When he pulls back, he looks not angry, but stern, like he's about to deliver one of his famous lectures that I'm so un-fond of. "Don't do that."
"Do what?" I wasn't aware I did anything, really, aside from sit here and let him kiss me.
"Talk about yourself like you're nothing." His hand rises, and he tucks a stray lock of my hair behind my ear. It tickles, the sensation not unwelcome. Such an intimate move. "As far as I'm concerned, you're far better looking, inside and out, than any of those other girls out there."
I blush deeper. Any more compliments and I'll turn into a human tomato. "You're blind, then."
"No," he says with a smile, "just in love . . . with my assistant."
And there it is. The whole reason I'm out here instead of in his bed still. "Kai, we—we have to talk about that. Aboutthis."I gesture between our chests, and watch as his stern look shifts into worry. "About us."
"Denali—"
"No," I say firmly, proud of myself for standing my ground. "Kai, I'm—you're myboss?—"
"Technically, I'm not," he says with that smirk of his, the know-it-all one that drives me crazy. "You told me so yourself, remember? Arista is your boss." He looks around the room, that grin widening. "And I don't recall her being present in that bed with us."
"Kai."
Men will argue with a wall if they think it might get them what they want. Kai is still a man, albeit a pretty, caring, and protective one.
"What? It's the truth." The teasing fades, and suddenly he's pulling me into his arms, carrying me with my legs still wrapped around his waist all the way to the couch. When he sets us down, I try to detangle, but he's not giving me the chance. He leans back in his seat, keeping me firmly planted on his lap with those hands still gentle but firm on my waist.
I open my mouth to speak, but he shuts it with a glare. "No, Denali. Before you tell me all the reasons why this isn't a good idea, can I tell you the reasons why it is? And why I don't care?"
The Herculean strength it takes once again not to roll my eyes should win an award. "Go ahead." My arms, traitors they are, fall onto his shoulders, hands and fingers tangling in the hair at the base of his neck. "I'm listening."
"For starters, we're both attracted to each other." He feathers my collarbone with kisses, and like, okay, I can't argue that one. "I want you, and you want me."
"Bold assumption, but correct," I confirm, tipping my head back as his tongue trails over my chest, leaving little licks in its wake. "What else you got?"
"I'm in love with you," he says simply, like it needs no more explanation. "And I hope one day soon, you'll fall in love with me, too."
I don't have the courage to tell him I already am.
"And then there's the matter of my life has been better in so many ways since you walked into it."
"But I work for you," I say pointedly, though it no longer sounds like a solid argument. More like a flimsy excuse. "I'm your employee."
"I would hardly be the first boss in history to fall for his lovely assistant."
And there it is. The rub. The whole reason for my hesitance. Well, that and the celebrity status and the sheer impossibility of this working out for us.
"It's not who you are," I point out, reminding him of the him I met when we first were thrust into that conference room together, all those months ago. "It's not who I am, either."
It's not who I want to be. But apparently, itiswho I am.
"It can be," he points out, "because I don't care how much I have to fight against, I want you in my life, Denali Stone, and I'm not willing to give you up just because my company signs your paycheck."
His face finds the crook of my neck, and I whine in the back of my throat when instead of ravishing me, he simply holds me, content to inhale my scent and let me sort through my feelings.
"Kai," I say finally, knowing damn well I'll live to regret this decision, "let's say I indulge this little delusion. I say okay. What happens next?"
"Well," he thinks for a moment, his brows furrowed in concentration, really taking time to process it all. "I suppose we tell the company?"
"You don't sound too confident there, Kai." I need certainty. I need to know that if I do this, the fallout won't end me or my chances at a good life. Stability is a necessity.
"We tell Arista. She was working for Jun when they got back together, and when they got together in the first place." He grins, like he knows a secret. "Did you know that your boss is the OG 'banging the man whose company signs my paycheck' girl?"
