Chapter 51
***Aggie***
Epilogue
One Year Later
“You’re fired. No, don’t argue with me. I’m your boss. Oh, my gosh, I will have my uncles kick your butt for that!” Gracie’s playtime at the desk across from mine had taken on an interesting aspect. She’d just fired her fifth teddy bear of the day.
“Butterfly? I’m not sure what Jimmy Jam did to you, but your uncles aren’t here today. If you need a butt to be kicked, you’re going to have to ask me, or Max.” I turned so she could see Max strapped to my back, probably drooling everywhere.
“He’s just a baby, Aggie. He won’t be able to kick butt for another couple of years.” She giggled. “He’s chewing on your hair.”
I pulled my hair away from my son and offered him one of his teething toys instead. Looking over the work in front of me, I tapped my pen on my desk and narrowed my eyes. “If you were a problem, where would you hide, Gracie?”
“Uncle Knight was talking about problems this morning. Maybe he’s hiding them?” She jabbed her finger at her favorite doll. “You’re hired, Jane!”
I looked up from my work. “What kind of problems was he talking about?”
“He said it was a secret.” She looked up as the door to my office opened. “Uncle Knight!”
Studying Knight, I immediately knew there was something he was hiding. He fiddled with his glasses more than ever when he was trying to keep something from me. The night they’d asked me to marry them, he’d snapped them in half.
“Hey, kid. Ready to go?” He walked over and planted a slow kiss on my lips that left me breathless.
When he finished with me, he leaned down to plant a kiss on top of Max’s head.
“Let me take him? He weighs almost as much as Gracie already. It can’t be good for your back to have him strapped to you for so long. ”
I smiled at him and held my arms over my head. “Go ahead.”
His eyes darkened as he read my mood. “You’re playing with fire, baby.”
“You’re not supposed to play with fire. Uncle Kyrin told me.” Gracie sighed dramatically. “Can I go to Grandpa Mark’s now? I’ve been waiting all day.”
Knight cleared his throat and turned to Gracie. “What are you talking about, kid?”
She giggled and started picking up her toys. “Nothing.”
I rested my hands on his stomach as he eased Max out of his sling. “You know you’re terrible at hiding things from me, right?”
He grumbled. “Hush, witch.”
I stretched up to kiss him again and smiled against his lips. “I love you.”
“Not as much as I love you. Now, it’s quitting time. Are you coming quietly, or do I need to clear the floor, call the nanny, and have Zander come all the way up here to work on your compliance?” He nipped at my lips. “Think long and hard about your answer.”
I brushed my hand over his lower stomach and bit my lip when his muscles jumped. “I will. I’ll think very long and very hard.”
“Miss Young?” My assistant stuck her head into my office and immediately apologized. She’d unfortunately gotten used to finding me and my men pressed against each other.
Knight kissed me once more before moving away with Max. “Not Miss for much longer, Bree.”
She all but melted as she watched Knight baby talk our son. Coming closer to me, she handed me a file and sighed. “You’re so lucky.”
Gracie grabbed Bree’s hand and grinned up at her. “I was practicing my firing all day today. I even hired Jane!”
Bree’s cheeks turned red. “I’m sorry, Aggie. I mentioned how my boss before you got fired for cheating. I saw Brian’s name on an old letterhead that was shoved into the black hole that is my desk. It was on my mind, I guess. I didn’t mean for it to have a lasting impression.”
Knight bounced Max and shook his head. “We should’ve let her fire that asshole.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Bree. You even finally admitted that your desk is a travesty! I’m proud of you!” I rolled my eyes and waved Bree away. “Now get out of here. You have a big date this weekend, from what I hear. The water cooler gossip has been juicy.”
She groaned and rushed to the door. “Thank you! See you next week, Gracie!”
Bree’s old boss had been the top strategist at TGC, a trusted employee, until he was offered a big pay out to steal important information and move to my position at Monroe’s company.
When the guys found out their employee was the source of the leak and part of the reason we’d fallen apart for a little while, they’d wanted his blood.
To hear them tell the story, though, they’d simply fired the man and moved on.
To hear anyone else in the building tell the story, Brian Vance had been lucky to walk out of the building with all of his organs still working.
I’d proven my worth ten times over in the year I’d worked at TGC, though, and my promise to the guys that Monroe and his dirty employees would suffer had been kept beautifully.
TGC had blown the gap between our companies into space.
Monroe Blake would have to have a magic genie in his pocket to ever touch TGC again.
Unfortunately for him, Brian Vance was no magic genie.
“Okay, ladies. It’s time for quitting.” Knight put his hand on top of Gracie’s head. “Tell her, Gracie.”
“Grandpa Mark has a girlfriend!”
My mouth fell open as Knight tried and failed to covered Gracie’s mouth before her words were out. I stared at Knight and grabbed my purse. He looked like he was going to deny it, but thought better of it.
“Damn, Gracie. I meant tell her that it was quitting time.” He sighed. “We were going to talk about it tonight. Over dinner. We asked your dad to watch the kids while we talked about it? Does that help?”
I frowned. “Where are we having dinner?”
“Bob’s.” He held out Max and wiggled our son at me. “Doesn’t that make you a little less angry?”
I pointed at him. “Don’t weaponize our son’s cuteness.”
Gracie followed me out of my office, her toys shoved into her own oversized purse. “I’m mad, too, Aggie.”
Knight growled. “Stop it, you two.”
Gracie and I cast matching dark looks back at him. I put my hand on her back and stuck my tongue out at him. “Don’t tell us what to do. We’re the bosses here.”
“Yeah! Girls rule!”
Knight sighed and looked down at Max. “Get ready for a special kind of hell, kid. We outnumber them four to two, but does that matter? Not even a little bit.”