Sitting in the boardroom, Kasper had never been so interested in a quarterly report. Helping with the presentation gave him some ownership. It wasn't even as painful as climbing trees with their rough trunks. He left skin behind, but that pain gave him notoriety. Helping with the board meeting earned acknowledgement from Baxter and praise from his father.

For years, Philip had given his youngest son leeway to pursue his passions, but he didn't mince words with his praise. Remembering his father's promise, he said, "I'm not thirty yet. I only helped because I was bored."

"Regardless, your brother deserves a vacation and you need to pick up the slack. When he returns, we can revisit your role."

He felt himself in a vise from the need to protect his position, the same one he never cared about. Throughout the meeting, Dani sat looking poised and professional taking notes. Kasper let his eyes linger on her shapely legs. Did she have time to workout? His palm itched to touch her toned calves. Contradicting his lust, he wondered what she was thinking. Her serious face made him contemplate if she was happy. A strong desire to make sure she felt happy replaced the lustful tingling on his hand.

After their extended family left, Tate and Doyle disappeared. At a recent visit, Doyle had tried to explain to him how exhausting it was to carry and nurture a human growing inside her body. Knowing his twin almost as well as himself, he had to give her the right amount of sympathy and understanding, while still praising the miraculous female body. "No man could ever accomplish what you're doing. Your strength and endurance amazes me."

Gray smiled at Kasper's response. His approach was to tell his wife she was beautiful and offer to rub her back or feet or both.

Doyle had rubbed her growing girth. "Kasper's right. No man can do this."

Gray was lucky Doyle was not birthing his baby through her vagina. Kasper cringed. His twin would swear like a sailor and blame her true love for her pain. At least, her surgical pain would start after she had her large baby in her arms. Baby boy K-H would probably squash little girl Sinclair.

The morning after the board presentation, Baxter asked to meet with him. He expected to find Dani in his brother's office, but he was alone. Was she late?

"What's up? Last night went well."

"I'm always glad when it's over. I have a project for you. It's confidential which means you can't tell anyone. Not even Tate or Doyle."

"I'm trustworthy. Am I going after the security company?"

Baxter shook his head. "No. I told you I'm taking care of that. I have asked Danielle to work with you."

"Babysit me?"

"No, she wants more responsibility and you need more experience."

"Fine. I promise to play nice." A jolt of electricity made him shift in his seat.

"Good. I want you to find efficiencies and cost savings in every administrative department. With occupancies flat except for the buildings we sunk money into, we need to lower expenses."

"Do you mean fire people?"

"Hopefully not, but we aren't filling vacant positions until you two finish your report. You can disguise it as you trying to learn the business."

"What about my sidekick?"

Baxter laughed. "She's keeping you in line."

"Where is she?"

"She's not in this morning."

Kasper knew Baxter had shut down. His brother wouldn't or couldn't say where she was. Unfortunately, he left Kasper speculating. "Do I start without her?"

"No. You can sit in on my meeting with finance and take notes."

He had been demoted to executive assistant, and it didn't sit well. Add a small niggling worry about Dani, and he couldn't shake the uncomfortableness. By the end of the day, when she hadn't come to work, he felt worse. After Mac dropped Baxter off at his house, Kasper impetuously asked the driver to take him to Dani's apartment.

As he pulled up to the curb, Mac cleared his throat. "Does she know you know about..."

"No. It's your private business. I'll only be a few minutes." The thought of her with Mac left more uneasiness. He hardly recognized himself with his jumbled emotions.

Kasper rang her buzzer and waited. After a few moments, no one answered. Mac put his phone away as Kasper walked back to the car. "Weird. She didn't come to work today. I figured she was sick."

"Did you text her?"

"No. I didn't think of that. Do you think she blew it off?" Mac didn't answer. "I'm serious. Would she?"

"No, Sir. She'd have a reason."

"What reason?"

"I couldn't say."

Frustrated, he returned home and debated texting her, but would wait until she returned to the office.

The next morning, Dani was at her desk before Kasper arrived. As he approached, her refreshed face eased a burden he hadn't realized he carried. He soaked in her beautiful glow and wondered about her day off.

"Glad to see you made it."

She frowned before shaking her head amused. "Says the man who has only been working two weeks, this time."

'This time' implied there would be another. Was she challenging him? He loved competition. If her intent was to annoy him, it backfired.

Both Mariah and April continued to annoy him after his kisses. Dani was intelligent and had a pleasant voice, but she wanted his title. At first, her threat to his position pissed him off, but it no longer bothered him. He was a Kane, and she wasn't. Baxter's new project was a competition, and Dani was his favorite opponent.

His heart rate sped up as he challenged her. "I bet I can work longer than you without a day off."

He had an overwhelming urge to kiss the smugness off her face. He stepped back to see the sexy assured woman frown slightly.

"I don't bet. Talk to me in eight years. Right, but then I'll have eight more years on you. We have work to do."

"I was ready yesterday."

Ignoring him, she stood and entered Baxter's office. Kasper appreciated the length of her skirt and the fit of her blouse. Maybe the cross didn't work for him because he felt lust, but not love.

How could an innocent kiss with the cross in his pocket seal his fate? It looked bleak because the magic of the cross gave her only disdain for him. The first Kane Cross love/hate relationship. Good thing he was happy being the favorite uncle.

Dani had already set up meetings with directors of two departments. As they sat discussing operations, it reminded Kasper of case studies in his graduate program. Ironically, he had loved school. The riveting discussions had challenged him. His classmates envied him, because all the professors favored him. Beyond his name, he had earned their respect. Somehow he suspected he disappointed both his peers and mentors by wasting time on reality TV.

Kasper walked around the accounts receivable department and tried to avoid the stares and whispers. Not even the entry clerks took him seriously. Some didn't take their jobs seriously, because their monitors displayed a variety of things instead of the accounting software, including Amazon, Pinterest, and other social media sites (on some Kasper had appeared shirtless). Half were probably looking at TikTok on their phones.

When he returned to Dani's desk, he asked, "What did he say the backlog was in receivables?"

"Over a week. Longer at the beginning of the month."

He nodded, but felt sour. The last thing he wanted to do was let staff go, but they were not efficient. "Maybe we should reward them. Offer a contest or something along those lines."

"Where are the cost savings?"

He shrugged. "Maybe we can move the slow ones to a job that fits their skills. It would create a reduction in accounts receivables."

Dani laughed and shook her head. "I knew it."

"What?" He pouted.

"You won't make the tough decisions. Compassion won't help the bottom line."

Kasper loved a challenge, but letting people go was not a game. Baxter might have no qualms, but Kasper didn't kill bugs.

He shrugged. "I'll be back."

He went to talk to Zephyr, the network guy about blocking websites. "Try it for two days." He would see if productivity went up. "Tell them you're working on it and let me know who complains."

He wished accounts receivable was unique, but Kane's reputation as a good employer had allowed them to lose efficiencies.

He sunk into a chair in Baxter's office. "They're taking advantage of us."

Baxter barely looked up. "Make a proposal. That's your job."

"What have you been doing to allow this?"

"Don't think about blaming me. I've been increasing revenues while your office sat vacant. I'm busy."

"Fine. I get it." Kasper returned to his office and wrote up a proposal to increase production. After two days, Zephyr emailed with a list of calls complaining of wi-fi issues. Purchasing needs access to Amazon. Kasper would concede that point. As he scanned the list of complainers, one name popped out at him - Danielle Hughes. Interesting, he smiled.

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