“Are you okay, Hayden?”
“I’m fine.”
“You know you don’t have to keep it, right? If you don’t want the company shares—”
“I know.” I knew that Ididhave to take them… at least until Dad was gone and I could pass them on to Miles without Dad’s stipulations breathing down his neck.
Because I wasn’t going to let my little brother deal with our father’s power trip and need to be in control of everything.
“If you need anything, I’m always here,” Maggie said softly.
There wasn’t anything she could do about the situation I was in, but I knew she meant what she said.
“Thanks, Maggie.” I ended the call without a goodbye and called Sierra.
“Hello, Hayden,” she answered, and I swear I couldhearher smiling.
“I need a rundown of my schedule for the next month. Please,” I added. Sierra didn’t tolerate being ordered around and made more demands than any PA I’d ever had, but she was loyal in a way no amount of money could buy. She might be a pain in my ass half the time, but I honestly wasn’t sure what I would do without her.
“The whole month?” she asked. “You do realize that will probably change a hundred times before the month is over, right?”
“Just do it.”
“Okay, hold on.” I could hear the clicking of her keyboard as she typed. The next few minutes were a blur of dates, times, meetings, and events. How my father expected me to find the time to date and marry a woman in the next month was beyond me.
“Can you clear every Friday evening for the rest of January?” I asked, loosening the tie around my neck that suddenly felt like it was strangling me.
“I can move some things around, but I can’t do anything about Freddie’s bachelor party tomorrow.”
A frustrated groan slipped past my lips as I massaged my temples. “Fine. Just clear the rest of the Fridays.”
“Will do. Do you need me to make any reservations for those Fridays?” she asked, her voice taking on a suspicious note. And that was the downside of having Sierra as my assistant. She was nosy as fuck, and she actually cared about my life. Especially since I’d made the mistake of dating her sister-in-law for a year.
“No,” I said without a hint of emotion.
“Don’t you dare hang up this phone, Hayden Blake,” she said before I could do just that.
I froze. One did not simply ignore a command from Sierra Blue. She had the power to ruin my life with just a couple of strokes of her keyboard and zero weaknesses I could exploit. “What do you want?”
“Who is she?”
“Who?”
“You’re clearing your Friday nights. I assume you’re dating someone.”
“My dating life or lack thereof is none of your business.”
“Oh, come on. I’m your PA. I’m supposed to make your dinner reservations and order the gifts you give her.”
“This isn’t a fucking romance novel, Sierra. This is real life where you are my part-time assistant who is notgoing to be doing any of those things.” I might shoot her nosiness down, but I was honestly relieved Sierra still cared enough tobenosy. She could have chosen to be pissed at me about the way things ended with Danielle. She could have quit.
She sighed. “Fine. Don’t tell me.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“If you change your mind when you remember how much you hate talking to hostesses, give me a call.”
“Uh-huh.”
