Page 6 of His Boss for Christmas

Hmm… Maybe he could gift him a couple of spare suits, to put in Peter’s closet. Justin often needed to change after his all-nighters.

By the time Justin called him, Peter felt very pleased with himself. He’d managed to purchase five designer suits for Justin despite the short notice. The number of suits might seem a bit excessive, but they weren’t bespoke, so some of them might not fit as well as they should. Never let it be said that Peter wasn’t a thoughtful boss.

“You’re late,” Peter said, glancing at his watch. It had been an hour and two minutes.

“And you’re a giant dick. Do you know I can be sued for stalking for this?”

“Stop whining and talk.”

“Why do you need this information, seriously? If I’m going to get sued, I’d like to know why.”

“None of your business,” Peter said. “You’re trying my patience, Justin.”

Justin sighed. “Fine. There are approximately sixteen thousand people who live or work in the building. They mostly work, though. There are four residential floors, including your penthouse, but the other floors are taken by various firms, including Hayes and Turner. You’re very lucky I know a guy in security, who was able to help me out—and now I owe him a huge favor, by the way. He said that there are only two hundred and twelve people still there, including you.”

Damn it. Sixteen thousand people. It didn’t really narrow it down much.

“Now will you tell me what the hell is going on?”

“No. Have you seen your brother yet?”

“I’ll pick him up from the airport in a few hours. It’s still early. Why?”

Peter had to literally bite his tongue to stop himself from ordering his associate to come back to work. The little shit would never let him live it down.

“Nothing,” he said tersely and hung up.

He stared unseeingly out the window, wondering why he’d even wanted Justin to come. They didn’t really have a difficult case that required them to work on Sunday. Surely he wasn’t being a horrible boss for the sake of being a horrible boss? He wasn’t that cruel. Or was he?

Shaking his head, Peter forced himself to think about the more pressing issue: his soulmate. Then again, was it really pressing? He could just ignore the issue altogether. The spell would supposedly last just another week. After a week, this dissatisfied itch under his skin would be gone. He would be back to normal.

Just a week.

He could do it.

Chapter 5

By Monday morning, Peter was starting to revise his opinion. He felt beyond agitated, his normally sharp mind distracted and unable to focus on work.

It was extremely aggravating. But not completely irresistible. The itch to go somewhere was very persistent, but it wasn’t the irresistible need some of his employees claimed it to be when they had tried to convince him to give them time off. Which proved that either they were full of it or Peter’s self-control was superior. Probably both.

Peter was half-tempted to ignore the issue altogether, to prove that it could be done, but he couldn’t deny that he was… somewhat curious. He might not believe in soulmates, but who could possibly be considered a perfect match for him? Had the person not been so close, Peter wouldn’t have bothered to look for them. But they were close. And he couldn’t entirely suppress his curiosity.

So when the itch to go somewhere lessened at 7:12AM before entirely disappearing, Peter called security and asked for the names of the people who entered the building in the past few minutes.

“Eh, I’m not sure I should be telling you this, Mr. Hayes,” the security guard said hesitantly. “People’s privacy is—”

“I’m a lawyer, Sam,” Peter said, as if that made him more trustworthy. “I’m not asking this for any nefarious reasons. This is a matter of great importance.”

The man hesitated before sighing. “All right, I’ll text you the names in a little while, Mr. Hayes. I’ll need to look at the computer. I don’t know every person in this building.”

Peter smiled. “Thank you, Sam. You’re a lifesaver.”

He hung up and leaned back in his chair, looking at the door. It was 7:19 already. Where the hell was Justin?

As if reading his thoughts, his associate entered the room.

Something inside Peter eased at the sight of him—but he tensed up again when he saw that Justin was carrying a cup of coffee, which he put in front of Peter.