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v i b r a t o

[It.] : A fluctuation in pitch.

I WAS PLEASANTLY surprised when Stella invited me to go along with her to the Mortezion several days later. Even though she was working in admin, she intended to help her other colleagues who had to prepare the venue for the party. I was more than happy to follow, so after finishing up some emails, I buzzed Kaden through the intercom to let him know.

"It's just for a couple of hours," I added, when he didn't say a word. "I'm going to help set up some things, but I'll be back before you know it."

But the click of the intercom left me rather taken aback. I glanced up at Stella, who'd been perched on my desk listening in to the conversation as she leafed through one of the folders. "I just can't figure him out sometimes," I admitted, shaking my head in confusion. "Just when I start thinking that I maybe do, I realise that I don't. It's like taking one step forward and two steps back."

Stella simply winked. "He's what we call an enigma, love. Why else would most of the single people in this building fancy the pants off him?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but the door to Kaden's office opened abruptly. Several people streamed out of the office, barely sparing us a glance as they continued the conversation that they were clearly having during the meeting. And then Kaden stepped out, looking handsome as ever in his black suit and closed-off expression.

Stella's eyes widened at the sight of our boss and she quickly hopped off the table. "Mr Bretton."

Kaden nodded briefly at her before looking at me. "I'm coming along with you."

I almost fell off my chair in shock. "What?" I blurted, casting a quick glance at Stella, who looked equally as dumbfounded.

"To the Mortezion," he returned evenly, although I could've sworn I saw a flicker of amusement in his eyes. "I'd like to see how the preparations are coming along."

"But – "

He raised an eyebrow challengingly at me. "Afraid I'll ruin your fun?"

Actually, that wasn't it. I was still reeling from the fact that he wanted to take a look at the place. He wasn't the event planner nor was he part of the preparation team. It seemed almost ludicrous that he'd want to be there when people would be setting up the tables and decorating the room around him.

But I didn't say any of that because a part of me kind of liked the fact that he wasn't going to distance himself from his employees. It was nice that he wanted to be more involved in the hands-on aspects of work.

So I simply smiled. "Kind of, yeah."

He narrowed his eyes but I caught the faint gleam of amusement in them and knew he wasn't offended at all. Reaching over to my coat that was draped over the back of my chair, he handed it to me, along with my purse that he'd picked up from the desk. "Come on."

I took my purse, shrugging into the coat that he held out for me. Kaden headed off first, leaving Stella and me trailing after him, and she slipped her arm in mine the moment he was out of earshot.

"Darling, was that some casual flirting I spied earlier?" She asked, her eyes gleaming with curiosity. "I've never seen Mr CEO over there treat anyone with this kind of informality before."

"Really?"

"Mm. I've been here for a couple of years now ever since Parker got me an interview at Bretton Industries, and I've seen a lot of things and heard a lot of things – but never this."

My eyebrows rose as I stepped into the elevator with her. Kaden was already inside, pressing the button for the first floor. He spared us a brief glance before looking down at the phone in his hand and beginning to text busily.

I made sure to lower my voice when speaking to Stella this time, knowing that the confines of the elevator were small and quiet. "Parker got you an interview here?"

Stella didn't seem to mind my question at all. "Well, he did offer me a job in his law firm, but since I'm neither interested nor qualified to do anything related to law, he scheduled an interview for me here instead."

A smile glossed my lips briefly as I thought about my brother and the lengths he'd go to for his friends. "That's nice."

"It is," Stella readily agreed. "Parker's always been nice in all the years I've known him. By the way, I've been meaning to ask – how long have you been friends with him?"

Her sudden question took me aback and I faltered. "Uh – "

"Because if you've known him since secondary school days, I'm thinking we might have been school mates," she added, with a bright smile.

I opened my mouth to respond – the actual response itself, however, was still elusive – when the lift door opened on the way down. My eyes widened as I saw several people standing outside waiting to enter and I swallowed.

This couldn't be good.

But before I could panic, Kaden simply raised a hand to stop them. They readily stepped back, more than happy to wait for the next lift. Once the lift doors had slid shut, he turned to Stella.

"Isla's a family friend of the Collins'," he told her simply, in a way that left no room for doubts or second-guessing. His answer surprised me because it technically wasn't a lie – I was a family friend, both Rosemary and Parker knew me well – but nor was it too close to the truth for Stella to probe further.

Stella seemed genuinely pleased that Kaden was directly addressing her and easily accepted his explanation. "I see."

I shot Kaden a grateful glance, a tiny smile curving my lips when he dipped his head in a subtle nod, before tactfully switching the subject altogether. "What's the size of the guest list for the party, Miss Banks?" He asked.

Stella immediately straightened, a professional look slipping on her face as she began to tell him about the guest list. When the lift opened on the first floor, the two of them headed out first and I trailed behind, listening to their conversation with interest. I was highly impressed by Stella's natural confidence and the way she carried herself.

I was hoping to hear more about the party and people on the guest list, but when we reached the parking lot, Stella politely declined an offer from Kaden to drive her to the Mortezion, opting instead to drive there herself. I didn't miss the quick wink she shot me when I got into Kaden's car with him.

The drive to the hotel was more or less silent on my part, but that was only because Kaden was busy answering phone calls. I busied myself by answering a text that Millie had sent. She'd heard from Castor about the catering business that Kaden had offered to Sugar Rush, and was more than thrilled about it.

She asked if I'd thank Kaden on her behalf, so when there was a lull in the phone calls, I turned to him. "Millie says thank you. She's Castor's girlfriend," I hastened to explain, when he momentarily took his eyes off the road to look at me in confusion. "She's very grateful for the business you've given to the café."

"Don't mention it," Kaden returned simply and I smiled, glancing down at my phone again to convey Kaden's message to her.

The car soon turned into the familiar street where Nolan's hotel was. It was the same one that Kaden lived in, which reminded me of the time I'd taken care of him when he was ill. After Kaden had someone valet park his car for him, we stepped into the hotel lobby, heading towards the main ballroom.

"Is there a reason why you specifically picked this hotel instead of another one?" I asked randomly, in a less than subtle attempt to kill the silence between us. It wasn't awkward per se, but I just didn't like long silences that seemed to stretch on for days on end. "I mean, Nolan's got a whole chain of hotels – you could've easily picked another one."

He shot me a sardonic look, as if my question was more than redundant. "Why would I pick another one when this is the most convenient?"

"Well, that's true. If you're going to have a quick shag with your date, why bother with booking a room when you've already got one, right?" I said this teasingly, just for the sake of getting a reaction out of him, but I was more than confused when he simply raised his eyebrows at me and I started to feel self-conscious. "What?"

"I don't have a date," he replied evenly, as he resumed walking. "It's not a social event for me, Isla, I'll be there to do business. You should know; you're coming along with me."

I stopped mid-track, staring at him slack-jawed and wide-eyed. "I am?"

"You're my personal assistant, aren't you?"

"But – " my voice trailed off as I began to falter uncertainly, "I thought I was going to be doing some background work. Like, setting up the place or clean up after or– "

"Why would I have you do any of that?" He sounded rather appalled now, and I almost wanted to laugh.

"I don't know – I didn't get an invitation or an RSVP."

"That's because you're sitting with me, at my table, for the whole evening – you don't need a bloody invitation. You don't even need to do anything, just relax and have a good night."

Perhaps it was just me; perhaps I was a person far too easy to please. But it meant a lot to me that he'd specifically invited me to go to the company dinner with him, even if it was for solely professional purposes. Nevertheless, a part of me couldn't help but rile him up. "So it's a date?" I asked blandly.

His eyes narrowed. "It's not a date."

"Will you be driving me to and from the party?"

"There'll be a stretch limo – yes," he reluctantly dragged out, as if compelled to tell the honest truth. "And I won't be driving, there'll be a chauffeur for the night."

"Will you be getting me flowers?"

He shot me an aggravated look. "Do you want flowers?"

"No, the chocolate fountain and red velvet cupcakes should suffice," I replied mildly, trying to stifle my surprise at the fact that he'd actually asked. His glare deepened and I simply let my lips curl up in a teasing smile, hardly able to resist one last push. "Trust you not to know when you're taking a girl out on a date, Kaden."

"It's not a bloody date!" Exasperated, he turned on his heels and strode towards the ballroom. But just as I began to wonder if I'd well and truly angered him, he paused and threw a brief glance at me over his shoulder. "Are you going to stand there all day?"

I realised then that this was what it was – a constant push and pull between the two of us. When I pushed, he pulled back, but he never went far. It grew tiresome at times, but the rewards were somehow always satisfying – knowing that he'd still be there, no matter what.

Shaking my head, I smiled and caught up with him.

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The blatant looks of surprise from the other employees were honestly laughable when Kaden stepped into the ballroom. I bit my lip to keep from smiling and followed him in, keeping a good distance when he swiftly began a conversation with one of the hotel managers who was overseeing the preparation. There was an equal mix of hotel staff and employees from Kaden's company in the room; the only distinguishable attribute about them was that the hotel's employees were dressed in their usual uniforms.

Stella came up to me, a clipboard in hand and a knowing glint in her eye. "You sure took your time. I've been here for ten minutes," she laughed when I began to fumble for a decent reply, and gripped me gently by the arm, navigating me towards her colleagues. "Come on, we've got some decorations here that needs sorting."

Her friends were both welcoming and friendly, and I promptly began work alongside them. I soon learnt that they were a blend of different departments – some from production, others from marketing or human resource, but they were all fairly new to the company and were working their way up from the bottom.

I supposed this was the reason they were given the more menial jobs. Stella, who was head of human resources, wasn't even supposed to be there. And when they heard that I was Kaden's personal assistant, their eyes all but bugged out of their heads, and they became far more polite than ever.

Things went downhill after that. Most of them seemed reluctant to let me do any of the more physically exhausting jobs, which was nice but I knew for a fact that they treated me this way solely because of my affiliation to Kaden. Seeming to sense the uncomfortable situation that I was in, Stella soon led me away and asked if I'd help her sort through the tables for the guests.

"Don't mind them," Stella explained, when we had sat down at an empty table and she was beginning to spread out the guest list in front of us. "I think a lot of the employees just aren't used to having you around. Hell, I don't think they've even wrapped their heads around the fact that Kaden is here. They're all walking on eggshells because they're scared to mess up in front of him."

I smiled and told her it was okay. But I suddenly understood why Kaden hated social situations so much. If people weren't lavishing him with flattery to sweeten up their business deals with him, then they were avoiding him altogether because he was far too intimidating to them.

Stella and I began sorting through the guest list, when one of the beneficiary names made me surge of surprise rush through me, so sudden and so overwhelming I felt almost breathless.

Because the Breckenridge Home for Orphans was included at the bottom of the list, the same one that I'd randomly suggested to Kaden. He'd not only considered it, but added it to the list as well.

I didn't know what to think. And when he strode over to the table to discuss the guest list at length with Stella and some of his other employees, I found my gratitude lodge in my throat, completely at a loss for words.

Words somehow never seemed to suffice with him.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

But the words came several hours later, when Kaden and I were back at the office. It was well past working hours but Kaden was still hard at work. At eight-thirty, I dragged him away from his work by tempting him with Mexican takeaway, and I soon found myself overlooking the majestic view of the city from his office window while I ate.

Kaden was sitting next to me on the window ledge, still texting while he took hungry but neat bites of his food. I envied him immensely for that – I was a thoroughly messy-eater, had always been, and it didn't seem to make a difference no matter how careful I was.

I cast a sideway glance at him and realised that this was probably the most appropriate time. So, setting my food carton aside, I took a deep breath. "I just want to say thank you," I said softly, and Kaden immediately took his eyes off his phone to look at me. "For including the orphanage on the list of beneficiaries."

He shrugged. "It's not a big deal, Isla."

"Oh, but it is," I insisted earnestly. His green eyes held a flicker of confusion in them and for some reason, I felt the need to explain, to tell him exactly how I felt. "My mum really loved doing social work, and she used to drive me down to the orphanage every weekend. She always said that since we weren't rich, there were other ways we could help the less fortunate. Sometimes, she'd bake a fresh batch of cookies for the kids at the home, or sometimes she'd just go there to read to them or talk to them. Anything – she said it didn't matter what you did, so long as you put your heart into it."

I paused briefly, trying to force a smile on my lips as Kaden watched me intently. But it was difficult, because some things weren't so easy to smile about, in spite of all the years that had passed.

"My mum's dead now," I blurted, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could think twice. But it was Kaden and somehow, telling him these things made sense. "She died when I was seven and I don't really remember much of her anymore because I was so little then, but I still miss her, you know? I guess what I'm trying to say is – " I swallowed, blinking back the tears that stung the back of my eyelids, " – thank you, for furthering a cause my mum couldn't finish herself."

For once, Kaden seemed unsure of what to say. I saw hesitation etched on his face, and he cleared his throat twice before nodding. "It's the least I could do."

I smiled at him before averting my gaze as a stray tear escaped the corner of my eye. It was almost embarrassing to start crying in front of Kaden, and I knew that I needed to get out of here. Fast.

"I'm going to get coffee," I mumbled, standing up abruptly and turning to leave. But before I could, he reached out and latched his fingers around my wrist.

The sudden contact was sufficient to make me freeze in my spot, my heart thudding a fearful beat as I felt his fingers tighten in their grip. I missed him. There was no lying about that – I missed every bit of Kaden Bretton and more, and having him so close but not close enough diminish the distance between us was almost always painful.

I turned hesitantly, watching warily as he climbed to his feet. And then I had to look up now, because he cut a tall, dark and handsome figure against the skyline of the city. It sent a wave of nostalgia rushing through me. It didn't matter where we were, the beach or here, nor did it matter how beautiful the landscape was, because when I looked at him, he was all I could see.

His expression seemed to soften considerably as he stared at me for a moment. Then he reached down and pulled me to him gently, wrapping his arms tight around me. It was impossible not to lean into him, the familiarity of his embrace more vivid than ever and I could've sworn we were never apart to begin with. His chest was warm and firm as I remembered, his arms strong and safe.

We were silent for awhile, and then he spoke. "You know," he began, his voice so low it was almost inaudible, his breath warm on my cheek, "it's okay to break down."

His words were my undoing and I nodded quickly before letting my eyes fall shut, burying my face against his chest. I let him hold me as I let the tears seep past my shut eyelids.

And, for a moment, things were just that simple.