Home > O Magnet (Titans of Tech Book 2)(2)

O Magnet (Titans of Tech Book 2)(2)
Author: Tessa Layne

Andrew heads down the back hall so I can avoid Sloane and the chaos of the front office. I follow without sparing a second glance at Penny, a necessary component of this twenty-four-seven game we've been playing for the last four years. But I want to look back, because fuck, today she smells like leather, spice, flowers, and... sex. The combination of it drives my imagination wild. I know what I was doing between midnight and my five-thirty-a.m. rowing practice with the team. What the fuck was Penny doing? Besides getting a tatt? The question rolls around in my head as I stalk down the hall to a meeting I'm now late for. It stays with me as I stumble through the entire teleconference, earning glares from Steele. But I can't help it. After four years of nearly constant togetherness, Penny Fischer remains a dangerous mystery. One that I need to keep at arm's length, I remind myself harshly. Whatever she does in the few hours a day we don't see each other, is her business. Only right now, her business is driving me crazy.

Hypocrite.

Ninety minutes later I walk back into chaos. Penny's defending my doorway, arms akimbo, against a towering blonde bob that can only belong to my mother, Honore Forde. "You know the rules, Mrs. Forde, no one is allowed in Stock- Mr. Forde's office when he's not present. There's simply too much sensitive information."

"Then clean it up, darling. Isn't that what he's paying you for?" Widowed at forty-two, my mother has spent the last eighteen years running our family's foundation and biding her time until grandmotherhood. A former dancer, she spends fully three hours a day at the gym weightlifting, toning and stretching. And while she's been harassing me for years to find me Mrs. Right, she's tripled her efforts since I hit thirty-five two months ago. Every day at precisely eleven-thirty-seven a.m., she waltzes into the front office where Penny works, unannounced, with a new prospect she just "happened to run into" on her way to lunch. Today is no different, even though I've been out with Sloane a handful of times. Mother's not resting until I've put a ring on it.

"I already clean up enough of his messes, Mrs. Forde. I draw the line at his desk."

Making matters worse, there's screaming coming from the front office. Lots of it. "What in the hell?" Then it hits me. Penny mentioned something last week about a field trip visiting from a local school. They must be here.

I throw a dark glance at Harrison who throws up his hands as he backs away. "Not my circus, not my monkeys."

"Andrew?"

He shakes his head, mouth quirking and following Harrison. "Sorry. We're tied up in meetings until six."

Sorry, my ass.

"Miss Fischer," my mother booms. She's a stickler for formality, but today it hits a nerve. She's known Penny for four years but insists on the address as a way of putting Penny in her place. "You cannot prevent me from seeing my son," she says in a voice dripping with disdain. "This is Joanie Barker, his dinner date at our foundation's Debutante dinner tonight."

Fuck.

Fuckfuckfuck.

I check my smartwatch. April twelfth. How could I forget? Except, how could I not? Between the Kansas City Kings Vets & Pros game in Prairie Kansas, Opening Day, followed by the Regatta on the Thames in London, and this Tokyo deal running through all of it, it's amazing I haven't lost my mind. I have Penny to thank for that. But the Forde Family Foundation debutante dinner is one of our most important events of the year - the one where this year's debutante class is revealed.

"Mrs. Forde," Penny says in clipped tones. "I know this is urgent and you want to introduce Ms. Barker, and I promise I'll convey your visit to him, but you have to make an appointment. Sto- Mr. Forde has back to back meetings today." I can practically see the steam streaming out of Penny's ears.

I'm surprised to hear Sloane's voice cut in. "Wait a minute, I'm having dinner with Stockton tonight."

What in the hell is she still doing here? And I'm pretty sure I didn't make dinner plans with anyone except my pillow and a tumbler of whiskey.

"Clearly, you don't understand how important this evening is." I can't tell if my mother's comment is aimed at Sloane or Penny. She's terrible at disguising her dislike for my most valuable employee. Which I have to admit, makes me like Penny all the more. "Sloane dear, I'm sure you understand. It's important as the sole heir to the Ford Family Foundation that Stockton appear with a suitable companion for tonight."

"Clearly, you don't understand how important Mr. Forde's work is," Penny tosses back. "I don't care if you're the friggin' Pope. You can't see him without an appointment."

"Language, young lady. There are children present," my mother says sternly, as if Penny was her daughter.

"I'm sorry," Penny tosses back. "I meant I don't care if you're the fucking Pope."

I cover a laugh as the visiting class erupts at Penny's use of the f-bomb. I'm tempted, only briefly, to hang back and watch, because Penny is the only woman I've ever met who is unafraid to stand up to my mother. But the screech of another small voice saying "Miss Henry, she said fuck," puts an end to that.

I plaster on a smile and push forward. "Mother. What a surprise."

"Darling, so nice to see you. I-"

I know the spiel and today I just don't have the patience for it, so I cut her off with a wave of my hand. "I'm so sorry ladies, but will you excuse me a minute? We have guests visiting from-" I look over to Penny for help.

"Global Montessori. This is Miss Henry with the upper elementary class." Penny gestures toward the wide-eyed thirty-something woman dressed in jeans and a peasant blouse looking like a deer in headlights. "I've just brought them back from touring the robot labs."

Shit. Now the conversation comes flooding back. I was supposed to give them our "Iron Man" tour. Except our conference call with Tokyo went long in part because Penny wasn't in the room to answer all the technical questions about the algorithm she designed as part of their new firewall. I flash Penny a smile. "Right. Did everyone receive their souvenir bag?"

Her eyes narrow to glittering points and before the words fall from her mouth, I realize I'm about to pay for blowing up her morning. "They did, but Sloane decided to promise them you'd sign their Kansas City Kings hats."

Small fact about Sloane. Her family produces our Kansas City Kings gear. Because, yeah... in addition to being CTO of Steele Conglomerate, the C-team along with a few of our other friends are the owners of the Kansas City Kings - the losingest team in the MLB. But that's changing thanks to the predictive analytics Penny developed as a recruiting tool. And now I'm really swimming in it because four pairs of eyes are glaring at me, and Miss Henry is staring at me wide-eyed.

"Penny, get me a sharpie." The fine point roller ball I keep in my pocket won't suffice. Five minutes later I breathe a sigh of relief as the last of Miss Henry's class says thank you, and marches out the door.

Miss Henry waves, pink blushing her cheeks. "Thanks again, Mr. Forde. You've made their day."

If only the next five minutes could go as smoothly. I turn to my mother, flanked by Sloane and Joanie. My gaze floats to where Penny's perched on the corner of her desk, arms folded across her body, watching avidly as her teeth press into her lower lip. She lives to see me squirm, and I wonder what punishment she's cooking up inside that beautiful brain of hers, because she'll find a way to make me pay for this.

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