Page 42 of Kane's Awakening
He grinned, making the corners of his brown eyes crinkle, and winked. “Gee, I may need you to bribe me. I heard Michael Kingston is hiring, and I may have to take him up on his offer.”
I knew he was joking. Eric had told me many times how much he loved working for me. And I kind of spoiled him sometimes. If I got a good check from a big case, or if I was just feeling generous, I’d give him a few hundred dollars here and there to help him out in between his paydays. He’d just graduated college, and Iknewhe had some student loan debt, so anytime I could help, I did.
Eric left my office, and I got back to work—focusing on proofreading the documents and signing them. About an hour later, he came back in, holding a single red rose.
“What’s that?”
“An elephant,” he answered with a smirk. I rolled my eyes, and he held it forward. “Happy Valentine’s Day. And no, it’s not from me,” he clarified before I could ask. “Not sure who it’s from. It has a card, but it’s not signed. Not that I looked or anything.”
I playfully narrowed my eyes at him before taking it. He watched me for a moment, and I glanced back at him.
“Aren’t you going to read the card?” he asked.
“Nosy much?”
Eric grinned. “Okay, okay. I’m leaving.”
Once the door was closed, I just stared at the rose… and the card. There was no mystery man in my life, so I had no clue who it could be from.Just read it, I told myself. So I did. Only two sentences were scrawled in slightly messy handwriting, but it was all I needed to know who’d written it.
I might not be your Mr. Right, but I know how you love this romance stuff. So, Happy Valentine’s Day from your Not-So-Mr. Right.
Not a word from Kane in weeks, and yet, he’d still thought of me on today of all days. I was glad Eric had left the room because my eyes stung with unshed tears, and I gave a long exhale, trying my hardest not to cry.
Kane had tried to be as un-romantic as possible, but it had still touched my heart in ways I didn’t understand. And it made me believe for one of the first times that he actuallydidwant something more with me, but was just afraid of something.
Why else would he even bother with sending me anything?
I got up and went into the small kitchen, digging through the cabinets until I found a small vase. Sure, it was only one rose, but I wanted to display it, as super cheesy as that was.
After the rose was in water, I sat it on my desk and debated what to do. The polite thing would be to call Kane and thank him, but he hadn’t signed the card, which made me hesitant to reach out to him. Then again, he would’ve known I’d know it was from him.
Finally, I said screw it and grabbed my phone.
Me:To my Not-So Mr. Right… thank you. You have no idea how much that meant to me.
Once my mind was out of its Kane haze, I grabbed the file and started looking over the personal injury case again. The trial was next week, and I felt so behind on it. Having a dozen other cases, it had been difficult to put the time I needed into it, which was of course my fault and no one else’s.
When five o’clock rolled around, and I was still nowhere near done, I ordered a pizza and just stayed in my office.
It was going to be a long night.
