Page 23 of Boss's Baby Surprise

It wasn’t a full two blocks to the train, and then another short walk and I was back in the office. I was set up at my desk in the front and had coffee brewing before anyone else got in.

“Clarissa, could you join me in my office?” James asked as I walked in the door.

“Right now?” I asked, getting to my feet.

“Please.”

I followed him to the back of the firm’s offices, stopping long enough to pour his morning cup of coffee.

“What’s up?” I asked as I placed the cup of coffee on his desk.

“You know my plan is to eventually sell the firm?” James asked.

I nodded. In my dreams, I would graduate with my master’s and somehow suddenly have enough money to buy the firm from him. But I knew I was years and years away from being in a position to have my own firm, and James was much closer to retirement for that to ever happen for me.

“It looks like I may have lined someone up.”

“But I didn’t think you were ready to retire for another few years?” I said. I tried to hide the panic in my voice. James couldn’t sell already. I wasn’t ready yet.

“I didn’t expect to. But an opportunity has come up, and if I can take an early retirement…” He let out a long breath. “My wife would murder me in my sleep if she found out I passed up a golden opportunity to retire early. She’s ready to move up to Minneapolis to be close to the grandkids without me.”

I bit my upper lip and nodded. He was my boss. He didn’t owe me anything. We had talked extensively about my plans once I had my degree, and he had offered to help launch my career. But in the end, that was just talk. No promises had been made, andno contracts had been signed. I tried to hide my disappointment behind a weak smile.

“I’ll still be around, and I know how to use a phone. I said I would help mentor, and I plan on following through. Just because I might retire a little sooner than planned, it doesn’t mean my contacts are going away.”

I nodded some more. His words felt like empty promises. He would retire and move up to lake country and forget all about helping the young architectural student who had spent the last three years answering phones for his company. I blinked and prayed that he didn’t notice I was trying hard not to cry. The past few years had been hard. I finally felt like I was making progress, and this was a blow to my plans.

I cleared my throat. “Who are you talking to about this? Is it a firm I know?” I asked.

“Probably. The guy has been out of the country for a few years. My understanding is he is trying to reestablish a presence in the Chicago area. You’ve heard of Kyle Love, right?”

My eyes went wide. Kyle was back. I hadn’t heard his name in years, not since I was a hapless intern for him and let him seduce me before abandoning me and his growing firm to relocate to Hong Kong. I didn’t want anything to do with him. I didn’t even include that I had interned for him the summer before I dropped out of school for a few years.

“Yeah, I have heard of him. I didn’t realize he was in the States.”

Kyle was back, and I was going to see him. Damn it. I thought about him every day, even though I didn’t want to. It was hard not to when his son had the same pool blue eyes.

12

KYLE

It was good to be back in the States. It was good to be back in Chicago. The way Hong Kong changed every few months, I had almost expected Chicago to look completely different. All the time I was gone, it was almost as if the city was put on pause. I felt like everything was the same. I knew it wasn’t, but there was a certain energy here, and that hadn’t changed at all.

I felt Hong Kong was constant and pushing toward the future, while Chicago felt established and like the strong foundations of a building that would launch forward. Chicago wasn’t chasing after anything because eventually, everything would come to it.

I successfully managed to convince Alayna to come work for me in Hong Kong. She had agreed to only stay a couple of years. I wasn’t allowed to make her move around the world and expect her to stay forever. The second I mentioned thinking about moving back to the States, she began pushing for it. I didn’t think she particularly liked living abroad. It was an adventure that some people didn’t take to.

Alayna was invaluable to my company, and I didn’t think I could do my job without her supporting me. I could let her quit, but I didn’t want the struggle of finding another assistant.

“I’ve worked remotely before. I can do it again,” she reminded me. And then she booked herself a return flight. She came back a good three months before I even booked a plane ticket, but she still worked for me. Even from half a globe away, she still did an absolute amazing job of anticipating my every need. And that included scoping out architectural firms that might be interested in partnerships or selling.

I wasn’t surprised in the least that I had an appointment with the Stone Group within a few weeks of returning home. The Stone Group’s offices were close to where my last Chicago office had been located, so I knew the neighborhood. It had cleaned up a little bit. There had been some rehabilitation construction previously, but that was all done now. There were good restaurants, and it was conveniently located near pretty much anywhere in the city.

There was something very familiar about walking into the Stone Group’s offices. I don’t know if it was the way the receptionist smiled at me or even the building itself. There was something that seemed comforting about being there, like I belonged.

I stepped up to the receptionist desk, and she blinked at me a few times. She was quite lovely. “You must be Kyle Love to see James Stone,” she said.

I didn’t even need to introduce myself. Maybe she seemed so familiar because she was smart and anticipated my next moves much like Alayna did.

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