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Chapter Twelve
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2024-10-29 19:42:56
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Kissing the Boss Chapter Thirteen
CHAPTER THIRTEEN“Okay, why the fuck did he leave his shoe on my desk?”Brick’s voice from right behind me made my heart nearly leap out of my chest before I spun around in the doorway of his office where I’d been standing and watching Ezra march off. He sat at his desk, Ezra’s shoe in hand.When he waved the familiar black pump, I slumped against the doorjamb and closed my eyes. “Dammit.” Then with a frown, I opened my eyes, straightened, and pointed to my stepbrother. “This time, you’re returning it to him.”Brick lifted a single eyebrow. “This time?”Crap. Said too much.Wincing and then offering him a big smile, I pressed my hands together in prayer before asking, “What’re the chances you could just forget you heard that?”He set the shoe down and folded his arms over his chest as he rocked back in his chair. “About zero, I’d say.”“That’s what I thought.” With a sigh, I fell into the chair across from him and told him everything,
Kissing the Boss Chapter Fourteen
CHAPTER FOURTEENI was still blue when I clocked out of work. It was the first time I actually got to use the JFI time clock to clock out, too. I should’ve been delighted about that alone. I was now a full-time employee at my father’s company. Woot-woot! It felt as if I’d already half reached my dreams. I could practically feel my father’s spirit grinning in pride. The sensation of that’s my girl seemed to shimmer through me as I left the office. I should’ve wanted to celebrate, rejoice.But my encounters with Ezra had left me more maudlin than festive. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d really hurt him. I knew talking to someone a total of maybe an hour and a half all together didn’t make us close or anything, but there’d been something between us, something that made me feel as if I’d always known him, as if my soul had seen his and said, oh, there you are.That was silly, I knew. But I still couldn’t shake the sense that I’d ruined ev
Kissing the Boss Chapter Fifteen
CHAPTER FIFTEEN“Brother?” I whirled toward Isobel, whispering, “No.” I even shook my head to deny it.But then I blinked rapidly as pieces began to come together. Ezra had said his sister was disfigured and still one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. That description fit Isobel perfectly. She was simply lovely, scars and all.“Oh my God,” I gasped, backing away from her and lifting my hands in apology, though I had no idea what I was apologizing for. “You are. You really are, aren’t you?”She shook her head, smiling out a confused frown. “How do you know Ezra?” Then her expression fell. “Oh, Lord. Please don’t tell me he’s been giving you unwanted attention.”“What? No!” I cried a bit too quickly before flushing. “I mean, it totally wouldn’t be unwanted, if he were… Which he’s not, because why… Why would he give little ol’ me any attention? I’m no one.”Gabby snorted. “I think the girl doth protest too much.”“Definitely,” Ca
Kissing the Boss Chapter Sixteen
CHAPTER SIXTEENI nodded. “Okay.”Talking sounded good.Figuring out the status of our relationship sounded even better.Squeezing Ezra’s hand, I looked up into his eyes. He nodded his approval, so I turned us down the sidewalk. Half a block later, I stopped and faced my building before drawing in a deep breath. “This is it.”He paused beside me, looking up at the crumbling brick walls and ancient cracked windows. Wincing at the big box window in the middle of the top floor that signaled my place, his expression morphed from dazed shock into horror. “You live here? This place looks like it should be condemned.”I rolled my eyes and hooked my arm through his. “Come on, it’s not that bad.” I encouraged him through the front door and grinned up at him, wiggling my eyebrows. “The elevator actually works now. Some mysterious, rich benefactor paid to get it fixed a couple months back. So, yay, we don’t have to walk four flights of stairs today
Kissing the Boss Chapter Seventeen
CHAPTER SEVENTEENI was still glowing when I sailed into JFI the next morning. After starting the coffee maker, I sat down at my desk to get a little email correspondence done. Then I researched different kinds of leather. By the time I heard Brick’s voice in the hallway, only an hour and a half had passed, yet I’d gotten an entire day’s worth of work in already.Which was probably a good thing. Brick was as chatty in the office as he was everywhere else. It slowed my workflow considerably when he was around, so it was just as well that I got as much completed before he arrived.He laughed, talking to some other man, as he entered the room, only to slow to a stop and inhale deeply. “Damn, you even brew the best-smelling coffee, kid.”I grinned, soaking in the compliment like a flower greedily inhaling sunlight, even as I wanted to deflect and say the coffee beans had done all the work aromatizing the air, not me.Popping to my feet, I bro
Kissing the Boss Chapter Eighteen
CHAPTER EIGHTEENI yelped my surprise, while across the room, Brick stood up from his chair, growling, “What the hell, man?”Another second passed, and then Ezra let go of my hair only to grasp my arm and help me back to my feet. “Sorry, sorry,” he gushed, his eyes full of contrite apology. “I just saw Elton walk by. I’m not sure what he was doing on the third floor. Are you okay? I can’t believe I just pushed you down without any warning. I’m such an ass.”Brick nudged him aside so he could get a look at me and check me over.I was fine. Totally fine, just surprised. To settle my nerves, I brushed at my knees and said to Ezra, “You think he was looking for me?”He didn’t have a chance to answer because Brick was too busy butting in. “Wait. We’re hiding from Elton now? Christopher Elton? Why?”I let out a sigh. Both men were a good head taller than me, and with them crowded so close, looking concerned, I felt a little overwhelmed. I took
Kissing the Boss Chapter Nineteen
CHAPTER NINETEENThat evening, Ezra was waiting for me at my apartment door when I made it home from work.I slowed to a stop when I saw him leaning against the wall. He lifted his face only to push to a stand when he saw me.“Hey,” he said softly, shoving his hands into his pockets. A look of regret crossed his features.Fearing the worse, I said, “Hey,” back in the same quiet, wary tone. All the while, my stomach dipped into my knees with dread. Why did he look so sorry?“You worked late,” he noted, his gaze drifting over me as if taking note of every inch.Still feeling as if something was off, I lifted my hand to touch his torso, just inside his open jacket. “I wanted to finalize the deal with the leather company, and then I helped Brick work on the portfolio he’s supposed to turn in to you on Friday. I swear, he doesn’t get around to working until early afternoon every day, and then he has to stay late to get anything finished. Why
Kissing the Boss Chapter Twenty
CHAPTER TWENTYI almost expected Ezra to be waiting on me in my office when I arrived on Wednesday morning; I was that sure he’d choose us together than us apart. But I wasn’t disappointed—at least not too disappointed—when he was nowhere to be seen when I walked in. I still had faith he’d come through.Humming to myself, I booted up my computer, started the coffee, and then checked emails. I glanced over the portfolio we’d been working on yesterday, and scribbled down a few notes and ideas for revision before a yawning, grumbling Brick stumbled into the room.“Coffee,” he croaked.I hurried a mug to him, then stepped back so I could shake my head and whistle. “Wow, you look hungover.”“Not hungover,” he mumbled before sipping. After that first swallow, he sighed and closed his eyes as if relieved. “At least not hungover from alcohol.”“What else is there to be hungover from?” I asked, squinting, and suddenly feeling too naïve for my own
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Kissing the Boss Epilogue
EPILOGUE“I hereby call to order the first meeting of the most kickass book club ever assembled.”Camille stopped talking in order to take a huge gulp of the wine she’d been holding above her head.Seated in a comfy chair across the room from her, Isobel—yes, Ezra’s sister, Isobel—said, “Uh…hear, hear,” and took her own drink.Gabby and I exchanged raised eyebrow glances before we shrugged and tossed back our glasses as well.So, yeah. A couple months had passed since my wicked stepmother had been arrested and I’d become the new CEO at Judge Fashions Industry, sharing the power with my awesome boyfriend, Ezra.My lawyers had officially gotten everything that had originally been left to me in my father’s will transferred to my name, even though they were still trying to figure out how much money Lana owed me after spending it as if it were her own for the last few years. Not that she’d ever be able to pay me back everything from behind bars, but the law
Kissing the Boss Chapter Thirty
CHAPTER THIRTYOh, wow. So I guess it didn’t take much wine to turn Mabel’s granddaughter silly-drunk.“Magic wand?” Ezra asked, lifting one eyebrow.And yeah, now I had questions like that to deal with. Lovely.I cleared my throat, ignoring the way my face heated as I decided to go with Gabby’s tact. “Long story,” I told him.He nodded.When neither of us spoke, just stared with this uncomfortable tension brewing between us, he finally broke, his face morphing with concern.“Jesus, Yellow,” he breathed, running his hands through his hair. “Are you okay?”When he stepped toward me, I hugged myself and turned to the side, letting him know I wasn’t okay. Not with anything. Not even with him.He paused, his eyebrows furrowing with concern. “Kaitlynn?” he rasped, his gaze full of agony.I cleared my throat and shifted my attention from him, unable to focus on anything but how betrayed I had felt when he hadn’t stood up for me in that con
Kissing the Boss Chapter Twenty-nine
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINEAt home, the first thing I saw when I stepped into my apartment was the big box window that looked so much like the one in Ezra’s bedroom, and I burst into tears.To escape painful reminders, I fled to my room, only to remember everything we’d done on my bed together. I already knew I’d only summon a memory of him cooking grilled cheese sandwiches in my kitchen if I went there, and basically, there was nowhere else in my apartment to go after that, so I shut myself in my bathroom and curled into a ball on the closed lid of the toilet seat.It felt as if my dad had just died, all over again. But this time, he’d been murdered.By Lana.How had she done it to make it look like a heart attack? I’d read this true crime book once about some doctor lady who’d fed her husband some kind of exotic beans or something that wouldn’t reveal anything unusual in a toxicology report as she’d made him sicker and sicker over time. Was th
Kissing the Boss Chapter Twenty-eight
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTI stared at Hayden, unable to react. Unable to process. While it felt as if a swarm of bees began stinging every inch of my flesh and my stomach plummeted into my knees, my gaze couldn’t seem to leave my oldest stepbrother. He looked so sure, so tormented by his claim. The man truly, honestly believed what he was saying.But could I?Next to me, Brick gushed out all the responses I couldn’t seem to summon. Letting out a harsh laugh, he flopped back noisily in his seat and ran both hands through his hair. “Jesus, I know we joke about that shit all the time, but fuck, bro. This isn’t funny.”“No, it’s not,” Hayden agreed, tearing his gaze from me to focus on Brick. “Not at all. But it’s true. I found proof. Irrefutable evidence.”“How?” Ezra was the one to ask.I looked his way, but again, he was too busy dissecting Hayden with a hard stare to notice me.“It started a few weeks ago,” Hayden began. “From something Brun
Kissing the Boss Chapter Twenty-seven
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENIt would probably be completely unnecessary for me to say my weekend at Ezra’s was amazing, but it was. It totally was.We spent most of it inside, trying to christen as many rooms as we could—double-christening a few. And when we weren’t sexing it up, we’d sit out on the back terrace, wrapped in a blanket together, enjoying the sunset. Or we watched movies, argued politics, heck, we even played a couple games of chess together. And I took a spin in his mammoth kitchen once or twice, whipping up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.Nothing else in the world existed but us.By the time Monday came around, we were both loath to return to reality, where we had to hide our relationship at work and pretend we barely knew each other.When we returned to his light-blue Bentley in the garage—my purse and overnight bag with me—we were both unusually quiet and subdued. Ezra held my hand while he walked around to the passenger sid
Kissing the Boss Chapter Twenty-six
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXThough the voting presentation of portfolios took up a good portion of the day, an hour and a half remained afterward before my full eight-hour work day was up.Sadly, I couldn’t remember much of anything I did in that hour. I was floating on too big of a high. Brick spent the entire time out of the office, telling his team how awesome we’d done with our designs, raking in more yeses than any other department, which also meant we had more work cut out for us than the other departments.As soon as the clock ticked into clock-out range, I was out of there, pulling my coat on and hurrying from the office. I had no idea where I thought I was going in such a hurry, I just had to get outside in the fresh air where my excitement had room to fully burst open.I barely refrained from screaming and dancing in a joyous circle the moment I pushed through the front doors, but I wanted to. Oh, how I wanted to. My design had been freak
Kissing the Boss Chapter Twenty-five
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE“And they weren’t here when you came in this morning?” Brick repeated the very question he’d asked me about a dozen time since he’d walked in the door. “None of them?”I shook my head and bit my lip. “At first, I just thought you’d put them somewhere.”“Where the fuck would I put them?” he exploded, losing his cool. “This was the best place to leave them. Christ.” He gripped his hair with both hands. “That was the best fucking portfolio my people had ever put together.”Wringing my hands, I looked around the office as if hoping at least one of the prints we’d assembled yesterday would suddenly appear from thin air.“You know who’s behind this, don’t you?” he raged, pacing the floor like a captured wolf, ready to tear out the throat of the first person who opened the door to his cage. “My vindictive bitch of a mother, that’s who. Well, this is crossing the line. Chasing away all my women was one thing, but this shit ain
Kissing the Boss Chapter Twenty-four
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURWhen I showed up at work, the prints for our department’s portfolio were no longer spread out and displayed on the worktable in Brick’s office.I frowned as I entered, wondering if he’d moved them somewhere for safekeeping so they wouldn’t accidentally get damaged before the presentation, but when I looked around after storing my purse and coat, I couldn’t find them anywhere. I texted Brick, asking if he knew where they were, but he didn’t answer, so I continued with my day until he could make it in and I sat at my desk to check emails.All the while, I chewed nervously on my thumbnail, casting worried glances toward the doorway every few seconds and wishing Brick would show up already, because I was beginning to dread someone had maybe stolen our freaking portfolio.During one such peek toward the doorway, I froze solid when I made eye contact with none other than Christopher Elton, who was passing by in the hall and p
Kissing the Boss Chapter Twenty-three
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREEHave you ever had one of those mornings where you woke up and everything just felt right? The best amount of cushion possible was molded around you, the perfect covers on top, pillow fitted just so under your head, the temperature of the room excellent, and you’d slept a good, solid deep sleep? Then your alarm ruins it all, and you groan because you want to keep lying there, just like that, without moving a muscle, for the rest of eternity?Yeah, it was one of those mornings, for sure.My eyes flickered open. I stared at the wall of my room for a moment, feeling rested and relaxed. A slow smile started and then, boom, the alarm shrieked out this totally unnecessary and increasingly annoying racket, making something grumble in complaint right into my ear before a warm weight draped across my stomach shifted.I squeaked. Totally didn’t scream, because I’m not a screamer, but there was a definite noise of alarm that escap
