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I stepped into his office. “What’s up?”
“I spoke to Grace,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. He did that when he was nervous. Did Grace say something to him this morning? Was he about to lecture me about fraternizing with people at work? Ha! He should be the last person to do so!
“Listen, Colton. This isn’t any of your business.”
“Not my business? Crawford Corporation is my business, Luke! It’s exactly my business,” he shouted back.
“This isn’t about Crawford Corp and you know it. It’s about you wanting to control me.”
“Control you? Is that what you think?”
“I know you took on a parenting role when I was young, but I’m not a kid anymore. I can date whoever I want. I don’t need your permission.”
He pressed both palms down on his desk and shook his head. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Huh?
“You said you spoke to Grace?”
“Yes. And she informed me she’ll be done with the audit by the end of the day. Which means you will be done, too. But I wanted to speak to you about other opportunities at Crawford Corp for you. Remember the operations manager role I mentioned earlier? I think that could really work. Wait…” His eyes grew bigger. “What did you think I meant?”
“Ah. Nothing. Forget it.”
“Is something going on between you and Grace?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.”
A hand grasped my shoulder and another voice jolted me. “You sound nervous, little brother. What’s going on? Did you steal Colton’s hair products again?” It was Ryan.
“I don’t use—” began Colton but stopped himself. “Something is going on between Luke and the auditor, and I’m trying to get to the bottom of it.”
“Are you really going to give him a hard time about dating an external auditor when you slept with your assistant?”
“Shh!” Colton stood from his desk and closed his door. “I don’t want people to think I’m sleeping with my current assistant,” he said, then shuddered. “And this isn’t about me, it’s about Luke.”
“I’m not sleeping with Grace,” I said.
“But you want to?” Ryan asked. When I didn’t respond fast enough, he patted my shoulder again. “Why don’t you bring her around for dinner, and we can all get to know—”
“No!” Both Colton and I shouted at the same time.
Raising both his hands, Ryan stepped back. “What?”
“We both remember what happened the last time one of us invited a girl for a family dinner. It didn’t end well,” I said.
Ryan pointed his finger at me. “Frances forgave me for that.”
Colton sighed. “My wife is too good for me.”
“I’m not inviting Grace to meet you two. I don’t even know what’s going on. So, I’d appreciate it if you two would stay out of my business.”
I walked past Ryan as Colton muttered. “Yup. He’s done for.”
“Yep. I bet you he doesn’t make it through the end of the day without—"
I didn’t hear the rest of Ryan’s wager as I ignored them both.
I needed to find Grace, and if Colton had spoken to her, then she must be in the boardroom.
