9. Byron Graham
9
BYRON GRAHAM
It was weird being in the office the next day. I should have been able to put our date and late-night activities to the back of my mind, but every place within the building made me think of Sebastian, and every thought of Sebastian led me right to that image of him on his knees with my cock in his mouth.
Maybe dating was a bad idea.
How was I supposed to work with him after kissing him? After watching him come all over my floor?
Which was the hottest thing I’d ever seen in my life. I’d thought the man screamed sex appeal before. After seeing that, it was a wonder I didn’t melt whenever I was near him.
It took me a few tries to get through all the emails waiting for me, but the haze created by last night’s orgasm finally faded. As I finished my initial barrage of emails—mostly to request agendas for meetings people wanted Sebastian to attend—Kaylan arrived, wearing what appeared to be the same suit he’d worn the previous day and deep shadows under his eyes. Not a good sign.
I grabbed my mug and followed him into the break room, where he stared at the coffeemaker as though he couldn’t understand what it was. After putting my mug on the counter, I reached out and plucked his out of his hand to keep it from falling and shattering.
“What can I do to help?” I asked as gently as possible.
Kaylan sucked in a wet, ragged breath and forced his eyes to open wide. “What? Nothing. Everything is fine. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You’re wearing the exact clothes you wore yesterday, and there are bags under your eyes. What happened? Did someone in your family pass away? Is Arden all right?”
A sharp gasp cut through the room and every muscle in Kaylan’s body locked up, bracing itself.
“We had a fight.”
Okay. That was something better than death. Kaylan didn’t look like he’d been through a physical confrontation—just looked emotionally hurt and like he’d gone without sleep.
“Did Arden punch you or physically threaten you?”
Kaylan stared at me as though I’d lost my mind. He shook his head and dropped into the plastic chair I’d maneuvered him to. “No. Of course not. Arden would never.”
“Good. What happened?”
“We got into this big argument last night. I was telling him about how the merger fell through and I’m worried about people losing their jobs. And he began on about how I’d be better off creating my own business, and that I’m wasting my talent on being Sebastian’s secretary. He called me a secretary !”
Mr. Arden was on the fast track to getting my foot lodged in his balls. Kaylan was not a secretary. I wasn’t a fucking secretary. We’d gained skills working for Sebastian that Arden wished he had.
“There are times when he can be so insufferable. Like because he’s his own boss and runs his own company, he’s smarter than the rest of us,” Kaylan raged. But the fire that blazed brightly one second went out in the next. His entire body slumped, and he hung his head. “At the end, we were both shouting and saying things we didn’t mean. I stormed out and started driving. I was almost to Columbus when I realized if I didn’t turn around, I’d be late for work.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and held in my sigh. Columbus was two hours north of Cincinnati. It was a lucky thing he’d come to his senses prior to reaching Cleveland.
“You need to go home and get some sleep,” I stated, squeezing his shoulder.
His head popped up in an instant. “I can’t. Sebastian said it’s all hands on deck for our recovery planning meetings. You’re going to need help compiling the reports, and Kate in design asked for my input on some Japanese packaging she has to get over to legal for review.”
“You need sleep first. I can tell Sebastian you’re taking a sick day.”
Before I could continue, the sound of footsteps stopped the words in my throat. That wasn’t Sebastian’s cadence, and no one bothered to come up to this floor this early without an appointment except for the CFO. Yet, that didn’t sound like Declan Foster either.
“Kaylan?” It was a loud whisper, as if the person were trying to be quiet but still needed his voice to carry to the hidden nooks and crannies.
“Arden?” Kaylan shot to his feet and was out of the break room faster than I could offer to talk to Arden for him. I followed right on his heels, prepared to stomp a mudhole in Arden’s ass if he continued to hurt Kaylan.
To his credit, Arden didn’t look any better than Kaylan. His hair and clothes were a rumpled mess, and his eyes carried the same dark circles. He was also carrying a gigantic bouquet of white daisies and a bag of food from Kaylan’s favorite breakfast restaurant.
“Oh, thank God you’re here!” Arden exclaimed when he caught sight of Kaylan.
“What are you doing here?” Kaylan stopped several feet away, his arms folded over his chest.
“Looking for you so I could apologize for being a giant asshole. I went to your place last night, but you never came home. I tried calling you, but you turned off your phone. Honey, I’ve been worried sick about you.”
“Why? Afraid Sebastian’s secretary can’t take care of himself?” Kaylan shot back, and I winced. That was a solid hit.
Arden hung his head and even dropped to his knees in front of Kaylan, making the man gasp as the paper bag of food crinkled and the flowers rustled against his jacket.
“I’m sorry. I should never have said that. It was wrong and so fucking out of line. You are so much more than I implied. Besides, even if you were a secretary, there’s nothing wrong with that. I have no right to criticize your life. The only thing that matters is your happiness, and I know working here makes you very happy.”
Damn . Arden was very good at apologizing.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to stay and enjoy the show. As Arden finished speaking, the elevator doors opened, and Sebastian stepped off with his bodyguard Neil. Not good timing. Nothing killed a mood like your boss showing up.
I slipped past the couple and briskly walked toward Sebastian, whose breezy smile turned into a confused frown as he stared past me. I held up one hand and made a spinning motion with my finger, indicating that he should turn around.
“What’s going on?” Sebastian whispered as I reached him at the bank of elevators. “I thought proposals were on one knee, not two.”
“That’s not a proposal. It’s an apology,” I corrected as I gave both Sebastian and Neil a little shove into the elevator car. “We’re going to the café at Fountain Square to give them a moment of privacy.” Thankfully, I had my phone on me and could access my notes for the day.
“What happened?” Sebastian asked as soon as the doors closed and we started to descend.
“They had an argument, and Arden said some unwise things, such as calling Kaylan your secretary.”
“Bullshit. I need to go up there and set him straight.” Sebastian stepped forward and reached out to punch the button for the top floor, but I caught his hand, stopping him.
“No.”
“What?”
“No. Kaylan is more than capable of handling Arden without your help.”
Sebastian huffed and dropped back against the wall. “How dare he not properly appreciate Kaylan! Does he not realize how critical that man is to our day-to-day operations? How many departments he’s coordinating to make sure everything is running smoothly? Does he not know how hard it is to manage me? Arden has no idea how fucking lucky he is to have found Kaylan.”
I reluctantly released his hand and studiously ignored the butterflies in my stomach taking flight, but it wasn’t working. Hearing him angrily defend Kaylan only made my heart race and dance in my chest. It wasn’t that he was a good, thoughtful boss. He was a good, thoughtful person. He cared about those around him. How could I not want to swoon?
“I don’t think you have to worry,” I said. “Arden delivered a rather astute and heartfelt apology just as you arrived. It sounded like he’d realized that he was talking out of his ass last night and was properly begging for forgiveness.”
“Good. Kaylan was happy with Arden. I don’t want to see him hurt.”
“Arguments are a normal part of a relationship. I think they’ll be able to get past this bump in the road,” I murmured as I pulled my phone from my jacket pocket.
“True. True.” Sebastian was silent for all of two floors before his shoulder bumped mine. “How many relationships have you ended because of an argument?”
I slid him a repressive look, but it had no effect on him. While Neil was the only one in the elevator with us and he likely heard stories from Carl, we still needed to act like professionals during work hours.
“Very few, sir,” I said stiffly. I’d been in very few relationships, and most of those had ended because I was cheap and boring. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sebastian came to the same conclusion.
We were leaving the office and crossing Fountain Square when Kaylan called me.
“You can return now. Arden and I patched things up,” he announced as soon as I answered.
“You’re happy with his apology? He was sincere?”
“Yes, yes. We both overreacted, but we talked it out and we’re good now. Arden is leaving.”
“I want you to go home as well,” I ordered. Sebastian stopped beside me in front of the tall bronze Tyler Davidson fountain and lifted one questioning eyebrow. I nodded to him and gave a thumbs-up.
“No, I’m fine. There’s work?—”
“There will always be work. You’re exhausted and won’t be able to concentrate. Go home, get some sleep, and take a shower. Be back by one to help me with the summary reports for the board of directors.”
There was a moment of silence before Kaylan more hesitantly asked, “Are you sure?”
“Very sure. Sebastian is nodding in agreement as well. We’re going to grab some coffee and then be up. I’ll see you at one.”
Sebastian was chuckling at me when I ended the call. I narrowed my eyes at him and stated in my sternest voice, “He needs sleep. He and Arden are fine now, but Kaylan needs sleep or he’ll be useless all day.”
My boss straightened and gave me a sharp salute. “Yes, sir.”
I ignored his nonsense and stepped inside the coffee shop, thanking Neil as he held the door open for us. As Sebastian followed, I grabbed his arm and gave him a small pull to the left. The lunatic had his eyes locked on me instead of watching where he was going. One more step and his shoulder would have slammed into the doorframe. He didn’t even blink in reaction. I doubted he’d even noticed.
Sebastian leaned in close as we stood in line. “I love how you take such good care of the Courtland Enterprises employees. It’s incredibly sexy.”
I kept my eyes on my phone, praying he couldn’t tell that my ears were burning and that my embarrassment was threatening to stain my cheeks.
We spent a somewhat lazy hour in the café, sipping coffee and nibbling breakfast sandwiches as we discussed his schedule. Sebastian might have sat closer than necessary so he could look at my phone. And his thigh might have been pressed to mine, but it was purely innocent. There was no way he was doing it to torment me with his heat and gentle whiffs of his intoxicating cologne.
Regardless, I was grateful when we returned to the office and separated so I could catch my breath and clear my head in time for Justine Overland’s arrival. Of the various executives at Courtland Enterprises, she was one of my favorites.
Justine was the company’s Chief Innovation Officer, and she worked on creating new products for the company’s different divisions.
“There’s the hardest-working man at Courtland,” she greeted me like she always did.
“Just trying to keep up with the hardest-working woman,” I replied with a smile. Everything about her screamed free spirit, from her colorful clothes to her eclectic, orange-rimmed glasses to her jangly jewelry. It was barely nine in the morning, but her hair was already twisted into a messy bun as if she’d been in the office for five or six hours. And knowing her, it was entirely possible.
“Is he ready for me?” she whispered.
“Two minutes. We had our morning meeting in a coffee shop and returned only a short time ago.”
“Got it.” She rocked back and forth on her heels, trying for nonchalant, but I wasn’t fooled. They all tried to get gossip out of me because they knew I was privy to the best dirt.
“So…I heard the merger was squashed officially,” she began and then added in a low voice. “Rat bastards.”
“Mr. Courtland is planning to make an announcement to the entire company later this week, after the new plan for 2025 is nailed down.”
“ Mn . Good. Good. I know a lot of people are worried.”
Another long pause.
“Were…you…there?” she inquired haltingly.
“Yes. I handed out the due diligence report.”
Justine squealed and jumped to my desk, her bracelets clacking together. She rested her elbows on the corner of my desk and put her chin in her hands. “Tell me, was it glorious? Did they lose their minds? Was the CEO really shouting for Sebastian to be arrested?”
I tried to hold in my smile as I gave her the tiniest nod possible.
Justine’s laugh would have put to shame a Disney villain in its evilness. “I knew we should have sneaked one of those micro cameras on you. I would have paid half a year’s salary to see that debacle unfold.”
“Ridiculous,” I muttered even as my smile sneaked out. Justine was too fun.
“I take it that this is the beginning of the ‘Go Big or Go Home’ push,” she stated as she straightened and tilted her head toward Sebastian’s office. “We need one big best seller to carry us through the year.”
“Do you mind if I ask—is that a normal operating procedure for companies of our size?”
She nodded immediately. “Some stodgy conservative firms who can’t bang out new ideas will begin with cutting costs, layoffs, and hiring freezes, but Courtland is nimble despite its size, and we have a long history of exciting new products and innovations. It’s our bread and butter.”
“But isn’t it risky? To have everything riding on a single product launch?”
Justine shrugged, sending her earrings swinging. “It is to a degree, but in Courtland’s history, we’ve had only two products bomb and since then, we’ve implemented more focus groups, reviews, and quality controls. The more likely thing is for a product to do well, but not be the best seller we hoped.”
“Sorry. I don’t mean to pry.”
She immediately waved off my apology. “It’s not prying. These are excellent questions. Sharing knowledge makes the whole team stronger.”
Someone clearing their throat jerked our attention to Sebastian’s office. The boss was standing in the doorway with an amused look on his face.
“If you’re done flirting with my assistant, I’m ready to start our meeting,” he drawled.
Justine snorted and strolled into his office. “You should count yourself lucky I’ve never tried to steal that brilliant man from you.”
Sebastian paused to stare at me before closing his doors. “Never,” he growled.
My heart fluttered at that growl, but a little knot tightened in my stomach. That was the grand plan, right? He’d win me over, thanks to this dating bargain, and I’d get moved to another department so we could date without me losing my job.
I shoved the thought aside. Sebastian was being silly. My brain returned to what Justine had told me about new products and the nugget of an idea that was forming in my mind. It could be something. Something that could be big, but I needed more research and numbers to help me.