Kade

So much for best laid plans and all that.

I’d planned on avoiding Madison until I figured out exactly how I was going to approach her.

But Quinn was relentless. We’d had breakfast at five a.m. In the office by six thirty.

If Quinn worked this hard all the time, I understood why Noah had put him in charge.

Apparently Quinn had a flight out mid-morning and needed to get me set up before he left.

“Which plane do you fly?” I asked as he turned off the speaker he’d used to call Madison.

Maybe talking about flying airplanes would distract me from thinking about Madison.

Quinn, sitting on the corner of my desk answered quickly. “I don’t fly,” he said.

I thought I might have misunderstood. “You mean today?”

Quinn looked at me, then back to the computer. “No. I’m not a pilot.”

Before I had time to process how a man carrying Noah Worthington’s genes did not hold a pilot’s license, Madison walked in.

So instead of using Quinn and talk of airplanes to distract me from Madison, the opposite happened.

One look at Madison and I forgot all about the mystery of how Quinn Worthington had managed to not learn to fly an airplane.

She was wearing a tight black skirt, falling tastefully to just below her knees, medium high heels, and a black jacket. Underneath the jacket, she wore a bright red blouse that highlighted her red lips. 

She saw me, flashed a smile, then turned her attention to Quinn.

Since all the blood had rushed below my belt, I paid little attention to whatever technical thing they were talking about regarding a computer program.

Then Madison was leaning over into my space, putting her fingers on my keyboard.

She smelled like vanilla honeysuckle crossed with jasmine.

It wasn’t a heavy perfume, but simply her soap and maybe her hair products.

Her hair brushed against my cheek for a half second. Long enough to envelope me in her scent. 

It was almost more than I could handle. I was a breath away from excusing myself to go to the restroom when she stepped back.

“All done.” She straightened. Then looked into my eyes with a little smirk. “Any questions?”

Her green eyes pulled me in and took me deep. I wanted to kiss that smirk off her lips.

And if Quinn hadn’t been sitting there on my desk, I would have pulled her into my lap and done just that.

But instead, I just looked away. “No,” I said. “No questions.” 

That was a lie. I had lots of questions. The most salient being what exactly were her and Quinn talking about.

“Good,” she said. “you know where to find me.” 

She turned and walked out of my office.

I watched her walk away. I couldn’t help it. 

Even with Quinn sitting there, I couldn’t not look at her.

But Quinn seemed clueless as to how hot his sister was.

Probably a good thing.

Now all I had to was figure out how to use the scheduling program Madison had just demonstrated.

Madison

I sat at my desk and stared out at the tarmac as the crew brought one of the small jets around. This was the plane that was going to take Quinn to Dallas. He had a meeting with Daddy later today.

That explained why he’d been too distracted to notice that Kade and I weren’t strangers.

In my mind, it was rather obvious.

I got a text from Emily while I was sitting there waiting for my pulse to calm down to some semblance of normal.

EMILY: Have you seen him yet?

I knew perfectly well who she was talking about. Kade Johnson.

ME: Yes.

EMILY: Yes? That’s all I get? I need details.

ME: Nothing to tell. Just work stuff. 

EMILY: I hope it gets better.

I laughed, but didn’t write back.

While I was staring at my phone, a message came in from Momma. 

MOMMA: Good morning, sweetheart.

ME: Good morning.

I tried to remember what I’d forgotten to do. Momma never texted me this early in the morning. This was her work time and she was relentless about keeping to her schedule.

MOMMA: Don’t forget we have family dinner this Sunday at your sister’s place.

I blew out a breath. At least I hadn’t forgotten to do anything.

ME: I remember. It’s on my phone. 

MOMMA: Well, write it down on the paper calendar. You know how things get lost in cyberspace… and don’t forget to pick up a present for your sister’s birthday.

ME: I’m already on it.

MOMMA: What are you getting her?

ME: Still finalizing my ideas… I won’t forget.

MOMMA: Ok. Get back to work. 

I just stared at my phone. Momma had a funny sense of humor. But she was happy that she had all her children in one city for the summer.

It hadn’t happened that way in a very long time.

I didn’t blame her for being excited.

I sat back in the chair and turned slowly from side to side.

Allowed my thoughts to circle back to this morning’s interaction with Kade.

He was a hard one to keep up with.

This morning he was acting distant and cold.

Of course, he was with my brother, so I had to give him a break.

Maybe he’d taken the weekend and decided that a summer office romance with his boss’s daughter—who happened to be his old college girlfriend—wasn’t the best of ideas.

Well. I agreed wholeheartedly.

I could acknowledge that it was nice to see him. And leave the rest alone.

Right. When pigs sprouted wings. 

Quinn would be leaving in about two hours for his flight, leaving me and Kade alone in the building. Surely Kade had something to do. Errands. A lunch. 

Something to get him out of here.

He was setting my nerves on fire just by being in the same general proximity.

I just had to be strong.

We’d dated once.

Now we worked together.

People did it all the time.

It didn’t have to be hard.