“I run in the mornings.” I page through the notes about the inspector’s complaints. Damn. The March property was going to be a big, multimillion dollar deal, but if the ground is unstable and foundations are sinking, I might have to walk away. The riverfront property is so damn enticing though.
“I meant evening.”
“I know what you meant. I’m not accepting the damn award.” I hang up. “Connor, get me Solid Engineering. I want to see if we can shore up the foundation.”
“On it!” he calls from the outer office.
The Kelso contract is perfect. I sign and call out for Connor, but he’s on the phone. A girl dressed in blue is standing right outside my door. The coffee girl. The one I didn’t recognize. The one that made my dick harden under the superfine Italian wool pants. I’m going to have to fire her. I crook my finger.
She looks over her shoulder and then points to herself, mouthing, Me?
“Yes. Come,” I command.
She steps into my office and starts to close the door. My dick swells again.
“No,” I order sharply. “Leave the door open.”
The last thing I need is for a hot young thing that makes my cock twitch closing the door and making my body feel like we’re about to get some action.
“No need to be testy,” the girl replies.
Her sharp retort stuns me into silence. I recover quickly though. “Fine. Whatever. You’re fired.” I can’t risk her working here, but if she wasn’t working here any longer, that might work.
“You can’t fire me,” she retorts. “I’m a temp worker.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. How can I be forced to pay someone I don’t want?” I spot Connor zipping past the doorway. “Connor, get in here.”
He sticks his head in the door. “You called?”
“I’m firing this girl, and she tells me I can’t because she’s a temp worker.”
Connor sucks some air between his teeth, a sure sign he’s about to say something that will piss me off. “Technically she’s not wrong. We can only call the temporary agency and tell them that we aren’t happy with the worker they’ve sent. She still remains in their employ, but she can be removed from these premises.”
Something inside me lurches at the thought of this girl being gone, and that moment of weakness only serves to stiffen my resolve. She’s too dangerous to be in this company for a second longer.
“Then have her removed.” I wave a hand and dismiss them both, returning to the March property report. What is this girl doing to my head? I just want to fire her, but I don’t really want her to go anywhere.
“No.”
“No?” I raise my head, not quite sure I heard my assistant correctly.
“No. It’s a madhouse out here with Jocelyn on maternity leave and this is our third temp from the agency. If we send her back, they won’t have another replacement for a month or longer. Did Leila do something wrong?”
Yes, she exists. She’s too hot, too sexy, too dangerous to be here in my office—but I can hardly say that out loud, can I?
“I don’t like the look of her.”
Hurt flashes across her face while surprise paints itself over Connor’s features. He’s never heard me talk like this.
“I’ll just keep her out of your eyesight then.” He pulls on the girl’s arm and closes the door quietly behind them as they exit the room.
I barely have time to regret my choices when the door bursts open and a woman careens through wearing a large striped caftan and carrying a bouquet of pink balloons. She throws her arms out.
“Darling,” she shouts. “It’s a girl!”
She tugs on a string, and two balloons pop. Someone yelps in surprise. Confetti rains down. I squeeze the back of my neck and try to keep from shouting my frustration.
Connor appears and drags the woman out of the office. The door slams shut this time. I pinch the bridge of my nose and then I pick up the phone and dial.
“Jocelyn here.”
“When are you coming back?”
“Are you going to call me every day?”
“Only until you come back. I’m on my knees, Jocelyn.”
“Doubtful. Do you want to say hello to your nephew?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
“Wait! Yes, I do. Turn the video on.” There’s a moment of silence and then the cherubic face of my nephew, Finn, shows up. He gurgles in delight and places his tiny starfish hands against the screen. His face gets closer and blurrier until all I see is a dark spot on the video screen. The image tilts and spins and finally goes black.
“Sorry. He tried to eat the phone,” Jocelyn explains. “Anyway, Connor sent me a text saying that you’re being mean to the temp. Don’t be mean or I might never come back. It sounds like a hostile work environment.”
“It wasn’t before, but I can make it one,” I threaten.
Jocelyn laughs. “You poor child. I’ll send you a pacifier since you’re acting like a baby. I bought a package of 25 of them from Amazon the other day. No need to thank me, just be nice to the employees.” With that exhortation, she hangs up.
I drop my head in my hands. The office is in chaos, my dick’s hard, and a new temp worker has shown up to lead me to my doom.
Chapter Three
Leila
For someone that doesn't care for the look of me, he seems to stare a lot. Anytime he comes out of his office, his eyes go straight to me. I try not to fidget, wanting to play it cool. I pretend that I don’t even notice, but I’m worried. I mean, who wouldn’t be?
The man tried to fire me within the first ten minutes of being in my presence. I would say of meeting me, but we hadn’t even been properly introduced and he tried to give me the boot. I was only saved because the office is so short-handed and desperate.
I’m not sure what I did to him or why he dislikes me so much. I know I have a problem keeping my mouth shut which I’ll have to work on in the future. But I hadn’t even spoken but a few words to him before he started being a jerk the first day.
He is either looking for a reason to replace me or he’s on to me. I haven't done anything for him to catch, though, so it can’t be the latter. At least not yet. I’ve been here for over a week now. I’m settling in and getting the hang of things. I never knew an office could be so busy.
Warren doesn’t even care that everyone has to work their asses off. He was ready to toss me out and pile more work onto them. It only cemented what Chris told me about him. Warren doesn't care about anything or anyone but himself. He does deal after deal, not caring what property he might be buying out from under someone. The bottom line is he is clearly his number one priority.
What the heck did he even mean when he said he didn’t like the look of me? I swear, even though I know he was being a mean jerk-face, I have to admit that hearing those words was like a punch to the gut.
I tried to mask my hurt. Why do I even care what he thinks about me? I hate that those stupid words bounce around inside of my head. I do notice that I don’t have as nice of clothes as everyone else around here with designer labels, but I’m at least put together. He’s clearly a snob who looks down his nose at me.