Rush

Dad. Tell her everything you told me. And you have to
     be patient and listen to her when she goes off on you. You have to listen while she
     calls you every name in the book. You deserve it. You have to give that to her and
     you have to take it.”
    “Thanks, Son. I love you, you know. I hate that I hurt not only Matrice, but you as
     well. You’re my son and I let you both down.”
    “Just make it right,” Gabe said softly. “Make Mom happy again, and that will be enough
     for me.”
    • • •
    “Hey Gabe, need to talk to you about…”
    Mia looked up to see Jace standing in the doorway of Gabe’soffice. Her heart leapt and her adrenaline spiked. He wasn’t supposed to be here yet.
     This wasn’t how she intended to break the news to him that she was working for Gabe.
    Ash pushed in behind him and his eyebrows rose when he saw Mia sitting at her desk.
    Jace’s face darkened and he looked between her desk and Gabe’s as if expecting it
     all to make sense.
    “What the hell are you doing here?” Jace asked.
    “Nice to see you too,” Mia said dryly.
    Jace strode across the floor toward her desk. “Damn it, Mia. You caught me off guard.
     I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” He perched on the edge of her desk, his gaze
     scrutinizing as he took in the papers scattered over the surface and the laptop she
     was working on.
    Ash sauntered in behind Jace, standing a short distance away, but no less interested.
    “What are you doing here? Where the hell is Gabe?”
    The confusion was evident in his voice. Mia took in a deep breath and plunged ahead,
     knowing the best thing to do was get it out of the way and in the open so nothing
     seemed suspicious. The longer she drew it out, the guiltier she’d look anyway. She
     had no poker face whatsoever—a fact that had kept her in trouble in her early teenage
     years. She’d never been able to lie to Jace with a straight face so she prayed his
     questioning didn’t get too in depth here or she was fucked.
    “I’m working for him,” she said calmly.
    Ash’s lips formed a silent O and then he turned back toward the door. “I’ll just wait
     outside.”
    Jace’s face was the poster child for
what the fuck
. As soon as the door closed behind Ash, he turned back to Mia, his jaw tight. “Okay,
     what the hell is going on? You’re working for him? In what capacity? And why am I
     only just finding this out?”
    “What’s going on is Gabe offered me a job. I’m working as hispersonal assistant. And you’ve been gone, and this isn’t the sort of thing I’d simply
     tell you on the phone.”
    “Why the hell not?”
    She rolled her eyes. “Because you’d react just like you are now and you’d be on the
     first flight home determined to figure it all out.”
    “When did this happen?” he asked bluntly.
    She lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “About the time you and Ash left for California.
     I saw Gabe at the grand opening. He told me to come into his office. Voila. Here I
     am.”
    “Just like that,” he said skeptically.
    His eyes narrowed and he studied her intently as if trying to peel back her skin and
     see inside her head.
    “Gabe was right. Working at La Patisserie was a waste of my education and all the
     money you spent sending me to college. I was comfortable and maybe a little scared
     to bust into the real world. This job gives me an opportunity to get my feet wet.”
    Jace’s expression softened. “If you wanted a job, why didn’t you come to me? You have
     to know I would have taken care of you.”
    She chose her words carefully, because she didn’t want to seem ungrateful. She dearly
     loved Jace. He’d sacrificed a lot for her and still managed to build a successful
     empire, all while dealing with a much younger sister.
    “I wanted to do this on my own,” she said quietly. “I know you would have given me
     a job. And maybe it’s no different that Gabe has hired me. I’m sure everyone will
     say the same as if you’d done the hiring. That I’m Jace Crestwell’s little sister
     and this is nepotism at its finest. Besides, I couldn’t work for you and you know
     it.” She grinned mischievously at him. “We’d kill each other after a day.”
    Jace chuckled. “Okay maybe. But only because you’re so hardheaded.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not stubborn. My way is just better.”
    “It’s nice to see you by the way, baby girl. I missed you in California.”
    “Which is why you’re still buying me