Counting the Kisses (Counting the Billions 3)

My heart ached to hear her say that. Because I knew she deserved much better than this. I reached out to stroke her cheek lightly. “I wish I could take you somewhere now,” I told her. “When this is all over, I will.”

“Where?” Abby asked, cracking a half-smile.

“Anywhere you want to go,” I promised her.

Chapter 6

Abby

I YAWNED AS I SLIPPED into my dress on Thursday morning. I hadn’t slept well the night before, tossing and turning, so worried about my new temporary position and all the things that could go wrong. “I didn’t keep you up all night, did I?” I asked Daniel, feeling guilty. I should probably have just gone home, but it had been nice to be there with him, to have his silent comfort next to me.

It might not help me sleep, but it did mean a lot to me that he had so much confidence in me.

Daniel glanced over as he buttoned up his shirt and shook his head, making a face. “I had a difficult time sleeping, too,” he said, reminding me that he had to be at least as nervous as I was.

I grinned crookedly at him. “We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?” Daniel snorted. “Would you mind helping me zip up my dress?”

Daniel stepped over behind me, sliding his hands up my bare skin from my waist and then kissing my neck. I groaned, watching our reflection in the full-length mirror.

He looked very handsome in his suit. Strong and important. Smart. Of course, he usually looked good around the office, but today, it was clear that he had taken extra care for his appearance, obviously wanting to project a certain image to the court.

“You look nice,” I said, leaning back into him for a moment, drawing strength from his solid warmth.

“Just trying to impress the judge,” Daniel responded, winking at me. He pulled away all too soon, but I knew it was for the best. This morning, more than any other morning, we both needed to be on time. I hated the thought of showing up to work without him, though.

We had decided that I would drive myself to work that morning rather than take a cab or private car. Hopefully, any reporters that were there would be expecting me to arrive in Daniel’s car at the front of the building as usual. So if I parked in the garage and went up into the building that way, they wouldn’t suspect it and I’d be able to slip around them.

I could only hope so. We weren’t sure if they had already found out about the trial, but I imagined that some of them must have. Especially since Daniel had explained to me that Gerrard had been leaking information about him to the press for years, getting paid for top-quality information on the CEO’s whereabouts. No, this trial probably wasn’t a secret, and I wasn’t ready to try and answer any questions about anything just yet. Especially not without Daniel there at my side.

Especially not on my first day as CEO. It might only be a temporary change, but it still felt pretty monumental.

Surprisingly, everything went according to plan. I was nervous on the drive in, but I just kept reminding myself to take deep breaths and let them out slowly. It didn’t help much, but what could you do?

There were definitely members of the press crowded outside the front of the building, but I barely glimpsed them as I turned left into the parking garage, bringing the car around into Daniel’s CEO spot.

CEO. Is this really happening?

I sat in the car for a solid five minutes trying to compose myself. I was sure that the easy smile on my face as I breezed into the office was clearly fake, but again, what could you do?

“Good morning!” Erin chirped when she saw me. “Why don’t I give you the rundown for the day?” She led me into Daniel’s office and started listing off everything that I should be working on for the day. I was immediately overwhelmed.

Of course, I knew that Daniel did other things than just attend meetings next to me. But I had never quite realized the scope of what he did in his day-to-day work. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, I might have laughed about how terrible he was about delegating work. Surely he didn’t have to do all of this himself. And it was no wonder that he ended up staying late nearly every evening!

But I knew that without a doubt that wasn’t Daniel. He wanted to be firmly involved in his family’s business. In every part of it, if he could help it. Still, it made my job pretty difficult now, especially as I looked around the office again, wary of all the stacks of paper he had laid out. Mountains, really. I swallowed hard.

“Hey, you know you’re not alone in this,” Erin said, clearly reading my dismay.

I looked back over at her in surprise, then remembered what Daniel had said the previous day about her. She had been with this company for a while now, and she knew the ins and outs of it better than almost anyone else.

Sure enough: “Any questions you might have, just let me know,” Erin told me. “If I don’t know the answer, I may be able to point you in the right direction, either in these files or, if we can’t find the answer there—which I doubt since Daniel basically acted like he was preparing for the apocalypse and I can’t possibly imagine there being another situation that he didn’t prepare notes for—but on the off chance that there is one, I can probably find you someone who can answer the question for you.”

“Thank you,” I said gratefully. “Seriously, I don’t think I could do this without your help.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Erin said, grinning at me. “I’m Daniel’s assistant, remember. Now I gue

ss I’m yours temporarily. So whatever you need, you just have to ask.” She paused. “And if I do a good enough job, maybe you’ll give me a raise, boss?” she joked.

I had to laugh at that. “I don’t think I’m ready to start navigating those waters anytime soon,” I told her.