Page 31 of The Vampire’s Receptionist (Charmed Away Temp Agency #4)

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Kian waited for supernatural resources to show up after the incident with Kyle, the werewolf from the marketing department who was dead set on getting Morgan’s information.

Kian hadn’t been overly worried about his threatening behavior, he could protect himself, but Dorian came out of nowhere, and it took serious negotiation to get him to walk away.

The last time Dorian lost control in the office, he reported it immediately to SR. Kian expected the same thing that morning.

It would’ve been annoying, but not impossible to deal with.

Kyle had slunk off without a word, his head down, and didn’t say a word about Dorian’s aggression.

He knew he was in the wrong for lunging at a temp.

Kian didn’t think that warranted Dorian’s behavior, but he got the feeling the werewolf wouldn’t say a word about it.

But after an hour, it seemed like Dorian wasn’t willing to report it either.

He stayed in his office with the door shut for the rest of the morning.

He thought about checking in, but something told him that wouldn’t go over well.

Dorian looked ready to rip someone’s head off, and he probably wasn’t happy that Kian made him walk away.

It’d been a week without incidents, so Kian had mistakenly thought things were getting better, but apparently not.

It was better to let Dorian cool off first.

With a heavy sigh, Kian pulled out his phone, scrolling through his messages.

He straightened with a frown when he noticed Morgan had messaged him.

Surely the stupid wolf wasn’t harassing him, right?

Kian had never given the man any of Morgan’s information, and he was the only one with access to things like that.

The temps went through him, not through SR.

Pulling up the message, he scanned it, and his shoulders slumped in relief.

Morgan wasn’t messaging about Kyle. He was letting Kian know he was finally available to meet with Dorian.

Between Morgan’s temp job taking up a lot of his time, and Kian ending up on bedrest, it still hadn’t happened yet.

He got the feeling some of that was apprehension on Morgan’s part from the last interaction he’d had with Dorian, so he’d sent a few encouraging messages, but he hadn’t heard back until now.

His mind flicked to Dorian, and he grimaced. He’d hoped Dorian would be more stable before he met with Morgan. Would it be better to wait until they figured out what was going on with him?

The desk phone rang before he could decide, and he picked it up on the second ring. “Spellbound Corps, Medical Division, Kian speaking. How can I help you?”

“Good morning, Kian,” Clarita, the front desk receptionist, greeted evenly. “I’ve got a delivery here for you. Should I have an intern bring it up, or would you like to come get it yourself?”

Pursing his lips, he considered his options.

He preferred to get things himself, since he didn’t like people doing his work for him, but he also didn’t like being away from the phone if he could help it.

Dorian would be stuck answering the calls if he wasn’t around, and after the already rough morning, he didn’t think it’d be a good idea to put him in that position.

“An intern, please. I don’t want to leave my phone unattended.”

She hummed in agreement. “I know how you feel. I’ll have an intern come up with it soon.”

“Thanks, Clarita.”

She said her goodbyes and hung up, leaving Kian to ponder what she’d just said.

Did she say the delivery was for him? Like for him to pick up for Dorian, or actually for him?

It wouldn’t make any sense if it was actually for him.

He hadn’t been here long enough for anyone to know who he was. Besides, who would send him packages?

He got his answer fifteen minutes later when an intern came out of the elevator with two gift baskets in his hands.

They were huge, wrapped in plastic, and the poor intern looked like he was struggling to hold both of them himself.

Kian popped out of his chair, hurrying to take one from the poor siren.

“Thanks,” the intern murmured, readjusting the other gift basket to carry it with both hands.

“No problem. Who sent these?”

Setting the gift basket on an empty desk, the siren pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and frowned at it. “The receipt says a company called Mystigifts. I’m not sure. Oh, but I think there’s a note tied to it.”

He finally looked up at Kian, doing a double take when he noticed Kian’s eyes. To his credit, he didn’t flinch or back away. He did look a little confused, but Kian would take that over the outright wariness he usually got.

Setting the basket he was holding next to the intern’s, he looked for the note. It was tied with a ribbon to the top and written in fancy gold letters. Kian snorted when he realized what it was.

“Ah. I know what this is about. Thanks for bringing it up.”

“Sure,” the intern nodded, looking curiously between Kian and the baskets. He wanted gossip, and Kian kind of wanted to get back at Dorian for doing something so cheesy.

“Mr. Kuramori likes to pretend he’s got a lot of admirers, so he buys gift baskets and has me bring them to him randomly throughout the week and pretend they’re from someone else.”

The intern’s jaw dropped. It was a good thing Kian had several thousand years of practice keeping a straight face, or he would’ve burst out laughing at that reaction.

No doubt, the rumor would spread through the whole company.

No way was the intern keeping that to himself.

Kian would give it until midweek before it got back to Dorian somehow.

The more he thought about it, the harder it was to stop himself from laughing. Innocent pranks like that were his favorite kind of mischief. Drawing in a breath, he nodded at the intern. “Thanks for hauling them up. I appreciate it.”

Seeing the dismissal for what it was, the intern nodded and waved, walking backward as he glanced between the baskets and the doorway that led to Dorian’s office.

He nearly walked into another desk before correcting himself and poking the button for the elevator.

He had to wait a minute for it to come, so Kian decided to up the mischief just a little, snagging the basket meant for him.

“I should bring this in now. What’s your name? I’ll say it was from you.”

The intern’s face flushed bright red at the thought of being a secret admirer, but he did mutter out a quick, “Evander,” under his breath.

He practically darted into the elevator when the doors opened, watching anxiously from inside as Kian brought the basket with him to Dorian’s office and knocked on the door.

The elevator doors were just closing as Dorian called for Kian to enter.

Dorian’s eyes were on the paperwork on his desk.

He didn’t even glance up when Kian came into the room.

Still grumpy, apparently. If it were anyone else, he’d walk away.

He didn’t care enough to deal with all that.

But it was Dorian, and as his feeder and the guy sleeping with him, Kian felt like he could get away with more.

He waltzed over to the desk, putting the gift basket on top of Dorian’s work, and leaned his hip against the side.

“Something you forgot to mention?” Kian drawled, his lips still fighting back a smile.

Dorian jerked back in surprise, looking between Kian and the gift basket for a moment. His brows furrowed when he studied the basket, and to Kian’s delight, a flush swept over his cheeks when he realized what it was.

“In my defense, I ordered that after the first incident. It was supposed to get here that same week. I got an email from the company owner saying that orders were delayed because of illness, but I didn’t get the email until…”

Until he was already starving and not functioning well enough to decide what to do about it.

Kian didn’t judge him for that. He’d seen just how out of it Dorian had been.

They had needed to go through everything that had come up that week workwise again just to make sure Dorian remembered all of it.

“Well, it’s a nice gesture, but I don’t need it. Morgan will appreciate it, though. That’s who the second one is for, right?”

Dorian nodded slowly, studying Kian’s face. “Will he like it?”

“Probably. And I know the gesture would go a long way for him. He just messaged me this morning, letting me know he was finally free to meet with you, too. Did you want me to set things up?”

Whatever Dorian had been thinking so hard about was pushed aside, his face turning more contemplative. “That sounds fine. Maybe lunch? I ruined the one the two of you had been having when I scared him.”

Kian bit back a snort. He didn’t think Morgan would pick up on that, not after this much time, but it was obvious Dorian cared.

And as long as he was with them, Morgan was probably safe with Dorian.

He didn't think the vampire would cause trouble unless Morgan threatened Kian. Morgan wasn’t that kind of person.

“I’ll ask him.”

He was about to walk away when Dorian stopped him with a frown. “Are you angry with me?”

Surprised, Kian turned to face him again. “No. Why?”

Dorian gestured to the basket he was very obviously leaving behind. “I know it’s impersonal. I hadn’t known you then, and I wanted to do something to apologize. I can exchange it–”

Kian cut him off before he got any funny ideas. He’d experienced first hand just how intense Dorian was about buying presents. Even his apartment felt barren compared to the number of plants Dorian had bought him during his recovery. He didn’t want the office to become a greenhouse.

“I’m not mad. I just don’t need an apology gift.

Or even an apology. We both know that you’d never intended for things to get that bad.

Honestly, we don’t know if whatever is happening with you started before I even got here.

You were starving by that point already, and it was the first day we met. ”

Something flashed across Dorian’s face –surprise, maybe?– before Kian continued.

“I don’t blame you for any of it, and I don’t need any gifts. Right now, we’re in this together. You don’t need to keep trying to apologize for it.”

Some of the tension in Dorian’s shoulders lifted, and when he smiled, the expression was laced with relief.

Kian tried not to melt at that look. Seriously, the vampire was too cute for words.

He made Kian feel like a sap with how often he was sighing over the man. It should be criminal to be that cute.

“I’d still like for you to have it,” Dorian said, lifting the basket and rounding his desk to hand it to him. “I got it for you. Besides, I can’t eat chocolate. It does nothing for me.”

Kian thought about that for a moment before an idea formed. He knew a way they could both enjoy the gift. He didn’t bring it up here, though. It’d have to wait until Dorian’s next feeding session.

“Alright, fine. I’ll take it. And I’ll let you know when Morgan is free for lunch.”

Relief and joy overtook Dorian’s face, and Kian’s stomach flipped.

Seriously. No one should be allowed to be that cute.

It made it so much harder for Kian to resist the man.

And he didn’t want to give his heart a chance to get any funny ideas.

Their situation was just sex. Just a way to relieve the tension when Dorian fed from him.

There was no reason Kian needed to get swept away by every damn smile.

Frustrated with himself, he feigned the basket being heavy to escape Dorian’s office.

Setting the basket next to its twin, he turned and sat against the edge of the desk, slumping in on himself a little.

Hopefully staying in his own apartment would help him get some perspective.

Distance would do them some good. This wasn’t a relationship.

It was just sex. That was all he wanted.

Right?