Contract Marriage with My CEO Boss (Kylan and Katrina)
Chapter 12

Chapter 12

following

week.

Mr. Hughes was a much more polite man than the previous executives she spoke to, and she was even more certain Kylan should conduct business with him because of IL The conversation flowed easily, and Kylan agreed to accompany him for a game of golf the "Only if you come too, Ms. Morgan," Mr. Hughes stated with a polite smile.

She laughed, shaking her head and flashing her most convincing smile in return. "I couldn't possibly, Mr. Hughes," she replied in her best flustered

000000

"Oh please, it's James to you. And you must. I didn't know you and Kylan were even engaged when I contacted you, but I quite like how he is when you're around." James mused.

She looked at kylan in what she hoped was an adoring way, and he returned her gaze with his usual scowl. She raised her eyebrows slightly, and his face softened in response. She reached forward, brushing a stray strand of Kylan's hair away from his forcheal. She allowed her fingertips to caress- the side of his sharp cheekbone, and then she turned her gaze back to the Elorde Enterprises executive.

"Yes well, you know what they say. Behind every CEO, there's a woman helping him along. Or something like that," she joked playfully.

Kylan shifted on the heels of his feet next to her. "Wednesday then, James. Please excuse us," he said curtly.

He didn't wait for James to respond, and instead, he pulled her away from him. He moved her to the far side of the room, finally coming to a stop in front of an especially abstract piece of artwork. "Why the f*ck were you touching my face!" Kylan hissed at her. "You're kidding, right! I'm playing up t right back at him.

the image that you actually like me. A boyfriend usually enjoys being touched by his girlfriend," she hissed

"Yes but my face? With your germ-infested hand" Kylan looked at her in disgust, and she glared at him in return.

"How do you expect to ever kiss me, if it comes to that when this is how you're going to react to me touching her cheek?" she whispered, moving so she stood slightly closer to him

She noticed a few people were eyeing her with curiosity again, and she decided to wrap her arms around Kylan's neck and pull him closer into her body. The wannth from his own body permeated through the material of her dress, and she aptly ignored the feeling of his muscular chest pressed against hers

"This is how you should be standing if you're going to talk to me like this," she breathed as she looked at Kylan

Kylan was staring at her with a visibly clenched jaw. "A kiss is different," he mumbled at her indignantly.

"Is it? And tell me, why can you hold my hand or touch my collarbone, but a touch to my face is preposterous?" she questioned Kylan

Kylan narrowed his eyes at her. "F*ck off, Katrina," he grumbled,

-I will not," she argued. "How can this possibly work if you're getting this jittery over-"

She was effectively cut off just as Kylan

field of vision, and then his lips we wooped forward, grabbing her by her shoulders. She was vaguely aware of his face coming cluser in her on hers.

It wasn't really a kiss, per se. His mouth didn't exactly move against hers. But his lips rested against her own for a few seconds, before he pulled away.

She stared at him with wide eyes, completely shocked that he did something like that already.

"What the hell was that?" she gasped. If she hadn't been blushing for the entirety of the night already, she sure as hell was now

"The f*ck do you mean? That was a kiss, I can kiss you just fine, so you don't need to be f*cking worried about me being able to keep up the false pretenses of this relationship, Kylan explained in an uncharacteristic rushed voice.

She couldn't help the small laugh that bubbled up from her throat. "You. You call that a kiss! Putting your lips on top of someone else's, and just sitting there, is not a kiss." She shook her head and laughed again.

"I'm not going to f*cking make out with you, Katrina You're insufferable. I need a damn drink." Kylan ran his fingers through his hair before he took hold of her hand and dragged her in the direction of the open bar..

She laughed quietly to herself the entire way. If Kylan thought that was a kiss, she suddenly wondered how the hell he had ever had so many successful one- e-night stands

-0-0-0-

The rest of the gala was spent holding hands with Kylan while he ventured around the room, talking to various different corporate individuals. She spoke when she needed to, turned up the charm when it was necessary, and played the role of an assistant when called upon. Chapter 12

She realized a while later that she had yet to eat anything still. The two glasses of champagne she had, were catching up to her empty stomach She was regretting not eating dinner beforehand, but she didn't want to draw attention to the fact that she was not only hungry, but she was buzzed and dizzy as well. After finishing a conversation with someone that promised they could help lower the cost of supplies for the Nightfall drone, her stomach betrayed her by growling exceptionally loudly. She gripped it with her free hand, completely mortified.

Kylan gave her a weird look and she smiled apologetically. "I didn't eat anything before you picked me up. I assumed they would have more than Just an open bar here," she explained quietly

"Come on, then. I've talked to enough stiff shitbags." Kylan began to lead her by the hand to the front doors of the museum, and she gladly followed

him.

A few moments later, she was back outside. She stared down at the many stairs in front of her, suddenly intimidated to walk down them in her heels, even if she was used to wearing them. She was also slightly off balance from being buzzed, which didn't help. Kylan turned back and looked at her. "What is it?" he asked flatly.

"Nothing. I just Heels, you know?" she explained with a shaky laugh "Would YOU

like me to carry you?" Kylan offered dryly.

She gawked at him. Was he being serious? Surely, he couldn't be?

"N-no of course not. Sir. Ill be fine. Can you just Hold onto me!" she asked nervously.

Kylan rolled his eyes and let go of her hand, instead offering her his arm to take. She grasped onto it tightly, flashing him a grateful smile, and she slowly descended the stairs together.

The photographers had long since gone home, and she was glad there weren't the flashes of camera lights in her eyes this time, as she walked down the steps of the museum.

Kylan pulled out his phone with his free hand, and she heard him call Oscar to summon him with the SUV. She reached the bottom of the stains, just as a harsh October evening breeze blew by her. She shivered involuntarily, and Kylan looked at her arms, "Why did you only bring a shawl!" he asked her while they waited for Oscar.

She shrugged. "Where was I going to keep a jacket?" she responded as her teeth began to chatter, and she clenched her jaw to prevent it from continuing

Kylan sighed. "Jesus Christ, just come here," he snapped, pulling her against him and wrapping his arms around her waist

Her breath hatched in her throat. With the heels she was wearing, she was under Kylan's nose and her eyes were staring at his Adam's apple. She could feel his warm breath fanning her face so she opt to stare at his neck rather than look up at him "Um... T-thank you, I'm okay, really," she insisted.

Kylan sighed, looking down at her. "You seem to think I don't understand how to properly display physical affection. I'm doing my best to prove you wrong. And you're shaking like a fucking leaf, so just shut up," he grumbled, moving his hands to rub up and down her back.

She didn't know what she was meant to be feeling. Kylan's hands felt.. nice, as they rubbed her back. He also smelled good. But this was weird. So weird. Before yesterday, she hadn't even touched Kylan. And now! Now she had held his hand, had his arms around her, and he had kissed her... sort of kissed her, anyway

Her mind was reeling, and she was ready to go home and try and process the entire night by herself. She knew it was all part of the contract, she just hadn't known how... much it would be, for one single date.

"To be honest, Kylan, I was mostly

rly giving you a hard time in there. I need to check Litter, but I would be surprised if there aren't already pictures of us circling the internet," she said with a shrug, just as Oscar pulled to the curb in the SUV.

Kylan dropped his arms from around her, walking to open the back door of the vehicle, and allowing her to get inside first. He moved in after her, keeping the middle seat unoccupied this time. He no longer reached for her hand, or for her waist, and she was brought back down to reality.

Contract Fake relationship. Right.

"Lei

me know if the response is acceptable. If it's not, we can do something else to up the ante, or what the hell ever," Kylan said absently, staring out the window of the car.

Her stomach growled again, and she sighed with embarrassment. "I'll make sure to post a picture as well. I'll think of an appropriate caption, too." She did her best to pretend her stomach hadn't made its presence known again.

Oscar pulled up to her apartment a little while later, and Kylan once again helped her out of the car

2/4

Choper T

"Next time, eat betone our slate sides the date is explicitly to goseat a mural together. Until then, use the c pove her and onder yourself a late

the clarified

Her face felt evinely too warm and she nodded, muble tiruneet kylmov gaze "Right. Thalarthat if you're sure," the

Kylan rolled his eyes. "Why would I suggest something in mosine of Katrina!" he told her with an annoyed sigh.

"Daru somas, Don Bradly feeling a bit flustered, and my feet are throbbing in these ridiculous heels," she explained, shifting from one foot to the other

"Go inside. 111 see voit at work on Monday," Kylar unl, fuming to get back in the car.

she smiles at bini polutely. "Tonight wasn't so bad. "Thank you, kylan, she said quietly.

Kolan grunted in response, and she named around to head inside,

"Kate"" Ky lan callest so votu, past as she reached the door to her building

"You, uh, looked and acted the part tonight. Good jobs," kylan told her, the compliment sisimding foreign on his tongue.

"And you, Sir. Koodnight." She gave him one more smile before she went inside.

She slipped off her heels as soon as she was back in her apartment, and her dress promptly followed. She carefully hung it on draped back over u and put it in her closet delicately.

is hunger, the cover

She slipped on a part of sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt before she removed her makeup and brushed her teeth. She undid the pins from her hair and brushed it into a bun, securing it atop her heal

She was already yawning, but she knew she still needed to browse Litter for any inshration on how the date with Kylan was perceived. So, she walked to her kitchen and poured herself a Linge glass of water, and then she sat down on a barstool at her kitchen counter Taking a deep breath, she opened Litter on her phone, already logged into Kylan's account. Her eyes widened when she saw how miany

Kylan had

Three Hundred

notifications

With a shaking finger, she pressed the notification icon, Kylan had been tagged in several posts. Nearly all of them were p of her.

were pictures of Kylan and

She decided to click the first few nonfications, cautions, but eager, to see what people were saying

The response was mostly the same all around...

surely not? But the girl looked strikingly like the picture of the assistant on the

Who was the woman with Kylan Ross? Was that his assistant! No, surely not? B Ross Corp, website.

Her personal favorites were the people who were beside themselves with the fact the Kylan wasn't gay. She wondered just how prevalent of a rumor that must have been, after all.

She scrolled through more of the notifications, stopping of one picture in particular. It was a picture of kylan when he kissed her. Well, when he rested his lips on hers. She clicked the picture, zooming in a bit. She was more than surprised that someone had taken a picture of her and Kylan kissing when it had only lasted for a few seconds at most.

The conversation under the picture was passionate, to say the least. She knew Kylan was a well-known individual, but she had vastly underestimated just how known he really was. It was easy to live in a corporate bubble, most of the time. In that world, she knew how to help Kylan handle business.

In this world, she was more nervous, even with her background in public relations. Maybe it felt different because she was involved.

She stared at the picture of Kylan kissing her for a moment longer, and her mind was having a difficult time accepting that it was her in the photo alongside Kylan.

Itis hands looked surprisingly gentle, as they gripped her shoulders. And his dark bangs partly shrouded her face, which she appreciated.

She considered choosing that picture to be the one she shared on Kylan's account, but she slidn't think he would like that very much, despite having been the one to sort of kiss her in public.

Instead, she filtered through several more posts, before she finally y came across an image of Kylan holding hands with her on the museum stams. He was looking down at her beland him, and she was staring at the ground so she wouldn't trip, or be blinded by the lights of the cameras flashing around her

The look on his face was surprisingly soft. He almost appeared to be content, holding hands with her and helping her up the stairs. It wasn't a poses picture, but the candid moment was almost that much more meaningful of a picture to share.

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Chapter 12

She copied the image and drafted a post, pausing when she thought about what the hell kind of caption she should accompany it with. She didn't want to say anything over the top, but she also wanted it to be more than obvious that she was dating Kylan, and not only someone he had taken to the gala with him.

It needed to be simple and to the point. Finally, she bit her lower lip and allowed her fingers to write out the caption.

"Charity gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accompanied by my one and only."

She stared at the words for longer than she should have, and then she finally posted the picture on Kylan's Litter feed. She nearly tossed her phone on her couch. Her hands were shaking. Her heart was racing.

It was real now. Well, fake. But real

Her gut was twisting uncomfortably, and she absently began to pace the expanse of her kitchen. Her phone dinged with a notification, and she glanced at it.

Du $5,000-

"Kylan Ross sent you

She stared at her phone, her mouth hanging open. He had sent her five thousand dollars, right to the freaking money app she had on her phone. Her phone chimed with another notification, and she licked her lips and looked at it once more. "Reception seems positive, overall. Pay off some of that student loan. Did you order dinner for yourself yet!"

She laughed nervously at her phone. What the hell was her life anyn

anymore?

I'll do that now. Thank you, Sir. I posted the photo on your social media as well."

"I saw that Good work. Well k on Monday"

"Goodnight, Sir."

She ran her hands down her face, willing herself not to obsess over the photo she posted, or what people were

saying about it.

She knew she should feel more upset about receiving so much money, in such a fashion, and from her boss of all people. But as she ordered herself some dinner and used Rylan's credit card to do it, she only felt like she was in a sort of weird haze. And dang, If that money he sent her didn't make her smile just a little bit