Obstacles

×KENZIE×

Monday morning swung around and I sat in Wyatt's office taking calls and filing in his diary with appointments.

Today was a very busy day for him, so I barely saw him which I was thankful for.

I still felt embarrassed by what happened between us at the club.

Of course, it didn't even come close to what happened between us on the night of my twenty-first birthday party, but that was yet another memory I would have preferred to forget.

I was just walking out of the office for my lunch date with Axel when Wyatt passed me looking annoyed.

A part of me wanted to ask him what was wrong, but I thought better of it. We had a strictly professional relationship now, I had to keep it that way.

"Kenzie, where are you going?" He called out from the door of his office.

I paused letting out an annoyed sigh before turning to glare at him, "I am taking my break, Mr. Grimes."

He nodded, an amused look playing on his face, "With that country boy who's out here trying to be a businessman?" There was no longer any sign of annoyance on his face.

I raised a brow, "Can I go now, Mr. Grimes? Or are you trying to keep me working through my lunch break? I know how you love making my life difficult."

To my surprise, Wyatt smirked, "No. Go enjoy your lunch. Tell the cowboy I send my regards."

I turned away with a huff and walked into the elevator, when I turned to press the buttons the last thing I saw before the doors closed was Wyatt still standing at the office door staring at me.

I leaned back against the walls of the elevator and said a silent prayer for my sanity.

How was I ever going to survive working with Wyatt?

I rushed out of the elevator and out into the street feeling somewhat annoyed with myself.

I should never have taken his offer, I should have stayed at the damn club.

I pulled my phone from my bag and texted one of the girls from the club, Jazzy, to see if she was working.

I decided that I would go and show my support if she was.

I pocketed my phone before walking into the restaurant. This was set in another fancy place that I never would have been caught dead in before.

But in this part of town, with all the upmarket businesses you couldn't find many laid-back places around.

Axel waved a hand from a table towards the back, a wide smile on his face.

I approached with a smile of my own and when I got to the table he got to his feet and pulled me into a hug before planting a soft kiss on my lips.

"Hey, you look great."

"Thank you," I spoke shyly as I took a seat, "Sorry I'm a little late Wyatt stopped me on my way out."

"It's fine, I didn't have to wait long. What did Wyatt want?"

"Um, I'm not sure actually. He just told me to enjoy lunch." I picked up the menu, hoping that Axel would drop the topic of Wyatt.

"I was thinking, are you free this weekend? I'm missing the ranch and I thought maybe you and your mom would like to go up with me?"

I placed the menu down and looked over at him, "You want to take my mother with you to your ranch?"

Axel nodded, "Yeah, why not? Look, Ken, I really like you and I want you to meet my family and my friends. And I'm secretly trying to do this in a way that will allow you and Karina to spend more time together."

I grinned, I couldn't help it, my heart swelled at his words, "Well, in that case, I would love to. I'm sure Karina will jump at the chance to join us, she's smitten over the fact that you were a hotshot county musician."

Axel chuckled, "At least someone is."

The waitress came over and took our orders before scurrying off.

"I hope I'm not overstepping here," Axel reached over and held my hands in his, "I like you a lot. And I'm enjoying spending time with you. I hope that this will grow into something serious."

At first, I wasn't sure what to say back to him, truth be told I was feeling a little bit awkward about his confession.

"I like spending time with you too, let's just take it a day at a time and see where we end up, yeah?"

He nodded but suddenly his smile dropped as he narrowed his eyes at something behind me.

I turned, "You've got to be kidding me."

Wyatt was walking toward the empty table next to ours, a smirk on his face and a pretty brunette woman on his arm.

I turned back to Axel, "Gosh, he's so annoying."

"Is it just me, or is he a little weirdly obsessed with you?"

"I wouldn't call it obsessed, Axel. I think it's just because I was engaged to his son, maybe he's still a bit protective."

Axel looked down at the table with a frown, "Maybe. But he looks at you with a sense of ownership."

This was an awkward conversation I didn't want to have at all.

"I was a part of the family for a very long time. Um, anyway, tell me about the ranch?"

Axel launched into a passionate speech about it, and it became clear to me how much he missed that life.

But as much as I tried to concentrate on what he was telling me, it was hard to do with Wyatt sitting beside us with his date.

He glanced in our direction a few times during lunch and when we left and Axel kissed me goodbye, I could feel Wyatt's eyes drilling holes into my back,

I didn't dare look back as I made my way back to the office, but of course, as the elevator doors were about to close he caught them and stopped them from closing.

"You looked like you had fun." He said as he stepped into the elevator.

"That place serves great food."

He nodded with an amused look on his face, "And your cowboy looked smitten."

"Speaking of, I'm not going to be available over this weekend. I'm going away with Karina."

Wyatt frowned, "Karina? Where are you going?"

"A ranch."

"Ah, so the cowboy is taking you somewhere."

I sighed, my eyes on the red numbers as I willed the elevator to hurry up and get to our floor.

"I assume that you have forgotten about the charity ball, then?"

Shit, I had definitely forgotten about it. My memory was failing me so badly that I couldn't even remember any balls being mentioned.

"I don't even remember you mentioning a ball."

He nodded with a smile, "It's part of work. I need my assistant with me."