Some Like It Charming - By Megan Bryce Page 0,3
doubt that’ll stop all the women wanting to get in your bed from daydreaming about you. And at least it’s the models spilling their guts. Everyone’ll think they’re high anyway.”
Ethan kept his smile on, and if he worked a little harder and a little later, no one thought anything of it. He was the boss, after all.
Friday morning dawned bright and early. He had a call overseas to make before the picnic and he hoped against hope his ex-girlfriends were done with him. It had been a rough week and all he wanted to do was play a little softball. He grinned at the thought of Mackenzie Wyatt in short shorts running the bases.
He joined his mother and grandmother downstairs for breakfast in the best mood since Monday.
“Ladies. Have you reconsidered going to the picnic? I don’t think I’ll need bodyguards.”
His mother picked at her egg whites. “I think it sounds fun. I always like to watch you play the catcher.”
He laughed. “You hate watching me catch. Although I don’t think this is going to be that dangerous of a game.”
He decided not to tell her that at least one person would be gunning for him. His poor mother had never wanted her only child to play any sports and had finally agreed to baseball, and specifically catcher, because of all the protective gear he would have to wear. She hadn’t realized until too late there was a reason catchers needed protection.
His grandmother, who never picked at her food and would never order egg whites, said, “You’ll need someone to distract the paparazzi if they find you. Plus, I need some sun.”
He ordered his own breakfast, keeping it light and lean. He’d be running bases this morning and didn’t want to feel or look sluggish in front of his employees. At least one employee would take advantage of any weakness she saw, and he had no doubt, would constantly remind him of it.
He said, “I’m sure the paparazzi won’t want to hang around taking pictures of a company picnic. I can’t be the juiciest thing going on right now.”
His mother threw a glance at his grandmother, who ignored it and kept her fork moving.
He looked between them for a few seconds, then went for the weaker link. “Mother?”
“Yes, dear?”
“Was there anything worse today?”
His grandmother said, “Not anything worse. You’re still their soup du jour, but I expect that won’t last more than another week. Just ignore it.”
“It will be better if I know what it is.”
His mother put down her fork, abandoning the pretense that she was actually going to eat. “I don’t think it will be better, dear. Ellen is right, just ignore it.”
The only problem with that was his grandmother had never ignored anything in her life. She believed in facing problems head on.
He sighed and changed the subject. His good mood was vanishing fast but he kept a grip on it with iron control. He was going to have fun today, dammit. And maybe they just didn’t want him seeing what kinds of things his ex-girlfriends were saying about him. An ex was never the most reliable judge of a man’s character.
Not A Frog, A Toad!
Sarah Milton, one of New York’s leading socialites, was recently heard telling a friend that when she was dating Ethan Howell O’Connor he hit her so hard he broke her nose. Six years ago, Sarah Milton’s nose job had been attributed to allergies, but now we know she was allergic to a fist! Does Prince Charming have a nasty temper hiding behind that pretty face?
Mackenzie arrived at her first company picnic and instantly decided she shouldn’t have come. She tried hard to keep her real life separate from her work and had never wanted to get caught up in the culture that everyone else seemed to buy into.
She had coworkers she liked but she didn’t make friends. She never went out to lunch, never joined in for birthday celebrations, didn’t get into office politics, and never, ever went to outside functions. In the sales department, competition was taken to a whole other level and she tried to keep her focus on work. And to leave that work at the door at the end of the day.
Yet here she was. And all because one pretty boy had asked her to beat him at softball. Ethan O’Connor was a dangerous man.
But not as dangerous as the whispers being circulated about him. If anyone could have gotten him to lose his temper it would have