KISSING THE BOSS (Fairy Tale Quartet #2)

Chapter Two-2

Though I completely agreed, I sent him a harassed glower, because he hadn’t said it all that quietly. It actually caused Christopher Elton to glance over.

I froze, forgetting to breathe when he skimmed his attention over Brick only to settle his gaze on me.

Oh my God, we were sharing eye contact.

And he had brown eyes.

I now knew the color of Christopher Elton’s eyes.

Life was amazing. Things began floating around inside me as if dancing in celebration. Breathing became clearer, colors brighter, and sounds crisper. If there were any birds in the room, I swear, they’d start chirping merrily. Just looking at him made me hyper-aware of the entire world, and especially aware of my blood thumping excitedly through my veins.

And then it happened. His gaze lowered, his attention shifting, and he checked out my chest before looking away.

He’d just copped a look! Oh wow. Christopher Elton had noticed me as a female.

And why the heck did I keep thinking of him as Christopher Elton, not just Christopher?

No idea, but I tried not to squirm, not sure if I was flattered by his glance or just really uncomfortable. I kind of felt uncomfortable, and I freaked out a bit, hoping I looked okay. It took everything in me not to check my own chest to see how things were going down there. But then, his glance also made me feel feminine and sort of powerful. It’d been way too long since anything in that department had seen any action. A guy actually noticing me as a woman was nice.

I drew out a long breath, trying to control myself as I decided I was flattered. Yeah, flattered was good.

Christopher (see, I could think of him without using his last name) didn’t glance back at me again, which sort of deflated the little bubble I had going, but I was still more energized than usual. Until Brick slid a piece of paper across the top of the table my way that read:

On second thought, I’m not sure it’s meant to be. Kaitlynn Elton doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

I slapped my hand over the message, hoping no one else had seen what he’d written, and sent him a stern glance of reprimand. He refused to look my way, but the smug smile on his face let me know he was well aware of how much he’d just embarrassed me.

What a jerk. I had such a wicked, evil stepbrother… Who I loved probably more than anyone else alive.

But then my attention was diverted when Nash asked Lana for the market reports as he studied the next item on the agenda of things to discuss. Shyla jerked to attention and popped to her feet, wildly scoping the room until she noticed me. Fetching the reports from me, she held them up for Lana to see she had them. Lana motioned for her to pass them out, and I held my breath, thinking I should go now before my stepmother noticed me and made a scene, except I didn’t want to bring attention to myself by getting up to leave. Feeling more uncomfortable about staying for a meeting I wasn’t allowed to be in, I latched my fingers around the arms of my chair to push to my feet, only for Nash’s voice to boom, “Wait.”

I froze. Then I blinked and zipped my wide-eyed, caught-in-the-act gaze his way, only to realize he wasn’t talking to me. The man hadn’t noticed me in the room; he probably didn’t even know I existed. He was too busy frowning at the market report.

Pointing at one of the lines, he lifted his face to Lana. “You took out the expenses I put in for the Halloween party’s band and caterer.”

Lana gave a negligent shrug. “That’s because I canceled them.”

My mouth dropped open. Around me, the rest of the employees gasped as well, probably unable to believe she would do such a terrible thing. But that’s not the part that surprised me; canceling the band and caterer totally sounded like something she’d do. No, I was shocked she had even opened the spreadsheet file long enough to alter it. She could’ve slotted in the changes from accounting herself instead of making me do them at the last second this morning.

What a b***h.

Across the room, Nash looked dumbfounded before he slowly said, “You did what?”

“Hey.” Lana lifted her hands as if to say they’d been tied. “You were so intent about economizing our expenditures, I thought it only appropriate.”

Blue eyes went ice cold as they glared daggers at my stepmother. “Appropriate my ass. You just wanted to piss me off.” And it seemed to have worked. I felt the urgent need to duck and cover because he looked so mad. “You had no right to do this,” he snarled. “No right at all.”

My stepmother merely trilled out an amused laugh. “As if you have the right to throw my money away on trivial, unnecessary expenses.”

“Our money. And I don’t think the comfort and contentment of my people is trivial or unnecessary. We have a budget for this kind of thing, a budget you approved, and all costs were met well within that budget.”

Lana didn’t seem to care. She tipped up her nose and waved out an unconcerned hand. “What a stupid notion to have an office party, anyway. For God’s sake, why do you think we need to bolster morale? These people should be grateful I gave them a job in the first place and don’t fire them all for flagrant disrespect of their CEO.”

Eyes widened and mouths snapped shut all around the room.

“I mean, honestly, who here wants to lose their job?” When she glanced around and found no one lifting a hand, she turned back to Nash with raised eyebrows and a see-didn’t-I-call-it expression. “If it’s so important to you, why don’t you provide the funds for that nonsense from your own pocket?”

“Oh, I will,” Nash assured her in a low voice, his anger tightly controlled. “You’re not ruining this for anyone.” Then he took in his employees’ reactions. I guess everyone really had been planning on attending, because a fair number in the conference room seemed horrified about the prospect of no party. Or maybe they were all just scared, thinking they were about to be fired by Lana.

“Don’t worry,” he assured. “The party is still taking place.” He shot Lana a contemptuous glare. “With all the amenities. But you’ll have to excuse me for the rest of the meeting; I apparently have some phone calls to make.”

His grand declaration and the passion behind it made me decide I would attend the Halloween party after all, if for no other reason than to show my support and assure Nash we did appreciate how much he went to bat for us. He was exactly the kind of boss I wanted to be myself someday.

Nash strode from the office, his personal assistant, Winston, hurrying after him. The air fluttered across my cheeks when he passed my chair, stirring up a pleasantly masculine scent from somewhere. I wasn’t sure if it came from him, Christopher Elton to one side of me, or Brick on the other, but it made me breathe it in deeper because it was so nice. Kind of heady, actually, like I could get drunk and giddy off the magical aroma alone.

“Well, if he’s not going to stick around,” Lana barked, “then I’ve certainly lost my appetite for this so-called meeting.” And she traipsed from the room as well, with Shyla scrambling to follow.

So, I guess the meeting was over. Some people stood to leave, some turned to their neighbors to gossip, and Christopher Elton swiveled his chair around to address me.

Jarring to a halt to listen to whatever he had to say, I held my breath and focused on nothing but him.

“Don’t worry,” he assured, reaching out to grip my bicep kindly. Ooh, he touched me! Christopher Elton was touching me. This was so amazing. “White vinegar will get that stain out, no problem.”

Stain? I blinked, totally lost. What stain?

Again, his gaze dropped to my chest. I looked down, only to remember—oh yeah—Lana had spilled her tea on me.

Lovely.

So I died right there in that spot, only a skeletal shell full of mortification with a tea-stained white blouse remaining.

Christopher smiled encouragingly, patted my arm once more, and then stood to leave.

I blinked, hot with embarrassment and disappointment.

I don’t know why I was so disheartened to learn he hadn’t been ogling my breasts after all. I should’ve been grateful he wasn’t a male-chauvinist fiend who only saw certain body parts when he looked at women. But sometimes, there were a few select men you actually wanted to notice your girly parts. And he’d been one of them.

I turned toward Brick, to—

I have no idea what, maybe to commiserate the epic failure of my first encounter with Christopher Elton. But he was—Brick!

The i***t was totally belying his earlier claim to stay away from women and was very clearly flirting with Adelyn from the Belts department. He was even playing with the pink tips of her long, blonde hair as he grinned and said who-knew-what in her ear. Adelyn worked alongside Sabella, and according to the hot gossip at the water coolers, they were mortal enemies.

Glancing around until I spotted Sabella, I wasn’t at all surprised to find her glaring daggers at my stepbrother and his current conquest.

Rolling my eyes, since this wasn’t exactly an unprecedented event, I left the conference room to make my way back toward my workroom. But no sooner did I enter Shyla’s area to get to the basement than Lana pounced.

“Were you at that meeting?”

“What?” I swear, she’d been loitering around Shyla’s desk, just waiting for me.

“I thought I told you to make me a fresh pot of tea!” she shrieked, sounding utterly unhinged.

I slowly closed the door behind me to muffle her rage from everyone else in the building.

“The first pot I made you was perfectly acceptable,” I said calmly. Shyla had begged me to keep my patience, so I wasn’t going to lose my temper. “Besides, I was busy making new copies and stapling the market reports you ruined. There was no time to—”

“I don’t want to hear your pathetic excuses.” Lana pressed the tips of three fingers to the center of her forehead as if she had a headache. Then she closed her eyes and hissed out a pained breath. “I needed that tea.”

Sympathy flickered inside me. I knew she had her problems, more problems than most. No one was perfect, and Lana would never be my favorite person. But her pissy demeanor suddenly didn’t seem so big and awful when she showed her vulnerabilities like this. She just needed some help and an attitude adjustment. And apparently tea to calm herself.

“I’ll go make you another—” I started, wanting to ease her misery, because I couldn’t handle seeing anyone in pain, even sharks.

But she growled, “Don’t bother,” and then she ripped her hand from her face to glare. “You already decided going to that meeting—which I expressly forbade you to attend—was more important than the duty I actually gave you. If you can’t follow one simple rule, then I don’t see how you’ll ever make full-time employment, in which case, why am I still bothering with you? Turn around, right now, return to your workspace, and clear out your desk. Then go home and don’t ever come back. You’re fired.”

I blinked. Wait, what?

Shyla, who’d been hovering, anxiously surged forward. “What?”

Lana glanced impatiently toward her personal assistant. “I tried to honor Arthur’s memory and take his child under my wing. I really, honestly tried. But I can’t keep accepting this kind of insubordination. She’ll never listen to me.” Turning away, she called over her shoulder, “I’m done looking at her. Make sure she’s out of the building by the end of the hour, or you’re fired too.”

With that, she marched into her office and slammed the door behind her. I gaped at the closed entrance, blinking as a numbing shock of confusion settled over me. Then I turned to Shyla, who turned to me with a look of all the horror I’m sure I mirrored in my own expression. When tears filled her eyes, tremors took control of my limbs.

But seriously, what had just happened?