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Epilogue
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2024-10-29 19:42:56
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Kissing the Boss Chapter One
CHAPTER ONE“Kait…lynn!” The unexpected shriek that blasted through the intercom caused me to jump so hard I spilled the armful of papers I’d been carrying from the copy machine to my desk.Groaning over my clumsiness, I bent to pick them up, only for the cantankerous voice to return. “I need you up here. Now, Kaitlynn.”After scooping the mess of pages into my arms, I slapped them into a disorganized heap on my desk, figuring I’d deal with them later, and called, “I’m coming!” Then I hustled to the teapot sitting on a nearby table and fished out the tea ball bobbing in hot water.Lana preferred full-bodied oolong tea every morning, so I usually left the oxidized leaves in for at least six minutes before removing the ball. But today, it sounded as if she wanted her tea sooner, so hopefully she didn’t notice a weaker flavor.I placed the ceramic lid on the pot, then carefully poured a portion of the tea into a waiting cup on the tray. Af
Kissing the Boss Chapter Two
CHAPTER TWOI wasn’t going to get my work done in time for the meeting.No, wait, yes. Yes, I was. Positivity, Kaitlynn, have some positivity.Bolstering myself with a mental chant of yes you can, I glanced at the time. Six minutes to sort and staple. I was cutting it close, but I had every confidence I’d make the deadline.That was until the door flew open and Lana flounced inside. Proportioned like a model, she wore stiletto heels, a knee-length pencil-thin skirt, and a form-fitting wool-knit sleeveless blouse. The haughty demeanor suited her perfectly, which was too bad, because she overused it big-time, making it seem bitchily sinister instead of coolly confident.“What the hell is this?” She shoved her teacup at me, spilling just enough to splash the front of my shirt.With a gasp, I lurched to my feet and tugged my blouse away from my chest, but thank goodness nothing soaked through the cloth.“It’s tea,” I said, staring at her in
Kissing the Boss Chapter Three
CHAPTER THREEShock.Loss.Disbelief.It all roiled through me in dizzying waves. I tried to process what had happened. But it was impossible. My dream had been shattered. Not only could I never try to work my way to the top of my father’s company, but now I couldn’t even work there, period.By Saturday evening, I was a complete wreck. I wavered between wanting to storm JFI to tell Lana I didn’t need her—I’d go somewhere else and show her how successful I could be on my own—and wanting to beg for another chance, because oh my God, I couldn’t lose my dream of staying with my parents’ legacy.In reality, I sat on my sofa in my pajamas and moped as I tried to find a true, paying job on the internet. Nothing looked promising in the corporate world but there were plenty of food service or cleaning opportunities. I sighed and set my laptop on the coffee table in front of me while I scrubbed my tired face, only to wince at the smell that wafted
Kissing the Boss Chapter Four
CHAPTER FOURBrick continued to grumble as he followed me into the elevator of my building and then down and out of it toward the front exit. I didn’t catch each word he said, but it sounded as if he were complaining about a little bit of everything, from my embarrassment of a costume to my intolerable apartment and even his horrible mother for never paying me to work for her.It warmed my heart to know he cared enough about me to be upset on my behalf. Made me think maybe I’d misjudged him all these years. Yes, he’d talked to me because I’d been around when we were kids, and he’d always been nice because he was just that kind of guy, warm and charismatic. But to realize he genuinely liked me on top of that made something heartfelt grow inside me. He was starting to feel like a true brother. The urge to give him a big, affectionate hug and maybe a sloppy, happy kiss on the cheek grew until I stepped outside and took in the orange Porsche at
Kissing the Boss Chapter Five
CHAPTER FIVE“Well, shit,” Brick said from next to me. “I did not see that coming.” Suddenly, he scowled. “Now I’m offended he’s never hit on me.”I’m not sure why his joke caused me to boil, but all of a sudden, I was mad at him. I punched him in the arm. “I'm so going to kill you for this.”He’d talked me into attending tonight on a promise that had fallen through before I’d even had a chance to try it. Admittedly, I’d forgotten all about the goal of approaching Christopher until we’d arrived, but now that I couldn’t even put out feelers, I had to wonder if the job Brick had promised me would fall through too.Was I heaping too much hope onto my careless, playboy stepbrother?Brick laughed even as he fake flinched away from me, lifting his hands as a shield. “Hey, no death threats to your new boss. Besides, how was I supposed to know he wasn’t single… Or straight?”Rolling my eyes, I mumbled, “A little background research might’ve give
Kissing the Boss Chapter Six
CHAPTER SIXHold the phone.I glanced back, blinking at the door as it slid shut, because hearing a man’s voice from a clearly feminine costume caught me off guard.He sounded distressed though, so I shrugged off my surprise and pushed the door open again.“Hello?” I called. “Everything okay?”“No.” He started toward me. “Do you happen to have a light?”“Oh. No, I’m sorry,” I said, feeling bad because I couldn’t help him in his time of nicotine need. “But I don’t smoke.”“No, I mean…” He let out an amused sound. “I need an actual light. Like a flashlight. My stupid high heels were killing me, so I took them off for a minute, only to lose track of them completely.” His silhouette shifted as if he were turning in a circle and eyeing the ground. The light flooding into the courtyard from the door I held open was the only thing around to provide any kind of illumination. “I found a light switch for the garden,” he added, dejected. “But eith
Kissing the Boss Chapter Seven
CHAPTER SEVENMaleficent sprang to his feet, alerted to my surprise. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Spreading his hands in front of him as if feeling for me, he took a step in my direction. “Where’d you go?”“I’m right here.” Kneeling, I felt the grass around me until, aha, my fingers wrapped around a shoe. “I think I found one of your high heels.” And yes! The second shoe was right beside it. “Both of them!”“You did?” Sounding excited, Maleficent hurried forward. “That’s great.”Since I was still kneeling, I tugged on his skirt, so he could feel where I was and wouldn’t trample me. But then an idea struck. Since I was already down here, I lifted the hem of his dress and reached for his ankle.“Whoa!” He lurched backward, obviously not expecting me.“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” I rushed out the apology, my face flooding with heat as I popped upright in mortification. I hadn’t realized how forward I was being until he jumped.Horrified by
Kissing the Boss Chapter Eight
CHAPTER EIGHTThe initial shock of Maleficent’s lips claiming mine left me briefly paralyzed.At first, I was like… What the…? I’m being kissed.Then I was like… Holy wow, I’m being kissed well.After that, it was all just… Mmm. Nice.His lips were warm and soft, more of a tease than a true caress, as if he were testing the waters to make sure I wanted it too. I found myself closing my eyes and swaying toward him, cupping his face between my hands and delighting in the texture of his jaw against my fingers. He was clean-shaven and yet still sandpaper rough.After exerting the slightest amount of pressure, making me whimper for more, he drew himself away, sucking in a soft, satisfied hiss as he went. “Damn,” he murmured.Exactly.I felt dizzy and bereft when his heat and intoxicating smell left me. I wanted him back.“That was…” I shook my head and tried to recapture my equilibrium. “That was…”“Not enough,” he finished for me before
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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
