I Hate, I Bake, and I Don’t Date! by Alina Jacobs

16

Beck

The tall glass tower gleamed in the sunlight when the caravan of moving trucks showed up.

I whistled as we walked into the pristine lobby. With the white marble floors, subtle Scandinavian wood accents, and the trees, I was actually looking forward to living there.

“This is way nicer than anything Svenssons Investment ever did,” Liam remarked as the girls flitted around, admiring the space.

“Of course it’s nicer than anything Greg was ever going to develop,” said a sharp voice.

Belle Frost was silhouetted against the gleaming white marble in a black suit and a pencil skirt. She had her brother Owen’s same platinum white hair and his height. I always found her slightly intimidating, but today it was clear she was out for blood.

“Though if I want it to stay nice, I shouldn’t even let you all move in here. You’re going to bring down property values.”

“Now, Belle,” Greg said, a smirk on his face, “you know it’s illegal to discriminate.”

“It is not illegal to discriminate against spoiled male billionaires.”

“But it is against families with children,” he said, spreading his arms.

Belle’s eyes widened as the two youngest girls scampered over to Greg. They were dressed in identical outfits with patent leather shoes, knee-high white socks, white dresses, and little white-and-black cape jackets. To finish the look, they each sported a big white bow in their blond hair.

“Good morning, Ms. Belle!” they chorused sweetly.

I glanced over at Enola, who had not brushed her hair that morning and was sullenly holding a box of her things, and then at Annie who, along with several of my other sisters, was racing around, pretending to be a horse.

“Are those your children?” Belle asked Greg in horror.

“What? No, these are my long-lost sisters.” He bent down and scooped the two toddlers up in his arms. They snuggled against him.

Belle’s face softened.

Could this be the thing that brought them back together and made Greg slightly more tolerable to deal with?

“I’m here! I’m here.”

The front door banged open, and Tess stumbled into the lobby, weighted down by several large bags made out of fabric, festooned with neon-colored tigers and unicorns, and overflowing with stuff. One of the bags split, and pots and pans cascaded, crashing to the marble lobby floor.

I bit back a curse.

Tess scrambled around, trying to pick up her things as the girls helped. Well, tried to help. They were still in full-on horse mode and were trying to use their mouths.

“Why did you bring all of that?” I hissed as I tried to stop Annie from licking the floor.

“You’re taking my Friday night,” she argued, “and I need to stress bake. It’s my self-care.”

“I don’t want all of those pots and pans in my new condo,” I said stubbornly. Gone were my visions of a calm and serene all-white living space.

“Are you making cake?” one of the toddlers asked.

“Oooh, look at you in your little outfits!” Tess cooed, cake pans momentarily forgotten. “Aren’t they adorable?” She took out her phone, which was also bedazzled in the eye-watering neon colors of her bags. “I have to take a picture of you all; it is literally the cutest thing ever! There’s just something about a man in a suit with kids that really does it for me!” She snapped several pictures.

“Uh, Tess…”

She ignored me. But I couldn’t ignore Belle. I could practically see the frost creeping up the walls as Tess fawned over Greg.

“Did you dress them all by yourself?” she asked Greg.

“Of course,” he bragged.

“Well, your stock just went up. You’re going to have to beat the women off with a stick,” she said, touching his arm.

He gazed down at her. “I believe a man must not only be competent but excel at every facet of life.”

“I bet you do excel at every facet!”

The fuck?

My brother was not going to be flirting with my assistant. I was going to put a stop to that right now.

But Belle beat me to it.

“He doesn’t excel that well,” she said sharply.

Greg gave her a slight flash of teeth. “You didn’t seem to have any complaints.”

Tess looked between the two of them, realization dawning. “Oh. Ohhh! My bad, I didn’t realize that was your boyfriend.”

“We are not together,” Belle and Greg said at the same time then glared at each other.

“Can we have our surprise now?” one of the toddlers asked, wriggling in Greg’s arms.

“Just a little longer,” Greg said under his breath.

Belle pounced.

“What surprise?” she asked the girls.

“Nothing,” my brother said, setting them on the ground.

Belle bent down to kneel at eye level with the girls. “What did you have to do for your surprise?”

They smiled at her. “We just had to act nice and wear these itchy clothes.”

“It better be a really good surprise,” one of the little girls said seriously, tugging at the bow in her hair. “This is hurting my head.”

Belle deftly untied the bow. “I think you all put on a great performance.”

They cheered then scampered off.

Belle stood up and gave Greg a cold look. “Why am I not surprised? You just can’t stand that I beat you, that I’m better than you.”

“You’re not better than me,” he insisted. “The fact that you had no idea that we were moving in here proves it.”

“No, all it does is prove that you’re trying to do something devious and underhanded as per usual.”

“I just needed somewhere safe to move my family,” he insisted.

“Don’t try that crap with me,” she retorted. “You have something up your sleeve. And it better not be bringing your half-feral siblings here to destroy my tower.”

“They’re just children…” Greg began.

She pointed.

“Ah, shit.”

The toddlers had stripped off their clothes and jumped into one of the fountains in the lobby.

Splash!

“Liam, get out of the fountain!” Greg barked.

“I didn’t do it on purpose. I was trying to grab the girls!”