The Billionaire Op - Lori Ryan Page 0,38

witness. I’ll get her name and location for you as soon as I can. In the meantime, I suggest you keep that boat company running as a legitimate business and put all your other activities on hold for now. We need to do damage control.”

Bandon stared at her for a few minutes.

She’d always suspected he was a sick bastard who wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and she was right. As long as she laid out a plan, he’d pick it up and run with it. She was sure of it.

His voice was cold and unfeeling when he finally spoke. “Fine, I’ll take care of the brothers. You get working on that other witness.”

He gave only one curt nod before he drove away.

Chapter 21

For weeks, Chad and Jennie were a little stiff and awkward around one another, but it gradually began to go away. They fell back into the swing of things, with Jennie being a wise ass and Chad laughing at her like he used to.

Since he wasn’t willing to lose her as a friend, it was the way things had to be. There wasn’t any getting around it.

Thanks to Mrs. Poole, Jack and Kelly were back to hosting get-togethers at their house on a regular basis despite the fact they had a three-week-old baby. It made Chad laugh to think about it. He thought they would have taken a few months to get settled in, but they were hosting their first barbeque today.

Chad stepped out onto the porch and couldn’t hold back his smile. His tough cousin, a man who ran a Fortune 500 company and often had grown men trembling in their boardroom chairs, was cooing and babbling like an idiot for his tiny baby girl. A complete and utter idiot.

Before Chad could even scan the rest of the group to see who was there, his eyes went to Jennie. She stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed and shook his head before grabbing a beer and joining her.

She stood talking to their friend Gabe Sawyer. Gabe owned a string of hotels across the country and in several other countries as well, though Chad knew he’d started talking to Jack about possibly selling off some of his conglomerate.

Andrew and Jill walked up to join Jennie and Gabe at the same time Chad did.

He had no idea he could have so many warring emotions at once. He was relieved he and Jennie seemed to be back to being friends, even though he wanted a lot more than that. He was turned on beyond belief at the sight of her in the peach-colored sundress she wore, with her hair pulled up off her tanned shoulders.

Shoulders he wanted to touch and kiss and taste.

And he was fighting an internal rage at the fact that Gabe was standing there talking to his Jennie. No way in hell was he letting Gabe, a notorious womanizer, get anywhere near Jennie. The man traveled around the world, living in his hotels, entertaining a different woman every night.

Chad probably stood a little closer to Jennie than he should have, but he didn’t want Gabe getting any ideas about chasing after her.

She cocked her head at him with that saucy little smile of hers as if to silently ask what he was doing. He let his eyes slide to Gabe for a split second but he saw Jennie pick up on his silent communication.

“Really, Big Man? Really?” she asked and laughed as she let incredulity seep into her voice.

“Wow. You two go away for two weeks and you’re telepathic. You just had a whole conversation without us, didn’t you?” Andrew asked

Chad and Jennie laughed. Andrew and Jack had cornered Chad after Florida, but he’d flat out lied to them. Told them nothing happened. The look on Andrew’s face right now said he wasn’t buying the lie. Time to redirect.

“Yeah. Jennie told me to do this,” Chad said as he tossed Andrew into the pool with his clothes on.

Andrew managed to grab onto Chad’s arm as he went into the water. Chad was struggling to right his balance on the edge of the pool when he felt two hands he recognized on his back.

The little vixen pushed him right in behind Andrew. Well, that took care of any unwanted attention on Jennie.

The whole group gathered around to laugh at Chad and Andrew as they wrestled in the pool. It had been too damn long since they’d done anything like this, Chad thought, as he shoved