Lena ran her fingers through her long caramel-colored hair."Mrs. Castillo, your new hire is here.""Send him in. And I have asked all of you to call me Ms. Baxter. I will no longer be associated with my idiot of an ex-husband.""Yes, Ms. Baxter.""Oh, and Greta.""Yes.""You can stop fucking with me at any time, bitch."Greta laughed. "What's the point of having your best friend as your boss if you can't fuck with her; professionally!""Send the hire in. Make sure that he gets the benefits package before he leaves."Greta gave a small salute. "Ma'am, yes, Ma'am.""Hey, Greta.""Yes, Ma'am?""Is he hot? Like sexual harassment lawsuit hot?""More like you need him to work a lot of overtime... under your desk hot.""We talk like we're in a locker room. Should we be ashamed?""No. We're talking like we have dicks. Total double standard!""I'll stop by St. Rita's on the way home and cleanse my soul," Greta said, making the sign of the cross.Greta closed the door. The phone rang. Lena answered the phone and spun 180* in her chair. She was looking out the window when the new hire walked in. He smelled good. He smelled familiar. Without turning around, she pointed to the chair behind her, telling him to sit down."You know Cole, I really don't give a rat's ass or a flying fuck what YOU think. Sign the fucking papers." She spoke very calmly, which made her even more terrifying.She spun the chair around and hung up the phone. "Sorry about that." She looked up. "Fuck my life." Standing before her was six feet four inches of delicious man. Dark black hair and golden hazel eyes. She already knew what he looked like under those clothes, at least what he looked like five years ago. "I know I didn't hire you. So, you are in the wrong office in the wrong building. You know where the door is. Use it.""You may not have hired me, but I signed a contract that says your company employs me. So, here I am.""You must have talked to my idiot partner.""I think I talked to your husband.""Like I said, my idiot partner.""Lena---"She stood up, put her palms on the desk, and leaned into him. Her breasts were directly in his line of sight. "No. You call me Ms. Baxter or Ma'am. You do not get to call me by my first name. Here I am, the C.O. I am in charge. I own this company, and I own you when you signed that contract. You go where I tell you to go. You do what I tell you to do. You don't question me, you don't question the assignments, and you don't challenge my authority. Understand?"Oh my God. She's even more beautiful since the last time I saw her. I was the idiot partner. Great. I've got movement. She always did this to me. How was I supposed to know her married name was Castillo?"Did you hear me, or are you just going to stare at my tits, Mr. Gratiano?""Do I have a choice? Because if I do---""You're still a smartass.""And you're still a tight ass.""You have no idea what kind of person I am now. If you knew me, it would curl your hair. Now again, do you understand?""Yes, Ma'am!""Alright, this meeting is over. You easily left my life. Now, you can easily leave my office."The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, and he raised his eyebrow. "I didn't leave your life; you threw me out of it.""Just like I'm throwing you out of my office!"He stood up. "I'll be in at ten tomorrow morning like the schedule states." He put his hands on the desk and leaned into her. "And it's nice to see you, Major Baxter." He gave her a sexy smile that immediately made her squeeze her thighs together. His smile still made her ache. She watched as he turned and opened the door. His ass looked fucking spectacular in his gray dress pants. His shoulders stressed the cotton of his polo shirt. She watched the tendons in his arms flex as he gripped the doorknob. His biceps looked as if they would burst the seams of his sleeves. He looked over his shoulder and saw her staring at his ass."Major, my eyes are up here."She pointed at the door. "OUT!"When he had left the office, she picked up her phone. "Greta, get my soon-to-be ex-jackass on the phone and get your ass in here!"Greta came into the office and closed the door behind her. "Ex-Asshole, on line two."Lena picked up the phone. She took a deep breath. "Cole, Did you hire someone without talking to me?""I'm still co-owner of this company. I didn't think I had to run all the hirings by you.""Considering I am buying you out by the end of the month, I would appreciate it if you no longer hired anyone without my knowledge.""Well, he's perfect for the job. He fits all our qualifications: retired military, exemplary record, great shape, excellent references.""I know what you're doing. And I know you know who he is. So, tell me. Why did you hire him?""Because we needed someone to replace Cutler.""Yes, but why did you hire him specifically?""Like I said, he had all our qualifications and---""Did you do this to get back at me? Look. I'm not the one that ruined our marriage. That would be you. If I hadn't caught you banging your personal assistant in your office, none of this would have ever happened. Now you go ahead, and you do this.""First, she wasn't my personal assistant. She was the assistant of my personal assistant. Second, if we just had a normal sex life, I would have never been banging her in my office.""You knew damn well when we got together exactly how I was. You said it didn't bother you. And from what I could tell, it didn't.""Well, people change. You changed.""Yeah, War does that to a person. I want him to be fired.""Lena, you can't fire him. He signed a contract. Unless he does something to null and void that contract. You're stuck with him for the next year.""You're a prick, you know that, right?""Yes, I'm a prick who just fucked your life up for the next year." She heard him laugh."Why don't you go fuck your assistant's assistant again? You do know that in our prenuptial clause if you are caught cheating, the clause is null and void." She paused a moment. "Wait, did you say Cutler?" She heard him laugh again. "Yeah, Cutler. You remember him? He moved to Virginia with his new wife.""Cutler was my private security. Phillips has been reassigned to take his position.""Michael Dunns' management team specifically requested Phillips. So, as of tomorrow, he is no longer your security. That would be Gartiano's assignment now." She heard the snark in his voice."Yeah, we'll fucking see about that!" She slammed the phone down onto the cradle.Gretta looked at her with wide eyes. "Sooo, who's the guy? Besides, one of the hottest men I've ever seen walk through these doors, which is saying a lot because we do have a lot of hot men. And a couple of women.""Aren't you married?""Just because I'm on the diet doesn't mean I can't look at the menu. Now stop stalling. Who's the guy?" she asked, leaning back into the chair.Lena put her head in her hands. She mumbled inaudible.Greta put her hand up to her ear. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you said. Can you repeat that?"She looked up at Greta. "I said he's Asher's father."Greta choked on her own air. "Holy shit. Are you fucking with me?""No, but apparently, Cole is fucking with me.""Did Cole know that's Asher's father?""He did. He does. I'm screwed.""You know, you should have told him. Asher's five already.""I know, but Cole is the only father Asher has ever known. When Dylan and I were together, he specifically made sure I knew he did not want children.""Oh, I never knew that.""Yes, that didn't help our relationship. Nor did me finding him screwing his beautiful Staff Sargent didn't help very much, either.""Holy fucking God. Is that why you broke up?""Yes. I came home on leave. And we were together. I was supposed to leave the next morning, but my flight got delayed 24 hours, so I went back to the apartment to surprise him, and that is when I opened the door, and I found him on the couch with the little slut. But I don't just blame her. He's a fucking asshole.""Wow. I can definitely see why you would not want someone like that to be the father of your child.""As far as I'm concerned, he's the sperm donor.""Well, now he's your employee. So now what?""I don't know. You heard Cole. I can't fire him. He signed a contract. He's here for at least a year unless he fucks up. And besides fucking other women, Dylan is not the kind to ever fuck up.""Look, Caleb and Cyrus are at Caleb's mom's for the weekend. So, let's go out, have lots of drinks, get very drunk, and get you laid.""As fun as that sounds, I have to come into the office tomorrow. And technically, I'm not divorced. I'm still married.""You are legally separated. You have been living in separate homes for over six months. As far as I'm concerned, you're divorced.""Cole does have Asher this weekend.""And you're the boss, so you can pretty much come in any time you want tomorrow. You make your own schedule.""Yeah, but I have to come in because I need to give Dylan his orientation.""So, you're gonna be alone with him all day tomorrow?"Apparently, it's going to be a lot longer than just tomorrow. "What exactly are you insinuating, Greta?""I'm just saying maybe we don't need to go out tonight to get you laid.""That ship has sailed. Far away. Into the Bermuda Triangle.""So, you feel absolutely nothing for him? When he walked in, you saw him, and there were no feelings whatsoever?"Besides the steam rising between my thighs, No. "Besides hatred and disgust. No, not really.""Lena, Darling. I know that I've only been here for four years, and we've only been friends for three. I know you, though. You may not think I know you well, but I know you very well. I know your type. I know he's your type. Obviously, you had a kid together. Don't you want to just sleep with him one more time? It's kind of like closure.""The only thing that's closed is this case. Now, let's finish up the day, and I'll pick you up to go to the bar.""OK, but---""But nothing. Go finish your work. I do pay you, and I pay you well."