Page 41 of The Bargain

“Byron,” I murmured and then pulled the Friend Egg out of my pocket. As I held it up to him, he shot me a dark look, but I wasn’t deterred. “Seriously, are you okay?”

“You can’t keep pulling that out at work,” he growled.

I waggled my eyebrows at him. “It’s better than me pulling out other things.”

Byron hissed and glanced across the room at the open door. “Sebastian, behave yourself. You promised.”

“Fine, but are you okay?” I repeated, holding the egg in front of me. I wasn’t putting it away until I got a proper answer.

He huffed. “I’m fine. Just…distracted, I think. It was a hectic weekend.”

That wasn’t a great answer, but I knew there was no point in trying to pursue this in the office. Thankfully, we were supposed to have a dinner date tonight. I could get to the bottom of what had happened over the weekend and try to help him feel better.

“Okay, we’ll talk later,” I murmured, wondering if we could chat prior to lunch even as I stuffed the egg into my pocket. I hadn’t expected to use it today, but it was a good thing I’d brought it.

Byron cleared his throat and turned his attention back to his tablet. “I’ll give Kaylan a heads-up about the meeting. Also, the agenda for the ten thirty meeting states that various departments will give brief proposals for new products. There was an idea that I wanted to present, if there was time.”

That was unexpected. Byron had never made a proposal before. I wasn’t even sure how the other managers would take that. Would they think he’d get preferential treatment because he was my assistant?

“Is there a specific department or division you’ve been working with?”

“No, sir. This is an independent idea that stretches across several divisions.”

“Send me the proposal. I’ll review it. If I think it’s good enough, I’ll move it along to the final decision stage for discussion.”

“Oh.” That didn’t sound like a good “Oh,” but I wasn’t sure how to explain that I was trying to save him some pain. He seemed so fragile from our other misunderstanding that I didn’t want to stomp on his sensitive feelings. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance because Byron nodded once. “I’ll go inform Kaylan that he needs to prepare for the meetings and what he needs to do.”

My assistant turned sharply on his heel and left my office, but there was a sinking feeling in my stomach that things were still off between us.

My eyes burned,and my neck was stiff. After the meetings, there was endless report reading and making notes for suggestions. I was ready for it to be done. To head home?—

No!Dinner. I had dinner plans with Byron tonight. Date number four.

How could I have forgotten? It should have been the thing to keep me buzzing all day, but it had slipped my mind. Byron hadn’t been there to remind me about it, though. In fact, I’d barely seen him all day.

Kaylan and I shuffled to the top floor after the morning meetings to find that Byron had already left for his lunch-break errand. I had only a brief message waiting to remind me to eat, along with his proposal. When I returned from my lunch, he was back at his desk, but on the phone with someone and I couldn’t interrupt him. That seemed to go on for the rest of the day, with me constantly missing him.

But the day was finished, and we could catch up during a quiet dinner.

As I was getting the chance to shut down my computer for the night, there was a knock on my door. Byron stepped in, looking as tired as I felt with a new stack of contracts for me to review.

“Legal department dropped these off. I’ve marked the places where the changes were made per your instructions,” Byron announced as he brought over the papers and sat them on the edge of my desk.

“Thank you.” The smile that had been missing from my lips returned as I watched him. “I feel like I haven’t seen you all day.”

“It’s been a busy day, sir.”

“Kaylan did fantastic this morning. You’ve done a great job training him.”

The little wrinkle between his brows smoothed. “I’m pleased to hear that you’re happy with his performance, but I can’t take credit. Kaylan is very intelligent and eager to learn everything he can about Courtland Enterprises.”

“We’re lucky to have him. Are you done for the day? Ready for dinner?”

Byron stared at me, and I got the impression that he’d forgotten we had a dinner date planned. His eyelids widened a heartbeat later, and I swore I could almost hear the memory clicking in his brain.

“Um…I have a few things left I need to see to before I can leave for the evening. Did…did you have a chance to review my proposal this afternoon?”

I sat back in my chair and spun it toward my monitor, as I turned over the best way to give him my thoughts. Straightforward had to be the best way. This was work, and I’d always been honest with Byron.

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