Contract Marriage with My CEO Boss (Kylan and Katrina)

Friday was gearing up to be a mess of trying to console an exceptionally cranky Kylan. He seemed more on edge than he had been lately. It was tiring and an especially stark contrast to how to put together he had seemed throughout the rest of the week. The man who thought of her enough to buy and have dinner delivered to her house was also gone. In his place was her typical, on-edge, stoic. angry boss.

She felt terrible for the intern that messed up before she got to work and even worse

orse for herself, who would be dealing with him all weekend long.

She kept her suitcase in the SUV, only bringing her briefcase and her travel outfit with her inside. "See you at three, Oscar

She waved goodbye to her driver and braced herself for the wrath of a grumpy Kylan Ross

She took the elevator, deposited her belongings in her office, and then made her way to the break room to steep Kylan's tea. Ten minutes later, she was carrying it into his office.

He was pacing in front of the window, one hand on his hip, his black suit jacket pulling up slightly because of it. He looked angry, annoyed, or maybe even both. He was on the phone, she realized, so she quietly sat his tea down on the desk and then made herself comfortable in her chair.

She grabbed her tablet off its charger and looked at the schedule for the day. Thankfully, there wasn't much to do other than a few calls and emails to attend to..

Kylan hung up the phone a few minutes later, huffing loudly as he sank into his leather chair. He picked up his tea immediately, taking a long drag from it and then sighing again. This is shit," he deadpanned.

She narrowed her eyes at him. She knew she made his tea in the exact way she always did now. "I made it as I always do, Sir," she told him as calmly as possible.

"I don't give a single f*ck, Katrina. This tastes like shit. So, assist me. Kylan snapped at her.

I'm not interested in hearing your bullshit excuses. You're my f*cking assistant, are you not?

She stared at him,

m, her eyes partially widened and her mouth agape. She knew he was testy today, but this? This was unacceptable

What was bothering him? She had taken care of almost everything in order for the weekend to run smoothly with minimal interruptions from home. She took care of all the travel details, as she always did, and she made him his tea correctly.

It felt like emotional whiplash, in a way. Her mind recalled how peaceful she felt when she was in Central Park with him last week, as she watched him play chess with her. He had such patience then

She remembered that he told her chess was something that calmed him down. Is that what he needed? Something to calm him down? Something to ground him!

She couldn't overthink this, or she wouldn't do it. She left her tablet behind, stood from her seat, and walked over to him with her hand extended out toward him. "Take my hand, she prompted.

Rylan scowled at her, his eyes shifting to her hand incredulously. "We're at work, Katrina. Not on a f*cking date," he reminded her quiety.This belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.

She fought to keep her face neutral. He was impossible, but she had to try. "Just take my hand, Sir, she reiterated, wiggling her fingers at him.

With a massive sigh and a slew of especially colorful words. Kylan finally took her hand and stood from his chair. She smiled brightly at him before leading him back over to the window.

"Can you tell me three things that you see and describe them to me?" she asked him, not letting go of his hand.

Kylan gave her a weird look, scoffing as he shook his head. "Why the f*ck would I do that?" He pinched the bridge of his nose with his free fingers "We need to be working, not staring out the same window I've looked out thousands of damn times." She remained neutral. Calm. Despite how annoyed she was truly becoming. "Please, just do it," she tried again.

With another apprehensive glare sent her way, Kylan finally looked out the window. "I see a taxi. It's yellow" There wasn't a hint of interest in his

voice.

"You need to be more descriptive. Try again." She only nodded her head at the window when Kylan glared at her again.

Kylan's jaw visibly clenched, but he kept hold of her hand and looked out at the city. He took a deep breath, and she began to draw small, soothing circles on the back of his palm with her thumb, She saw his shoulders lower a fraction of an inch and took it as a good sign, stepping so that she was

bit closer to him.

"I see a woman walking and pushing a stroller. The stroller is black, and the child inside it looks to be three years old, give or take. The woman is wearing a red coat and black gloves" Kylan sighed again. "This is ridiculous, Katrina" he mumbled quietly. Chapter 39

"keep going she encour

encouraged him gently

y is overcrowded." Kylan's voice was calmer this time, if not now

"I see several lanes of traffic, moving at a Pcking spils pace because New York City apathetic. It lacked the venomous edge though, at least

"One more she encouraged him, her thumb continuing to trace circles on his hand.

1 ser another blanket of grey-ass clouds in the sky that will probably mean our fight is delayed if it starts downpouring again." Kylan looked at when he was done talking, a frown on his face and his eyes swimming with what she thought was anxiety.

She reached into the pocket of her pantsuit, withdrawing the bag of lemon sours. "Here," she said softly, letting go of his hand and closing his fingers over a piece of candy

She watched Kylan look down at the candy, his mouth parting in preparation to protest. She lifted and suddenly she was cupping his cheek, lifting his face so he had to look at her.

her

e wasn't sure what the hell came over her, but her hand

"Trust me. Sir. Eat the candy. Look at me for a second. And you'll feel better." She smiled at him with what she hoped was reassurance

Kylan's eyes searched her face for a minute, his shoulders relaxing a little more, and his frown dissipating some. "F*ck. Fine" He put the piece of candy in his mouth, using his back teeth to break the small lemon ball. He kept his eyes on hers as he chewed, an air of stoicism returning to his features.

"Do you feel

any better?" she asked him as soon as he was done chewing

I'm fine. Katrina Kylan rolled his eyes at her, but she wasn't phased.

But it felt

"What's bothering you?" she tried again, for some asinine reason. She didn't usually push things like this, not with someone like Kylan. But it important, for some reason. It felt like she needed to help him deal with whatever anxieties were alling him at that moment. "Nothing is bothering me for Pck's sake." Kylan looked down again, not meeting her gaze any more.

She stepped forward, resting her hands on either of his shoulders this time. "You're always grumpy. But this feels different.

She was toeing over the line of inappropriate, and she knew it. She knew he had every right to back away from her and get even more upset because of her behavior. Even still, she didn't back away from him. She didn't let go. Instead, she waited to see what he would do.

Tve never... F*ck, okay. I've never met a parent. Like this, In this capacity, I mean." Kylan didn't look at her as he spoke, his eyes carefully fixated out the window once more

She looked at his side profile, unable to hide the shock from her face. He was nervous about meeting her dad? Even though it wasn't real! Even though it was all just a rousel

She swallowed down the surprise and licked her lips. "Kylan, look at me." It felt okay to address him by name, considering the unprofessional topic

of conversation.

Kylan reluctantly looked at her, his eyes incredibly guarded. Which was fine. She expected as much. It didn't put her off from wanting to say what she felt she needed to. "Please don't put pressure on yourself, not with my dad. You're going in the first place only as a courtesy to me, and I intend on ensuring it's as painless as possible. Will you follow my lead, just this once?"

She felt the pull to hold his face again, but she resisted. Instead, she gripped his arms a little more family.

"Okay, Katrina" Kylan said so quietly, yet with so much sudden assurancë.

Once again, she was shocked. And once again, the tried to keep it from showing on her face. "Thank you. I'll be a good time Just tell him you're half-French and say a few words to him in his native tongue, and you'll be golden. Trust me." She smiled at him playfully. He didn't smile back at her, but he didn't look defeated anymore, she thought. "F*ck off, Katrina. The words were harsh, but they lacked any sort of malior or annoyance.

"Please trust me, okay? Just this once," she repeated. "And no swearing, please?"

"Can we get back to work?" Kylan mumbled instead.

She leaned up on her tiptors and kissed his cheek, surprising herself this time. She pulled back nervously, but Kylan's eyes w figured she didn't cross a line too terribly.- She nodded her head, let go of his shoulders, and walked back to her seat in front of his desk.

"The bell was that shit, anyway?" Kylan asked her, his hands in his pockets as he still looked at her from near the window.

"What do you mean?" She stared down at the tablet, pulling up the schedule.

were a bit softer, so she

"Why did you have me look out the window and talk about sh... those things?" Kylan walked over to his chair and sat down, uking another small sip

of his tea

2:47 PM

She didn't comment on the fact that him still drinking the tea only proved her earlier point to him. "Oh, that? It's just a grounding technique I learned from therapy."

She crossed her legs a bit nervously. She didn't generally talk about this

stuff, least of all with her boss,

"Therapy," Kylan repeated the word like it was a foreign concept and she smiled at him.

"I went to therapy for a few consecutive years as a teenager. I was uh, mostly dealing with the, you know, abandonment issues from my mom never being around." She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and cleared her throat. "Anyway, Sir. Let's go over your schedule, yeah?" She didn't give him the opportunity to ask anything else, instead beginning to list off the various phone calls he would have before their flight.

Thankfully, Kylan didn't press her for more information. He stayed quiet while she talked, occasionally taking a drink of his tea. She noted though that his energy was considerably more relaxed now.