Page 52 of The Vampire's Receptionist
She said her goodbyes and hung up, leaving Kian to ponder what she’d just said. Did she say the delivery was for him? Like for him to pick up for Dorian, or actually for him? It wouldn’t make any sense if it was actually for him. He hadn’t been here long enough for anyone to know who he was. Besides, who would send him packages?
He got his answer fifteen minutes later when an intern came out of the elevator with two gift baskets in his hands. They were huge, wrapped in plastic, and the poor intern looked like he was struggling to hold both of them himself. Kian popped out of his chair, hurrying to take one from the poor siren.
“Thanks,” the intern murmured, readjusting the other gift basket to carry it with both hands.
“No problem. Who sent these?”
Setting the gift basket on an empty desk, the siren pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and frowned at it. “The receipt says a company called Mystigifts. I’m not sure. Oh, but I think there’s a note tied to it.”
He finally looked up at Kian, doing a double take when he noticed Kian’s eyes. To his credit, he didn’t flinch or back away. He did look a little confused, but Kian would take that over the outright wariness he usually got.
Setting the basket he was holding next to the intern’s, he looked for the note. It was tied with a ribbon to the top and written in fancy gold letters. Kian snorted when he realized what it was.
“Ah. I know what this is about. Thanks for bringing it up.”
“Sure,” the intern nodded, looking curiously between Kian and the baskets. He wanted gossip, and Kian kind of wanted to get back at Dorian for doing something so cheesy.
“Mr. Kuramori likes to pretend he’s got a lot of admirers, so he buys gift baskets and has me bring them to him randomly throughout the week and pretend they’re from someone else.”
The intern’s jaw dropped. It was a good thing Kian had several thousand years of practice keeping a straight face, or he would’ve burst out laughing at that reaction. No doubt, the rumor would spread through the whole company. No way was the intern keeping that to himself. Kian would give it until midweek before it got back to Dorian somehow.
The more he thought about it, the harder it was to stop himself from laughing. Innocent pranks like that were his favorite kind of mischief. Drawing in a breath, he nodded at the intern. “Thanks for hauling them up. I appreciate it.”
Seeing the dismissal for what it was, the intern nodded and waved, walking backward as he glanced between the baskets and the doorway that led to Dorian’s office. He nearly walked into another desk before correcting himself and poking the button for the elevator. He had to wait a minute for it to come, so Kian decided to up the mischief just a little, snagging the basket meant for him.
“I should bring this in now. What’s your name? I’ll say it was from you.”
The intern’s face flushed bright red at the thought of being a secret admirer, but he did mutter out a quick, “Evander,” under his breath. He practically darted into the elevator when the doors opened, watching anxiously from inside as Kian brought the basket with him to Dorian’s office and knocked on the door. The elevator doors were just closing as Dorian called for Kian to enter.
Dorian’s eyes were on the paperwork on his desk. He didn’t even glance up when Kian came into the room. Still grumpy, apparently. If it were anyone else, he’d walk away. He didn’t care enough to deal with all that. But it was Dorian, and as his feeder and the guy sleeping with him, Kian felt like he could get away with more. He waltzed over to the desk, putting the gift basket on top of Dorian’s work, and leaned his hip against the side.
“Something you forgot to mention?” Kian drawled, his lips still fighting back a smile.
Dorian jerked back in surprise, looking between Kian and the gift basket for a moment. His brows furrowed when he studied the basket, and to Kian’s delight, a flush swept over his cheeks when he realized what it was.
“In my defense, I ordered that after the first incident. It was supposed to get here that same week. I got an email from the company owner saying that orders were delayed because of illness, but I didn’t get the email until…”
Until he was already starving and not functioning well enough to decide what to do about it. Kian didn’t judge him for that. He’d seen just how out of it Dorian had been. They had needed to go through everything that had come up that week workwise again just to make sure Dorian remembered all of it.
“Well, it’s a nice gesture, but I don’t need it. Morgan will appreciate it, though. That’s who the second one is for, right?”
Dorian nodded slowly, studying Kian’s face. “Will he like it?”
“Probably. And I know the gesture would go a long way for him. He just messaged me this morning, letting me know he was finally free to meet with you, too. Did you want me to set things up?”
Whatever Dorian had been thinking so hard about was pushed aside, his face turning more contemplative. “That sounds fine. Maybe lunch? I ruined the one the two of you had been having when I scared him.”
Kian bit back a snort. He didn’t think Morgan would pick up on that, not after this much time, but it was obvious Dorian cared. And as long as he was with them, Morgan was probably safe with Dorian. He didn't think the vampire would cause trouble unless Morgan threatened Kian. Morgan wasn’t that kind of person.
“I’ll ask him.”
He was about to walk away when Dorian stopped him with a frown. “Are you angry with me?”
Surprised, Kian turned to face him again. “No. Why?”
Dorian gestured to the basket he was very obviously leaving behind. “I know it’s impersonal. I hadn’t known you then, and I wanted to do something to apologize. I can exchange it–”
Kian cut him off before he got any funny ideas. He’d experienced first hand just how intense Dorian was about buying presents. Even his apartment felt barren compared to the number of plants Dorian had bought him during his recovery. He didn’t want the office to become a greenhouse.
