Counting the Kisses (Counting the Billions 3)

“That’s what we all think,” Erin confirmed, nodding at Daniel. She shrugged, a grin on her face. “Anyway, it’s not like he got anything damning out of any of us. We’ve never slept with you. Not much of a story there, unless he chooses to lie to the press about something. And if he does, then we can focus on a lawsuit to take him down over that. No harm, no foul.”

Daniel nodded. He glanced over at me. “I also want to make sure we’re scheduling time in Abby’s and my schedule to get her more involved in the day-to-day CEO activities,” he said. “I don’t anticipate another lawsuit, but it bothers me that I didn’t anticipate this one and ended up having to throw Abby into the thick of things like that. I should have been more prepared. If I don’t want to bring in someone from outside the company to cover for me, then I need to make sure that I have a suitable stand-in here in the company.”

“That makes sense,” Erin said, nodding. I could see the corners of her mouth twitching into a grin. She glanced at her watch. “You could start by bringing her in to the meeting with Mr. Dorsey this morning. They haven’t met yet. I don’t think anyone in the company has met Dorsey except for you and I. But if she ever has to stand in for you, well. You know Dorsey.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “I know Dorsey,” he agreed. “And that’s a great idea. I forgot we had a meeting scheduled for this morning.”

“Who’s Mr. Dorsey?” I asked curiously.

“He’s one of our biggest investors,” Daniel explained.

“But he’s a little bit intense,” Erin whispered conspiratorially. “He basically doesn’t acknowledge anyone around the office except for Daniel. Says he doesn’t have time to be friendly with people.”

“He’s nice enough,” Daniel interrupted quickly. “He’s not going to be rude to you or anything. He’s just, I guess, focused. Like what’s happening in his brain is the most important thing in the world, to the exclusion of all else.”

I snorted. I was a little worried to meet this man, but if Erin and Daniel both thought it was a good idea, I supposed I didn’t really have much of a choice. Anyway, I wanted to be a CEO one day. That meant that I had to get used to interacting with different types of people. This was a great place to start.

“Don’t be nervous,” Daniel whispered in my ear a little while later as we headed to the conference room where Mr. Dorsey was waiting for us. He was pressed in close to me, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. And then he was gone again, opening the door and gesturing for me to enter before him.

I tripped over the threshold but managed to right myself before I toppled headlong into the room. Still, I was sure I was blushing as I held out a hand to Mr. Dorsey.

“Bode, this is my advisor, Abby James,” Daniel said smoothly. I could see the hint of a grin on his face, but he kept his eyes on the investor. “I hope you don’t mind that she’ll be joining us for our meeting today?”

“No problem at all,” Dorsey said, reaching out to shake my hand. But he was already turning back to Daniel. “So about those latest acquisitions.”

They moved swiftly on to the business at hand, and I struggled to keep up. Daniel had briefed me on some of the business before we had come in to the meeting, but I still felt like I didn’t quite know enough about the company to keep up.

Still, it was all interesting, and I made sure to jot down the questions I had for Daniel. I was sure I’d get a chance to ask all of them later. And despite the fact that on Friday I had felt sure that I would never actually be a CEO, that I wasn’t even sure anymore that was something I might want, I now felt tons more confident than I had before.

Maybe it was just that I had Daniel by my side now. But I didn’t think it was just that. It was more his easy confidence in me, the fact that he thought it was worth training me up. The fact that he had so easily brushed off my mistake from the previous week.

I smiled to myself as I continued to jot down notes. Maybe I could make it after all. I just had to believe in myself.

Same as for my relationship with Daniel. Maybe we could make everything okay. Make everything work out. We just had to believe in it.

Chapter 19

Daniel

AFTER LAST WEEK HAD been such a mess, I should have known that this week would feel ten thousand times better. Abby and I had shown up at work together every morning, and there had been no more uncomfortable media encounters for her. Not only that, but I had gotten to wake up next to her every day.

Things were going well around the office, too. I had helped her to pass off some of the normal advisor duties to one of the other guys who worked in the office, and she had extra time to shadow me and learn more about the company from a CEO perspective. She was coming along well in her training, and I had to admit, I was pretty damned proud of her for everything.

She was going to make an amazing CEO one day.

Of course, she thought I was just training her up in case I needed her to take over for me for a few days in the future. Or for when she was ready to leave McGregor Enterprises and go on to another company. That wasn’t quite the case, but I wasn’t ready to have a serious conversation with her yet about how if I had my way, she

would work for my family’s business for the rest of her life—right by my side.

I was selfish like that. I didn’t want all her talent going off to one of my competitors.

There was a lot that we would need to talk about, but I didn’t want to make her any more nervous than I had to. Because she was nervous, I could tell. I didn’t know if it was because of her perceived mistake the previous week with Duncan or if she was just generally nervous about having all this responsibility one day, but I definitely noticed an uptick in her usual clumsiness. She would trip walking into the conference room or blurt out a question in the middle of a meeting and then slap a hand over her mouth. That kind of thing.

She always looked embarrassed when those things happened. Then, she would give me a sheepish look, one that made me sure she expected me to kick her out of the meeting or something.

But of course I wasn’t going to do anything like that. In fact, every little clumsy mistake she made just made me think she was even more adorable.

“What are you thinking about?” Abby asked from across the table.