Contract Marriage with My CEO Boss (Kylan and Katrina) novel Chapter 3

The day’s meetings and errands continued on in a rush, and by the time their meeting with Ryan rolled around, Katrina was exhausted. She was on her third cup of coffee, and her feet were aching in the confines of her heels.

Still, she managed to get to the meeting with Ryan a little bit early. She took a seat in front of his desk and sighed, finally taking some pressure off her screaming feet.

“Long day?” Ryan mused from behind his desk.

Katrina smiled at him. “I had to get him another phone,” she told the CFO, gesturing to the small bag she had with her.

Ryan chuckled lightly. “I’m not surprised. I saw his ranting and raving on Litter last night, and I figured it would end the way it always does.” He shook his head with another laugh.

“I told him to stop going in there again. I don’t know why he doesn’t just listen,” she said with a tired sigh.

“Maybe because he doesn’t care to listen,” Kylan deadpanned from the doorway of Ryan’s office.

Katrina flashed him a stern look. “Why to bother hiring a PR specialist as your assistant, if you’re not even going to listen to her opinions about how you handle the public?” she asked Kylan carefully.

Kylan sat in the seat next to hers. He looked every bit bored, and she was once again confused as to how a man like himself, and a man like Ryan, had ever come together to create Ross Corp, all those years ago.

“I told you before, and I’ll tell you again. I’ll not have my life called into question the way those internet shits do,” Kylan said sternly. He reached for the bag containing his new phone, and she handed it to him wordlessly.

Ryan sighed loudly from behind his desk. “This is precisely why the stocks are falling, Kylan. Your behavior has never been favorable, but it’s getting increasingly more sporadic. The public’s perception of you translates directly to sales and securing potential deals with fellow companies,” he explained, his eyebrows furrowing. “Stocks have fallen nearly double what they have in the last few years. And they did so over just the last few months alone,” Ryan concluded meekly.

She looked at Kylan with a frown. “He’s right. Your attitude with both the press and people online, have both been lacking any kind of humanity. It goes against what Ross Corporation stands for, at its basic function. Which is to aid in the investigations of the police, and the security of someone’s home,” she reminded her boss.

Kylan scoffed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “What would you have me do?” He asked both Katrina and Ryan impatiently.

Katrina looked at Ryan expectantly. She had no idea what to do, truthfully. Talking to Kylan and reminding him why it was never a good idea to get in a fight with a teenager on the internet or to grab and toss a photographer’s camera, never worked. Katrina honestly wasn’t sure what would get through to him, if anything could at all.

“We’re losing employees rapidly. Their work environment has no life to it anymore,” she added for good measure. It was true, there was no company spirit, or pride anymore. What once was a vibrant, blossoming company in its infancy, was now a lackluster and slowly dying spark.

Something needed to change. And quickly.

“I have a proposal,” Ryan began cautiously. Katrina and Kylan both looked at him curiously, and he cleared his throat. “I think… Well, Kylan, I think you need to begin a relationship with someone. It needs to be someone with the right personality. Someone with whom you can openly show to the world, and who can handle the inevitable limelight that will follow. You need someone charismatic, who can shine when you yourself choose to complain,” he droned on.

She couldn’t say she was entirely surprised by Ryan’s proposal. Kylan was, after all, a thirty-two-year-old bachelor. She could understand the public appeal that could come from a seemingly unobtainable, hardened individual, dating a less high maintenance person.

If it were at all possible to appeal to Kylan’s humanity to the public, he had to do it. He had to try. Or Ross Corp would be run into the ground.

“I think it’s a fantastic idea,” she agreed earnestly. “If you can appear even a little more… Approachable, or relatable on a personal level, we need to showcase that,” she added for good measure. “And that is having a girlfriend.”

“A wife,” Ryan suddenly said.

Katrina turned to Ryan while Kylan had his eyebrows furrowed so much that his face looked scrunched and constipated.

“I mean, someone you can agree with for a fake marriage. A contract.”

Katrina’s face lit up before looking at her boss. “That’s right! Having a fiance, someone you will “marry” is more convincing than having a girlfriend.”