“Nope. I’m doing some Christmas shopping.”
He felt a twinge of relief. “Good.” He paused. “Wait, a minute. I thought we were going to do Christmas shopping together.”
She laughed. “I’m shopping for you, ya big dummy.”
“You and your mouth this week, Kitten.”
She snorted but didn’t say anything else.
“Sean was calling to tell you a couple of reporter types are lurking around our place. Be careful when you go home. In fact, why don’t you have a driver come pick you up and take you home when you’re done? Just in case. We can get your car later.”
“You want me to leave my car at the mall?”
He laughed. “I’ll send two drivers.”
“I thought you weren’t worried about the gossip rags.”
He sighed. “I’m not. Not really. But I don’t like people snooping around. With everything that has happened the last few months, I worry that someone might still try to come after you.”
She was quiet for a minute. There was no sass in her tone when she spoke again. “They’re in prison, Lance. Nobody is going to hurt me. I’m almost done. Send the drivers to the Michigan Ave district.”
“Thank you, Kitten. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He sat back in his chair as he tossed the phone on the desk. She’d nearly died just weeks after she came back into his life. It had gutted him when he felt helpless to rescue her.
To say he was overprotective was an understatement.
He pushed his sleeves back up over his elbows and dragged a hand through his hair. He wanted to finish the project he’d started before he headed home.
As he was working, he heard someone moving about in the outer office. He stood to investigate since he’d sent Jill home two hours ago.
When he opened his door, he found Kimberly sitting at her desk typing frantically.
“Kimberly? I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow morning. What’s up?”
Her head jerked up. “Sorry. I didn’t know you were still at work. I was coming in to check up on Jill’s work for the day.
He gave a mirthless laugh. “I was planning to talk to you about her tomorrow. I don’t mind saying she pissed me off twice today.”
He gave her details of the day as he perched on the corner of her desk.
“Sorry, Lance. I should just find someone else to take over for me while I’m away.”
Lance shrugged. “It will probably come to that. Is there a reason you wanted her to have this position so bad?”
Kimberly smiled. “She’s a friend. I know better than to stick my neck out for friends like that. I just wanted to help her out. She came to me a few months ago asking about a job and I knew you weren’t looking for anything but I also knew I was thinking about taking an extended leave so I promised I would keep her in mind.”
“That makes sense. But don’t worry about it. We’ll let her flounder until she either gets her feet under her or fails miserably.”
Kimberly winced. “I just feel bad leaving you this way.”
He reached over and picked up the woman’s hand. “You have a family to look after. I’m going to be just fine.”
“Will you, though? I know how bad you are with your calendar when I’m not around.”
He laughed. “Give me a little credit and get out of here. We’ll figure out what to do about Jill if it comes to it. I actually already had a talk with Cameron downstairs about helping me out if I need it.”
Kimberly blew out a breath. “OK. If you’re sure. I’ll go back home and just come in tomorrow. I’m going to continue letting her take the lead on things unless I need to step in.”
“Sounds good. Get out of here. I’m almost finished for the day and then I’m going home to Riss.”
Kimberly grinned. “I’m really glad you two found each other again.”
Lance stood and gave her a wink. “Me too. More than you know. And just a heads up, I might just be a married man by the time you come back from your leave of absence.”
She clapped her hands together and stood to grab her purse. “That makes me so happy.”
“Where did you park?” he asked.
“I took public transport.”
He frowned and glanced at his watch. “Let me take you home. I can leave now.”
Kimberly held up her hand. “That’s unnecessary. I’ve been riding the train for years, Lance.”
“I insist. Just let me grab my phone and keys.”
Back in his office, he called a driver and asked him to be waiting in the garage as he tucked his keys into his pocket.
Kimberly still stood with her purse on her shoulder when he stepped back out.
“Ready?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow.
“Yep. Are you sure? I don’t live on the way to your house.”
He smiled. “I’m sure. Riss is out shopping anyway. I can take the long way home.”
Downstairs he opened the passenger door to the SUV that was waiting for them before he rounded the car and climbed into the front passenger seat.
He fired a text to Marissa as the driver pulled out of the garage.
Taking Kimberly home and then I’m on my way home.
Marissa’s response was just a thumbs up and he tucked his phone in the center console and closed his eyes for the ride to Kimberly’s house.
Thirty minutes later she was stepping out in her driveway, promising to see him in the morning.
He stepped out of the SUV to open her door. As she climbed out of the passenger seat, she leaned up and kissed his cheek. “I’m happy for you and Marissa. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
He smiled and gave her a wave as she walked up the driveway. He extended the wave to two of her children who stepped out on the porch to greet their mother. He’d watched them grow up over the last decade that Kimberly had worked with him and he usually got them Christmas presents though he’d never been a huge fan of kids.
With a nod to his driver, they backed out of the driveway and headed for his Lincoln Park condo.
9
Monday, December 17th
Marissa
Marissa paced Lance’s office while he read a magazine she’d brought him.
“So let me get this straight, I’m stepping out with my hot older assistant, Kimberly, and you’re banging the drivers while I’m away?” He said when he finally looked up with a smirk.
“Something like that,” Marissa said dryly. “Can it be our vacation already?”
He laughed. “Just a few more days, Kitten. Thanks for showing me this. Dana Gray in PR has some people monitoring this for us. It’s all going to be fine.”
Marissa sighed. “I know. I’m just stressed about my launch and the dinner with Nathan Griffin and his company, and the wedding, and…” Lance stopped her pacing with a squeeze of her shoulder. She hadn’t even noticed he’d gotten up from his desk.
“And a million other things, Riss. I know. But you don’t need to stress about any of it. You hired a great staff, so your launch is going to be great. Nathan Griffin will not make or break our success, and we’re working on the wedding.”