Ojbect Read Online Free PDF Page A

the outer office. You can begin to peruse them immediately.”
    Bella nodded and got to her feet. “I shall start right away.”
    He blinked and sat back. “By all means.”
    She paused.
    “Yes?”
    “Is the goal of the clubs to turn a profit or simply to provide a comforting experience?”
    “The latter. A profit is not necessary.”
    She smiled brightly. “Good to know.”
    She turned her back on him and went to her new desk. The door closed behind her. She settled in, pulled out the data pads and got to work.
     
    She didn’t know how long it was, but a hand got between her and the data. Bella blinked at the interruption and looked up into the dark purple eyes of her boss. “Yes, Lord Akking?”
    “Yimra is worried about you. I have told her you are working, but you have missed the meal with the staff. She wants me to make sure you are eating.”
    Bella looked up and saw the darkness outside the window. “Damn. Sorry. I was having fun.”
    Her stomach growled.
    “Apparently, Yimra was correct. Come on, I will show you to the kitchens.” He held out his hand, and she got to her feet and left the intriguing data behind.
    He slipped his fingers through hers, and the doors opened for them as they headed for the main hallway.
    “The entire facility is wired with high-tech security.”
    He coughed lightly. “It is. How did you—”
    “I read all the files.”
    “You can’t have—”
    “Yes, Lord Akking, all the files.” She winked and walked in step with him, her skirt rustling as they moved.
    “I didn’t compliment you on that fetching gown.”
    “It was one of Yimra’s picks.”
    “Did you get into it on your own?”
    She laughed. “Nearly. I had to be rescued at the last minute. The back lacing is too hard to reach.”
    He smiled, and his silver-brown skin gleamed in the lamps lining the hallways.
    It felt odd to be holding his hand, and right at the same time. She had never held hands with her boss before, but there had to be a first time for everything.
    They walked down two flights, through back hallways until they reached the kitchen. The staff greeted Lord Akking warmly and offered to make him something.
    He uttered the fateful words, “We can look after ourselves.”
    Bella paused. “I haven’t done more than hit the buttons on a food dispenser for the last eight months. I don’t know what passes for Kloa cooking.”
    He bustled her to the wide worktable and got her a chair. “Sit back and be amazed. I have been sneaking into these kitchens all over the world since I was a child.”
    To her utter amazement, Lord Akking moved around the room with surety to make her dinner.
    She watched the slow and elegant dance as he shifted his way through the cooler and came out with two armloads of raw materials. He started chopping, mincing, slicing and sautéing with his focus on the food.
    “How far did you get in the records?”
    She blinked. “Oh, I finished them. I was creating budgets and spending plans for the next three quarters.”
    He paused with the knife over the assembled ingredients. “You are not serious.”
    “Oh, I am. I really enjoy numbers. I always have.”
    He resumed his work, and soon, amazing smells were coming from the pan while he hummed and kept flicking his hair back over his shoulder.
    When he got two plates down, he settled them in front of her and to her right. He lifted the skillet over and split the contents between them. The hot pan was placed in the sink, and he brought utensils over to her.
    He settled next to her on another kitchen stool and gestured to the bowl. “Take a bite. When I was going through school, I used to live on this. It is basically a scavenger hunt through the cooler.”
    She took a bite, and her eyebrows went up. “Wow. That is something. I don’t know what it was, but I am willing to keep investigating.”
    The flavour pallet was all wrong, but it seemed to be perfectly correct in a different way. Her stomach was happy to get what it