Page 13 of Stuck with my Boss Daddies

This was a goddamn nightmare.

I walked in prepared. Ready. Professional.

The kind of woman who aced interviews, who didn’t get rattled, who knew how to keep her head high even when life tried to drag her under.

And then I sawthem.

Samuel.

Kai.

Both of them, right here.

Sitting at that table like they hadn’t just detonated my entire world in the span of a single breath.

My brain short-circuited. My heart slammed against my ribs, my lungs locking up like they’d forgotten how to function.

Samuel Thompson.

The man who had kissed every inch of my skin just last night, who had held me like he was trying to memorize me, like he wanted to keep me. The man whose name I had moaned while I unraveled beneath him.

Now?

He was sitting there, back straight, face neutral, like he hadn’t just wrecked me. Like we hadn’t been tangled up in each other hours ago.

And Kai Byrne… in the same place…

My first love. My childhood sweetheart. The boy I once thought I’d spend forever with.

The one I’d run from.

He was watching me now, dark eyes sharp, his expression unreadable. But I could feel it… the tension radiating from him, all the unspoken things between us pressing down on my chest.

The ground beneath me wasn’t just unsteady. It was gone.

Somehow, I made it to the chair across from them.

I sat. Folded my hands neatly in my lap. Kept my spine straight and my face carefully composed because I had to.

Because I couldn’t let them see that my world was shattering, that my pulse was an erratic mess, that my mind was screaming at me to run.

I locked onto the only safe thing in the room.

Adam Reid.

Easygoing. Handsome. Blissfully unaware.

He smiled at me, all golden hair and effortless charm, the only one at this godforsaken table who didn’t seem to sense that this was anything other than normal.

And thankGodfor that.

“So, Sadie,” Adam said, glancing at my résumé. “You’ve got a solid background. You worked at some great bakeries in the city.”

“I did,” I said smoothly. That part was easy. The part where I pretended the city hadn’t chewed me up and spit me back out. “I started as a pastry assistant at Margot’s on Fifth, worked my way up to lead baker before moving on to Flour & Co. I specialized in laminated doughs, viennoiseries, and artisanal breads.”

Kai let out a slow exhale.

I knew that sound. It was the same noise he used to make when he was about to pick apart something I’d glossed over.

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