wasn’t such a good idea.
She and Kai had only been dating a few weeks. Her showing up to his office with the phone announced to everyone that they had something personal going on. Talk about unprofessional.
If he’d told anyone he was seeing her, it wouldn’t have been his entire staff. Now here she was, putting him on the spot.
What had she been thinking?
“Um…” She struggled for an excuse and then realized she could tell Emmanuel she saw Kai’s phone when she stopped in to work on his home mural that morning.
“Diane,” a familiar, deep voice purred.
She turned around, and there Kai was, standing at the double doors leading to the offices on the west part of the floor.
“Hey.” She extended the phone to him. “I thought I would drop this by on my way into work.”
“Thank you so much.” He walked up to her, but instead of taking the phone he planted a kiss on her lips.
Guess we’re not a secret, then…
She tried not to smile with glee but couldn’t help it.
“Do you have a minute?” Kai asked.
“Uh…” She glanced at the clock behind the reception desk. “Yes. I have a few.”
“Come see my office.”
“I would love to.”
He guided her down a hall, past frosted doors, open working spaces, and a long kitchenette. Weiss Enterprises occupied the whole building, but Diane had only ever seen a part of this floor. As they passed people, nearly everyone acknowledged Kai with a head nod or hello.
“Here we are,” he said, stopping at the end of the hall.
His office, no surprise, was huge. It sat at the corner of the building with windows looking in two directions. In addition to a desk, a sofa and two leather chairs were arranged in a corner.
“Wow,” she said. “You’re certainly not lacking for sunlight.”
“No. I’m not.” He nuzzled the back of her neck, sending a warm shiver through her. “I was just thinking I missed you already, and now here you are.”
Turning around, she hung her arms over Kai’s shoulders and looked him in the eye. “Too bad I have to leave in a minute.”
“Hm. Well, we can enjoy that one minute while we have it, right?” His palms settled on her hips.
Before she could answer, the door opened up without warning. A woman walked in staring at a piece of paper in her hand.
“Kai,” she said, “did you read this report from—”
She looked up, caught sight of them, and nearly tripped over her feet. “Oh. I’m sorry. I’ll go.”
Kai chuckled, his arm sliding around Diane’s waist. “Diane, this is Brie Guzzo, my managing director. Brie, meet Diane.”
“Hi.” Brie offered her hand. “I’m sorry I walked in without knocking. I was pretty distracted with, well…” She handed the paper to Kai.
Diane shook her hand. “It’s okay. I was on my way out anyway.”
“Nice to meet you, Diane.” Brie waved and walked backward out the door.
“Sorry we were interrupted.” Kai ran his hands up and down Diane’s back.
“It’s okay. Hopefully we’ll get to continue this another time soon.”
He grunted softly. “I’ll make sure we do. I’ll call you later.”
“Looking forward to it.” She gave him a long kiss. “I can see myself out. I’ve already taken up enough of your time.”
He blew her a kiss. “See you later.”
Wearing a grin, she walked back down the hall. The woman she’d just met was in the kitchenette, filling a paper cup with water from one of the machines.
“Hey,” Brie said. “Sorry again. I don’t usually just waltz into people’s offices like that.”
“Oh, it’s all right. I only came by to bring Kai his phone.”
“So you’re her, hm?” Brie waggled her eyebrows.
“What do you mean?”
“The rumor around the office has been that the boss is dating someone.” She selected a tea bag from a caddy full of them, ripped the paper open, and dropped the bag into her cup. “It doesn’t happen much.”
“Really?” Diane tried to say it like she wasn’t desperate for more info.
“Really,” Brie said. “He’s pretty much a workaholic. So if he’s putting all of that aside to be with you, you must be awesome.” She fluffed her chin-length, brown hair and Diane caught sight of her earrings.
“Thanks. Hey, are those Sam Hillson earrings?”
Brie’s chocolate eyes widened. “Yeah. They are. Oh my gosh, you know Sam Hillson? He’s so new.”
“I found some of his stuff at a jewelry show in Queens last month. This quartz necklace I have by him is mind-blowing.”
Brie laughed. “No way! Girl, you better give me your number. We’re hanging out, and we’re