Chapter 14 Wyatt #2
Boss? That was a strange way of addressing me. Wait, was she teasing me? How the fuck could I not tell the difference? Clearly I needed more coffee to function today.
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
“Thanks.” I heard what sounded like a faint knocking in the background. “Oh, that’s got to be my lunch. I’m starving.”
“What are you having?” I asked, even though it was none of my business.
“Tacos. Not the greatest thing to have delivered, but I was in the mood for some.”
“There’s an excellent place for tacos very close to the office. I’ll take you there one day.” Fuck, no! I cleared my throat. “We’ll go with the whole team,” I clarified.
“That sounds great.” She seemed relieved.
“Of course. And I promise, now that we’re back from Napa, I won’t take up your weekends too.”
“Honestly, it didn’t feel like work. Although, the trio might think otherwise.”
They’d grumbled a bit about coming in on the weekend, but I assured them it was a onetime thing.
“They love me. They’ll get over it,” I assured her.
She laughed. “That’s an interesting way of looking at things.”
“What can I say? I pride myself on being a great boss.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You’re not convinced,” I teased.
“I’ve only known you for a week. Far too soon to make up my mind.”
“You’ll come around. I’m sure of it.”
“I look forward to coming into the office tomorrow.”
Swallowing hard, I said, “Come this afternoon.”
“Oh?”
“You can meet the team and... Anyway, everyone’s production takes a nosedive in the afternoon.”
“You know what? That’s an excellent idea,” she said. “That way we can get the introductions and small talk out of the way. And tomorrow morning, I won’t have any distractions. I really like you, boss!” she teased again.
“How long will it take you to get here?”
“It’s a twenty-minute drive. I’ll be there in an hour. I need to eat my tacos and then put something decent on.”
I barely held back a groan. Now I wanted to know what she was wearing. The stretchy tank tops she slept in at the cabin? They drove me crazy.
“I’ll be waiting.”
“Perfect. I’ll eat and then hurry up. This is such a good idea. Thanks for coming up with it, Wyatt,” she said.
“Sure, no problem.” Of course, it was more efficient this way, but that wasn’t the only reason I asked her here today. I just wanted to see her, plain and simple.
I wrote a quick email to my team and copied Kinley.
Hey, team. Kinley will come in this afternoon to get to know everyone.
That was it—short and to the point. Even though we were all on the same floor, I preferred to send group emails for stuff like this. My brothers insisted that it was why the open-floor office plan was better, but it just wasn’t my style. I liked having my own quiet space and silence.
Kinley arrived forty-five minutes later. I waited for her by the elevator. She stepped out with a huge smile.
“Hey, Wyatt.” She was carrying her bag on one shoulder and holding her laptop with the other arm.
“You brought your laptop too,” I observed.
“Of course. Didn’t come just to chitchat. And I still have a few good hours of work left to do.”
“Love your work ethic,” I informed her.
“Music to my ears. So, what’s the plan?”
“We’ll go to everyone’s office, and then I’ll show you yours.”
“Great. I love this setup. It was a bit loud at the bungalow with all of us in the same room.”
“I know. But that’s how the trio prefers it.”
She laughed. “I noticed. They had their own groove going on.”
“I, for one, prefer closed spaces.”
“Me too. It’s unheard of in tech unless you’re C-level or something. And I often took refuge in...” She stopped smiling, shaking her head. “Never mind, forget I said that.”
I assumed her sentence ended with “Mark’s office” because he was CFO.
“Come on, let’s meet everyone.” I almost put my hand on her back but stopped myself just in time. Kinley looked at me sideways, clearly catching on to my intention. Her nostrils flared, and then she straightened up.
Nope, we certainly were not immune to each other.
We stepped into Hugh’s office first. “He’s our finance guru,” I said.
She stilled and jerked her head back lightly. Her discomfort was evident, especially when she introduced herself in quite a stilted way: “How do you do? I’m Kinley McGuire.”
Was she reacting like that just because he was the head of finance?
Clearly I couldn’t comprehend how much damage her ex had done to her psyche.
The urge to take care of her intensified even though it was decidedly not my place.
She was going to recover eventually. She was strong, and I liked that about her.
It was all still too fresh. I couldn’t remember when the lawsuit had ended, but it wasn’t that long ago.
It took us no time at all to make the round of introductions. Kinley easily made small talk and promised to be around to get to know everyone better tomorrow. She was going to fit in perfectly.
We walked farther down the hall and stopped before another room.
“And this is your office,” I said as we stepped in. “It’s small, but—”
“It’s mine. I love it.”
“The view isn’t bad either.”
She looked out the window. “I like the Gaslamp Quarter. It’s got a cute vibe.”
“I agree.” I turned to her and clapped my hands together. “All right, then. I’ll leave you to it. When are you jumping on the distribution part of the business?”
“Tomorrow morning. I already have a list of distributors I want to hit up.”
I raised a brow. “When did you have time for research?”
“In Napa, when I couldn’t sleep at night.” She glanced down at her feet, fidgeting where she stood.
She couldn’t sleep? That was interesting.
“You could have joined me. I had some sleepless nights too.” Quickly realizing how that sounded, I added, “I spent them in the living room.”
She smiled but didn’t reply, which only confirmed that the sleepless hours were because of me. Why did I feel like gloating?
“Anything you need, either send me an email or come to my office.”
“Will do,” she said, then immediately sat down at her desk. It was a glass table on wooden legs.
“Feel free to change anything you’d like in here to make the office yours.”
“Oh, no. I’m quite good with everything.”
“Fair enough.”
I couldn’t think of a single reason to linger any longer, so I left.
Day one of having Kinley here, and I was already looking for excuses to be around her. This was a very interesting start.