I climbed out of the car as our driver moved to Kandi’s door to open it for her. She quickly hopped out of the car and followed the driver to the trunk.
“Lawrence will grab our things and take them to the plane. You don’t have to worry about your bags, Miss . . . Kandi.” It would take some getting used to calling her by her first name instead of her last name, as I had done with my previous assistants.
“Oh, that’s fine. But there are a few things that I would like to get out of my bag before we board our flight, if that’s okay.”
She actually stood still and waited for my permission. As silly as it sounded, that shit turned me on.
“Sure,” I replied.
I watched as she moved to Lawrence’s side and waited for him to remove all the bags from the trunk. When he did, she grabbed a mauve carry-on bag and quickly unzipped it.
Kandi removed a few small, carefully wrapped boxes with bows on them. I frowned, wondering what the hell she was doing. Before I could speak, though, she handed one to Lawrence and then moved to the pilot, co-pilot, and flight attendant and handed each of them a packet as well.
“Merry Christmas.” Kandi’s voice was cheerful as she handed out each packet.
“Merry Christmas,” they all replied and thanked her.
I shook my head at her antics. In some ways, she was like a damn child with all this Christmas shit. Hell, she didn’t even know the pilots or the flight attendant. I knew that she knew who Lawrence was because he had come into the office on multiple occasions. The only reason she had known how many peoplewere flying with us was because she had asked yesterday. At the time, I thought she was simply curious.
A part of me wondered what was in their packets, but I didn’t have to wait long because Lawrence immediately opened his.
“Thank you, Ms. Jolly.” Lawrence all but gushed over his gifts.
Our flight attendants and pilots did the same when they opened their gifts.
“I made those essential oils and the candle myself. The chocolates are from this little candy shop that’s not too far from my home. They’re great, and I promise that y’all are gonna love them,” she vowed enthusiastically.
“I’m sure that we will. Thank you so much,” Makenna Akins, the flight attendant, stated.
Makenna wasn’t our normal flight attendant, but she stepped in for our usual flight attendant, Dana, who was on vacation.
I watched the two women hug, and when they pulled back, Kandi turned a big, bright smile my way.
“Can we finally board the plane?” I grumbled.
Kandi giggled and led the way toward the plane as if she were the one in charge. I shook my head but hypnotically followed the sway of her ass and hips to the plane and left Lawrence to tackle the luggage.
Once we boarded, I showed Kandi around and pointed out where the bathroom was in case she needed to use it on the short flight to Atlanta. We buckled in and settled into our seats. I was focused on emails as we waited to take off.
“Here’s your gift,” Kandi announced sweetly.
I looked up at her, and she held out a small packet in my direction. She bit back a smile as her hand shook slightly.
I shook my head and replied, “You didn’t need to.”
She shook the package at me. “You’re supposed to say, ‘thank you.’”
I stared at her for several long seconds before I finally accepted the gift.
“Open it,” she encouraged eagerly. I felt bad because I hadn’t gotten her anything.
Sighing, I removed the wrapping and opened the box. Inside was a box of AirPods. There was also a gift certificate to my favorite coffee shop at the end of the street, along with the same chocolates she had gifted the others.
“I’ll reimburse you as soon as we land.”
The look of horror on her face would have been comical if I hadn’t felt so bad.
“It’s a gift, Kayn, . . . Mr. Kayn,” she corrected, pressing her hand against her lips. For some reason, I loved the way she said my name without the Mister in front. Apparently, my dick did, too, because he immediately reacted to it. I didn’t know why this woman got to me the way she did, but she did.