Page 30 of His Daughter's Best Friend

CON

“No fucking way,” I told Maureen pleasantly. I wasn’t going to yell at my pregnant EA. Not when she had kept my professional and personal obligations neatly organized for the last ten years, found a solution to every problem, and not once threatened to quit when shit got weird. And shit got weird a lot in this job.

She was like a sister to me, and I’d do anything for her.

But not this.

Maureen put her hands on her hips. “Con, this is the only fucking thing I’ve ever asked you for.”

“That’s not true,” I said. “You ask me for things all the time.”

She paused, considering it.

I leaned back in my chair and started ticking them off on my fingers. “You borrowed the apartment in Paris last year; I got you tickets to the Charged Up premiere last month, you took—”

“Okay fine, yes.” Maureen smacked at my hand. One of the only people in the office who could have gotten away with it. “But I deserve all those things.”

I laughed despite my annoyance. “Undoubtedly. But you’re not getting this. If you think you need two temps to replace you, we’ll get two temps. You don’t need Lily.”

“Lily knows the agency better than a temp though. And I trust Lily. You could end up with two duds.”

“Lily’s been here a month. She doesn’t know the agency any better than a temp.”

“She knows you, though, and she’s not intimidated.” Maureen put her hands back on her hips and rocked her weight back, wincing slightly.

“Sit down, Mo.” My jaw tightened, both with concern and at what she said. It would be better if Lily was intimidated, because I was starting to figure out where Maureen’s insistence was coming from. Somehow, some way, Lily had put her up to this. “I won’t intimidate the temp either,” I said tightly.

Maureen sighed and tilted her head, assessing the look on my face. “Not on purpose. But you’re intimidating, Con. I was scared to death of you the first few years I worked here.”

“You were not,” I said, affronted.

“Yes, I was. And it wasn’t until I realized that you’re not a complete asshole that I was able to really do my job well.”

I paused, digesting this.

“Come on, Con.” Maureen finally lowered herself into one of the chairs around my conference table, a hand carefully—and strategically—placed on her stomach that had risen like bread dough over the last few months. “I’ll feel so much better if I have Lily and a temp covering you.”

“Christ,” I muttered. “Why don’t you just come out and tell me I’ll ruin your baby’s first months of life if you don’t get your way?”

Maureen smiled, knowing she had me. “I was saving it for the grand finale, but if I need to say it now…”

“No.” I shook my head, frustration gnawing in my gut. I was pissed, but not at Maureen. She was genuinely doing what she thought was best for me. It was Lily who deserved my wrath. And she’d get it.

But first, she was going to get her way.

Maureen went back to her desk to work things out with HR regarding Lily’s new position. I stewed at my desk, coming up with a plan. I couldn’t do anything until Maureen was out on maternity leave, but once she was, I’d deal with Lily. She might have been able to manipulate Maureen into forcing my hand, but once Maureen was out of the way, she’d have no one to hide behind.

* * *

Isaw the desk being carried in and placed beside Maureen’s. I saw IT set up the computer and printer. But I still wasn’t prepared when I walked in on Tuesday morning and saw Lily sitting behind it all. I stopped dead, her physical presence hitting me like a blow. She was wearing a dress, but not one of the gauzy college-girl ones she’d tried to dress up with a blazer. This one was black and fitted, nipped in at the waist with a belt, and then swirling to a stop just above her knees. Perfectly appropriate for the office, and yet somehow seductive. She looked older than her twenty-three years in it, and I wondered if that was her goal.

“Good morning!” She leapt up when she saw me standing there. If she noticed my knuckles turning white around the handle of my briefcase, she didn’t let on. “Can I get you some coffee?”

I breathed in slowly, released it. “Executive assistants don’t get coffee.”

“No?” Lily tilted her head so that the long golden sheets of hair slid off her shoulder.

“No,” I said levelly. “I get my own. I think you’ll find I’m fairly self-sufficient.” And I was going to get more self-sufficient. I wasn’t going to ask Lily to do a damn thing that brought her even a step closer.

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