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He’d reconsidered. Raiding Kanza’s leisure time was one thing. Marauding her at work was another. He’d let her get business out of the way before swooping in and sweeping her away on that day off Johara said she hadn’t taken in over a year. He’d arranged a day off himself. The first whole one he’d had in…ever.
The office door was suddenly flung open, and Johara’s head popped out, golden hair spilling forward. “Aram—come in, please.”
He was on his feet at once, buoyed by the unexpected thrill of seeing Kanza now, not an hour or more later. “I thought you were having a meeting.”
“When did that ever stop you?” Johara’s grin widened as he ruffled her hair. “But as luck would have it, the day you chose to go against your M.O., I found myself in need of that incomparable business mind of yours, big brother.”
He hugged her to his side, kissing the top of her head lovingly. “At your service always, sweetheart.”
His gaze zeroed in on Kanza like a heat-seeking missile the moment he entered the office. Déjà vu spread its warmth inside his chest when he found her standing by the filing cabinets, like that first night. The only difference was the office was in pristine order. It had looked much better to him after she’d exercised her hurricane-like powers.
He noticed the other two people in the room only when they rose to salute him. All his faculties converged on that power source at the end of the office, even when he wasn’t looking at her.
Then he did, and almost laughed out loud at the impact of her disapproving gaze and terse acknowledgment.
“Aram.”
While it no longer sounded like a curse, it was…eloquent. No, more than that. Potent. Her unique, patented method of cutting him down to size.
Johara dragged back his attention, explaining their problem. Forcing himself to shift from Kanza to business mode, Aram turned to his sister’s concerns.
After he’d gotten a handle on the situation, he offered solutions, only for Kanza to point out the lacking in some and the error in others. But she did so without the least contention or malice, as most would have when they considered someone to be infringing on their domain. In fact, there was nothing in her analysis except an earnest endeavor to reach the best possible solution.
Aram ascribed his lapse to close exposure to her, but he was lucid enough to know he was in the presence of a mind that rivaled his in his field. Having met only a handful of those in his lifetime, who’d been much older and wielding far more experience, he was beyond impressed.
As the session progressed, what impressed him even more was that she didn’t compete with him, challenge him or harp on his early misjudgment. She deferred to his superior knowledge where he possessed it and put all her faculties at his disposal during what became five intensive hours of discussion, troubleshooting and restructuring.
Once they reached the most comprehensive plan of action, Johara leaped to her feet in excitement. “Fantastic! I couldn’t have dreamed of such a genius solution! I should have teamed you and Kanza up a long time ago, Aram.”
He couldn’t believe it.
How had he not seen this as another of Johara’s blatant efforts to show him how compatible they were? Would he never learn?
He twisted his lips at Johara for breaching their noninterference pact again as he rose to his feet. “And now that you did, how about we celebrate this breakthrough? It’s on me.”
Johara’s eyes were innocence incarnate. “Oh, I wish. I have tons of boring, artistic stuff to take care of with Dana and Steve. You and Kanza go celebrate for us.”
If anyone had told him before that business with Kanza that his kid sister was an ingenious actress, he wouldn’t have believed it. But though he didn’t approve of her underhanded methods, he was thankful for the opportunity she provided to get Kanza alone.
He turned to the little spitfire in question, gearing up for another battle, but Kanza simply said, “Let’s go, then. I’m starving. And, Aram, it’s on me. I owe you for those shortcuts you taught me today.”
His head went light as the tension he’d gathered for the anticipated struggle drained out of him. Then it began to spin, at her admission that she’d learned from him, at her willingness to reward the favor.
Exchanging a last glance that no doubt betrayed his bewilderment with Johara, who was doing less than her usual seamless job of hiding her smug glee, he followed Kanza the Inscrutable out of the office.
*
Kanza walked out of Johara’s office with the most disruptive force she’d ever encountered following her and a sense of déjà vu overwhelming her.
In the past two weeks he’d been taking this “get to know him” to the limit, had turned up everywhere to trail her as he was doing now. Instead of getting used to being inundated in his vibe and pervaded by his presence, each time the experience got more intense, had her reeling even harder.
And she still couldn’t find one plausible reason why he was doing this.
The possibility that he was attracted to her had been the first one she’d dismissed. The
idea of Aram Nazaryan, the epitome of male perfection, being romantically interested in her was so ludicrous it hadn’t lasted more than two seconds of perplexed speculation before it had evaporated. Other reasons hadn’t held water any better or longer.
So, by exclusion, one theory remained.
