The Beauty and the CEO

“There’s more you’re not telling me,” he said.

“And there’s something you’re not telling us,” Dana said, changing the subject. His sisters were nosy, but this nosy? “Like, who have you been with, Will?”

Avoidance? Will scratched the top of his head. “What’s going on with the company?”

“Nothing.” Dana shrugged her shoulders. “The whole board came into Southwood.”

“What?” Will did a double take. The idea of his cousins, all the cousins, being there did not sit right with him. He got that RC provided the makeup. Did they make a personal trip just to deliver the goods?

“They’re just here. No big deal. Don’t worry about it.” Eva pushed Will by the shoulder. Easy for her to say. Eva stood on her tiptoes and took a whiff of air. As Will dodged one sister by sidestepping her, the other came up behind him and inhaled. “You smell like you’ve been using our products.”

“What’s going on, Will?” Dana asked. “Why are you so jumpy?”

“I’m jumpy because you started banging on my door at the crack of dawn,” said Will. “Where’s the rest of the group? I know y’all don’t travel too far without them.” He waited a moment to hear the sound of destruction from his nieces and nephews.

“This is a business trip,” they said again in unison, and giggled at themselves.

“The anti-cousins were, uh,” Eva began, “not too happy when they learned from Marcus that Zoe Baldwin was here as the beauty consultant.”

“Great,” Will mumbled. “Which ones are here?”

“Dixon, Katie, Brandon and Charles.” Eva used her fingers to tick off the names. “And Cora came.”

“Cora’s neutral,” Will said. One of the youngest of the Ravens, Cora was too busy living her life as a college student to helm a corporation.

“She didn’t think it was fair that one interviewee got special treatment.”

Irritation consumed Will. His knuckles cracked as he made a fist. This would be worse for Zoe now if she did get the position. Knowing Will and Zoe had spent time here together might bug Cora enough to side with the anti-cousins.

“I don’t get why they’re so quick to make a decision on the position if they are ready to call it quits. Something doesn’t add up.”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Dana sighed. “But you know we have your back in whatever decision you make.”

“Well, if you ladies don’t mind, I need to get dressed.”

Dana was the first to roll her eyes. “Whatever. We used to change your diapers when you were little.”

Eva punched him in the arm. “Don’t be so modest.”

“I’m grown now,” Will clarified and puffed out his chest. “Let the record show, you two forced me to play house with you when I was walking and out of diapers.”

There was a laundry list of things Will wanted to say to prove to his sisters he was a grown man but Dana’s phone rang.

“No,” Dana sighed. “We’re up in his room. No, he’s awake.”

For a moment Will wondered who his sister was on the phone with, but he heard Donovan’s distinct deep voice on the other end of the call. “Get out of his room so he can get ready.”

“Fine, whatever,” Dana huffed.

The next time he went out with his brother, Will was buying for the night. He strolled over to the bedroom door and yanked it open. “Tell Donovan I owe him.”

The girls began to leave, but not before Eva sized him up. “We’re not done here, mister.”

And somehow Will knew they weren’t. Once the girls left, Will pressed his ear against the door to make sure his nosy sisters’ voices traveled down the stairs. The first thing he needed to do was make sure Zoe was okay and, hopefully, still asleep. He pulled open the bathroom door and found Zoe leaning against the double sink with her arms folded. Long, dark strands of hair spilled over her shoulders. A yellow-and-white polka-dot towel was wrapped around her succulent brown body. Jealous of the terrycloth material, Will forgot what he wanted to say.

“So,” Zoe sighed with a grin. “You wore diapers longer than the average child, huh?”