Chasing His Kickass Luna Back novel Chapter 11

Abby

Karl hands me the report, his expression unreadable. I can feel his gaze on me as I pick up the stack of papers and scan the first page.

“That’s everything my people could find,” he says.

I look up at him and nod.

It took an hour to get the report, and we spent most of it in tense silence. His staff brought in tea, which we both drank quietly, his with Kahlua, mine black. Then he had to take a few calls while I sat and pretended not to listen. The worst, though, was when he ran out of things to do, and we just stared at each other across the desk for ten minutes.

I could tell, with every passing minute, that he wanted to bring up what he said about reconciling. Thankfully, he didn’t. He could probably pick up on the fact that I wasn’t in the most receptive mood. I’m more than happy to put that conversation off for as long as possible. Even with all that quiet time to think, I still don’t know how I feel about it. About him.

He falls silent as I read, and I can feel him looking at me. I do my best to ignore the weight of his gaze, but it makes me shift a bit in my seat. Even now, the full intensity of his attention makes me want to squirm. He’s always had that effect on people, but it’s been a while since I’ve been on the receiving end.

When I’m done reading, I look up at him. “So, it wasn’t you.”

“It wasn’t me.”

Even though he probably deserves an apology, I can’t seem to bring myself to give him one. Sure, I might have come storming in here with zero evidence and a bit of a vendetta, but we haven’t been on the best of terms for a while now. He can’t really blame me for thinking it was him. Wouldn’t he suspect me too if something like this happened to him?

“I can’t believe this,” I say, dropping the report back down on the desk when I’m done reading. The information takes a moment to sink in. “Another restaurant complained about me?”

He nods.

I stand up and walk away from the desk, running my hands through my hair. I can’t believe this. Why would they complain about me? I’ve never had any issues with them before.

“They were clever about it,” he says. He watches me pace back and forth across the room, his eyebrows slightly raised. “They paid off a bunch of regulators. It wasn’t easy to find out the truth about what happened.”

“I guess your people are good at what they do.”

“The best,” he says, pride slipping into his voice. I can’t help but think the Moon River pack is lucky. They have an Alpha that truly cares about them. He takes genuine pride in what his people accomplish. He was good at his job before, but I can see that he’s really grown into his role.

“What am I going to do?” I stop in front of his desk and wring my hands. “I didn’t think we were even targeting the same customers.”

He shrugs. “When there’s a conflict of interest, there’s a conflict of interest.”

“I’ll go after them.”

“No need,” he says as he finally stands from his chair. He rounds the desk and stops in front of me. I have to tilt my head back to look into his eyes. He’s so much taller than me. The top of my head just barely reaches his chin.

“What?” I say, a little dazed.

“I’m going to take care of this for you.” He places his hand on my shoulder and gives it a reassuring squeeze. A distant part of me demands that I shake off his arm. After all, it’s not really his place to comfort me. But, for whatever reason, I just can’t do it. I don’t want to. It feels good to let him handle this for me, to have someone take care of me for once.

I nod. “Alright.”