In Good Company: An Ex's Brother Billionaire Romance

ONELUCYI forgot how much I despised cooking for Laurent Hughes. When he asked me at the last minute to work the private dinner party he was hosting tonight, my first thought was to say no. I needed the money—desperately—but I knew preparing a meal for would come with many challenges.The main one being he might be the biggest douche in the Hamptons. Which is really saying something because this place is filled with pretentious assholes.“When will the food be done?” Laurent comes stomping into his kitchen, his angry voice booming against the walls.I take a deep breath and plaster on a smile, internally scolding myself for agreeing to be his chef tonight. “The main course will be done at the time I told you it would be. I will have the food ready for the staff to bring out at eight.” My words come out rather tight, but they’re still polite. It’s all I can muster when dealing with a man like him.He lets out a disgruntled sigh.My smile remains stiff as I wipe my hands off on my apro

LUCYI’m delicately balancing a tub of cooking utensils and my bag with additional supplies while I walk out to my car when a shadow pushing off the side of Laurent Hughes’s house takes me by surprise.I stifle a scream. “Oh my God.” I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. If my hands weren’t full, I think my fist would’ve connected with a face out of sheer panic and surprise.“Need a hand?” Callahan asks, already taking the tub from my grasp before I can even respond.“I’ve got it,” I snap, trying to pull it back against my body.What’s worse is he doesn’t even apologize for coming out of nowhere and scaring me. He lets out a low sound of amusement as he effortlessly tugs my things out of my hands completely.“Callahan!” I yell, watching him walk down the driveway, acknowledging nothing I said to him. “Give me my stuff back.”“Which one is yours?” he calls over his shoulder, pointing to the cars parked neatly up the driveway.Annoyed he’s ignoring what I’m saying, I sto

LUCY“So, are you going to tell me how your test cook went with the Bouchers, or am I just supposed to be left wondering all day?” Charlotte, my closest coworker and best friend, asks, resting her elbows on the bar and looking around the empty club restaurant.I meet her eyes, lifting my shoulders in a shrug. “They offered me a position for the summer, so I think it went okay.”Charlotte lets out a loud squeal as she pushes her body off the bar and runs to me. “What? We’re two hours into our shift, and you’re just now telling me this?” She grabs my shoulders and gives me a shake. “Well, get on with it. Did you accept?” She pauses for a moment, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout. “Does that mean you’ll be leaving me?”I laugh before shaking my head and softly pushing her off me. Luckily, our boss, Loretta, is nowhere to be seen. If she saw us acting anything but prim and proper, she’d be threatening our jobs.“I haven’t accepted the job yet. I still have to think about it.”Charlotte

LUCY“I’m mad you didn’t tell me you knew Callahan Hastings,” Charlotte scolds, slamming the door to her locker. Luckily, we’re the only two people in the employee locker room, so no one else can hear her.“I don’t know him. Not very well, at least.” I look at my reflection in my locker mirror, wiping underneath my eyes from where my mascara has smudged from the long workday.Charlotte laughs, grabbing the corner of my locker and opening it wide so I’m forced to meet her eyes. “He specifically requested you. Clearly, you know each other. Anytime I’ve ever served him, he barely looked me in the eye, let alone cared enough to remember my name.”I sigh, my shoulders sagging a bit in defeat. I know if I tell Charlotte that Cal has also offered me a job for the summer, she’ll think I’m crazy for not agreeing to it right away. Especially if she finds out how much I’ve been offered. “Cal’s my ex’s brother. We met a few times. Got along fine. There’s not much to it.”Charlotte’s green eyes wi

LUCY“Good morning, Mr. Fred,” I call as I descend the stairs from my upstairs apartment to his souvenir shop.Mr. Fred stands in front of a shelf full of different Hamptons-themed magnets. He turns to look at me with a wide smile. “Good morning, Lucy. You’re up early.”“It’s my first day at a new job. I didn’t want to be late.” I take a deep breath, trying to ease my nerves. I feel like I barely slept last night because of how anxious I was to start with Cal today. I don’t regret accepting the job. I’m glad I did. It’s been a long time since I’ve been so excited about something that I couldn’t sleep, but with the excitement comes a lot of nerves.What if he realizes he hates my cooking? Although it isn’t likely I’ll ever need him as a referral once I’m back home after this summer, it’d be nice to have just in case.“Need a cup of coffee, dear?”I jump, focusing back on Mr. Fred. He holds a magnet in his hand as he looks at me over the top of his thick wire glasses. I shake my head. “