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It’s only when the angry haze settles that I notice Stella is chortling. “Jesus, Ryan, calm down. I’m kidding! Gosh, Manhattan is brimming with bossholes, isn’t it? Somehow, I thought you’d be one of the nicer ones, but you’re probably worse than Ethan!”
“What are you talking about?” I drop back to my seat, striving for patience.
She waves off my concern. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Why did you ask me to come here?”
“First, tell me what Don said.”
She rolls her eyes. “He gave off the typical rich, entitled vibe. Rude too. And he looked at me like he didn’t believe I had an appointment with you. As if I could crash into the CEO’s office. This place is like the Titanic of office buildings.”
“COO,” I correct her.
“What?”
“My father is the CEO, and our head office is in Seattle,” I explain before getting back to my question. “So, what did you two talk about?”
“Ryan, you’re like a dog with a bone.” She throws up her hands, in exasperation. Then pausing for effect, she narrows her eyes and smirks, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous.”
“Of him?” I shake my head dismissively, a wry smile playing on my lips. Leaning back against my seat, I lift my hips to readjust, rolling the tension out of my neck and shoulders with practiced ease. Stella’s gaze flickers towards my movement before she quickly averts her eyes. “Stella, tell me what was said.”
She sighs. “Alright! He said something along the lines of the position I’m vying for not being open to strays and walk-ins.”
I ball my fist in anger. One of the downsides to a family business is that employees are so hard to get rid of, much less senior partners. But one of these days, I might have to find a way to cut him out.
Don is well acquainted with company policies, and he’s actively finding a loophole out of his own sticky marriage situation. He knows that if I’m not married in four weeks, he becomes CEO. “And what did you say?” I fight to keep my voice even.
Stella only shrugs, looking somewhat sheepish, which tells me she’s done something. “Stella? What did you tell the man?”
“Don’t be mad, it was annoying how he looked down on me, so I sort of claimed we were dating.”
I sit forward in my chair. “Really!”
Her hands come up in a defensive pose “It came out of nowhere. Sorry,” she adds quickly.
“And he believed you?”
“I can be convincing when I want to be. And I know enough about you to pull it off. It’s actually weird how many random facts I know about you.” Stella remarks with a seemingly nonchalant shrug, but her foot is tapping nervously against the floor.
I cock my eyebrow at her, unable to stop the smile tugging at my lips. Stella is just so effortlessly brilliant for this.
She looks confused at my reaction. “You’re not mad?”
“Not at all. On the contrary, I’m pleased.”
“You are? Why? What’s the deal with him?”
“He’s my cousin.” I say, as if that should explain everything.
Stella blinks in surprise, more interested in the cousin part. “He’s your cousin?”
“Yes. Don Fairchild. Why are you surprised we’re related? You said he looks like me.”
“Yes, a little. But, wait, you mean you have a cousin that works for you?”
I huff out a laugh. Ocean Gate is crawling with Fairchilds. “I have twenty-eight cousins that work for me.”
“Jesus! What the hell is this place?” She scans the office again as though searching for clues.
I find her reactions amusing. “It’s an ocean of sharks.”
