Adored (Masters and Mercenaries #8.5)(8)

Laurel nodded. “Yes, something came up. I can’t go on Friday.”

“Okay, but if you change your mind or you want to go on Saturday, we’ll be there. With Will and Bridget at that conference of hers, you call me if you need a ride.” Derek nodded and strode out.

Everyone had known about Laurel’s foray into submission with the exception of him.

Sharon walked in. His secretary was in her mid-fifties and was much more worried about her grandkids and their myriad of social activities than she was about working, but every time he tried to fire her Laurel intervened. She was his tenth secretary in the last four years and it looked like he needed a new one. “Okay, I called the glass company and they’re sending someone out tonight to fix the glass. He can’t be here until after six and I have to be at Afton’s school play, so someone’s going to have to stay to let them in.”

The poorly named Afton was actually a boy, but that didn’t matter to Mitch. “I didn’t give you those orders, Sharon, and I don’t want glass.”

“No, I did and I’ve already approved the amount. We are not turning this office into a steel-reinforced bunker.” For a woman who had recently been shot at, Laurel was surprisingly on top of things.

He should have known she would plot against him. This was what life with Laurel would be like. Every day was a minor war between the two of them. He wanted steak and potatoes for lunch and she ordered in some kind of salad. He wanted a filing system he understood and she computerized everything. He wanted her to not be shot and she made arrangements for windows and possibly hunting blinds throughout the office. He wouldn’t put it past her. She would do it to challenge his authority. He was putting his foot down. “We’re closing up the windows and that’s that.”

Sharon smiled and utterly ignored him. “Okay then, Laurel. I’ll see y’all tomorrow. But not too early. I want to go with Denise and the baby to her doctor’s appointment. I’m going to be a grandma again.”

She walked out and he was left shaking his head. “How many does that make? Are her children rabbits?”

“Seven,” Laurel shot back. “She has three kids and seven lovely grandchildren. They’re all very sweet.”

Another reason to step back from Laurel. She wanted babies. He didn’t want babies. The last thing he was going to do with his life was ruin some kid’s. His childhood had been a long series of short-term stays with his mother and her revolving door of boyfriends, and the occasional card from his father. No. He wasn’t going to inflict that on anyone.

“I don’t want windows. People can shoot at you through windows,” he said. It looked like it would be a long night. He started after Sharon. The woman could move when she wanted to get out of work. She was down the stairs and out of the building before he knew it. “And that woman is fired.”

Laurel followed him, her heels clacking on the stairs. “You can’t fire her. Why would you even want to? Because she’s not coming in until late? You don’t have a single appointment tomorrow. You should be happy. You’ve scared everyone off.”

He liked not having appointments. It made his day much nicer to not have to deal with people. “I’m firing her because she took too long for lunch. If she’d been at her desk, she could have handed you the tissue and then you wouldn’t have spooked the crackhead. So she’s fired.” He swiftly locked the door and set the security alarm that was getting a serious upgrade in the morning.

When he turned, Laurel was standing on the bottom step. They were completely alone in the building he’d bought with pretty much everything he’d had left after the divorce from Joy, aspiring actress and expert at manipulating men. If she’d been half as good at auditions as she’d been in the courtroom, she wouldn’t have needed half his assets and three grand a month in alimony.

“I should call your brother.” Now that he was alone with her, his heart was still pounding but his dick was pulsing too. He couldn’t forget how still she’d been, how there’d been blood on her arms from the glass cutting her. “I would feel better if he looked you over instead of that hormonal puppy who practically humped your leg instead of properly examining you.”

“Mitchell, he was gay. We were talking about how much he liked my shoes.”

He frowned. “Really?”

“No, not really. He asked me out, but the truth of the matter is it’s none of your business and we’re not calling my brother because he’s with Bridget in Chicago. She’s at book convention being worshipped for the goddess she is. I’m fine. You should head home. I’ll handle the contractor. They’re coming in with pre-cut glass so it shouldn’t take them long at all.”

“I’m not going anywhere and I’m serious about reinforcing our doors.”

She turned and sighed. “We won’t get any of the natural light from the skylight if you do that. You’ll turn the entire reception area into a gloomy cave. It will utterly ruin everything the decorator did in the last six months.”

That was where he had her. “Yeah, well it won’t matter because I’m filling in the skylight, too.” There was a massive glass structure on the roof that filtered light down through the building. The four-story building had a courtyard style setting in the middle and glass elevators that ran up the back. That glass over his head might be pretty, but now he was thinking of all the ways assassins could break through and enter, and his security system wouldn’t protect anyone at all. “I’m calling Taggart in the morning and having him redo security for the whole building. I’m going to need you to make a couple of those lemon cakes he likes. Even with a discount the big bastard is ridiculously expensive.”