Page 65 of Insufferable Boss

He didn't have that somewhat softened demeanor that I realized he had when talking to me. His guard hadn't been up earlier, I realized. And it made me once again turn to him. He met my gaze, and I noted this again. And it was the absolutely wrong thing to notice. It was the last thing that I wanted to notice, because then my heart once again would start misbehaving and entertain thoughts that it truly had no business entertaining.

I had tried to push away so many things about us and that night out of my mind, but yet here I was failing once again. I had made progress, though, and that in itself had been torture. But then I had immense help in the form of the distraction of picking out a suitable apartment in New York City. It was quite a struggle, but the realtor had repeatedly espoused concerning the annoyances that I'd had to deal with. It was all together a smooth process for me because I had the money and prestige. Apparently, the rest of the world had to deal with much, much worse.

But now it was done and almost completely decorated, so I couldn't help but feel nervous once again. I had thrown myself into it, so it was more than easy to put a great many things out of my busy mind. Not anymore, though. But then again, he was launching this project now, and so I couldn't help but feel relieved.

Soon enough, we arrived at the designated offices, and I found that there were already many others on this floor. However, a wing had been assigned to us with multiple rooms and the most striking view of the city, and I loved every possible bit of it. He took me from one room to the other alone, and I was amazed by just how spacious the division seemed.

"You have your own reception," he said. "Well, more like an entry, but I plan to have them install a sign on the wall that bears your division's name."

"It has a name?" I asked, and he smiled.

"It should, shouldn't it? To make things official?"

At first, I didn't catch on to anything else he might have been insinuating since I was so lost in the moment. But eventually, it hit me like a ton of bricks. But then, as I looked at him and laughed, his piercing eyes looking at me once again, I couldn't help but consider that perhaps it wasn't all in my head.

However, it didn't matter since that wasn't currently why we were here, so I returned my attention to what was important at hand.

"You can start officially assembling your staff, conducting interviews. That can be quite stressful, so my condolences in advance."

I was amused.

"You know I have staff back in LA, right?"

"Yeah," was all he said, and when I turned to glance at him, I saw that he was lost in thought and probably hadn't heard what I had said. Shaking my head, I returned my attention to the rooms and could imagine all the plans we had coming to life.

He came up to me then, and I could smell his familiar scent before I even heard him coming.

"Budget allowance," he handed the file over to me, and I was reluctant to take it because, of course, I had already seen it. However, doing so forced me to look into his eyes, and just as he had probably intended, my heart stopped.

"You can begin purchasing the needed equipment to start your tests for the laboratory. I'm especially excited to see how that part will turn out."

"Yeah," I said, but he didn't let go of the paper. And neither did I pull it out of his hands.

"Have you found an apartment?" he asked.

In the quiet of the space, where I considered whether to respond or not, we were going into personal territory. Even though we were alone, I didn't see it as something I was interested in doing because I now knew that going down that rabbit hole spelled nothing but trouble for me.

31

Kane

I didn't knowwhy I had asked this question. I had stared at her for too long, I guess, and just as I had expected, I wanted to know anything I could about her. I could easily have asked her assistant, as he was technically under my employ, yet I had held myself back from doing this.

To provewhat I had now confirmed to myself, which was the fact that I was both struggling to keep away and hooked, but I didn't want to admit it yet. The fact that I even thought that these were separate questions at first showed just how much trouble I was in. But as she stared at me, wondering whether to respond or not, I realized that we just might be in the same boat.

It was somewhat amusing to watch, especially as I noted the time that passed and understood that it was way too much time to take in considering the answer to such a simple question.

"Um..."she said. "I, uh... yeah. Actually, yes. My friend is coming in soon from LA."

She stopped suddenly,then abruptly, which made me understand that she wasn't certain as to why she had done that.

I waited,and soon she smiled and started to turn away. I wanted to stop her, but I caught myself just in time. But just before she reached the door, I spoke.

"Why is she coming in?"I asked.

She stoppedand then turned around to face me.

"I found an apartment,and I've been somewhat busy setting it up. It's not done, but it's hospitable, and I wanted to share it with her."