Changing the bad boy

Chapter 11

VALERIE POV

I'm on my third cup of coffee and it's only 10 am. Rory was up most of the night with a belly ache so I'm running on only a few hours of sleep,and I know he's going to be an absolute nightmare again tonight. He always is when he's tired. I cover my mouth as I yawn behind my screen.Not that anyone is around to see me.The office is surprisingly quiet. All the Cartwright men are in a meeting somewhere on one of the lower floors.

And thank God for that and for good coffee. I pick up the blue cup again and take another drink.

I finally met the father,Pierce Cartwright,this morning. He wasn't what I'd expected him to be. Fiona was right in that he's a silver fox, and I can see a resemblance to his sons.

But while he was friendly and professional, I sensed a ruthlessness to him I haven't seen in any of his sons.

And that suprised me. The sons have various levels of arrogance and while they can be demanding I've never once seen any indication of viciousness in either of them.

From what I hear, Pierce's birthday party was a success. Lydia and Alana can't stop talking about it and they weren't even there. They analyze every photo, and every piece of gossipbthat's posted online. I think they might actually be more into scandals and rumors than Fiona is and that's saying something.

Fiona showed me some pictures from a gossip site on Sunday afternoon after she took me food shopping.The Cartwright brothers were all dressed in tuxedos that showcased their fit bodies and each one of them had a gorgeous woman next to him, except for Preston,who had two. I had laughed because of course he did. It didn't surprise me at all, he had a playboy reputation to live up to, but it did bother me for some reason.

Fiona keeps telling me she's jealous of my "work environment," and refers to the Cartwright men as "eye candy." I can't say she's wrong, but sometimes it is distracting.

The phone rings. Before I have a chance to reach for it, Alana snaps it up and answers with an overly chirpy tone. However, that changes immediately once she hears who's on the other end.

"He's not available right now," she says sternly, and I get the feeling it's a woman and that she has called before.We spend half the day answering these kinds of calls.

I shake my head and try to focus on my work, but I'm drawn to Lydia's giggle.

Lydia smiles widely as she watches Alana roll her eyes at whoever is on the phone.As amusing as it somethimes is, a big part of our job deals with filtering out potential

hook up calls. And that

does not make sense to me.

There has to be a better way of dealing with all those non-business-related calls.

I mean, how can all these women have access to the c suite numbers? Is that really necessary?

There is just no way that everyone that calls knows the Cartwright brothers personally or as a business aquintance.Our standard answer is usually that they are busy. Sometimes that's enough, but most of the time it's not.

All the brothers get these kinds of calls, but most of them are for Preston,followed by Andrew.

According to Fiona, that is because Preston is the hottest one. The one the

public has deemed the bad boy Cartwright.Not that he's doing much bad as far as I can see. He's snappy as hell and arrogant as f**k,and definitely hot, but other than that, he seems to be a responsible, hardworking man. A man that seemingly likes to hook up with a lot of different women, but that's all.

Andrew is sought after because he's the oldest, and has the most impressive title as the COO.Women believe he's ready to settle down and fight to become the next Mrs.Cartwright.

I get it. I do. They're all hot,and while I allow myself to look, I'm too busy trying to keep myself and my kids afloat to be overly worried about their escapades.

Alana hangs up the phone and launches into yet another complaint about all these women that are so desperate for attention and blah blah blah. I tune out the rest, because to me,they sound just like her and Lydia, but I don't quite have the heart to tell her that.

I down the rest of the coffee and contemplate a fourth cup, but decide against it.I'm probably jittery enough.

Lydia launches into yet another story she's heard,and I do my best to ignore her out and turn back to my computer screen. I confirm that Preston and Easton's schedules are up to date. I've already finished the review of the new emails and placed the lunch order they requested.

Since there is nothing else pressing, I open the Marramount folder I created on my desktop. Preston asked me to keep everything organized and I'm excited about potentially having something to focus on that's not just secretarial functions.

We've been copied on a few emails from Demers since he had his meeting with Preston.The last one involves another change. The price for the marble flooring that had been ordered only for the kitchens in the penthouses has gone up. The new number is about $10,000more than previously quoted. Preston didn't even blink at the increase, while I had to bite down on my bottom lip to keep from commenting something I

shouldn't. I just couldn't get over the construction manager accepting the changes, just like that.Without a question.

When I worked at Glasgows,I had prices on parts change all the time,but I made damn sure to ask the suppliers to honor the quotes I'd been given initially, even if they had to give me another brand.Almost everyone honored it. And Glasgows was a very small operation, nothing near the size of Cartwright and Sons. They should definitely have more pull in the industry than a tiny auto body shop.

What frustrates me is that it doesn't seem like Demers even asked. Or that he's questioning anything with the change orders. And Peter seems to take everything at face value. I shake my head as I print out the change order and add it to the hard copy as well as to the digital folder. I know Cartwright and Sons build luxury condos and can afford to pay the incredibly high charges,but it still doesn't seem right to me. And all these small amounts add up in the end.

I decide to continue my review from where I left off last time,the initial changes after the project started several years ago. There are thousands and thousands of pages to go through which is intimidating, but something tells me there has to be a way to save money somewhere, and I'm determined to find it.I know what it's like to live on a tight budget, and I assume you need to run a construction project in a similar way. From what I gather from the records and from what I've overhear Preston say, this project is way out of line.

I get immersed in the invoices and barely notice when Lydia and Alana go to lunch. They don't ask me to join them, which is fine, it's not like I'd be able to afford it anyway. I remain at my desk with my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

By the time the Cartwright brothers return from their meeting I have my hard copy of the Marramount project open on my desk and am busy reviewing the estimate for the plumbing.

"I put the lunch order in the kitchen," I advise Andrew since he's the first in line.

"Great, thanks," he responds,but his voice is not as cheerful as it normally is,and he doesn't crack some wise joke about me and my coffee habit like he usually does. I suspect they had a tough meeting with their father because the others look about as gloomy as Andrew. Still gorgeous, of course.

My cell phone rings. I swallow the sticky,sweet food in my mouth and glance around to make sure that I'm by myself.The Cartwrights are in the kitchen and Alana and Lydia are still out to lunch which is good, because I can tell from the number that it's Tommy calling about my car.

"Hey, Tommy," I answer."Please tell me you have good news for me."

He chuckles. "I do. You can pick the car up at any time.It's running fine."

"Oh, thank god."

Finally, I'll be back to my independence.

"You're gonna need tires soon, and the brakes are worn but you should be able to get a few months out of them as is."

I close my eyes and I pray there is nothing else. I love my brother and Fiona but it's difficult to have to depend on them to get me and the kids places.

"It's here whenever you're ready," Tommy finishes.

I suck in a breath of relief.

"Thank you. You're open till five today, right?"

"Six actually."

Oh, even better.

"I'll be there before you close," I promise.

"Alright. I'll be here."

"Thank you." I hesitate and glance around again and lower my voice. "Tommy, I will write you a check, but can you please wait to cash it until Friday?"

He goes quiet on the other end, and I feel the panic coming. I need the car. but

I don't have enough cash.

I'm borrowing a couple of hundred from Fiona as it is.

"If that's a problem, I can pay you half now. I just can't afford to pay you everything until I get paid."

"Um, that's not usually how we do it."

"I understand, and I wouldn't normally ask,but..." I leave out the fact that I'm broke, because I'm pretty sure he gets it.

I hate how humiliated I feel.It's such a depressing feeling to have to admit that you can't afford something.And it's not like I'm not careful with my money. I am.But I have two children to support by myself because I have a piece of s**t ex-husband that

doesn't pay a dime towards their care and hasn't since he left over a year and a half ago.

It's not like I miss him, or want him, for that matter.That ship sailed when he left, but it would be nice for him to pay the support he is obligated to pay for his children.

"I think if you can pay half today, we'll be able to hold on to the check until Friday,"Tommy says.

I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"Oh, thank you. Thank you so much."

I feel so relieved when I hang up with Tommy that I immediately call Fiona.

"Hey babe," she answers.

"Hi, Fi. It's ready."

"Awesome. Need me to get the kids?"

I'd already warned her that I would probably need her to get them for me if the car was ready. She's in the area today and already told me it wouldn't be a problem.

Despite that I feel a sense of relief.

"Yeah, please."

"Sure thing. I'll meet you at your place."

"Thank you so much. I'll pick up a bottle of wine and you can stay for dinner?"

"Sure," she giggles. "Sounds good."

"Later."

I lean back on the chair and close my eyes. Thank God for Fiona. I'm not sure where I would be without her. She's the one person I've always been able to count on. She was the one in the delivery room with me when Rory was born, and the one that took care of Bella when I had to stay overnight in the hospital. And she was the one who I cried to about my failing marriage to my cheating piece of s**t ex-husband, and the one who helped me pick up the pieces after he left with some twenty-two-year-old when I was six months pregnant.

Now I'm glad he left, but at the time I was devastated.

"Are you all right?" a concerned deep voice asks,and I open my eyes to find Preston at my desk, his brows furrowed above his gorgeous blue eyes as he looks down at me.

"Yeah, thanks. I'm okay," I respond and straighten up in my chair.

He nods, but the way he studies me feels different.It's like he genuinely cares about how I am, and I'm not sure how to take that. It kind of freaks me out.

I clear my voice and look down at the documents spread out all over my desk.

"Is that for the parramount?" Preston asks.

He reaches down and picks up one of the estimates I've been reviewing.

"Yes."

"Did something else happen?"

I stiffen and get ready to defend myself. "I finished what I needed to do and when that change order came from Ralph Demers I got curious."

Preston tilts his head to the side and his eyes meet mine."The change order from this morning?"

"Yes," I respond again.

"Why?" he asks, with the beginning of a smirk on his lips.

"Oh, um, well... in my experience many of the suppliers honor the prices given even if there is a change, and I was surprised to see that nobody asked for that."

Preston's eyebrows shoot up but he gives me a small nod that I interpret as meaning I should continue. So, I do."I wanted to check the other changes and see if they involved the same thing."

Now he looks more than just surprised. Almost like he's impressed.

"Unless you don't want me to," I add. "Or if there is something else you need me to do."

"No." He shakes his head,and his bright blue eyes meet mine again. "Keep going, please, keep at it."

I nod, feeling the excitement at the approval.

"How much money do you think we're talking about?"Preston asks.

"I don't know yet. The invoice we got today was for $10,000 but I don't know how many more of those there were."

Preston stares at me, and I can almost see the way his brain is going through what this could mean. Who knows how much money was spent that might not have been necessary? In an extensive project like this one it might not matter that much,but if they don't even bother to check with the supoliers if they'll honor the original quotes when the price changes, then what else are they letting slide? And why isn't Peter on top of that?

"Good point," Preston says.

"Let me know if you find anything else."

"I will."

His eyes linger on me for a second before he steps away and heads towards the kitchen, where his brothers are.

I feel almost giddy when I return to the plumbing estimates. Preston seemed pleased that I took an initiative. I can't wait to prove to him that I'm capable of more than just handling his and Easton's schedules.