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“Come in.”

The door swung open and she peered in nervously, her lips pressed into a smile when her gaze landed on me.

“Ms. Voss,” she said, slipping inside and closing the door behind her. “Have you seen Mia?”

“Here,” Mia called, not looking away from the boss in front of her.

Clara frowned in confusion and walked further in and around the corner. “Oh!”

“Beta testing,” I explained, watching the wonder dance on Clara’s face.

“That’s exciting!” she said. “My little brother loves these games. I remember my parents paid a fortune for his VR headset.”

“Andthere, ha!” Mia shouted suddenly, punching the air in triumph. “Filha da puta, I got you!”

Clara’s eyes widened at Mia’s outburst and I threw my head back in laughter.

“That was actually pretty fun,” Mia said, her breaths a little short from exertion and adrenalin. “The mechanics feel so much better now.”

“No nausea?” I teased, crossing one leg over the other. I didn’t miss the way her eyes tracked the movement. “You’re not going to ruin my favorite rug, are you?”

Mia looked like she might flip me off but thought better of it, and threw me a sneer instead. “You’re hilarious,” she drawled, handing the headset back to me and looking at Clara. “You were looking for me?”

Clara glanced between Mia and me before answering, something in her gaze calculating.

“I wanted to go over the final setup for tomorrow,” Clara said, holding up the proof prints our marketing team had sent up. “They’re running late and need approval, like, yesterday.”

“They shouldn’t drag their feet on something as trivial as a bleed line, then.” Mia sighed, but she held her hand out for the proofs anyway. “Will they have time to print all of this and install by the end of the day?”

Clara’s teeth worried her bottom lip. “They have to, I guess.” She shrugged. “The convention starts at nine, but we’ll be there earlier to run through prep and finalize the set up.”

“Sounds good,” Mia said, her eyes roving over the proofs. “This is the wrong shade of blue.”

“What?” Clara whined, taking the page Mia handed her. “Shit, I didn’t even see that.”

“It’s okay,” Mia said soothingly. “I’ve had years to become intimately familiar with the brand’s color scheme. You’ll get there too.”

Clara offered Mia a small, hopeful smile before she left.

“It seems I’m no longer needed to run things around here,” I observed with a smirk. In reality, I was floored every time Mia proved that she could handle far more than I’d ever handed her.

“What?” She gaped. “Don’t be ridiculous, this company would fall apart without you.”

But I knew she was just saying that. “You were the one who said a great company could function without its leader,” I pointed out, and her cheeks darkened.

“I meant that- if you left, I’d,” she stuttered, tripping over every word that fell from her lips. “Never mind, I’m going down to marketing.”

I laughed as she exited my office, wondering if she was ready for something more befitting her skills.

Chapter 12

The Power Couple

REID

“Isn’tthereaseparateentrance for VIP guests?”

I turned to look at Mia, who looked ready to pounce the second anyone got too close. Her hand hovered at my lower back, making my own private security look juvenile in comparison. I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep my smile from widening. Droves of convention attendees lined the sidewalks, a single steel barrier separating them from us.