Page 25 of Kiss Me Forever

"I'm more than fine with that, Luke. I apologize if I gave off another impression."

He didn't say anything, just kept his eyes on me. It was unnerving. How was he so in control of himself when I was a nervous mess?

"Okay, then, our meeting is over," he said. "All the details you need about our upcoming projects are on the intranet. I’ll email you the pitch as soon as I have it."

"You're doing it yourself?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes. You and I are a team, but in the beginning, I’ll be the one doing the pitches and bringing ideas to the table. You’ll support me with research. After a while, I’ll ask you to come up with ideas, and I’ll review them. The rest of the teams are in charge of their own pitches. I don’t oversee them. Remember, I trust my team 100 percent. I trained them, after all."

“This is amazing. I can't wait to get to that point myself. And to shadow you in the meantime," I added, offering him a pleasant smile, waving a white flag.

He didn't smile back. I guessed I deserved that. He had been far more patient with me than he needed to be.

“Is that all?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I stood up. “Okay, then. I’ll go back to my desk.”

"Email me if you have any questions. Or pop into my office."

"When are we meeting the client?" I asked.

"At the end of next week."

"Got it."

I walked to the door with determined steps, turning around as I opened it, and caught Luke looking at me. His eyes had been intense before, but they were almost feral now. The subtle change made my skin simmer. Was it possible that beneath the controlled man was someone who still desired me?

"How was it?" Klaus asked when I sat back at my desk.

"It was fine. He just wanted us to discuss some details about the client we’re going to pitch to."

"Prepare yourself to be wowed. Luke sort of transforms when he's with a customer. He's all relaxed here and cracking jokes, and then he's like a completely different man."

"Interesting," I said, realizing I was already seeing “customer Luke”, and I was pretty sure it was because of our sexy rendezvous.

I downloaded the client information and looked at my task list from the rest of the team. I couldn't wait to go with Luke to meet the client. This was an amazing opportunity, and I planned to make the most of it.

As Klaus had said, the rest of the team filtered in during the rest of the day. In the afternoon, all seats were taken, and I was comfortable in my chair by the window. I could see this becoming a tradition. Me and Klaus coming in every morning, choosing the best seats. I was an early riser, so this worked perfectly for me.

I didn't like working from home much. My place was far too small for that; it felt claustrophobic. I needed to see people and interact with them. I fed off their energy. Besides, working in this office was a hoot. There was friendly chatter all the time.

“Dude, did you make any progress on the treehouse Luke wants for Paisley?” Klaus asked Derrick.

Derrick shrugged. “Nah, I’ve still got time.”

“Derrick. It’s his niece. He’s gonna have your head if you don’t come up with something more.”

“What’s this about?” I asked, remembering my first conversation with Luke.

“Luke wants to build a treehouse for his niece’s birthday. Asked Derrick here to research it, and he’s slacking.”

That was so cute. He had a senior member of his team researching treehouses. I couldn’t manage to hide my smile, so I ducked my head lower, hiding behind my screen, opening the intranet portal. Going through the tasks listed there, I realized I didn’t have too many from the other teams. Most of my time would be spent prepping information for mymentor.

I still couldn’t believe it was Luke.

For the rest of the week, I meticulously researched the client, sending Luke the information he asked for to put in his pitch. The next week went by in the same fashion. I saw very little of Luke—we mostly communicated through emails. I wondered if that was his MO with all interns.

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