Safe With Me, Baby(20)

Chapter 10





Maybe I should have told her about my clearance before blurting it out to our entire staff. I honestly hadn’t thought much about it; her file was catalogued in the “employee” part of my brain because it was only applicable to the job.

From the look on her face, it was clear that I’d mishandled the situation. I’d deal with that in a minute, though.

My eyes locked on Chad and I scowled at the condescending glare he was giving Calista. “Chad, I think you and I need to have a discussion. Be in my office at nine AM tomorrow.” His expression slipped long enough to show a moment of indecision, obviously reconsidering his choice to speak up. He quickly covered it back up, nodded and spun around, striding down the hall toward the gym.

“Unless anyone else feels the need to question my decisions…” I let the comment hang for a moment, waiting. No one spoke up, so I continued, “Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be scheduling time for each of you to meet with Calista so she can get to know you, after which you will have time with her in the gym, and she will assess your physical abilities. I want her to be as familiar with each of you as I am.” Everyone else seemed to take the news like a professional with nods and murmurs of agreement. “Alright, back to work.” The crowd dispersed quickly, and I used the arm I had around Calista’s shoulders to steer her to my office.

Once inside, I shut the door before walking us around to my desk chair, sitting and settling her on my lap.

“What did you mean when you said you’d read my entire file, even the redacted sections? Were you exaggerating to squash more dissension?” She sounded wary and pissed at the same time.

“Baby, you know I wouldn’t lie to you, my employees, or anyone else.” I felt like a pansy, but I wasn’t able to keep the hurt out of my tone. “I do a lot of freelance work for the government, and I have code word clearance and am rarely denied access to the information I request. I didn’t think to mention it because it had no bearing on our personal lives and, as an employee, it’s my prerogative as the boss. After you left that first day, I read C. Lewis’s whole file. But I did it as the CEO of Gray Security, not Xander Gray who was in love with Calista Lewis.”

Calista gasped and leaned back so she could stare directly into my eyes. “In love?”

I laughed and kissed her nose, forehead, eyelids, and finally her mouth. “You think I’d knock up and demand to marry just any woman? For fuck’s sale, baby. Of course I’m in love with you.”

Her mouth had formed a little O, and her eyes were blinking owlishly. I decided to take advantage of the moment and opened the top right desk drawer. After locating the little box I was searching for, I opened it and removed a three-karat diamond ring. “About that question and a ring,” I drawled. “There is no question, because we’re getting married and that’s final. However”—I softly kissed her lips as I slipped the ring onto the third finger of her left hand—“I do have a ring.”

She studied me for a moment. “Since you’ve been doing your best to put your kid in me since the moment we met, I think I can safely assume that this proposal isn’t because of the pregnancy?”

The tilt of her lips made me smile, and I laughed again. “That’s just a perk, baby. You want to tell me why you’re marrying me?”

Her dark eyes sparkled with mischief. “Who says I’m marrying you? I don’t recall you asking,” she sassed.

“You’re marrying me,” I growled. “This isn’t up for debate. Now, tell me what I want to hear, baby.”

“Yes.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Yes, what?”

“Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Rolling my eyes, I twisted her around to straddle me and cupped her face in my hands. “Calista,” I grunted, my voice full of warning. “Your pretty little ass is going to be cherry red soon if you don’t stop being so cheeky.”

“Cheeky?” Calista bubbled with laughter, and I lost myself in the beautiful sound. I fucking loved hearing her laugh.

But, it didn’t distract me from my ultimate goal. I gripped the back of her head with one hand and used the other to land a quick smack on one ass cheek. “Woman, I am—”

“I love you.”

“It’s about fucking time,” I growled before crushing my lips down on hers.

I made good use of my sturdy desk to celebrate being officially engaged, then cleaned us both up before we headed back home.

As we passed by her desk, I gave Jessa a warm smile. “Great wok today, Jessa. Goodnight.”