Kaylee walked into work ten minutes late and incredibly sore. She had spent the entire weekend in Ethan’s house, naked. He had shown her how great sex could really be. Sometimes hard and fast, sometimes slow and methodical, but always with feeling.

So much feeling.

Oh shit, she was really, truly in love.

Was that possible after a week and a couple of days?

Did she plan to question it?

Smiling to herself, she realized that no, she didn’t. They might not have known each other for long, but she’d never felt this way about a person. Not anyone. That meant something, and she was going to ride this train as far as it would go, eyes wide open. Like her legs.

“What’s so funny?”

Kaylee jumped, knocked out of her reverie. Theo stood in her doorway with his shrewd stare.

“Hey, Theo. Nothing at all.” She gingerly sat down in her chair and turned on her computer.

“Good weekend?” he asked, taking a step into her office, which was a step farther than he’d ever taken before.

“It was great, thanks. You?”

His eyes narrowed, studying her. “It was fine. Listen.” He took another step in. “Do you have a moment?”

“Yes, sure.” She stood again and gestured at the seat in front of her desk, trying not to show her surprise. “What’s up?”

He closed the door behind him and sat down. Silence filled the room for a moment as he collected his thoughts. She waited patiently, clicking into her email as she did so. She wasn’t the type to sit idly.

“Something Ethan said the other night intrigued me,” he finally said, resting his hands on his thighs.

“Oh?” She spared him a glance.

“I mentioned to him that you typically do twice as much as the other directors, and often at a superior level.”

“Work hard, play hard.”

“Usually that would develop a sort of…backlash among the other managers.”

She lightly shook her head as she deleted spam emails. She didn’t care that the company was sponsoring a walk-a-thon. “That usually only happens when an upper-level manager rubs all the lower-levels’ faces in it. I’ve seen it done in other departments, but that doesn’t happen with me. I wouldn’t allow anyone to make an example of me.”

His brow furrowed. He opened his mouth to voice something, probably a question or rebuttal, but then a knowing expression came over his face. He probably realized that Ray did that sort of thing in his department all the time. Not for the first time, she was thankful she didn’t work for him.

“Be that as it may,” he said, “I’m impressed. You’ve risen quickly and you still manage to be ahead of the curve. You’re ambitious. Driven. I like that. You don’t take free rides.”

Hopefully her confusion didn’t show on her face, because she was pretty sure no one at the company had ever offered her a free ride. If someone had, she probably would’ve taken it. That was just common sense.

“Off the record, if you keep this up, you’ve got my vote for the promotion.”

This time, she couldn’t stifle her surprised reaction. She rested her hands on her desk and stared at him with widened eyes.

He held up a hand. “That doesn’t mean too much now. It isn’t my decision. But I’ll bring up the things I’ve noticed. The job you do. Your drive. I’ll back you.”

“Wow. That is…unexpected. Thank you.”

“It’s not about thanks. It’s about good work ethic. But…” He shifted in his seat. “I know your type. I know how hard you fought for your current pay. If you’re offered the position, you should know they’ll lowball you out of the gate. They do it to everyone.”

“I would expect that.”

He nodded. “You might think they’ll never bend, but if you show your worth and talk a good game, they’ll come around. The board members are…old-fashioned in many ways, but they can be reasonable if the asset outweighs their…way of thinking.”

They were sexist, was what he was saying. She hadn’t even thought about the board. She’d assumed the CEO would do the decision-making and negotiations. That had been shortsighted. Of course the board would need to approve the payroll expense, and the person they were spending it on.

“I’ve dealt with…old-fashioned thinking a time or two,” she said with a smile. “And yet”—she spread her arms—“here I am.”

“Exactly right.” He pushed himself to his feet, and she followed. “It’ll be a month or more before someone is put in front of the board, but I thought I would stop by and let you know where I stood.”

“Thank you. That means a lot.”

He grunted and opened the door. Without a goodbye, he walked out, making that one of the strangest endings to a meeting she’d had in a long time.

She walked back to her chair on wooden legs.

Ethan.

Whatever Ethan had said to Theo had compelled the VP to take notice of her. Maybe for the first time, or maybe just in a new light. Like Dave marketed Janie, Ethan had marketed her.

She smiled like a fool at the warm fuzzies that thought gave her.

Even before they’d officially become a couple, Ethan had had her back. He was one helluva find. And now he was her boyfriend—a relationship that both of them hoped would turn into so much more.