Wilde Magic (Wilde Women Book 3) by Suzanne Halliday Page B

Not with Rhiann. She always had a quick quip at the ready or a pithy comment to share.
    “Rhi?”
    The sound of throat clearing hit Charlie like an electric current. Something was up and it probably wasn’t good.
    “Yeah. About that,” her sister muttered. “I’ve got a new boss.”
    Charlie gasped. A new boss? What the hell did that mean? Oh no! She thought with real dismay. Rhiann would never be that stupid.
    “Oh my God, Rhi. Please tell me you aren’t sleeping with the boss.”
    More silence. Charlie’s heart sank.
    “Sleeping with? No.” There was a slight pause and then she muttered, “No,” again.
    “Buuut?”
    “Do you remember Liam? Liam Ashforth? Dad’s grad school assistant?”
    Whoa. Liam Ashforth? Charlie could barely comprehend how or why the uptight asshole who secretly broke her sister’s heart was suddenly back in the picture.
    “What’s that asshole got to do with you, Rhi? Please tell me you’re just joking.”
    “Ah,” Rhiann sighed. “I take it then that you do remember him?”
    Oh hell yeah, she remembered. After all, she was only a couple years younger than Rhiann. She’d been a precocious teenager with a head full of romantic fantasies when the middle daughter of Professor Robert Baron-Wilde started sneaking around with the handsome but weirdly aloof grad student. Charlie remembered all too well thinking their clandestine love affair was the stuff of fairy tales. Until whatever happened that drove a wedge of silence between them. From that time on, she’d wondered on more than a handful of times just what Ashforth had done to devastate Rhiann so completely.
    “Are you saying he’s your employer? The dude signing the checks?”
    “That’s exactly what I’m saying. His company bought the magazine. I now answer to Liam Ashforth.”
    A thousand images and concerns swirled in Charlie’s thoughts but the only thing worth saying was to ask, “Are you all right?”
    They were close, the three of them. Her oldest sister Brynn, who was characterized as being the smart and pragmatic of the Baron-Wilde daughters, was Charlie’s hero in every way that mattered. When life kicked her in the mouth, the irrepressible Brynn simply spit out some teeth, fluffed her hair for good measure and then went out and shook up her life. Nothing and nobody would ever get her down.
    And Rhiann—the outspoken middle sister who Charlie worshiped and followed around like an adoring puppy when they were kids. It was Rhi who threw caution to the wind and stepped into the unknown by moving to the Big Apple and making a name in the fashion industry. Charlie loved Rhi’s balls because the girl had big ones.
    They could tell each other anything. Charlie winced slightly because her flit to Italy really upset the sisterly status quo. So if she were missing the closeness they’d always shared, it was her own damn fault for hauling ass to another continent.
    “To be honest, sis … I’ve um. Well, I’ve taken the coward’s way out so far. When the acquisition was announced, at first I didn’t realize that the huge corporation swallowing the magazine whole was Liam’s. Basically, I’ve been avoiding anything that remotely brings the possibility of seeing him.”
    “You can’t keep that up forever. Do you think he knows, Rhi? That you work there?”
    “Sweetie, I’m afraid of what the answer to that question is. If he doesn’t know, then my pathetic avoidance moves make me look like an idiot. If he does know, well I can’t go there. Y’know what I mean?”
    She blurted the first thing that came to mind. “Stay away from him, Rhi. He’ll wreck your dream. I just know it.”
    “Ah, my sweet little Charlize. Dreams change. Life in the big city isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And I miss you, you little shit.”
    “I miss you too. And Brynnie. Nana tried to bribe me to come home. Did you know? Better watch out, Rhi. She’s already gone gunning for Brynn. Can’t imagine what she could entice you