His Hush-Hush Baby - Holly Rayner Page 0,40
at bay started to creep in. This city was as much Diane’s as it was his.
He would need to come to terms with that.
They’d had no interaction at all while he was gone. Hell, he didn’t even know if she would pick up if he called.
In his mind, the mural in his home was still happening. It was only halfway finished. If Diane chose to bow out, he would need to find another artist to complete it. No big deal, but he would have preferred to not do that.
Despite their differences, Diane was an amazing artist. Though things between them hadn’t worked out, he would feel honored to always have a piece of her talent in his home.
At Weiss Enterprises, he thanked his driver, grabbed his one bag, and climbed from the car. On the main floor, a flurry of activity greeted him, even though the workday was coming to a close.
“Hello, Mr. Weiss.” The front desk receptionist stood and smiled. “I hope you had a good vacation.”
“Thank you, Emmanuel.” Kai returned the smile. “It was very nice. Please send Oren into my office.”
“Yes, sir. Right away.”
On his way to his office, Kai nodded and said good afternoon to everyone he saw. By the time he reached his office, his mood had brightened some.
He flung open the door—and faltered.
A woman stood with her back to him, hunched over his desk.
At the sound of his entrance, Brie straightened and turned. “Oh! Kai. You’re back.”
“I just arrived.” He crossed the room to join her at the desk.
“I was looking for my extra phone charger. I think I left it in here last week. Have you seen it?”
“No. I’ll keep my eye out, though.” Going around the desk, he took a seat in his plush office chair. “I want to thank you for holding down the fort while I was gone. It means a lot to me.”
“Of course.” She took a seat across from him and leaned forward. “How was your trip?”
“Wonderful, and now I’m ready to get back to work.”
“That’s good news because I’m meeting with George Yarlborough in ten minutes. He was very disappointed to hear you wouldn’t be in the office today.”
Kai brightened at that. George Yarlborough was one of their biggest clients. A multi-millionaire who owned a large chunk of New York realty.
“Where are you meeting?” Kai asked.
“The Northwest boardroom.”
“Hm. Perhaps I should surprise him and pop in.”
“You’d make his day.” She stood up. “Or how about you take over the meeting entirely? We don’t both need to be there, and there are other things I need to tend to.”
Kai nodded once. “I’ll do that.”
“Great,” she said.
“Brie?”
“Yes?”
He paused. This was a bad idea.
Still, he couldn’t stop himself.
“How is Diane doing?” he asked.
Brie’s smile was sad. “She misses you.”
His heart flipped. “She told you that?”
“No. She doesn’t have to.”
“Oh.”
It made no sense. If she missed him so much, she shouldn’t have left in the middle of the night.
“Well, that’s nice,” he said, his voice a bit rough.
Brie’s face revealed nothing. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
No sooner had she left Kai’s office than Oren appeared. Kai rattled off a list of things that needed to be done while his assistant took notes.
“And get in touch with Diane Johansen,” Kai added. “Check on the progress of my home mural.”
“Yes, sir.”
If Diane wouldn’t speak directly with him, that was fine. All of their business exchanges could be done through an assistant.
Oren left the room, and Kai stood, prepared to walk down the hall and join the meeting Brie had mentioned. Another knock on the door halted his plans.
“Yes?” he called. It was probably Oren with a question.
Instead, in walked Diane.
Kai froze, the whole world tilting the wrong way.
“Hi,” Diane said quietly. She stayed where she was, not bothering to close the door, watching him warily.
“Your assistant wasn’t at the desk,” she explained. “And security waved me on in. I guess they’re so used to seeing me around that they didn’t…”
She fell quiet and cleared her throat.
Kai worked his mouth around. “You’re here.”
“I am.” She pushed her fingers through her hair. “Brie told me you went away for a couple days. How was that?”
“It was nice.” His words were stiff. Not because he intended to make them that way. They simply couldn’t come out any other way.
“Nice,” she said, voice weak.
“Yeah.”
They stood around a little more, swimming in the awkwardness.
“You left,” he said. “In the middle of the night. I didn’t even know if you were okay.”
His voice rose at the end,