Page 23 of Believing in a Billionaire
“Daddy,” Sierra said before she shifted her gaze to Alicia, “I need to speak with you.”
“Excuse me,” he said as he stepped away. “Oh, there’s coffee in the kitchen, and we eat breakfast at eight.”
“Thanks,” Alicia said as she hovered in the doorway.
Sierra paraded in front of him to his office. He followed behind her, closing the door as she whipped around the face him. “What are you doing about our problem?”
He swallowed hard. Had they somehow heard about DG Industries’ hostile takeover bid?
“That woman nearly killed me, and she nearly broke up you and Julia. But Julia says you said it was okay for her to stay here.”
He heaved a sigh, mostly of relief as he crossed to his desk and eased into his chair. “I did say it was fine. Although, I don’t need to approve Julia’s decisions. She’s a part of this household, now. She doesn’t need my permission.”
Sierra narrowed her eyes at him.
“And while we’re on the subject, I heard that you made it more than a little uncomfortable yesterday when Alicia arrived. Sierra, we talked about this. No upsetting Julia. I don’t want her overwhelmed.”
“And I don’t want her bitchy sister breaking you up. Daddy! You said you have six months to make Julia so deliriously happy she can’t even think about leaving, but you’re letting Officer Frost hang out here. She’s going to be whispering at every turn about how terrible we are.”
Grant heaved a sigh as he pondered adding bourbon to his coffee despite the early hour. “Actually, I just had a very nice conversation with Alicia, and she apologized, so…”
“Did I hear right?” Kyle asked as he slipped into the room. “Did you just say Sheriff Snark apologized?”
“What is with the weird nicknames? Please, it’s too early for this. And yes, she did. Now, will you two please relax? It would be very nice for Julia to have her sister here.”
“Unless her sister is going to rip our family apart like she tried to do in Maine,” Kyle shot back.
“That’s not going to happen,” Grant said with a shake of his head.
“It had better not,” Sierra said with a frown. “Or I will hold you personally responsible. Come on, Kyle, let’s go.”
He stared after his two children as they left the room together, arching an eyebrow. Apparently, they had found common ground hating Alicia. He shook his head as he grabbed his phone to call the office, but before he could Julia slipped inside.
“Good morning, everything okay?”
He smiled at her as he tossed the phone on the desk and rose to greet her. “Yes, everything’s fine. I just couldn’t sleep.”
“Still worried about what’s going on at the office.”
“No, just…hey, I had a nice conversation with your sister this morning,” he said as he segued the conversation to a new topic.
Julia screwed up her face as she stared at him. “Really?”
“Yes, she was very nice. She apologized. So, there’s hope for our relationship yet.”
The smile on Julia’s face at the words melted some of his tension.
“Now, just to deal with Kyle and Sierra. Although, those two seem…oddly close lately.”
“Oh, yes,” Julia said with a nod, “Sierra called him her brother yesterday. It seems Alicia has really brought them together.”
“Really?” he asked as he wrapped an arm around her and guided her toward the dining room.
Julia nodded as they shared a laugh over it. So often during their two-year marriage, he’d longed for simple, easy moments like this. And now he had them. His mind drifted back to the problems at Harrington Global. He just had to make sure he could hang on to them.
Julia settled into her chair as Alicia entered the dining room. She eased into the chair next to Julia, and the sisters exchanged a hug.
“Did you sleep well?”
