Page 44 of By His Vow

“I don’t want any of it, you know that.”

“Another,” she demands, holding her glass out.

She stares at it for a few seconds, deep in thought, before throwing it back.

“Something isn’t right here. Your dad would never have willingly handed both you and the company over. Miles is more than capable; it doesn’t need Callahan interference.”

“He would have handed me over without a second thought, Lor. He probably expects us to fall in love and for me to pop out the next Callahan generation to take over the world.”

She tilts her head to the side in thought.

“It’s not going to happen. Kingston Callahan is the furthest possible from my type. He’s an egotistical, power-hungry, g?—”

“God?” she interrupts.

“Asshole is more like it.” I scoff, jumping down from the counter and moving toward my room to get ready.

“So, what happens now?” she asks, following me.

I explain the plan Dad laid out in his will as I strip down to my underwear and then slip into my bathroom and turn on the shower.

“Two weeks? He’s going to propose in two weeks?”

“We’re going to fall hard and fast, apparently,” I call back as the room begins to fill with steam.

“I guess when you know, you know.”

“I’m in,” I say, letting her know that it’s safe to enter. We might be close, but we do have some boundaries.

“We’ve got to be married for a year, and then the cottage will be signed over to me. I’ll get to keep my trust fund and everything else that should be mine.”

“What about the company? You have a stake in that, surely?”

“Nothing was said about it.”

“That’s bullshit. Just because you have a vagina, it doesn’t mean you’re incapable of being senior management and kicking ass at the top.”

“We both know that, but it doesn’t matter. Even if they offered it to me, I wouldn’t want it.”

I don’t need to look over my shoulder to know she’s narrowing her eyes at me. This has been a topic of conversation between us more than once.

She’s never believed that I’d turn down the job of CMO, if I were ever offered it.

“So you’re just going to throw away your chance at meeting the one for the next year while you play house with your worst enemy?”

“It could be worse,” I muse, although I don’t sound very convincing.

“What does Miles think about all this?”

“You saw his face, right?”

“Oh shit. Miles did that?” she gasps. “Fuck. I bet that was hot.”

“Lori,” I shriek.

“What? I would happily watch those two fine specimens of men rolling around and throwing punches. I’d totally help clean up their wounds after, as well.”

“Of course you would, whore,” I laugh.