Page 36 of Companion Required

“Are you and Jennifer still together?”

“Of course not. Not for three months. I told you already.”

“Then what you are now is anything you want to be. And, more importantly, it’s nobody’s business but your own.” Letting Kieran mull over his words, he pulled the silver dome off the plate to reveal scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toasted muffins. After taking a spoonful, he flipped up the top of his laptop and booted up the machine. “What are you planning to do today?”

“I thought I’d explore. Steph and Laurie are swinging by at ten. How about you?”

Kennedy peered down at his desktop and noticed a few emails had arrived in his private account. When he opened to his inbox, he noticed one from Tim with a couple of attachments.

“Working. Just this morning. How about I meet you guys for lunch?”

“Sounds like a plan. And then we can all head straight to your rehearsal.”

* * * *

Despite Steph’s form—since he’d first met her, she’d always hovered around size twenty-six and been proud of the fact—she was amazingly light on her feet. Truth be told, she was the better dancer. Their routine included both of them wearing dinner suits, Steph in white, Kennedy in black. Steph would take the lead, traditionally the man’s role. Typical of her, since the last time they’d danced this particular tango she’d changed a couple of the moves, to keep things fresh.

Over the following hour, they began by walking through the steps, practicing and re-practicing the new ones until Kennedy felt comfortable. Of course, their first full run through with the music was a train wreck. Every now and again, he glanced over to where Kieran and Laurie sat at a lounge table, observing them and chatting together. Kieran had agreed to sit in on their rehearsal and record their session on his phone. That way, they could watch together later on and decide what worked and what did not.

When they managed to run through three times in succession without stopping or making a mistake, they agreed to call it a day and went over to join Laurie and Kieran. As they approached, the pair burst into applause, Kieran grinning broadly at Kennedy.

“Are you full of surprises or what, Kennedy Grey? That was frigging awesome.”

When Kennedy threw himself down, Kieran put his arm around Kennedy’s shoulders, pulled his head towards him and kissed him on the top. Not only did Kennedy feel a warm twinge of pleasure at the praise and the contact, but his cock also began to sit up and take notice. And he had a fair idea why.

That morning, as they’d both taken turns to use the bathroom, Kieran had left the door open, and Kennedy had glimpsed his naked figure getting into the shower cubicle. Like a good gentleman, at first he had turned away, but then had not been able to help stealing a peek at Kieran’s body. Beautiful, long, lean but not skinny, he had pale, hairless skin except for the dark patch of pubic hair around a generously sized cock.

All morning, with Kieran gone, the image had kept floating into his head and interrupting his work. Only the message from Tim, and another from Karl, had managed to keep him focused.

Karl had written that the meeting date was still the same, but that they would need to use a local hotel, because their conference room had suffered water damage from the offices above. Kennedy smiled to himself. Sloan either knew or suspected that Kennedy had installed his own security devices around the room, knew his boss would be able to watch and hear everything going on.

Tim had managed to find reams of information on Milletto, and had included something he liked to call an ‘FYEO’ file—For Your Eyes Only—which always drew Kennedy’s attention, and where the crucial information would sit. Milletto’s file had nothing much he didn’t already know, except that, at fifty-eight, Milletto was essentially in his prime as a businessman, had pretty much done the same for Cold Steel as Kennedy had for Grey Havens. Why, then, would he want to sell? Even though he would remain in an advisory capacity—part of the deal—he would essentially hold no power, have no share of the pie. Of course, Tim must have known Kennedy would look at the attachments in sequence, because as soon as he typed in his private password to open the FYEO file, the truth jumped out at him.

Very clever, Sloan.

Very clever.

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