Page 60 of His Forbidden Kiss


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That was strange. And the second time in as many minutes that Taylor had been approached by someone who wanted to make amends.

Taylor followed her out, heading to Bran’s office next. “Do you also have an overdue apology for me?”

“Sorry, toots. We covered that already.” He winked. He wasn’t wrong. There was nothing between them but a solid friendship, one she treasured.

“Why is Royce out? I know you know.”

“He’s at home.” Bran looked her straight in the eye. “Called me this morning and said he was taking off the rest of the week.”

“The rest of the week?”

“Yep, left his cell phone here and everything.”

“It’s his first product launch!” Had Royce gone crazy? This was the most important release of his career, and if not the most important ever at least the most important right now.

“He’s not okay. And if you don’t know why, then you never really knew my brother.”

Well. She certainly didn’t appreciate that.

“Maybe you should go check on him.”

She folded her arms over her breasts. “Did he ask you to tell me that?”

“Nope.” They had a miniature standoff.

“He’s mad at me,” she guessed. “Is he not showing up because he’s mad?”

“Nope.” Bran’s eyebrows raised.

“Is he sick?” The calendar didn’t specify that he’d taken a sick day, but maybe he didn’t want anyone to know.

“Sort of,” Bran answered, his tone gentle. “Not the way you think, though. He’s sick about a lot of things.”

“He’s not the only one. Morning sickness is my new BFF.”

Bran stood and came to her. “I’m sorry things have been strained between you two. I’m not sure Royce knows what to do with so much change this quickly. And before you challenge me on it,” he said when she opened her mouth to offer another me too. “I know you’ve had a lot of change, too. You should know that when Royce came over to break up with you, I might have encouraged him to do it.”

“What?”

“Unintentionally,” he added. “I was concerned you two weren’t on the same page. That you were developing feelings for him. I was also pissed off at him for not telling me he was named CEO the second he found out. It was immature.”

“And you blacking his eye wasn’t?”

Bran smirked. “That was an accident.”

“Uh-huh. I’m not allergic to lilies, by the way. I just don’t like them.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh.’ You don’t know everything.” But as much as she wanted to lay into Bran for his contribution, she couldn’t. “Not that I blame you. The decision Royce made was ultimately his. You can’t make that man do anything he doesn’t want to do. He chooses what’s most important to him.”

Bran smiled at that—an out-and-out grin. “You’re exactly right. He prioritizes those he loves. You know, I could actually use your help. Can you go to him? Remind him how important it is for him to be here today? I’d hate for him to wreck the role of CEO now that he has it. You have a better chance of convincing him to come in than I do.”

“I don’t know...” Bran was her friend. This company was important. But what good would it do for her to go to Royce’s house if he didn’t let her in?

“You’re the COO. Second in command,” Bran reminded her. “There’s no one else.”

“Low blow.” Bran knew how much this position meant to her. She wasn’t willing to shirk on her responsibilities any more than she would let Royce do it. “Fine. I’ll do what I can to flush him out of hiding. But you owe me.”

“I owe you,” Bran agreed, palms up in surrender.

Royce could blow up his personal life but she wouldn’t allow him to take ThomKnox with him. This company meant too much to him—to all of them—and she wouldn’t be the reason, even inadvertently, that the CEO didn’t do his job.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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