Page 8 of Kissing the Boss (Fairy Tale Quartet 2)

“Oh, I will,” Nash assured her in a low voice, his anger tightly controlled. “You’re not ruining this for anyone.” Then he took in his employees’ reactions. I guess everyone really had been planning on attending, because a fair number in the conference room seemed horrified about the prospect of no party. Or maybe they were all just scared, thinking they were about to be fired by Lana.

“Don’t worry,” he assured. “The party is still taking place.” He shot Lana a contemptuous glare. “With all the amenities. But you’ll have to excuse me for the rest of the meeting; I apparently have some phone calls to make.”

His grand declaration and the passion behind it made me decide I would attend the Halloween party after all, if for no other reason than to show my support and assure Nash we did appreciate how much he went to bat for us. He was exactly the kind of boss I wanted to be myself someday.

Nash strode from the office, his personal assistant, Winston, hurrying after him. The air fluttered across my cheeks when he passed my chair, stirring up a pleasantly masculine scent from somewhere. I wasn’t sure if it came from him, Christopher Elton to one side of me, or Brick on the other, but it made me breathe it in deeper because it was so nice. Kind of heady, actually, like I could get drunk and giddy off the magical aroma alone.

“Well, if he’s not going to stick around,” Lana barked, “then I’ve certainly lost my appetite for this so-called meeting.” And she traipsed from the room as well, with Shyla scrambling to follow.

So, I guess the meeting was over. Some people stood to leave, some turned to their neighbors to gossip, and Christopher Elton swiveled his chair around to address me.

Jarring to a halt to listen to whatever he had to say, I held my breath and focused on nothing but him.

“Don’t worry,” he assured, reaching out to grip my bicep kindly. Ooh, he touched me! Christopher Elton was touching me. This was so amazing. “White vinegar will get that stain out, no problem.”

Stain? I blinked, totally lost. What stain?

Again, his gaze dropped to my chest. I looked down, only to remember—oh yeah—Lana had spilled her tea on me.

Lovely.

So I died right there in that spot, only a skeletal shell full of mortification with a tea-stained white blouse remaining.

Christopher smiled encouragingly, patted my arm once more, and then stood to leave.

I blinked, hot with embarrassment and disappointment.

I don’t know why I was so disheartened to learn he hadn’t been ogling my breasts after all. I should’ve been grateful he wasn’t a male-chauvinist fiend who only saw certain body parts when he looked at women. But sometimes, there were a few select men you actually wanted to notice your girly parts. And he’d been one of them.

I turned toward Brick, to—

I have no idea what, maybe to commiserate the epic failure of my first encounter with Christopher Elton. But he was—Brick!

The idiot was totally belying his earlier claim to stay away from women and was very clearly flirting with Adelyn from the Belts department. He was even playing with the pink tips of her long, blonde hair as he grinned and said who-knew-what in her ear. Adelyn worked alongside Sabella, and according to the hot gossip at the water coolers, they were mortal enemies.

Glancing around until I spotted Sabella, I wasn’t at all surprised to find her glaring daggers at my stepbrother and his current conquest.

Rolling my eyes, since this wasn’t exactly an unprecedented event, I left the conference room to make my way back toward my workroom. But no sooner did I enter Shyla’s area to get to the basement than Lana pounced.

“Were you at that meeting?”

“What?” I swear, she’d been loitering around Shyla’s desk, just waiting for me.

“I thought I told you to make me a fresh pot of tea!” she shrieked, sounding utterly unhinged.

I slowly closed the door behind me to muffle her rage from everyone else in the building.

“The first pot I made you was perfectly acceptable,” I said calmly. Shyla had begged me to keep my patience, so I wasn’t going to lose my temper. “Besides, I was busy making new copies and stapling the market reports you ruined. There was no time to—”

“I don’t want to hear your pathetic excuses.” Lana pressed the tips of three fingers to the center of her forehead as if she had a headache. Then she closed her eyes and hissed out a pained breath. “I needed that tea.”

Sympathy flickered inside me. I knew she had her problems, more problems than most. No one was perfect, and Lana would never be my favorite person. But her pissy demeanor suddenly didn’t seem so big and awful when she showed her vulnerabilities like this. She just needed some help and an attitude adjustment. And apparently tea to calm herself.

“I’ll go make you another—” I started, wanting to ease her misery, because I couldn’t handle seeing anyone in pain, even sharks.

But she growled, “Don’t bother,” and then she ripped her hand from her face to glare. “You already decided going to that meeting—which I expressly forbade you to attend—was more important than the duty I actually gave you. If you can’t follow one simple rule, then I don’t see how you’ll ever make full-time employment, in which case, why am I still bothering with you? Turn around, right now, return to your workspace, and clear out your desk. Then go home and don’t ever come back. You’re fired.”

I blinked. Wait, what?

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