The Billionaire Boyfriend Trap

Chapter 5

I worked late every night that week and the next, as well as taking work home on the weekends. Becky complained that she hardly saw me anymore, but I told her I needed to make a good impression.

"Is your boss nice?" she asked one night as I warmed up the chicken and rice she'd cooked earlier.

"He's okay."

"What's the company name again? I don't think you told me."

"It's a financial corporation. They buy and sell properties, shares, businesses, that sort of thing."

"Sounds boring."

I laughed, relieved that she hadn't noticed my lack of a direct answer. "It's actually pretty interesting."

"I'm just glad you like it, Cleo. I'd hate for you to put in all this work for something you hated." The microwave beeped and she took out the plate but didn't let go when I grabbed it. She searched my face. "You wouldn't stick with a job you hated just for the money, right? You'd tell me if we were having financial problems."

"Of course."

She let go and I sat on a stool at the bench. "I do like the job." That at least wasn't a lie. "I've been given a lot of leeway to make it my own." Reece had left me largely up to my own devices, something I was grateful for. It meant I could snoop around and find out as much as I could about the Serendipity Bend project. So far I'd learned very little. He had preliminary plans drawn up for a boutique hotel on the site, and a contractor ready to go whenever they were approved.

There was nothing underhanded that I could see. No rushing through of the plans, which ordinarily indicated a secret payment had been made to the planning department, and the sale had been straightforward. He'd paid Cassie's brother a lot of money for the house so I couldn't even claim Reece had strong-armed him into the sale.

What did strike me as weird was that it was right next door to his parents' house where he'd grown up. Surely they didn't want their son to build a hotel so close to their family home. Although their land was extensive enough that any kind of development wouldn't overshadow the house and immediate surrounds, it would bring down the neighborhood. The old money people who lived in The Bend wouldn't want a modern eyesore in their midst.

One day I would ask Reece what his family thought, but not yet. As far as he was concerned, I didn't know where he had been brought up.

"How's Cassie?" I asked. "Has she made any progress on stopping Reece Kavanagh's plans?"

Becky leaned her elbows on the kitchen bench, a cool glass of water in hand. "Nope. He's not returning her calls."

I frowned. I hadn't put through any calls from Cassie. She must have dialed his cell phone or another private number. She had admitted that they knew each other, and it seemed they'd grown up as neighbors, so it was no surprise that she didn't contact him via the office.

"I don't get him," Becky said with a shake of her head. "Cassie said he never used to be such an asshole, but he changed."

"What changed him?"

"She wouldn't say, but I think she knows."

"Secrets," I muttered, scooping up some rice on my fork. "Everyone has them."

***

"You've been working hard," Reece said on my third Thursday morning at RK. He sat on the corner of my desk, his arms folded over his chest. He'd removed his tie and jacket and had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. All his meetings were finished for the day and his calendar was free for the rest of the afternoon, as it was every Thursday. He'd made it clear when I started that nothing was ever to be organized for Thursdays after one. "You deserve a break."