Page 79 of Captivated By You

I shook my head, refusing to let him fob me off. “No, Ash. That isn’t helpful. Did you really bring me here because you wanted my help in a professional capacity, or did you just want me to keep your bed warm at night?”

His eyebrows shot up, and he ran a hand through his hair, making it stand on end. I sat on my hands in case I reached out to smooth it. That would only distract him from answering the damn question.

“You couldn’t be more wrong.”

“Then what do Ido? What are the specific things you want me to bring to this meeting?”

He took a deep breath through his nose. “Remember the night we met?”

“Ash.” I sighed.

He showed me his palm. “Bear with me. Remember how you analyzed me after only meeting me for a few seconds? The things you saw in me were so accurate, Kiana. That, right there, is a gift. It can’t be taught. It’s instinctual and extremely powerful. I want you to do the same here. I can’t get a bead on this guy. He joined the company a couple of years ago, and for the first few months, he did well. Not a top performer by any means, but he showed potential. Recently, his performance has slipped. And like I said, even sending in a team to support him hasn’t worked, and now, a few short weeks later, we’re back to where we started.”

He smoothed a hand over his shirt and adjusted his tie.

“Your role is to listen, to assess, and then we’ll break away and you can tell me what you think. Then I want you to talk to the staff. Find out what kind of hotel he runs. What kind of boss he is. The team leader I sent in tried but got nowhere. People talk to you, Kiana. They trust you. The way you discovered the gap in pay for my housekeeping staff shows that. Just see what you can find out, and then we’ll regroup and discuss.”

He smiled. “Is that professional enough for you?”

“Yes, although your timing leaves a lot to be desired. You could have told me this earlier and stopped me from worrying.”

“I meant to discuss it last night, but… well… I was a little preoccupied.”

His eyes dropped to my boobs. The base of my spine prickled as I thought back to last night, to his cock sliding in between my cleavage, the expression of pure exhilaration on his face as he came. How he spread his cum all over my chest, almost as if he were marking me.

“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” His voice was soft and sultry with a hint of a rasp.

I pretended to glare at him. “I’m at work. Control yourself.”

He chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t call me that. It makes me feel about ninety.”

He caught hold of my hand, brushing his thumb over my knuckles. “I can’t wait to grow old with you.”

“Can we enjoy being young first?”

He gave me a hint of a smile. “Johannes and Penn always accuse me of being old before my time. It’s challenging, being the eldest child with all the expectations that brings with it. My greatest fear is not being as good as my father and letting him down. The hotel business is his baby, and I’d hate to fuck it up.”

Ash had just shared a major piece of himself with me, and all I could do was wonder how a man as confident and competent as he, someone brilliant in so many ways, could still have doubts. Strangely, it helped me put into perspective my own insecurity. If Ash could question his ability, then oddly, it gave me permission to question mine.

“You could never fuck it up. You’re too good. At everything.”

He arched a brow. “I thought we were barred from talking about sex.”

I backhanded his shoulder. “Oh, stop. Your ego doesn’t need to be inflated any more than it already is.”

He chuckled.

“Thank you, though. For telling me something so personal.”

“I want to share everything with you. The good and the bad. My insecurities as well as my hopes and dreams for the future. Before I met you, I never realized how lonely I was. Work took up so much of my energy that I rarely had the time to think about how nice it would be to share my successes and failures with someone. To know that the other person would support me no matter what.”

“We still hardly know each other.”

He nodded. “That’s the part I’m looking forward to. Finding out everything about you. But one thing I never want you to doubt is how much I love you, how certain I am that, in you, I’ve found my soul mate. That whatever trials and tribulations come our way, we are strong enough to handle them, together.”

“Jeez, Ash, way to turn a girl to mush right before an important meeting.”

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