Page 20 of Her Three Bosses


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“Okay, but what about the other two? Maybe you can try them out, too?” Jamie had a mischievous look in her eyes.

“Jamie!” I rested my forearms on the kitchen island and put my head on them.

“I’m just joking! Kind of!” she said. “They’re all hot, though, right?”

“Yes. They’re all gorgeous and great in their own way.” I stood back up. “Not that it matters, because they’re all way out of my league.”

“You’re totally hot, though,” she said, as if this was fact and not just the opinion of a very sweet friend. “A bombshell. You could probably pull all three of them at once.”

I snorted and took my ice cream to the couch. “Did you drink a whole bottle of wine before I got home? Because that’s the only explanation for this wild train of thought.”

The idea of just having Lucas was already wild enough. I couldn’t imagine also being with Hunter and Chase. Warmth spread through my chest and down between my thighs. I knew people did that—one woman with multiple men—but I wasn’t one of those people. I was barely worthy of one guy, much less three at once.

“Your face got all…” She came around the front of the couch and gestured at my face. “Sad. What’s wrong?”

Sometimes, I hated how easily Jamie read me.

“It’s just… I shouldn’t have hooked up with him,” I said. “Because I already had a little crush on him, and now it’s becoming more. And I can never have a guy like him.”

“But what if he wasn’t your boss?”

“Still. Same deal.” I shrugged and sank back into the cushions. “Every single relationship I’ve had has ended with me getting dumped for someone prettier or better than me. And every single time I fall for a guy first, he never feels the same way. I’m just… not the one guys choose.”

“Brooke.” Jamie put her ice cream on the coffee table and pulled her knee up on the couch to face me. “That sounds like some nonsense Dane put into your head.”

“You think?” I snorted. “He literally told me that he fell out of love with me as a person. Like I’m so hideously flawed that being with me made him feel worse.”

“That was such a douchey thing for him to say,” she said. “No, worse than that. Flat out mean. And even worse, it feels like he tricked you into believing that it was all your fault.”

I scraped my spoon down the side of my bowl instead of responding.

“It’s not your fault, okay?” Jamie continued. “You’re one of the most lovable people I know. You’re the sweetest, and you make people smile. I remember when we first met at that random book club meeting, and I didn’t know anyone in Vegas, but you made me feel welcome. That’s special.”

I bit back my immediate response, that it wasn’t allthatspecial for me to say hi and strike up a conversation. Jamie was going to shut down that train of thought right away. And I should have shut it down myself, but I couldn’t. The feeling was too engrained in me to just let it go.

I curled my knees up to my chest and ate another spoonful of ice cream. I let in Jamie’s words, just a little bit. I did like myself more than I did in the past, so maybe she was right in some senses.

I didn’t feel like I was worthy of love, especially from a man like Lucas. But my feelings were still there, not only for him, but for all three of my bosses. I liked Chase’s quiet intelligence and the sweet, caring things he did for me. And Hunter’s protectiveness made me feel so safe.

But none of them could ever be mine. I had to understand that at one point or another.

CHAPTER12

Hunter

“Recording devices,” Chase said, bursting into my office. Lucas was right behind him.

“What?” I looked up from my computer. Chase was rarely this animated about anything, so he had my full attention.

He and Lucas came all the way inside, and Chase shut the door behind himself. “The criminals. They were passing around recording devices. Or at least some of the things they were passing around were used to record.”

He slid his tablet across my desk, and I looked at it. He’d matched still images taken from the recording with actual devices as proof. One of them was used to record and send the information back to another person, so they were probably cheating.

“This is great,” I said, handing him his tablet back. “But it goes to show that our security team has to be slacking on purpose. If we can see it after one night, they can see it. We should take a closer look at them. Yet another irritating task for us to handle.”

“Seriously.” Lucas sat down in the chair across from my desk. “I knew we weren’t inheriting a gem, but it’s starting to feel like we bought a house sight unseen, and it needs a whole new foundation.”

“It does.” Chase took the other seat across from me. “But it’s worth investing in, I think. We’re already seeing improvements with Brooke’s help in organizing the finances.”

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