Page 23 of Flirting with My Billionaire Enemy

I could see the resemblance between Kaison and his dad the first moment I saw them together in the conference room.

“Are all of your brothers settled down?” I ask.

“Weston is, but the rest of us are lonely, single bachelors.”

I laugh. “Oh, yeah. You sure do seem pitiful.”

He doesn’t laugh though, and I have to wonder if maybe the joke he was making had some truth to it, after all. Is Kaison looking for something serious? That can’t be the case. He’s the kind of guy who seems like he surrounds himself with women.

Just then a little boy runs into the room, screaming like a banshee, waving his arms in the air. A projectile whizzes past and bounces off the wall by my head.

“What was that?” I look down and see one of my pairs of socks rolled up into a ball like I usually have them. Before I can process what’s happening, I look up to see another one coming right at me. This one smacks me square in the chest and bounces off my left boob.

The culprit is a little girl, standing with my black, lacy bra. She has it loaded already with another pair of my socks and this time she’s aiming it at Kaison’s chest.

“Young lady!” A tiny, fierce Hispanic woman comes into the room, pointing a threatening finger at the little girl. “That is not a slingshot!” She crosses the room and snatches it out of her hand. “Where did you get that?” she demands.

The little girl shrugs and doesn’t even look sorry. In fact, she looks mad. “Hey, Mom, we were playing with that,” she pouts.

I’m half tempted to act like I’ve never seen it before. Kaison is looking everywhere but at me or the bra.

But then the little girl pipes up again, “We found it in the bedroom that’s all red.”

Kaison presses his lips together like he’s trying to keep from laughing and looks down at the paper in front of him.

“Is this yours, ma’am?” the woman asks, eyes wide.

I reach a palm out to take it from her. She hands me the bra and gathers up the projectile socks. “Actually”—she hesitates— “do you want me to take that back to your room for you?”

“That would be appreciated,” I say through clenched teeth. What was I supposed to do with that bra? Set it on the table for Kaison to drool over?

“I’m so sorry about the interruption,” she says, terror and humiliation in her eyes. “I won’t bring my children to work with me again. It’s just that my babysitter fell through today and—”

Kaison waves a hand. “It’s not a big deal. Your kids are welcome here.”

“Yes, but, sir. Your important business meeting was ruined.”

“We were only getting started. Nothing was ruined,” he assures her. The smile he’s been fighting to keep at bay has won the fight and breaks loose across his features. “It’s nice to have some entertainment around here once in a while. We don’t get kids here as much as we should. Frankly, it’s a little too boring for my taste.”

It’s the last thing I would have expected Kaison to say. Knowing he’s so patient with kids is a welcome surprise.

I’d have to make sure I didn’t leave my stuff out in the open anymore. Who knew what was next? My underwear being shot across the room like a rubber band?

Kaison clears his throat. “Take a look at this.” He pushes a document across the table to me.

I take the stapled bundle of papers from him.

“This entire department in Detroit has been bleeding out money like nobody’s business.”

I see the date on the top. “This dates back to the nineties. How long has this been going on?”

“I’d say we ought to find out, but I’m not sure it would be the best usage of our time. The question is, how do we fix it?”

I open my laptop. “That’s where my program comes in.” I find the correct page and turn the computer so he can see the screen. “With this system in place, we won’t even need that department. It’s slowing down all our processes. By automating everything, we can streamline the company and get the same information at the touch of a few keys.”

“Won’t those people lose their jobs, though?” he asks. “There doesn’t seem to be much triumph in that.”

“Reassign them to other positions in the company. It will require a little extra time and money to train them, but it will save the company a lot of money in the long run.”

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