Bad Bridesmaid (Billionaire's Club Book 11) by Elise Faber (important books to read txt) 📕

wasn’t going to allow her assistant to go through that alone. Stef was good people, and she didn’t have anyone in the area since she’d broken up with her boyfriend and he’d taken their friends.

Assholes.

Somewhere in the swirling in the back of her head, she made a mental note to make sure she, Cora, Kelsey, and Kate all brought the full-frontal attack into folding Stef into their friend group.

She needed some peeps—and ones that wouldn’t disappear just because a boyfriend was a total twat-waffle.

“What room are you in?”

“Five-oh-four,” Stef said. “And here I live until at least tomorrow. They don’t think the surgeon will be able to see me until then.”

“Oh no,” Heidi murmured as she jotted the hospital name and the room number on a scrap of paper from her purse. Last thing she needed to do was forget one or the other with everything else going on. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. But don’t worry, I’m comfortable and have plenty of bad cable TV to keep me company.”

“What about a phone charger? Or a change of clothes? Or snacks? Or a book?” she asked, mind jumping between her friend being in the hospital and the lab.

“It’s one night,” Stef said. “Trust me, I’ve roughed it in worse places.”

“Hang in there,” she said as they approached the gate for the lab.

“Keep me posted on the equipment.”

Hell no, she wouldn’t, or at least not any more than what was necessary so Stef wouldn’t worry and jeopardize her recovery. “I’ll call you as soon as I can,” she promised then hung up, stashing her cell and pulling out her badge. “I’m afraid they won’t let you in without the proper clearance,” she told Brad. “You’ll have to drop me out here, and I’ll grab an Über home.”

“I can wait,” he began.

She touched his cheek. “I have no idea how long I’ll be.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Well, I do,” she murmured. “I won’t be able to concentrate in there if you’re out here just twiddling your thumbs. Go home. I’ll call tonight if it’s not too late. Tomorrow, if it is.” Dropping her hand, she pulled her purse onto her shoulder. “You can just park over there,” she said, pointing to the row of visitor spots before the gate.

He pulled to a stop and looked at her. “You sure you don’t want me to wait?” A small smile. “I’ve got plenty of books to keep me busy.”

She nodded. “Thank you for offering. That’s sweet. But I’m sure.” Pausing with her hand on the handle of the door, she made a face and said, “But I am sorry my work ruined our date.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he told her. “Now I’ve got plenty of ammunition to tease you back.”

“I think we’re equal, and that’s it.”

He laughed. “Maybe you’re right.

Hand still resting on the pull, she hesitated. “I don’t want to go.”

“I know, baby,” he murmured, pressing a quick kiss to her mouth that had her pulse skyrocketing and her lips tingling before he pulled back. “But your work is important. Our stuff will hold.”

She released a trembling breath, her heart squeezing tight, a mental billboard flashing Unicorn. Unicorn. Unicorn! across her mind. “Thank you,” she whispered.

A sexy smile. “Get out of here before I kiss that look off your face. You’ve got work to do.”

Heart full, she nodded, pulled the lever, and got out. She walked quickly to the gate and showed her pass. When they opened it for her, she glanced back, saw that Brad was still waiting for her, and waved.

He waved back then gestured at her to hurry up.

Laughing, she turned her back on the gate, on the visitor’s parking lot, on Brad, and hustled into the lab, thinking that she’d definitely found the Unicorn.

She just wasn’t sure how long he’d stick around.

Later that night, many hours later, after things in the lab had stabilized and she’d managed to save their six months of work, she stumbled into the parking lot, bleary-eyed and exhausted, Maggie staggering alongside her.

Luckily, she didn’t have to wait for a pickup, as Maggie had offered to get her home, and so they made their way over to her assistant’s tiny hybrid.

A few minutes later, they were on the freeway, heading for Heidi’s place.

“Thanks again for driving me home,” she said, staring out at the dark sky, at the bright flashes of white and red lights surrounding them.

“Thanks again for not firing me,” Maggie said lightly.

“That calculation wasn’t your fault, and you know it.” Heidi shook her head. “I honestly cannot think of what happened. All the numbers and settings were correct when I left yesterday, and we were the only ones in there.”

A beat. “Except, we weren’t the only ones in there.”

Heidi frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, when I came in this afternoon to run the checks, I saw the cleaning crew leaving.” She glanced over then back at the road. “I didn’t think anything of it at first, and then after I noticed the readings, I was in too much of a panic to make sure the experiment didn’t fail that I’d forgotten.”

“And now you remembered.”

A nervous look toward Heidi. “Yeah. I’m sorry, I didn’t remember sooner.”

“I’m not irritated with you,” she said, digging around her purse and grabbing her cell. There were all sorts of notifications on the screen, but nothing from Stef, who’d texted a few hours before saying they were taking her into surgery after all. “I’m just pissed that the protocol wasn’t followed, especially considering everything that could have been jeopardized.” She forced her tone to stay even. “In fact, I think you probably deserve a raise for managing to get all of those half-life calculations on the backup hard drive before the data was erased.”

“I—well—”

Heidi patted her arm. “You did good,” she said. “I promise I’d tell you otherwise.”

“Not so good,” she muttered. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have had to call in the boss on her day off.”

“Meh. Won’t be the first, nor the last. Now,” she added, changing the subject before Maggie could