I couldn’t keep my eyes off her while she did. Lord knows I tried.
It was like there were magnets under her skin, though. Whenever I caught myself, my gaze was firmly fixed back on her.
A commotion around the elevators finally forced me to stop staring at her, and when I realized what had caused it, my brows shot up but a grin spread across my face. Quietly stepping into the conversation Leah had been having, I took her arm and spoke into her ear.
“Look who’s here,” I whispered.
Her head spun in the direction I was looking, and she smiled before the nerves from before seemed to come back in full force. “Is that Jefferson and Katie? Did you know they were coming?”
“I knew they might be,” I replied to her before shooting an apologetic glance at the people we’d been standing with. “Please excuse us. We’ll only be a moment.”
They nodded, and I guided Leah toward the unexpected guests the moment she’d uttered her goodbyes. Jefferson beamed when he saw her, but my attention was no longer on her in that dress. It was on my boss and how his color seemed to be so much better than it had been when we’d left just yesterday.
“What did you do?” I asked as I shook his hand. “Bribe the doctors to let you come out this soon?”
He chuckled, squeezing my hand in both of his before releasing it. “Nothing quite so drastic. I simply told them my health might start deteriorating even faster if they insisted on treating me like I was already on my deathbed.”
I shot him a look, but I knew his doctors wouldn’t have fallen for a ploy like that. If he was here, it was because they had concluded that he was well enough to be here. “I’m glad you could make it.”
Katie and Leah greeted one another like old friends, chatting while Jefferson and I got caught up. Soon enough, he gave me a knowing smile and reached for Leah’s arm.
“Do you mind if I steal our girl away for a minute?” he asked, a glint in his eyes that told me he knew exactly how much I liked the thought of being away from her. “I want to take her up onstage to present her properly to the party.”
Her eyes flew wide open, but she let him lead her toward the raised platform acting as a stage. Katie came to stand beside me right in front of the stage after I’d followed them there, clapping enthusiastically as she bent her head closer to mine.
“She’s going to love this,” she whispered to me. “Just wait until you see what he has planned.”
Chapter 21
LEAH
Somewhere along the line, I’d gotten too comfortable with Dane by my side. I’d gotten used to his big, warm hands in mine or somewhere on me, to his hard body hovering close to mine, and to knowing that I could turn around and say whatever I wanted. That there was someone there who knew who I really was and didn’t mind me being that person.
Being away from him, even just to be pulled up onstage with our boss, was disconcerting. Especially since there were so many things I wanted to say, and none of them were things I could say to Mr. Jefferson Killen himself.
So I stood silently beside him when he slid in behind the podium, smiling as I tried to keep from fidgeting with my fingers. Must. Look. Composed.
Jefferson was clearly much more used to being the center of attention than I was. In a suit that was most definitely bespoke, he looked like a silver fox and smiled at the crowd like he was channeling old Blue Eyes himself.
He wrapped his hand around the microphone and a ripple went up when people realized not only that there was someone onstage, but who that someone was. Almost immediately, the sounds of laughter and chatter ceased and just about every eye in the room turned to him.
He’s like a snake charmer but with crowds. There was no trace of him being in anything less than excellent health when he started speaking. “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming tonight and for welcoming us as warmly and graciously as ever to your beautiful city.”
There was a smattering of applause, and he waited for it to die down before continuing. “As you all know, we’re here tonight to introduce you to a new product. It’s not available