Kissed by My Best Friend’s Billionaire Dad

My name's Maya Reed. I'm twenty-four, an intern at Halcyon Design. Adrian Vale, forty-six, bought the firm a month ago. Divorced twelve years, no one since that anyone's ever seen. Last night we almost kissed. Tonight I found out he's my best friend's father. And now here he is at the head of the table, pouring his daughter juice like it's the most ordinary night in the world. Only when Ellie looks down does his gaze drop to my mouth. "Maya's the most talented designer in our year," Ellie said. "She's also got some nerve," Adrian said. My hand stopped, fork clicking against the plate. Ellie looked between us. "Wait—how many times have you two actually met?" "Three." His voice didn't change. "Enough to remember her." I shifted in my seat, and the toe of my shoe brushed his. He didn't move his foot. Neither of us could see the other's face across the table—but the tip of his shoe ran up the edge of my heel, slow, all the way to my ankle. I pulled my foot back fast. When dessert came out, Ellie ran upstairs to grab the graduation gift she'd gotten me. I dropped my voice. "You already knew I was her friend?" "Found out tonight. "She's shown you my picture. "Three years ago. You had short blond hair and whiskers drawn on your face." His eyes went back to my mouth. I remembered that god-awful photo and felt my ears go hot. "Don't look at me like that." "Like what?" "Like the elevator's still stuck." Adrian set his coffee cup down and leaned forward, just slightly. "You're the one who looked at my mouth first." I picked up my wine to cover it, and a drop caught on my bottom lip. A drawer opened and shut upstairs. Adrian stood. "Excuse me." He went into the study at the end of the hall. I waited two seconds. Then I followed him in anyway. "We need to talk." He turned around. The study door stood open, and the hall light left a clear way out behind me. "You're the one who shouldn't have followed me in here, Maya." "Then don't touch me under the table. And stop staring at my mouth." I kept my voice down. "Ellie's right upstairs. And Monday morning you're still my boss." "So you want me to stop." I should have said yes. But when he took a step closer, I didn't step back. "I want you to stop making me lie for both of us," I said. Something in his eyes changed. He stopped in front of me. He didn't block the door. He didn't touch me. "Then tell me one true thing." His voice dropped low. "Last night, when the elevator started moving again—were you relieved, or were you disappointed?" My heart was pounding hard enough to hurt. "What about you?" "Disappointed." I licked my lips—they'd gone dry. He watched me do it, and the control cracked, just a little. His thumb pressed lightly to my bottom lip and wiped away that last drop of wine. I grabbed his tie. I didn't push him away. He lowered his head. The tip of his nose grazed mine, his breath warm and bitter with coffee. One more inch of my chin and I'd be kissing him. "Dad?" Ellie's voice, from down the hall. Adrian let go at once and stepped back. "In the study," he answered, perfectly calm. I was still leaning against the desk, my fingers twisted in my own skirt. The door had been open the whole time—but the secret was already sitting on my lips like a kiss. "HR will reassign you to a different manager tomorrow," he said, looking at me. "Your intern review won't come across my desk either." "Because of Ellie?" "Because you're good enough to earn whatever job you want, and nobody should get to wonder how you really got it." His eyes went back to my lips. Ellie's footsteps got closer. I headed for the door, and as I passed him, he said it low enough that only I could hear "Last night. I'm not going to forget it."