Page 10 of Night Latch

Besides, the chances of that ever happening again seemed slim to none.

8

PRESTON

As I sat at my desk, reviewing the latest version of the annual report, the intercom on my desk buzzed.

It was the front desk. "Sir, your eleven o'clock is here."

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. I hated interviews, but they were a necessary evil if I wanted to maintain the respect of my team and make sure my team was comprised of top talent.

"Send her in." I glanced through the resume on my desk and jotted down a few notes on what I wanted to ask before the woman who wanted to be my new Chief Marketing Officer walked in.

By the time I was saying my goodbyes, my stomach was rumbling and I needed to eat. I pulled up the takeout menu for my favorite pho restaurant and placed an online order. Then I sent Otto a text and asked him to pick up my food.

As soon as the text was sent, he replied with a thumbs-up emoji.

Before I could even put my phone away, it buzzed with a text, but this time from my personal assistant.There’s a situation atthe Alaska location. An employee was fatally injured in an accident. You need to get there tonight.

Great, just what I needed.

Unsure what protocol was in that situation, I called my attorney for an update and a recommendation. Apparently, there was an altercation between a past employee and a member of our cleaning staff. “Do I need to be there in person?”

"Definitely, Preston. Expect to be in Fairbanks for at least a week."

A week! A week without my nurse or sleep or…joy.

After a full ten minutes of anxiety finally seeped out of me, I hung up and dialed the agency that handled my household staff placements. I’d hired Otto through that service, and most recently, used them to hire my nurse from The Lactin Brotherhood.

"Hello, this is Preston Sinclair." I was trying to sound composed when the dispatcher answered, but I might have just sounded aggravated. "I need to make a last-minute change to my staffing arrangements."

"Of course, sir. How can we help?" The polite woman on the other end of the line waited for me to figure that out because I had no idea how to fix my problem.

"I won't be needing Otto for the coming week because I’ll be traveling." My stomach clenched at the thought of being away from my wet nurse. "However, I was wondering if there's any way my night nurse might be willing to break the anonymity clause and travel with me to Alaska. It's an emergency, and I... I could really use the assistance."

There was a brief pause. "Of course, I can check on that. Please wait a moment." The line went quiet as I held my breath.

"Mr. Sinclair, that should be fine. I’ll contact your nurse and ask if he’s able to accompany you to Fairbanks."

"Thank you. I’ll send an addendum to the NDA." I breathed a sigh of relief and said a little prayer that my nurse would be able to join me. "I'll have my attorney be in touch, and in addition to expenses, I’ll pay his normal hourly rate for 24 hours a day while we’re gone. That should be sufficient incentive."

"Yes, I believe it will be.” The tapping of her keyboard was loud, even through the phone.

Otto was waiting for me when I got down to the front of the building a few minutes later. “Is everything okay, sir?” He held his arm out as I climbed into the car as if making sure I got in okay.

“Yes, Otto. Thank you. Just an emergency at the office in Alaska that I need to deal with. The good news for you is that you get some paid time off. I’ll probably be gone for a week or so.”

“Yes, sir. I just got notice from the agency.” He seemed uncomfortable or nervous, but I couldn’t worry about him. He was getting at least a week off work with pay. He should be ecstatic about that.

“Great. I just need to go home to pack and then after you drop me at the airport, you’re on your own until I need you to pick me up there again.”

His eyes held mine for a moment before he cleared his throat and took a step back to close the door. “Yes, sir.”

There was something almost familiar about the way he spoke when he lowered his voice like that. It was almost a whisper and reminded me of my most urgent priority. My nurse.

A few minutes later, I got a notification on my phone that my nurse had agreed to travel with me.Thank, fuck.I didn’t even care about the NDA at that point. The stranger had proven he could be discreet, and a small part of me didn’t even care if my world blew up around me. I just couldn’t bear the thought of going to sleep without him there.

I fired off a string of emails on the drive home and was surprised when we pulled up to a stop in front of my house and Otto opened the door.

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