Tequila, Tequila

“She’s going to be running up and down the stairs all afternoon, Cam. You can’t put her through that.”

I threw out my hands. “What do you want me to do, Case? You know my schedule. I have a viewing tomorrow first thing, and then I’m here all day. You could have had her start tomorrow.”

She wiggled her finger at me, her nail blurring blue through the air. “May I remind you, cuz, that I’m doing you a favor? I should be at home with my baby, not pumping my boobs in the bathroom while you flit your way through assistants like they’re toilet paper.”

All right, that was an exaggeration.

“First, I don’t want to know what you do with your boobs, feeding Tilly or otherwise,” I said. “Second, I know what you’re doing, and I appreciate it. Do you want me to cancel the Carlisles and put them off until tomorrow?”

Slumping in the chair, she ran her hand over her sleek ponytail. “No, I can’t do that. Look—she’ll be fine. It might help that you aren’t here. She won’t have to worry about whether you need sugar instead of sweetener or dealing with any of your up-their-ass clients.”

“Are you sure?”

“Have I run your life for five years or not?”

“My professional life,” I said slowly.

Her eyes narrowed. “And if you’d let me get in there with your personal one, you’d never have dated that gold digger.”

“Cynthia wasn’t a gold digger. She just had expensive taste.”

“If that makes you feel better, you keep telling yourself that.” She rolled her eyes. “Mallory will be fine. She’s smart. She’s got this, but I do have to introduce you to her before you leave.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I know her from somewhere, Case. She looks familiar.”

“Did you sleep with her?”

“No. I’m a virgin.”

“Yeah, me too. Tilly is actually Jesus, born by immaculate conception,” she drawled, sarcasm tilting every syllable. “Did you?”

I shook my head and looked over her head toward the wall where my new assistant was sitting—behind a few inches of brick, that was. “No. I haven’t slept with her. I’d have remembered her name if I did.”

“You’re a regular Romeo.”

“Shut up. Can you find out a little more about her? I don’t have time to get to know her today.”

Casey grinned. Slowly, she leaned forward on my desk on her elbows, touching her fingertips together in an evil genius pose. “I already know how you know her.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “You do?”

“Yup.”

A phone rang from outside my office.

My cousin stood up, a total shit-eating grin on her face, and headed for the doorway. “Sorry, I need to make sure your new assistant is doing okay on the phone.”

“Casey—”

The door slammed behind her before I tell her to get her stupid ass back in here.

Ugh.

I needed to talk to my aunt about her daughter’s attitude.

It wasn’t working for me now that she wasn’t.

And who the fuck was Mallory Harper?

***

I’d barely stepped out of my car when my phone rang. Antonia Wellington’s name flashed on the screen, and I had half a mind to let it run to voicemail and pretend I was driving.

Unfortunately for me, she was my mother’s friend, and if I didn’t answer, my mom would be on the phone in thirty minutes wondering why.

Pushing the door to Reid Real Estate open, I hit the green button to answer the call and lifted the phone to my ear, shooting Amanda a smile. “Mrs. Wellington, what can I do for you?”

“Cameron!” Her shrill voice almost made me pull the phone from my ear.

Instead, I gritted my teeth, smiled at my realtors, and took to the stairs. “Yes. Mrs. Wellington? Is there a problem with one of the houses?”

“What’s the planning permission on the second house you showed us? Can we put in a pool?”

Oh, fuck me. Like the private stretch of beach wasn’t enough for Her Ladyship. “I just this second walked back into the office—why don’t you give me an hour to check up on that for you and I’ll call you back?”

“An hour? I don’t have an hour, Cameron. Do I have to call someone else?”

I knew damn well that she wasn’t going to call anyone else, and so did she. But still, I played along. “Of course not.” I took the second set of stairs up to my office, keeping my head down. “You know I’d get them right away, but Mayor Green’s son and his wife are moving back to town, and I have a meeting with Mrs. Green in ten minutes to get her some information.”

There was a pregnant pause, then, “Of course. Mayor Green can’t be kept waiting, and neither can his lovely wife. Why don’t you send me that information to my email when you’ve got it today? I do appreciate all your hard work.”