Page 24 of Protecting Love

“Do you think he’ll come back?” Molly asked, opening another truffle.

Paris held her hand out for a third one from the bag.

She’d stuffed two in her mouth while cleaning up.

“I doubt it. You did good,” she said casually, like her heart hadn’t tried to beat its way out of her chest ten minutes earlier. “You reacted the exact way you should not to escalate the situation.”

“I didn’t know if I should call security or scream or pee my pants,” Molly admitted. “By the way, false alarm on the last one.”

“Thanks for sharing. And those are all valid options.”

Molly watched her for a moment. “You’re really okay? You don’t seem as shaken as me.”

She didn’t look up. “I will be okay. Let’s say I’m holding it together for you.”

“Oh, don’t put that on my shoulders,” Molly said, shaking her head. “You can scream or let a tear fall. It will make me feel less like a wuss. Crap. I think I’m shaking more now.”

She looked up and reached for Molly’s hands and held them in hers.

“Deep breath, in and out. Come on, close your eyes and do it. It was only words.”

“And papers on the floor.”

“Nothing major. Come on, I’m the boss, do what I say.”

Molly let out a shaky laugh but did it anyway. Shut her eyes and the two of them were breathing in and out.

The knocking on the glass door had her letting out a scream faster than her assistant.

She almost fell to the floor with her knees knocking together.

When she opened her eyes, London was standing there pointing to the door and saying, “I don’t have my key. Let me in.”

Paris jumped and moved toward the door and unlocked it.

“Sorry.”

“What happened here? A chocolate party without me?”

“We had an unexpected visitor.”

“That caused you to eat that much chocolate and rearrange Molly’s desk? What the hell were you two doing just now?”

“Trying to calm down. The guy was horrible.”

“What happened?” London asked suddenly, all her joking gone.

She filled her sister in. “Listen, we’ve dealt with angry people before, but this was next level. On top of it, I’m pissed off for him.”

London blew out a breath. “That’s not on you. We are hired to do a job and we did it. What our clients do with that information isn’t our problem. This guy had no right to come here and scare you. You need to let West know. Or someone. I’ll tell Spencer. He’ll know what to do.”

“It’s fine,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s over with. He was upset and I don’t blame him. I’m going to make a call to Michael right now. He needs to be aware of the result of his actions.”

“He’s not going to give a shit,” London said. “You didn’t even like him. I’m sure looking back you’re not even surprised by this.”

“I’m not. I thought maybe the rest of them would have talked him out of being that cold.”

“Not anything we can control,” London said. “I’m going with you to make the call. Put it on speaker and let me hear it. I’m going to jump in if I need to.”