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4
Annoyance flittered through her body as Kiana was summoned to her boss’s office. Any other day, it would be a non-issue, but not today. Checking her phone one more time, she again noticed that there’d been no calls or text messages from Max. It had been almost twenty-four hours since she’d last heard from him. At first, she’d been worried, then angry, and now she was back to worried. Actually, terrified would be a better description of what she was feeling.
Since they’d started dating, they spoke at least twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night. When she began spending the night at his house, the calls and texts continued. They were just adjusted for work hours since they were with each other every day. Being out of contact with Max for so long just wasn’t something she was used to.
For a moment, she wondered if he was with another woman. Maybe she wasn’t enough. The man had a sexual appetite that was out of this world. As that thought flitted through her mind, she dismissed it. She wasn’t going there. It had to be something else. Max was the type of man who would let you know in cold, uncertain terms when he was done with you. Of that she had no doubt.
With that out of the way, she began thinking of other reasons he would be out of touch like this. Maybe he’d been hurt. Was she listed as his emergency contact? What if it was something worse but no one knew how to find him?
The more she thought about it, the more worried she became. She knew it was time she and Max discussed his work. He may not like it, but neither could they avoid it much longer.
Kiana wasn’t privy to every aspect of his life. She knew it was better that way. There were questions she didn’t want to know the answers to. Some would say she was culpable. An enabler.
She would say her man’s work was his business. She laughed derisively. To be a lawyer, she held a very liberal view on certain things. This was one of the reasons she didn’t do criminal law. Her perspective was skewed long before Max walked into her life.
For the past couple of months, she’d been dropping hints to Max that she had an inkling that he wasn’t always on the up-and-up. Secretive man that he was, he never took the bait. There were times her bulldog personality wouldn’t allow her to let things go. On this, however, she forced her natural tendency to the background.
There was no way in hell she was going to confront Max about his business activities. Not without more information. When he was ready to bring her fully into his world, he would. Until then, she would continue to enjoy their time together, and all the mind-blowing sex she could handle.
Then again, if he didn’t respond to her numerous messages, she was going to very upset. Which would make sexing it up in every room of his house extremely awkward. Sighing at her scattered thoughts about Max, she tried to put it behind her for the time being. There were other things to focus on right now, so she had to get her mind right.
Not ready to call in the National Guard just yet, she’d left him another voicemail as she left her office. If he didn’t call her back in the next hour, she was getting the big guns. His mother.
Approaching the founding partner’s office, she stopped at his secretary’s desk. Smiling at the woman typing away on the keyboard, she interrupted the elegant looking older lady.
“Hey, Mary.” Nodding her head toward the door, she said, “I think William’s expecting me.”
“Hi, Kiana. Yes. He sure is. The client’s already here, so you can go in.”
Giving two hard knocks on the door before walking in, Kiana didn’t see the other people in the room. “Hi, William. You wanted to see me.”
An older man with snow white hair, he still looked fit and spry for his age. William Lewis was a founding partner of her firm, Donner & Lewis, and still interviewed every summer associate that passed through the doors of the firm. She respected him greatly, and always appreciated his support of female and minority attorneys.
Her initial annoyance at being called to his office faded away into dust. It was an honor to work with him, and that he’d called on her specifically had to mean something.
“Good morning, Kiana. Thanks for coming so quickly.” Motioning to the side where his conference table sat, he began to introduce her to the client. “Kiana Moore, I believe you know Maxwell Bishop. This here is Thomas Valentine, Mr. Bishop’s attorney.”
Kiana’s blood ran cold and she stopped in her tracks. It’s not that their relationship was a secret. Well, it was a private relationship that she kept out of the workplace, but it wasn’t something that couldn’t be shared with others. She’d just always been very careful to never mix business with pleasure. So, having Max standing in her boss’s office with a grim look on his face, was jarring to say the least.
“Kiana…” William called out. Looking over at him, she saw his eyebrow raised in question. Looking back at the other two men in the office, she noticed the attorney’s hand was outstretched towards her.
“Forgive me. Nice to meet you, Mr. Valentine.” After a brief shake, she turned toward Max. “Good to see you, Max.”
“Kiana.”
That’s all he had to say. One fucking word? After no calls or texts for almost twenty-four hours. What the fuck is he up to?
Determined to put her game face on, Kiana glared at Max, giving him a look of womanly retribution when this was all over. In the meantime, she wanted to find out just why her boyfriend was sitting in her boss’s office. Grabbing a seat at the conference table, she placed her notepad and pen on the table. William grabbed his seat before using the intercom button to ask Mary to bring in coffee and tea for everyone. A sure sign he expected this meeting to go longer than fifteen minutes.
Her eyes slid toward Max, and her blood started to boil. Clean-shaven. Clean suit. Showered. He must have gone home this morning after she’d left. Which meant he also must have seen the multiple messages she’d sent him. Now she was pissed.
Unsure why she was in this meeting, her nerves began to get the best of her. William wouldn’t care who she was sleeping with, so that couldn’t be it. Right? Maybe Max was in some type of legal trouble and had hired her firm to represent him. If so, that would be very bad for their relationship because his first call should have been to her. Especially considering she was an attorney.
Her stomach knotted with fear and worry. Max was keeping secrets from her. Secrets so important to him, he’d ignored her, stayed away from his own home, and then walked into her firm the next day with an attorney by his side.
Eyeing Max again as Mary ran inside with all the items for their drinks, Kiana noticed that he looked tired. His normally bright eyes were dull and reddened. Those lips she loved to kiss were turned down in a frown. Even at this moment, with her sitting so close to him, he seemed to be focused on something else on his mind. Whatever held his attention, it sure as shit wasn’t her, or how he seemed to forget all about her. His dismissive behavior hurt more than she wanted to admit.
He hadn’t even apologized or said he was sorry for not returning her messages. Not that they had privacy for him to bare his soul. But still. The man hadn’t even smiled at her. He acted as if this were any other business meeting. Something was rotten in Denmark, and she didn’t like it one bit.
