Your Endless Love (The Bennett Family 9)

“Rupert isn’t as grumpy as he seems. Especially when I treat him to the best steak with Gorgonzola sauce San Francisco has to offer.”

She cocks a brow. Ha! I don’t like that judgy look. Some would call my tactics underhanded. Unorthodox is a better word. Much more elegant. A convincing sales pitch takes people skills, which I have in spades. You cannot grow up with eight siblings and not have people skills.

“You’re not planning any more extended leaves, I hope?”

“I had a lot of accrued time, Olivia. Still have some left.”

In times like this, I can understand my siblings’ desire to own their businesses. She purses her lips but doesn’t add anything else as my colleague Diana joins us.

“Oh, coffee, how I need you,” Diana says, hurrying to the Nespresso machine. Olivia backs out of the kitchen.

“Thank God you’re back,” Diana whispers, even though we’re alone. “She was super cranky while you were gone. By the way, a reporter called earlier, asking for you.”

“Oh?”

“She was asking if you and Alex Westbrook are close. She said something about you both being donors at an orphanage. I told her I know nothing about that.”

I freeze in the act of placing my empty coffee cup in the dishwasher. “Right. Thanks for telling me.”

She nudges me with her hip. “Anything you wanna share, Summer?”

Diana is very dear to me, but she’s a terrible gossip. Plus, I agreed to only share this with my family.

“Nope, absolutely nothing. But I do need to go. I need to send some e-mails before my next tour.”

I rush to my small office, pull up St. Anne’s website and navigate to the donors’ page. Crap, both Alex and I are on it, even though I explicitly asked for neither of us to be listed. God damn, damn, damn it.

I call Shawna right away. The words tumble out so fast from my mouth when she answers, I’ll be surprised if she understood any of it.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Summer. My assistant just updated the list of donors. I think she just checked the incoming funds without looking over the list of people who want to remain anonymous. I’ll remove it right away. In fact, wait a second, I’ll do it right now.”

I bite my nails while I wait, wondering how many people have seen it already, and if that reporter will dig deeper.

“It’s done. You’re both removed. I’m really sorry about this,” Shawna says.

“Thanks for doing this so fast,” I reply, trying to keep my tone even, even though anger simmers inside me. It was a mistake, I know. But we can’t afford any mistakes.

After clicking off, I still can’t get the reporter out of my mind. If she does dig deeper, what will she find? We’d been careful at Lake Tahoe. We haven’t kissed in public. The most she can find is that we’ve been there at the same time. But so was the entire staff of St. Anne’s and the Spanish teachers.

Taking a few deep breaths, I tell myself I have no reason to panic. I also shoot Preston an e-mail, informing him about it. Letting him know about any contact with the media is part of the security protocols. He talked to me at length about them, then e-mailed me files upon files. I’m not sure how I’ll remember everything, but I’ll do my best.

Ugh, this day took a nosedive, and it’s not even lunchtime. The silver lining? The spa evening at Sebastian’s house with my sisters and Ava. Some girl time is just what the doctor ordered.

***

“I can’t win against the three of you,” Ava exclaims that evening, waving her hands around so the red acrylic on her fingernails dries faster. We’ve pooled all our beauty resources on the floor of her expansive living room, and we’re so stocked up, we could open our own beauty store. We’re sprawled on the L-shaped couch, Pippa in the corner, Alice at one end, Ava and me at the other.

I grin. “We know.”

“But our nagging is in your best interest,” Pippa informs her solemnly, even though it’s hard to take her seriously when she has a mask the color of chocolate on her face. “Look, I’m a mom too, and I know how hard it is to balance work and family. Having someone helping you doesn’t mean you kick ass any less, it means you’ll have time to breathe.”

Ava pouts. “You make too much sense. I can’t believe Sebastian. Tossing me to the sharks like this. Fine, I promise I will seriously consider hiring a permanent nanny.”

Alice pumps her fist in the air, perfectly summing up how I feel. Then she rubs her hands and points both forefingers at me. “Now, Summer, I believe you have something to share with us?”

I swear to God, everything just spills out of me. I only stop when my throat is dry and Pippa’s mask start to peel off.

“Wow!” Pippa exclaims.