting changed… Kayleigh started taking her clothes off…

Toby had been half-naked in the cramped changing room with Kayleigh ogling everything he had to offer. She would’ve seen the muscular definition of his powerful chest and strong arms and the faded scar where he’d nicked himself being overzealous with the garden shears.

The click of my heels paused. I spread my hand on the wall to steady myself and sucked in breath after breath. Kayleigh had no right to know what Toby looked like under his crisp white dental coat. None. He wasmine. Not hers.Neverhers.

I shook the possessive thoughts out of my head. I stood tall, adjusted my jacket, squared my shoulders, and charged down the corridor and through Liam’s door. He had no assistant. Eli begged him to get one. He refused. Good. No one could stop me from barging in.

My brother lounged in the oversized chair behind his desk, looking far too comfortable in a three-piece suit with his ankle propped on his knee, Tetris-patterned socks on display. He absently clicked his pen, his gaze narrowed on the monitors in front of him. No acknowledgment of my presence. No sign he knew I stood there at all.

Arms folded, I tapped my foot.

Still nothing.

I cleared my throat.

Liam’s eyes slid from the monitor to me. “If anyone else walked into my office uninvited, I’d have their neck.” He forced one of his fake smiles. “But as you sorarelygrace me with your presence, your pretty neck survives another day.”

Arrogant piece of…“You agreed I could work anywhere I want and whatever hours I want.”

“Andyouagreed Tuesdays aremine.”

“Yours?” I scoffed. “Who do you think you are?”

“Your boss.”

I barked a laugh. I didn’t need Liam’s crap today—or any day. “That’s a problem easy enough to solve.” I spun on my heel.

My threat shot him straight out of his chair. “Gwen.”

I turned slowly. “Yes?” My smile was pure innocence. “You didn’t expect me to call your bluff, O Illustrious One?”

A smirk tugged at his lips. “I do love how you spar with me.” He sank into his chair and propped his ankle back on his knee. “What can I do for you this fine Tuesdayafternoon?”

“I’d like to talk to you about my former employer.”

His eyes sparked with amusement. “Now, why would we waste precious time talking about that cockroach?”

“He’s being investigated.”

“Is he? How delightful. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.”

“Did you have something to do with it?”

Liam leaned back in his chair and tilted his head, watching me through slitted eyes. “Why would I interfere in the dull world of prosecutors?”

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