“I’m absolutely fine.” She smiled, putting on her same old Kamila face. She breezed by to get champagne flutes out of the sideboard. She even did her trademark lip bite and swept her fingers over Rohan’s forearm as she passed him. Yeah, that was a mistake. Inappropriate flirting was her modus operandi, but she should probably not be touching his forearms when she was so inconveniently obsessed with them right now. His skin was cooler today but still soft. Solid. Rohan was so solid, and she was on the verge of falling apart because of it.

She exhaled a shaky breath and poured two glasses of prosecco.

Dad put the big pasta bowl on the table. “Okay, let’s eat.”

The pasta was pretty good. The noodles might have been a touch overcooked—but the bitterness of the broccolini and the rich saltiness of the cheese went well with the dryness of the wine. The conversation was great, too. Dad didn’t bring up his news yet. Instead, they talked about the Aim High party in two days. Kamila had received confirmation today that two reporters from newspapers and one from a news website would be coming, and the guest list was shaping up to include an impressive list of important names in Toronto.

“You’ve done a wonderful job, Kamila,” Dad said. “I’m very proud of how well you’re doing on Anil’s team.”

Kamila smiled. She’d enjoyed working on Aim High more than she thought she would. She’d still ensured Anil only saw the respectable and professional side of her, but he was a lot more fun than she thought he would be. And inconvenient attraction aside, she and Rohan worked well together planning this party. But the point of all this was to show Dad, and Rohan, too, that she could be “fancy accountant” enough to take more complicated clients. And she knew she’d succeeded there. Anil had no issues with the opening balance statements or the articles of incorporation she’d drafted. She had no doubt that when the board met next week, they would agree to retain Emerald as their financial partner. She even thought she had that Marlene lady’s vote.

“It’s been great,” Kamila said. “I’ve found the case to be straightforward, and Anil already signed off on all the documents I prepared. Hopefully, you’ll see that clients like this are no problem for—” Her text tone rang. It was Asha, saying she needed to talk to her. “Hang on.” She texted Asha back telling her she was having dinner, and she’d call her later.

“It’s been a lot of work for you, though, beti,” Dad said.