I havenât before because you needed me to be available for the company.
You
put me in that penthouse. I was happy in the loft.â
âThe penthouse is more your styleââ
âNo, the penthouse is more
your
style and you like letting it be known that I live there. Iâve always been a figurehead for you. The single dad who took his daughter under his wing and set her up in the company. Only you and I know that my role is completely superficial and my job description is to be a size two and look good. Any one of your bimbettes could pull that off.â
Oh shit. That comment had gone too far. She knew it by the narrowing of his eyes and the V of his eyebrows. More than the arching, that shape meant a hell of a lot of trouble.
âLook, I should go. This isnât the time or the place.â
âYouâre right about that. Iâll be at the penthouse tomorrow morning and weâll finish this.â
âOh, but, the maid is going to be there.â There was just something so completely
wrong
about calling that guy a maid.
âSo get rid of her. After all, I pay her salary. Sheâll do what I want.â
Doesnât everyone?
Cassidy almost said it out loud before she left, but figured sheâd done enough damage for one night.
Tomorrow was time enough to say it.
Chapter Six
I donât care how it got in the paper, I want the story killed,â Cassidy said into her phone as she opened the door and waved Liam in the next morning, looking way too artfully messy with a pair of shorts hanging low on her hips and an off-the-shoulder professionally torn-and-frayed T-shirt like the chick from that eightiesâ welder-dancer movie, showing way too much skin for his liking and definitely too much leg.
On second thought, none of it was too much in the normal male-female interaction. But with
their
interaction . . . Yeah, definitely too much. He didnât need to be any more attracted to her than he was.
âDeborah, you always work miracles for my father. Canât you do something for me? I mean, how hard is it to kill a story?â Cassidy flicked the newspaper she was carrying and Liam got a glimpse of a large photo of her in one hell of an evening gown.
Okay,
that
was too much skin to be flashing around at
any
one, let alone having it plastered on the front of the society page.
âBut it makes me sound like a spoiled brat.â
Liamâs ears perked up. Heâd never met a society chick who
complained
about being spoiled.
âBut I didnât say any of those things. Can I get a retraction?â She groaned. âWell how about a rebuttal?â
âNever heckle the hecklers,â Liam muttered. Bryan, his movie star brother, had imparted those words of wisdom. You couldnât win when someone started heckling. Usually, the story grew.
She glanced at him, her eyes narrowing.
âIâm just sayin,â if you make a big deal out of something, its importance will grow. Whateverâs in that article, let it go.â
âLook, Deborah, Iâll have to call you back. But please see what you can do in the interim.â
She punched the face of her phone with her thumb. An unnecessary act, since the thing shut down with a swipe, but still, Liam could feel the anger rolling off her in waves from across the living room.
âDid you have something you wanted to share?â Cassidy asked, sounding
just
like her condescending father.
Liam had been to a few events and tradeshows where Mitchell Davenport had been the speaker. The man had an opinion on everything and his was the only one that counted. Granted, the guy
had
built an empire out of practically nothing, but he should never forget the people whoâd helped him climb that ladder to success because those same people could pull that ladder out from under him.
Ah, but what did it matter to Liam? He wasnâtâand never would beâin the same league as
Kate Kingsbury
John Scalzi
Charlie Richards
Peggy Gifford
Sam Crescent
Caitlin Crews, Trish Morey
Patrick Ness
Cynthia Eden
Paloma Beck
Franklin Gregory