Page 105 of By His Rule

I want to say that I’m disappointed that the softer side of him seems to have vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, but honestly, I’m not.

It’s much easier to hate him and keep a level head when he is barking orders at me and dragging me here, there and everywhere for meetings that really should have been fucking emails.

I barely saw him all day yesterday. He was in meetings all day that didn’t require my presence. So instead of having to tend to his needs and demands, I was able to spend the day at my desk getting through some of the tasks he’d given me and the hordes of emails he’d forwarded to me to deal with.

It also gave me time to get to know Melissa better. She helped me with everything I couldn’t do, and we had lunch together. It was nice to have someone to talk to who wasn’t Kian. Not that we did a lot of talking. He mostly either issued demands or completely ignored my existence.

It should be fine, but there’s a part of me that has been mourning the loss of the man I spent Sunday with.

It’s stupid. I really need to get over myself, because it’s more than apparent that he has.

I’ve just lowered my ass to my seat and placed my coffee on my desk Thursday morning when the phone rings.

I suck in a deep breath when I see that it’s Kian as I prepare to deal with his first demand of the day.

“Good morning, Boss,” I purr, loving the way his own breath hitches down the line. Something tells me that he won’t think I heard it, but I did. Loud and clear.

He might act like Sunday didn’t happen, but he remembers just as clearly as I do. I know he does.

“My office, Lorelei.” I lower the phone from my ear, not bothering to even respond to his rude demand. “And bring coffee.”

“Would love to,” I snap once I’ve hung up.

“Kian’s here today then?” Melissa laughs.

“And in a fantastic mood, it seems,” I say as I gather my things up.

When Melissa went out yesterday, we did a little shopping as well as grabbing lunch, and I found the most perfect office supplies.

I couldn’t help myself. And as I clutch my new notebook to my chest, I giggle like a naughty schoolgirl.

Kian is going to love it.

With both our cups of coffee in hand, I attempt to smoothly let myself into his office, seeing as the jerk has shut the door despite demanding my presence while carrying loads of shit.

“Good morning, Miss Tempest.”

Oh good, we’re on surname basis this morning.

“Sir,” I sneer.

I keep my eyes focused on where I’m going instead of looking directly at him.

He’s not the only one who can be an asshole.

After placing our coffees on his desk, I take a seat and then lower both my notebook and pen in front of me.

“We need to go through my calendar for the rest of the month. I have some travel plans that need—” He abruptly stops talking, and I fight to keep the smirk off my face. “What the fuck is that?” he barks.

“What is what, sir?” I ask sweetly, finally looking up at him.

He’s wearing a navy blue shirt with a silver tie. His hair is styled, and the scruff on his chin has been trimmed to perfection. He looks the total opposite of what he did with his messy hair, scruffy beard and football jersey on Sunday.

I miss that version of him.

“That?” he barks, his eyes dropping to my notebook.

“Oh, it’s new. Do you like it?” I ask, holding it up to face him to ensure he can read it.

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