“Organize my life, Kallie. I’ll pay you whatever you quote me.”
He watched her shake her head, her facial expression nothing short of incredulous.
“I’ll hire you to get my life back into shape. Then I’ll give you the best testimonial you could ever ask for. It will make your business. It’ll raise you to the prestige I know you want to be at. Those rich and famous you say you’re not welcome around? They’ll open their lives up to you. They’ll be at your service, not the other way around. If you can take the mangled man I am with the fucked-up life I had and transform it, you’ll have your pick of who to help next. They’ll be banging down your door and blowing up your phone within days. And you know it.”
He watched Kallie stop shaking her head, but he could tell she still wasn’t convinced. She was considering it, but still hesitant. So he took the only chance he had and strode across her small office. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in for the kiss of a lifetime. Kallie’s hands pressed against his chest before her body collapsed. Her knees gave way and her body sank into his, and for the first time in what seemed like decades, he felt whole again. His tongue slid across her lips and she gave him access. The kind of access he would give her to his life. He held her close and steadied her onto her feet, memorizing the way she tasted one last time.
He pulled away and could feel her panting as his eyes opened to meet hers.
“Okay,” Kallie said breathlessly. “You’re officially a client. But you should know that I don’t kiss my clients. So doing that again will void the contract you will eventually sign.”
“I’ll follow every order you give me,” he said.
Kallie pulled away and cleared her throat before she took a seat. Ash made a formal appointment to come in and talk with her, then she would produce a quote he would obviously agree to. He promised to show up ready to be organized, then he took one last look at Kallie before leaving her office.
If he couldn't get her back, the least he could do was help her business skyrocket, so she could take care of herself.
It was the very least he could do after the torture he’d put her through.
Chapter 11
Kallie
Kallie sat in her office, waiting for Ash to show up for his morning appointment. If he was serious about what he asked of her, then she was going to treat it as professionally as possible. That meant no kissing, no sleeping together, and no attempts to woo her in the process. Ash’s life needed reorganization in a bad way. That much was for certain. She could tell just by looking at him over the weekend that he had spiraled. But as the minutes ticked past ten in the morning, she wondered if he was going to show.
Then, a knock came at her door.
“Come in,” she said.
Ash stepped into her office and he was clad in a bespoke suit. It was hard for her not to stare. But she put on her professional face and leaned back into her chair, ushering for him to sit down. She had her laptop recording their conversation, so she could review it at a later date if they ever got sidetracked, and she turned it so he could see it.
“What’s that?” Ash asked.
“I record every initial conversation with my clients and keep it until their organization is complete. It goes nowhere and no one else touches it. It isn’t uploaded to a cloud or downloaded anywhere. It is simply for my reference. I’ve drawn up a standard NDA form that I’ve already signed. If you want to take a look at it and sign it, feel free. All it states is that you can hold me liable for any slander or libel that comes from someone obtaining this recording.”
She slid the document and a pen toward Ash, and he signed without even looking at it.
“What comes next?” he asked.
“Now for the questions,” Kallie said.
“I’m an open book,” he said as he crossed his leg over his knee.
“What areas of your life do you feel are most out of control?”
“My love life,” he said.
“This is serious, Ash.”
“And I’m being serious. My love life and my familial life are the two most discombobulated areas of my existence.”
“Okay. When do you feel like you’re most out of control? What emotions are you experiencing and who are you interacting with at the time?” Kallie asked.
“My desire for you,” he said.
“Ash...”
“You want me to be honest, so here it is,” he said. “It’s not my fault that it makes you uncomfortable. My desire for you flips me on my head. My need to be near you sucks the air from my lungs. I can’t control those needs at all whenever I’m around you. It throws me for a loop I don’t know how to manage.”