“Careful, Jax, your frown will turn permanent if you keep that scowl on your face,” Gwen teased as she walked in.
Jax just flipped her offwhile Kade chuckled. His smile took my breath away. This was the first time I had physically seen Kade since the interview and he did not disappoint. Today, he was in an all-black bespoke suit. His tiewas textured but also black. My grip on my enormous coffee thermos tightened as I took in his broad form.
“Good morning, Ms. Mowers.” His voice sounded smooth like honey.
“Good morning, Mr. Romano.” I dipped my chin in greeting. In order to get to my seat, I had to maneuver around him and our arms brushed as I walked past. A bolt of electricity zapped through me at the contact. I didn’t know what was happening to me. Obviously I needed to have Aaron over.
Kade pivoted and stared down at me. “How have the first few days been?”
I shrugged. “It's been fine.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Just fine?”
I placed my coffee on my cat-shaped coaster and glanced up at him. “Yeah. I mean, I know I am new, so it will take time for more challenging tasks to come through.”
“Lennie mentioned that you finished the company-wide audit already. Pretty impressive to get that done in two days,” he remarked.
I continued to type in my credentials on my work computer. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kade pick up the frame with Alfredo’s photo in it.
“And who is this?” he asked, showing me the picture as if I didn’t know what he was referring to.
“That’s Alfredo, my cat.”
“That is quite the name,” he teased.
“Well, he’s quite the feline. So it’s perfect,” I deadpanned.
“Fair enough.” He placed the frame back on my desk. It was hard to focus when I could feel the heat coming from him, along with that masculine cedar scent.
“Did you find anything during the audit that was worth reporting?” he asked, changing topics.
“I did, actually.” I pivoted my chair and crossed one leg over the other, smirking when I noticed Kade’s eyes darken when my pencil skirt rode up.
“I am still finishing my report, but I did find several accounts that seemed to glitch when I accessed them. It seemed strange, but I don’t have clearance to determine the actual issue.”
“Send the report to Lennie, and I’ll have the rest of the team look into it.” He waved me off.
“With all due respect, Mr. Romano,” I started.
“Please call me Kade.”
“Kade.” I cleared my throat. “I would love to be able to utilize my skills to help the team. I know I am new, but surely since I identified these items, it would only make sense to finish what I started.”
“For now, I want you to lay low. Avoid those accounts and send the report to Lennie, and we will go from there.” At that, Kade stood up and gave me a once-over. he then looked down at the footwell of the desk. “Cute slippers,” he said with a smirk as he walked away.
My face heated looking down at the penguin Snoozie slippers I was wearing. Spinning in my chair, I sighed before taking out my phone.
Aaron:
Don’t forget our training session tonight.
Aaron:
And don’t you DARE try to get out of it.
Me:
UGHHHHHH. How about you do the training, and I’ll get my work out later with you?
