Cruel (The Buck Boys Heroes 2)

“It’s about this.” She waves a piece of paper in her hand. “Not to be rude, but some of the board members are assholes.”

I don’t need proof of that on a piece of paper. I live it.

“I won’t argue that point, but keep it out of the article.”

She plops her round ass in one of the chairs that face my desk. “I’ve researched the holdings of Bane Enterprises for the past three years. I can see where there might be some concern, but you have acquired several businesses that are showing steady growth.”

I sit back down in my chair. “I’m aware.”

“Why aren’t any of the financial magazines reporting on that?” She sets the paper on my desk. “You bought that video game company and now it’s making serious bank.”

“Serious bank?” I ask, suppressing the amusement I feel.

“Loads of cash,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “There’s also that print-on-demand greeting card company.”

“It’s making serious bank too,” I say with a straight face.

She nods. “Those are incredible success stories. You took those businesses and brought them back from the brink. Both of them are now multi-million dollar profit machines for Bane.”

“That’s one way of putting it.”

“You kept the owners on board,” she points out. “Why has no one interviewed them about how you’ve changed their lives?”

I fold my hands together on top of my desk. “Because both of the former owners are your age, Juliet. They don’t give a shit about anything but their bottom line. They’re immune to everything else. No reporter wants that as a headline.”

Her brow furrows. “What do you mean? Everyone wants to hear about success at that level.”

I shake my head. “I assure they don’t when the alternative is…”

Her gaze lands on my face as my voice trails.

She takes a deep breath. “When the alternative is all the failures related to what happened in the past.”

“Exactly.” I glance toward a window.

“This office is nothing like your real office.”

I turn back to face her. “What?”

“This office is so much nicer than your office in the Bane Enterprises building.” Her fingers run a path over the edge of my glass desk. “This is modern, and warm. You even have a picture of you and three men in here.”

I don’t need to ask what picture she’s talking about.

“Is Harry there?” Her finger wags in the air toward a framed photograph of Sean, Graham, Harrison and I on a shelf behind my desk.

“Second from the left.”

She squints. “Is he a cookie-cutter billionaire too?”

“He does all right. Why?”

“You can tell a lot about an interview subject by the company they keep.” She glances at the picture again. “Are they your friends, Kavan?”

“Yes.”

A smile greets me when she finally looks into my eyes again. “Good. Everyone needs friends they can count on.”

My desk phone rings breaking the moment.

She glances at it. “I suppose I have to leave to preserve that Bane mystique thing you have going on?”

I ignore the call. “That Bane mystique thing? Is that tied to my status as a cookie-cutter billionaire?”

“Might be.” She bounces to her feet. “I’ll go see Nara and check what’s on the dinner menu.”

“Let her make the suggestions, Juliet.”

“Or I might request chicken nuggets and curly fries, Bane.”

I watch her leave my office, transfixed not only by the gentle sway of her ass as she walks but by her determination to never back down.

She’s a force to be reckoned with and she’s heaven to kiss.

That’s a combination that could take the strongest of men to their knees.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Kavan

I exit my office near six expecting to see Juliet in the main living area with Nigel, but that’s not what I find.

Nigel is alone looking through what looks like pictures of birds on his phone.

I suppose there’s some truth to the fact that there are clues everywhere about the people in our lives.

“Sir!” He bounces to his feet as soon as he spots me. “How did your final call of the day go?”

“Fine,” I lie.

I spoke to the owner of a global sporting gear company that I’ve been trying to acquire for the past few months. He was adamant that he couldn’t sell to Bane Enterprises after reading that fucking The Bad Bane book. He had the audacity to quote passages from it that he thinks are relevant to how I run the business.

I assured him the book was laced with lies and bullshit.

He told me to go to hell and hung up on me.

It’s just another random afternoon in my world.

“Where’s Juliet?” I start toward her office. “Is she still working?”

“She left an hour ago, Mr. Bane.”

I turn to look at Nigel. “What?”

“She got a call and explained that she had to meet someone for dinner.” He sighs. “I don’t know the details, sir. She did say that she chose our dinner from Nara’s suggested menus.”