Undeniably His(63)
Kalin returns his eyes to me. “See, I only hire smart people.”
“Apparently smart and beautiful,” I simper.
Madison picks up a piece of chocolate. “I’ve noticed.”
I blush.
“Smart and beautiful. My kind of women. If you played your cards right, you could take over the world.” A crooked smile spreads over his mouth.
“Don’t give us any ideas, Kalin.” Madison bumps my arm with hers.
“Madison, I’m going to be delegating a lot of my projects to Annabelle. She will be divvying up the projects to the marketing teams. Please work with her and help her get familiar with some of them.”
“My pleasure. Are you officially back?” she asks with a gleam of hope in her eyes.
“I am unofficially back. I am going to be low-key and under the radar.”
“A coup. How exciting,” Madison teases. “Everyone’s been wanting you to come back, Kalin. Very few can stand this new management team. Not only do they not know what they’re doing, but they don’t care. It’s as if they just want to divide up the spoils and leave the company.”
“So they haven’t forgotten about me?”
“Hell, no. You are a hero around here. If you do something, rest assured you have the company behind you.” Madison walks toward us and rests her hands on Kalin’s hand. “I’m serious, Kalin. They would do anything for you. But we want you to get better first.”
“I want a list of clients who have left our agency, with a survey of why they left and what it would take to get them back.” Kalin manages like he never missed a beat.
“You got it.” Madison punches some notes into her phone.
“And Madison, help Annabelle with the production of the survey and how we gather the data. I want to see what it would take to get back our biggest clients.”
“Going straight for the big fish?” A small smile curves her full lips.
“Yeah, and I want Annabelle to see how we do it.”
“Welcome to the team, and the coup.” She bounces toward me and hugs me.
“Also, just keep the coup thing between us.” Kalin grins.
“Of course,” she says, smelling the flowers.
Madison and I stand on each side of the bed. “I know I can count on both of you. Thank you,” he says, grasping our hands.
Chapter Seventeen
I have not seen Lia since the day I left for Southampton with Kalin. She enters the room with a sunny smile, flowers, and a stuffed teddy bear. She sets the items on the table and she hugs me tight, stroking my hair and soothing my nerves.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispers.
“Thanks for coming, Lia.”
Lia has her hair pulled back in a ponytail, which magnifies her large gray eyes, now moist with emotion. She stands back and looks me over. “Thank God they didn’t mess up your pretty face. Just a small cut.”
She bounces up to Kalin and brushes his hand. “And thank God they didn’t mess up your pretty face.”
“Thank you, Miss Marzella,” Kalin quips.
“How are you feeling, Mr. Kalin Davis?”
“I feel much better. Annabelle has been taking wonderful care of me.”
Lia shoots me a grin. “She’s a nurturer, alright.” Her eyes drift to the tube and the bandage in his side. “My God, your side looks awful. How did you hurt your lung and heart?”
“The side of the vehicle crushed into my side.”
“You were driving the Porsche Cayenne?”
“Yep.” Kalin crosses his arms with a glint of amusement and waits for Lia to analyze the situation.
“Kalin, the Cayenne is reinforced with high-strength steel. There’s no way that a low impact could have done that kind of damage.”
Kalin and I chuckle. “You’re right again, Lia. That was no low impact,” Kalin says. Kalin and I glance at each other and laugh.
“What?” Lia asks.
“You’re such a girlie-girl, and yet you know all of this stuff about cars. It’s funny.” I snicker.
“Blame my brothers and dad.” She shrugs.
“Hopefully no uninvited guests have shown up at your apartment?” Kalin asks.
“I’m fine. I saw your security team, Kalin.” Lia gives him a sideways glance and purses her lips. “They won’t let the paperboy get near me without drawing in.”
“She doesn’t miss a beat.” Kalin chuckles.
“Lia, Kalin was just…”
“I don’t mind,” Lia interrupts. “Not after everything that’s happened. I can deal with this, just as long as these creeps are caught. You are going to find them, aren’t you?”