Resisting My Grumpy Billionaire Boss

e

ol summer holidays, and I’m in the kitchen making bread when my phone vib

ke the phone out with floury fingers. I do a comical double

My heart racing, I go over to the sink and wash my hands, then

t suppose you’d be around

eidi Rose Huxley, and the first time we me

hen chair, bring up his Facebook

same name who sacrificed himself for his teammates in 1912 by going out into a blizzard. That Lawrence Oates was

e for a kiss. Instead of getting exasperated with the irritating young teen who was trying to pretend she was sassy and sophisticated, he proceeded to kiss the livin

out him, convinced I’d found my Prince Charming a

ee each other relatively frequently over the years, either at Oliver’s business club or at my parents’ house. Every t

spoken to him since. He was the first guy to burst my girlish, romantic bubble, but he wasn’t the last. Einstein said insanity is doing t

rry and doesn’t do him justice. I remember him as tall, dark, and handsome, and being impressed because he’d been approached to play rugby f

ever goes on there. Oliver has mentioned him in passing when I’ve spoken to him on Zoom over the past t

does he want

nd I’m flying to New Zealand for it. Maybe Titus is organizing something he wants me to be a part of. Yes, that wo

eved breath, I rep

! 8 p.m. your t

des an invitation to the Zoom call, then says:G

e bread, adding a can of beer to the flour with the baki

forgotten, and put it back into the loaf pan again. I top it wi

, take it back out, drizzle the oil over the

y not a romantic call,

to have another Zoom call with my sisters. I go into the living room and collect my laptop, then take it

of Dartmoor generate mild, wet weather. Last year, it rained the whole of July and a good part of August. This year, June proved to be one of the

s—Chrissie and Evie—are already there, waiting for me. There’s a

wave as they see me, a

you

e a lovely day the

ful summer mor

“It must be so weird t

I thought, because our cards Down Under tend to feature wintry scenes despite it being in summer. A

“But Halloween in autu

There’s a tendency for Kiwis to think of the English like cousins because so many of us

y from my position teaching five-year-olds at a tiny Devon primary school. Evie is twenty-seven and a police officer, bossy and no-non

I ask, referring to

ays. “They decided to have a weekend away to celebrate thei

taken Robin with them?” Their

im with Mum and Dad

longingly. Robin is my first neph

rfully. “It’ll be great to see

ch fun. Hey, do you know if Titus

. Evie says, “W

asking if I’m free for a Zoom call tonight. I

a stag do?” Evi

ly as my surname is Huxley too. “He says he’s too respectable,” she adds. Evie and I snort. Chrissie grins. “When we go to Lake Tekapo, the night before the wedding, the gu

zzled. “What do y

big knob,”

hrissie bursts out laughi

e grins. “

is personality, what

sor

, anyway?” Chrissie asks. “I didn’t

,” she explains to me. “They were together for a couple of years, but they broke up a while ago. I met her at Huxley’s club

giggles. “Now I’m not going to be able to think

he wants,” Evie

computers, does

Chrissie says. “He’s the CEO of NZAI.

. W