Mr. Hired Boss (Alphalicious Billionaires Boss #4) - Lindsey Hart Page 0,2

could spare at the moment.

“I’ll pitch in some if I have to,” Dean assures me.

I sigh so hard that my lungs nearly give way. “I don’t want you to have to do that. This is my problem, not yours.”

“Your problems are always my problems. I love you; you know that. I want you to be happy. I know your parents are hard on you, and I know you’re tired of it. I know you just want to be left alone, but you can’t actually force them to leave you alone because you love them too much, and you’re too sweet to tell them to stop badgering you about getting laid, married, and popping out kids left and right.”

“Thanks.” The dry tone in my voice rivals dry ice. Or gin. Overcooked meat, maybe? Something dry, at any rate.

“Well, that’s how it goes, but anyway, don’t worry. We’ll find someone. You’ll go to your sister’s wedding. I’ll go to your sister’s wedding. Everyone will go. You’ll rock it, and I’ll have your back at the wedding. But for now, we’ll find a nice guy who wants to make two grand doing nothing, and your parents will stop hassling you for at least a few months since you won’t have to put in an appearance until then, and when it happens, you can say you broke up. It buys you a good chunk of time.”

“Yes, but I have to lie to everyone. I’m not a good liar.”

“You’re a great liar. You’re an interior designer. You lie all the time.”

“Sugarcoating the truth for people about the current state of their houses isn’t a lie. It’s a way to actually help them bring things up to par.”

“Same difference.”

I roll my eyes. Despite everything, I do feel slightly better. The very least that could happen is this plan backfires, we don’t find someone, and I go home and put up with an insane amount of worry, questions, and nagging from my parents. Oh, and my sister being mildly annoyed at me for stealing her spotlight on the parents' front. I really, really don’t want to do that to Susan. She already holds it against me that I got to be named after our favorite grandma while she had to be named after the great aunt she ended up detesting because the great aunt was mean and hated everyone under the age of eighty.

My dad’s mom is named Brunhilda, and he said that no matter how much he loves his mom, he wasn’t giving any of his daughters her name. Even his mom hates her name. But Grandma Bruny is a great lady, and I would have gladly taken her name if given a choice. She’s funny, and she pokes fun at herself all the time, at least where her name is concerned. She still jokes about all the funny nicknames people gave her over the years, even though some of them were downright mean.

“So? You ready to do this?” Dean, being Dean, hurtles out of the car before I can respond. He’s not going to give me a chance to say I’m not. Or back out.

In a week, my sister might be saying for better or for worse, but tonight, I feel like it’s my motto. Except this plan is probably for worse or for worse.

I take a deep breath, open my door, and peel my sassy ass off the slightly slick leather. I guess if this counts as ready, I’m all in.

CHAPTER 2

Gabriel

This isn’t my scene. And no, not because I’m not gay. I’m here because my brother dragged me out. He says I don’t have any fun, and he’s right. At least when it comes to nightlife and dating and whatnot. I’ve never liked clubs or bars. As for dating, when I have a few billion dollars tied up in companies, stocks, shares, investments, and such, I have to be careful. Not that many people know who I actually am. I’ll much rather stay under the radar than show off my wealth. And to most people, I just look like the typical nine-to-five, corporate, suit-wearing guy.

However, get close to someone, and they start to figure things out. It’s happened once. I paid, literally, for that mistake. Since then, I’ve kept things low key. I’m single and happy not to mingle. Have fun? I can have fun. It’s called math. Math is fun. Math can be tons of fun. Coding. Software. It’s how I have my fun. It might also be how I made a