Falling for the Billionaire's Daughter - Lori Ryan Page 0,29

a bus, but it was her. Long stringy hair and that too damned skinny body that thankfully she hadn’t inherited from his wife.

He was up and headed that way, but the fucking bus was already pulling away from the curb. Dammit.

His car was in valet back at the hotel. He’d never get to it and catch up to the bus in time, would he?

He double timed it to the spot she’d gotten on and read the sign with the bus schedule, studying the small map.

It was a city bus that made a loop to several of the hotels and resorts. It covered a lot of territory, but maybe she was working at one of those places.

He started back toward his hotel to get his car. At least he had a direction to head in this time.

He sent a text to his assistant telling her he would be taking an extra week off. If he needed to go to every hotel and resort and lodge on that bus route to look for her, that’s what he’d do. And if that didn’t work, there was still the lead his PI was chasing down.

He’d waited two years for this. He was so damned close to having his wife back with him now, he could taste it. And there was no way in hell he’d let her little bitch of a daughter take her away from him again. No way in hell.

Chapter 19

“We have the perfect idea for a fun activity to close out the retreat,” Bethany said.

She and Callie stood side-by-side, matching grins on their faces. When they looked like that, Kaeden usually hated whatever it was they were going to say.

Still, he had to admit, they’d been an enormous help so far and Jack seemed to be happy with the work Kaeden was assigning to them.

Joy walked into the room, a slight blush hitting her cheeks when she saw him.

“Good, you’re here,” Callie said. “We were just about to tell Kaeden our idea for the last night of the retreat.”

Bethany bounced on the balls of her feet. “It’s perfect.”

Joy’s face lit with a smile, but this one was directed at him. It said she knew exactly how much he dreaded hearing this plan.

She was right.

“On the last night of the retreat,” Callie began.

“We’ll play Sutton Capital Showdown,” said Bethany.

“Sutton Capital Showdown?” Kaeden echoed trying to wrap his head around what that shit show would entail.

Bethany grinned, still bouncing. “You help us come up with a bunch of questions about the people you work with.”

“Yeah,” said Callie, “like, if so and so had a stuffed animal named Choo Choo or whatever when they were little, or someone makes banana bread every Sunday. Little things about each of them. Then we set it up where there are teams and it’s like a trivia night battle.”

The smile on Joy’s face was wide and taunting. “Sounds like fun, Kaeden. Don’t you think?”

He didn’t think, but it did sound exactly like the kind of thing Jack would want for this trip.

So he could suck it up. Besides, it’s not like he had to play the game. In fact, he could be the referee. It gave him the perfect excuse to sit it out.

“Great.” He offered what he hoped was an encouraging smile. It probably wasn’t, but it was the best he had. “I want you guys to head this up. Take it and run with it.”

There. Problem solved. Jack would would be happy with this, and really, if the game ended up being a little lame, that was to be expected for things like this, right?

“Perfect,” Callie said. “We just need to interview you about your coworkers.”

Oh hell.

He shot a glance at Joy. “You’re having too much fun with this.”

She shook her head, one hand casually trying to smother a smile on her face. “Not at all.”

Even though he was shaking his head at her, he was smiling. Damn her.

“You know who would be perfect for this,” Joy said, switching her attention to the other women in the room. “Samantha will have more dirt on her coworkers than anyone.”

“I hardly think we need a hacker for this,” Kaeden said, though really, he didn’t know why he was fighting it. Anything to get himself off the hook.

Now Joy was looking at him like he’d lost his mind. “No, they don’t need a hacker. Sam knows everything there is to know about everyone.” Her look was pointed. “She talks to people. She pays attention. She hears them.”

“Ouch. Low blow.”

Her