AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He chuckles. “I didn’t. I simply mentioned your missing earring. Besides, everyone here knows Bradford inside out. He’s never late for anything. I think we all knew why you guys were late.”
“So,” I say as I take a sip of my rum, “you’re home for a while now?” Callan’s company, Black Asset Management, has almost $300 billion in assets under management, including hotel, residential, office, and retail space across the States and Canada. He’s also recently begun investing in renewable energy and infrastructure. The last six months have kept him away from home while work has kept him busy.
“I fucking hope so. I need a break.”
I’m about to ask him what he plans to do on his break when his gaze is drawn to a woman who has just arrived. She’s absolutely stunning with her curves, olive skin, and long brunette hair, and I can’t take my eyes off her in much the same way he can’t. Ingrid and Edmund fuss over her for a few minutes before Hayden steals her away to a corner in the great room where they chat for a little while.
“Who’s that?” I ask Callan.
He brings his gaze back to me but I think he struggles a little doing that. “Olivia. She works with Hayden.”
“And she’s Callan’s best friend,” Gage says, coming to sit with us. “Her family lives in this tower and we all grew up together.”
“She’s the girl my sons tried to turn into a boy,” Ingrid says, sitting on the sofa across from me.
“How so?” I ask.
“She’s an only child, so they took her under their wing when she and Callan were eight. Whatever they were into, so was she because they taught her everything they knew. Olivia often went on the camping trips with Edmund and the boys. She was like the sister they never had.”
“And now Hayden’s my boss,” Olivia says as she, Hayden, Edmund and Bradford join us. “Hi, I’m Olivia, but it sounds like you already know that.” Her smile is so big and warm that I can’t help but feel drawn to her.
“Hi, I’m Kristen.” I return her smile as I take in the gorgeous red suit she’s wearing. It has flared sleeves that steal the show, although it could be her cleavage that does that. The suit jacket is buttoned up with one gold button at her waist, and if she’s wearing anything under the jacket, I can’t see it. All I can see is cleavage I would kill for.
“Congratulations on your marriage,” she says.
“Thank you.” Then, glancing between Hayden and her, I ask, “You’re a lawyer?”
“Yes, but I don’t really do much in the way of the law at the moment.”
At my questioning look, Hayden clarifies, “Olivia’s specialty is crisis management.”
“Which is just another way for saying I clean up messes. And I make sure that gets done in a way that the law will be okay with,” Olivia says.
“It’s also another way of saying she sometimes has to babysit assholes,” Callan says.
Olivia rolls her eyes. “It’s hardly babysitting, Callan.”
“What would you call it then?”
“Managing their crisis.”
“Those are fancy words for babysitting, Ace.”
She shakes her head at him while smiling and saying to me, “Just ignore him. He’s grumpy because he made a bet with the last guy I had to manage and it cost him some coin when he lost the bet.”
Gage whistles low. “How come we never heard about this?”
“Because you guys don’t need to know every fucking thing,” Callan mutters.
Olivia laughs. “Yeah, he’s still pissed off about that bet.”
I’m intrigued. “What was the bet?”
Olivia’s eyes sparkle with mischief and as she opens her mouth to answer me, Callan gives her a look and says, “That’s between us, Liv.”
She watches him with a wide smile and the kind of affection that comes from years of knowing a person before finally looking at me. “It seems my lips are sealed.”
“Who’s your next victim?” Gage asks her.
