Contract Marriage with My CEO Boss (Kylan and Katrina)
Chapter 106

Chapter 106

Three months later

The conferences, the excess in meetings, they didn't stop happening. Which was part of being a CEO, and she knew that better than anyone else at Ross Corporation did, apart from the man himself. But this military contract was draining

It felt like she was in a long-distance marriage, more often than not the last few months. She kept busy where she could, and she was grateful for the responsibilities that came with being muid of honor to Aaron and Maine. But she wasn't happy. She didn't feel. Seuled.

She knew Kylan didn't want to leave her so often, but during her three and a half years as his assistant, she had never known him to go on this many trips so close together. And she would know, since she booked each one of his trips during that time.

He had been gone for another week, and she was tired. Tired of video chatting, tired of texting tired of hearing his voice through a phone instead of in the same room as her

Aaron and Maine were getting married in three days, and their joint bachelor party was set to be that night. Kylan would be meeting her there after his flight landed, and she pretended that didn't sour her already dwindled mood.

She dressed herself in her favorite pair of jeans and a comfortable sweater and a light jacket. It was mid-October, and it was rainy. Which was fitting for how she was feeling

But the night wasn't about her, and she was determined to shower her friends with the love and attention they deserved. It wasn't their fault she was grumpy about her husband never bring home anymore.

She drove to the bar they picked out, her windshield wipers working double time to combat the rain that continued to fall. She hoped Kylan's flight hadn't been delayed or canceled again. The private jet she normally thought was a gross display of money, didn't sound so outrageous anymore.

It took her a while to replace parking, but once she finally did, she ran to the entrance of the bar, slipping inside and shaking off the water that drenched her hair and clothes.

She could hear her friends before she could see them. Aaron's booming laugh, Maine's softer chuckle, Harry's loud

d voice and Max's careful one. All of them were seated around a table that was already filled with drinks, both empty and full, and she found herself smiling at them while she walked over to join them

"Katrina The maid of honor has arrived, gentlemen" Aaron was clearly drunk, and she laughed when he pulled her into a hug. of cheap beer and peanuts, and she loved it. She really loved it, really loved him.

His breath smelled

anyone

coming!" She shook out of his arms and took off her jacket, draping it over her arm whale they all shifted to make room for her at

the table.

"Just your husband." Jean slurred and she smiled, checking the time on her phone.

"He should be here soon." She accepted the fresh bottle of beer Harry pushed her way and took a sip, wincing as the bitter liquid traveled down her throat.

The next hour passed quickly, and she had another beer, along with a shot or two. She allowed herself to let loose, to have fun while she waited for Kylan to arrive

When he finally did, when she saw him enter the bar, she was ecstatic.

He was wearing a white button down, his black suit jacket open, his belt looped and done atop his slacks that hugged his hips sinfully. He looked like a dream. Her dream. Her favorite one.

Her head was pleasantly fuzzy, and she hugged him tightly as soon as Maine moved so he could sit next to her. She pressed a wet kiss to his check and smiled at him. "Kylan, my Kylan. You're finally here," she sighed, pressing her face into his neck, smelling his Kylan smell. Maybe if she could learn how to bottle the unique stent, she wouldn't miss him so much when he was gone.

Kylan allowed her to hang all over him, and she was grateful. "Let me get you some water, Katrina," he said quietly, kissing the top of her head.

f you take a shot, maybe," she bargained with him.

"One shot. I have a feeling I'll be driving us home tonight, Kylan replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulder to pull her into his side.

Kylan indeed only had one shot, and she had way too many. She didn't care, though. Tonight, was special. Tonight, was about her friends and their love.

So she I

laughed with them, she reminisced with them, and she celebrated them.

Well into the night, Harry and Max were both chanting for her to give a speech, and though she was more than buzzed, she couldn't refuse. So, she held up her next boule of beer, and she cleared her throat

"Aaron and Maine, you're my best friends. You have been for years. I'm so happy you're getting married. Even if you rook so long being engaged. I'm so happy you found solace in each other. I know you'll be great together, that you'll live a life filled with the right kind of love." She grinned at them, licking the dryness from her lips. "And the best part? The best part is that neither of you are a CEO, which means you won't be going on stupidly long trips, and you won't have a long-distance marriage ever. Because that sucks, and it's lonely, and it's tiring. And your bed is too big, and you make too much food and have too many leftovers." Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes and she brushed them away, spilling some of her beer in the process.

Aaron and Maine were frowning at her, or at least she thought they were. She couldn't really tell, given that that they weren't exactly staying still in

her line of vision.

"That's my cue to step in. C'mon, Karina Let's go talk." Rylan's voice registered on her right, and she turned her head to protest

He didn't give her a choice, though. He practically carried her from the booth, his warm hand gripping hers so tightly that she could do nothing

bus follow.

He was nearly walking too fast, and she was struggling to keep up. Then, he opened a door and pulled her inside a room. She heard a lock click and she took in her surroundings, realizing she was in a single stall bathroom. It was surprisingly clean, as far as bar bathrooms went.

She wanted when her eyes fell on her husband, who rested against the locked door, his arms folded, his eyebrow cocked, and his lips drawn into

thin line

Uh oh. He was mad at her.

What had she said wrong?

"Kylan. I-" She attempted to explain herself, but he held up hand to stop her

"I'm sorry, Katrina" Well, she wasn't expecting that.

She blinked a few times, trying to make sense of why he would apologize to her, when she was undoubtedly the one who embarrassed him at the table.

"You're right. Everything you said is right. Should you have saved it for another, more appropriate time and venue! Without a doubt. You've had far too much to drink, but I can't quite fault you there, either. I've been gone an ungodly amount, and I apologize." Kylan sounded so nice, so sweet. so soft. It made her want to

to cry.

And shit, she was crying. She could feel the tears falling down her face, pausing on her chin before sprinkling to the ground. "I just... I miss you. Kylan. I miss you so much. I can function fine without you. I can get my work done, I can have fun, I can make memories without you being with me all the time. But you've just been gone so much, and I miss you." Her words weren't as slurred as she thought they would be, and it felt good to be this honest.

Kylan pushed off from the door, crossing the small room in only one or two strides, and then he cradled her face in his warm hands, lifting her chin so she was forced to make eye contact with him.

"I'm sorry." He kissed the tip of her nose. "I'm sorry" He kissed her left cheek. "Tm sorry." He kissed her right cheek. "I'm sorry." He kissed her forehead. "I love you." He kissed her lips, long and slow, languid, and careful.

She whimpered into his mouth, wrapping her arms around his middle, gripping the back of his shirt in her hands.

And then she kissed him back, again and again. She opened her mouth to him, twirling, exploring, brushing her tongue against his. It felt so good. so right, kissing him. Being with him. Enjoying him.

She didn't want to stop; she didn't want him to stop.

-0-0-0-

perfection. Nestled in the quiet Adirondack Mountains, where only nature and peace surrounded

Aaron and Maine's wedding was nothing short of p them, it was everything and more,

A picturesque ceremony that she helped organized; much the same way the couple had for her. They spoke their vows, promises, and she cried right along with thent.

their quiet and sacred

And when they kissed, when they sealed their eternuties as one, she caught her husband's eye and she beamed at ham

They made those same promises to each other, and she knew that, and he knew that, and it was okay. All of it was okay,

The reception was tasteful, fairy lights flickered around a white, draping canopy, and music echoed along the makeshift dance floor that rested atop the grassy forest beneath it.

She danced with Aaron and Maine, her dress sashaying around her while she laughed. She managed to convince Kylan to join her for a song or two, and when he wasn't dancing, he was watching, the kind of smile on his face that was reserved only for her.

It didn't matter how many more conferences he would have, or how many more nights she would be forced to spend away from him. None of it martered. Because he was it for her, because he made her happy, and she made him happy- Chapter 106

They celebrated the night away beneath the October skyline, the smell of a fast approaching winter adding to her happiness, her joy.

She waved her best friends off on their honeymoon after several teary-eyed hugs and kisses, and then she took Kylan's hand in hers, and she returned home together, happy and grateful.

-0-0-0-

"Can I

I take

you to Maine?" Kylan's voice broke through the nihi

the otherwise ulence that lingered in

that lingered in their bedroom.

Hands twined together while her fingertips toyed with his, her head pressed to his chest, she shifted to look at him.

"To visit my dad?" she asked him, moving her leg to wrap around his a little more.

Kylan hummed in reply. "We can visit your father in Portland, yes. But I wanted to take you to Camden, if that's alright"

She sat up to look at him, eyes raking over his naked chest before she settled on his face, "Camden is beautiful. When would you like to go?" she asked him, yawning and rubbing the last remnants of sleep from her eyes. "Tomorrow" Kylan said with finality.

She gawked at him, her hands falling to her lap.

"I have work tomorrow. Kylan. I've already taken a few days off for the wedding, I can't possibly He was smiling at her, and she stopped talking.

"It's all been arranged. Just say yes"

yes." He sat up, shrugging his shoulders like what he was suggesting was no big deal.

She couldn't help but laugh at him. "Kylan Ross, you're a confusing man," she lamented, shifting to straddle his hips.

His hands rested on her sides, his thumbs stroking the skin there. "Say yes," he repeated, entirely unbothered.

Katrina rolled her eyes, leaning down to kiss him. "Yeah, okay. Let's go to Camden," she agreed, kissing him again

His arm

arms encircled her waist and he flipped her around so he was hovering over her, peppering kisses all over her face while she squealed,

"Good, because I already reserved the private jet," he mused, effectively silencing her with his lips when she began to protest

-0-0-0-

He didn't truly reserve a private jet, but he did book first class seats. She glared at him when he allowed her to have the window seat, but he handed her a bag of sour cherries, and it was impossible for her to be annoyed with him when he was being so thoughtful Her flight anxiety was something that would never be gone, but Kylan's hand and his presence still helped immensely and when they touched down, she fell okay.

They spent the first three days of their vacation with her father, reminiscing with him about her childhood like he always enjoyed doing, and Belding questions about their first year of marriage.

Her father seemed happy, really happy. Each time she visited him, he had more lines on his face, more grey in his hair, but it never seemed to bother him. If anything, it reminded her that he was living, when she wasn't there. He was replaceing things that filled his life with joy, which was more important to her than she knew how to express

He missed her, she knew how much he did. But her life was in New York, Ross Corporation was in New York, and by marrying Kylan, she would always be in New York

He understood this, and she enjoyed watching Kylan and her father get along better than they ever had. They talked about fishing, about France. and about Kylan's mother, who would never not be special or sacred for her to hear about

Kylan went as far as mentioning Yasmin, only once or twice. But that was also new. He was still going to therapy, biweekly now, and he didn't often talk about his sessions with her anymore. That didn't bother her, though. She could see the progress he had made, could hear it when he would say Yasmin's name without flinching or trying to cower in on himself

On the third day in Portland, they loaded their luggage into their rental car and bid her dad farewell before making the eighty one mile journey to Camden

Sof jazz filtered through the speakers of the SUV, her hand intertwined with Kylan's while she hummed along to the music and watched trees and small coastal towns pass by the windows,

She didn't ask where they would be saying, she knew Kylan, or maybe even Vincent, picked the best hotels, just like she used to

She smiled, remembering her days as Kylan's assistant with a somber but comforting reverence intended only for her.

She dozed on and off for the last half of the drive, her hand staying in Kylan's all the while.

When she felt the SUV jerk into park and the hum of the engine quiet, she blinked her eyes open, grateful for a cloudy day, Chapter 100

"We're here!" she half imimbird, still coming back to reality.

kylan didn't answer, and she turned to look at him. He was already staring at her, but she were taken aback by how. Intense he was. He took hold of ber other hand and she waited for him to speak. It was clear a lot was on his mind, and she rubbed the backs of his palms with her thumbs, fully

awake and aware now.

"I love you, Katrina" he began and she smiled at him encouragingly. It was still difficult for Rylan to talk about the depths of his heart, or his feelings, at times. But she was patient with him. She would always be patient with him.

"Ross Corporation is important to me, and it always will be. But you're the most important thing to me. You're everything to me, and I am privileged to be her husband. I'll never understand-no. I'm not doing that." He let go of one of her hands to run his fingers through his hair, and she remained silent, watching him carefully

He returned his gare to hers, a quiet determination in his eyes bringing the flecks of blue that swirled amongst the grey to life. "I know these last dew months have been awful for you. They've been just as awful for me, I promise you that Anel I haven't Shit, I haven't been fully honest with you and I don't know how Fuck, I don't know how to tell you why." He sounded desperate, pleading almost, and she tried not to assume the worst. She really tried.

Kylan bicked his lips and noticeably inhaled a breath. "I'm going to remain the CEO of Ross Corp, but I've decided to extend a promotion to Vincent. I don't know what the title of las position will be, exactly. He isn't an owner of the company, that still resides with Ryan and myself, but be will be taking over some of my tasks for me

Now she was confused. What was he saying? Vincent.. Delegating some of his tasks as CEO of Ross Corporation? Rows Corp, which was everything to him. Ross Corp, which was the reason he had been gone as often as he had lately. Wasn't it the reason! She likely looked as confused as she felt, because he shook his head at her. "I'm about to be thirty-six years old. I'm.. I'm tired of worrying about trivial things that hold no weight over my happiness. I'm fortunate, I recognize that, to be able to step away from my company a little bit and hand a few of the reigns to someone I've grown to trust immensely" Kylan was nervous, it echoed in his words, in how sweaty his hands became in hers.

"Kylan. What are you saying, exactly!" Her heart was thundering, her mind jumping to a million different ways this conversation might pan out.

"Live with me here, Katrina In Camden. An hour and a half from your father. Live with me in the house behind you. The house that I've- Shit. Eve been having remodeled for the last four months" The words spilled out of Kylan, poured from his lips like he had been waiting to say them for a long time

She heard herself gasp, her mouth falling open in both shock and continued confusion.

"Maine is your home, not New York. You're happiest near the sex, just like. Just like my mother was. Just like I am," Kylan continued, not allowing her eyes to stray from his "Live with me in Maine, make this your home. I'll have to travel to New York once a month, and I'll need to work from home some days, but I've made it so that I can. Well shit. I can live with you. Really be with you, if you. If you want to"

Her mind was slowly working to connect the dots, but she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "The conferences... Were you going to conferences

all she asked him slowly

Kylan laughed a bit nervously, shaking his head. "I went to maybe two conferences. Every other time, I was here. Getting the house ready, bossing The workers around, making sure they weren't Peking anything up. Testing how Vincent did going to meetings in my stead." He admitted, running a hand down his face.

She nodded a few times, trying to take in all in. "You want this? To live with me in Maine! To step back from Ross Corporation in such a big way?" She wanted to believe him, but it felt like a dream. A good dream, one that couldn't possibly be her reality,

ked at her lik

like she was insane, and maybe she was: "I want nothing more. He said with conviction, not a hint of a lie in his voice, in his

Kylan looked at

words

you. A house! Really? A house! For me? For us?" Excitement began to bloom within her, to twine around her heart.

Ser for herself, Katrina, he suggested, nudging his head in the direction behind her.

Star wanted to look, to fully immerse in this. This complete insanity. But "What about my job?" she asked the question she couldn't believe had

Jeft her mand

"You can work from home. I've already Well, there's an office for you inside the house. I've coordinated with Anna and Max. It's all. It's all set, it you want it. If you want this." Kylan Ross, a billionaire by the time he was thirty, was nervous. Nervous that his wife, who adored everything about him, every quirk, every fault, and every subtle tender moment, wouldn't want a quieter a more simple lite with ham

He really was an idiol sometimes

Please show me our home. Mr. Ross" She grinned at him, and it was like the sun lat bed his eyes. He melted with obvious relief in front of her, and she only grinned wider.

"As you wish, Mrs. Ross" He opened his door and walked to her side of the SUV to open her door for her.

And then he led her up a long, wanding driveway with trees and green shrubbery lining either side. It was private, secluded, located just outside Camden's city limits. Red cobblestone underfoot, rain softly falling, Kylan spent the walk pointing things out to her about the property. Their property.

3:17 PM

Chapter 106

Her breath caught in her throat when she at last rounded the final curve of the driveway and a large, way too large, all white Victorian house came into view. It was gorgeous, straight out of a storybook with a wraparound porch and a few steps leading to a carefully stained, oak front door

She stopped where she was, her eyes fixed on the house, the house that was hers. It w against the backdrop of her favorite landscape.

It was her dream home. It was perfection personified

"Kylan, I don't. I don't deserve this. It's too much." She was crying, tears staining her cheeks, mixing with the gently falling rain.

"You deserve this and more, Katrina. I want to give you the world, if you'll allow me the honor. For someone who struggled with their feelings as much as her husband did, he knew what to say and when to say it, sometimes.

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him to her, crying into his shoulder, her cheeks aching with how broadly her lips were turned up.

love you. Kylan." A promised whisper into the safety of his body.

"I love you, Katrina" A shared promise, his hands rubbing along her back gently. "Do you want to see inside?" he asked tentatively, moving to pull a set of keys from his jacket pocket.

She laughed, wiping a few tears away from her face, though it was useless with the rain. "Yeah, okay. But I honestly don't care what it looks like. It's perfect. It's perfect because you're here." She grabbed hold of his face, and she kissed him fiercely, firmly, with every bit of love she could conjure.

He kissed her, and then he took her hand, and they walked the final steps to their house.

Their house in Maine, near the sea, where they both felt closest to his mother.