Page 117 of A Bossy Surprise

Adam and I stare at each other in silence. Then I break the eye contact when it gets a little too intense.

When I’m about ready to bolt from the room due to the uneasiness that hangs in the air, Adam says, “I’m sorry.”

My eyes shift to him and my stance relaxes.

“You’re sorry for what?”

He smiles. “Lucas is right. I shouldn’t have blamed you for what happened with Maurice. That was irrational. I was just lashing out and looking for somewhere to place my anger. You didn’t deserve that. I guess, that’s something I have to work on, but please accept my apology.”

“Thank you, and to be honest, I probably brought it on myself.”

He laughs. “How so?”

“When you walked away I knew you needed your space, but I followed you anyway. If I had a let you go and calm down, maybe none of this would’ve happened.”

“Maybe, but I should learn how to regulate my anger and not lash out at the people who care the most about me.”

“I’m not going to argue with that.” We both laugh. “You’re not the only one that Lucas was right about. I do have my own shit that I need to work on. I guess I am intense when it comes to my career. I guess I still have a chip on my shoulder from when I got pregnant with Brady. Everyone said I had ruined my life. That I would never amount to anything. I think I’ve been stuck trying to prove all of them wrong this whole time.”

He walks up to me and takes my face in his hands and gazes down at me. “You know you don’t have to do that anymore, right?”

“Yeah, logically I know that, it’s the emotional part that is tripping me up.”

“Kayla, you are amazing at what you do. If you need me to tell you every day for the rest of your life before you believe it, then that’s what I’ll do. You don’t need to prove yourself to anyone. Just like Lucas said, you’ve practically worked miracles at GNN.It’s the reason why I am confident that together we can make GNN better than ever.”

“So you’ve decided to keep going?” I smile.

He leans down and places a chaste kiss on my lips, then on my forehead. “With you by my side, how can I choose any different?”

I turn around and look at the bed behind me. “What do you say we make Lucas regret tricking us into meeting like this?”

Adam wiggles his eyebrows. “I am all for that.”

We both laugh then he tackles me and we both fall on the bed.

34

ADAM

It’s like I’m six and it’s Christmas morning. I am literally vibrating with excitement.

I’m in the back of my town car with Arthur. We’re being driven to the NNA’s offices.

“The next time I see Paul, I’m going to kiss him on the mouth,” Arthur says.

“I would like to remind you that he is a lawyer. So if you do that, he probably will promptly sue you for sexual assault,” I say.

“I don’t care. Where did you find him? I think he’s the best lawyer I’ve ever come across. He saw this coming and literally saved GNN,” Arthur says.

“He’s a Senior Partner at Fortnum, Mason, Proctor and Bond. The law firm Grant Media uses,” I explain.

“In that case, he’s probably too expensive for me, but still, the man is a wizard.”

We pull up outside NNA and make our way inside.

When we get to the receptionist, a young man with bright blue hair who looks to be in his early twenties, Arthur speaks. “Hello, I am Arthur Fain. My associate is Adam Grant. We would like to see Casper Radcliffe.”

“Do you have an appointment?” the receptionist asks, his voice surly.