Coming out of the elevator,the first thing Duncan noticed was Kayla’s empty desk. He’d visited the office almost every workday in the last weeks. Supposedly, he was meeting his brother for lunch, but on several occasions, Donovan wasn’t even present in the office. Duncan would stay just the same and sit with Kayla during her lunch break, and they would talk about everything and nothing.
He strolled over to his brother’s office. Coming closer to the door, he could hear Kayla state, “Donovan, you know what I mean. Don’t act like you’ve never heard this idea before.”
Duncan slowed and made an effort to not interrupt, as it seemed like they were having a heated conversation.
“I truly don’t know what you’re talking about, Kayla. I’ve never had any complaints about the way I do things around here.”
“Well, now that I’m here, maybe it’s time to spice things up a bit.”
Duncan couldn’t help but chuckle at Kayla’s enthusiasm. His brother looked up with a smirk, but Kayla glared at him for interrupting. He held up both hands in surrender and walked past them before he took a seat on the leather couch in Donovan’s office.
Kayla leaned on Donovan’s desk with both hands as she was obviously defending her case with passion. Donovan wasn’t impressed and held his hands behind his head with his feet crossed at the ankle on top of his desk. He seemed relaxed and rather amused.
Duncan then took a better look at Kayla. She had such fire inside of her as she was arguing with his brother. He didn’t even know what it all was about, but the fact that she didn’t back down from anyone was making him hard. And the fact that it happened each time he saw her was worrying. And even more disconcerting was the fact that he couldn’t stay away. He needed to see her, to hear the sound of her voice.
He wanted to make her blush and smile, even though she was trying to act indifferent to him. The days that he didn’t visit his brother’s office were the ones he didn’t get a moment with Kayla, and he began to hate those days. So, here he was again, sitting in his brother’s office. Even though there was no reason at all to stop by.
“Just think it over, Donovan, and you’ll see that there is room for improvement here.”
Kayla’s voice brought him back to the present, and as she walked past him, he noticed her brief glance toward him. Duncan tried his best to look as good as possible each time he went to visit Kayla—eh, Donovan. Yeah, okay, visit Kayla and not his brother. Who was he kidding, right?
“Okay, bro. This has to stop. You can’t show up every day just to drool over my assistant. I can’t stand seeing you going all puppy eyes and swishing your tail at Kayla. Just ask her out.”
“You okay with that?”
“I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but as a PI, I’m often seen as pretty observing. You two can’t stop eyeing each other, and it’s making me feel uncomfortable in my own office. Come on, bro. I think I can safely say that the attraction is there for Kayla too. And when you two get together, then hopefully she’ll be too occupied to want to change everything around here at the office.”
He chuckled his last sentence, and Duncan knew his brother really liked Kayla. He could see them butting heads and challenging each other, but Donovan always spoke fondly of her.
“I don’t know, man, I don’t think it’s a good idea. What if it all goes to shit, and then you’ll be in the middle of it all.”
Donovan picked up his cell and started scrolling. He hummed and looked up at Duncan as if he’d had enough of the conversation already. “You know what to do. Maybe you’re not ready right now, but you’ll get there. Kayla is a great girl. I respect her. She’s the only woman who has the balls to tell me like it is. She’s fair and has a good head on her shoulders. So no, I’m not afraid of you two falling apart and me being caught in the middle.”
“Okay, I’m going back to the dojo. See you later?”
“Hmm, yeah, later.”
Duncan walked out of Donovan’s office and saw Mike sitting on Kayla’s desk. He knew Donovan loved his employee like a brother, but right now, Duncan couldn’t care less. He strode toward the rough-looking, dark-haired personal bodyguard and narrowed his eyes at him.
“Aren’t you supposed to babysit some prima donna somewhere?”
Kayla and Mike stopped their conversation, and for the second time that day, Kayla narrowed her eyes at him, and her partner in conversation chuckled at his intrusion. What was wrong with these guys from Mills Security?
None of them, including his brother, were sending out the vibe that they wanted something more from Kayla. Were they blind? Or stupid? Perhaps both? If he would work side by side with Kayla each day, he sure as hell wouldn’t let another man come close to her. He would mark his territory, stupid as it may sound. He just couldn’t help himself.
But Mike simply chuckled and stood from Kayla’s desk, greeting Duncan. “Hey, Duncan. How’s it going at the dojo? Want to spar tonight, or maybe tomorrow at eight?”