That little twitch was back. He seemed to like my sarcasm.
“I’m the CEO of a company.”
“Impressive.”
“Not really. It’s a family business. So it’s not like I started at the bottom.”
“Nepotism.” I sipped my coffee. “You’re right. I’m a lot less impressed now.”
He smiled again. If what he’d said about not doing it often was really true, it was a damn shame…because those full lips and that cocky smile could melt hearts and win poker games.
“So tell me about getting fired,” he said. “That is, if you don’t have to get back to all that work you were doing on your phone.”
I chuckled. “It’s a long story. But I did something I thought was harmless, and it turned out to be in violation of the company’s policy.”
“And you’re an otherwise good employee?”
“Yes, I worked my butt off for more than nine years to get where I was.”
He studied me and sipped his coffee some more. “Have you tried talking to your boss?”
“My boss has wanted me gone for years—ever since I complained that he hired my male counterpart for more money than I was being paid.” Which reminded me, I needed to get to the office to see that asshole boss. “I should get going. Said boss is waiting for me to clean out my desk.”
Mr. CEO rubbed his chin. “Would you mind if I offered you a little advice? I’ve dealt with a lot of employment issues.”
“Sure.” I shrugged. “Can’t hurt.”
“Retaliation for reporting an illegal gender pay gap is illegal. I suggest you make an appointment with the Human Resources department and lay out your support for that claim. Sounds to me like there should be an investigation, and your boss might be the one who should be in here watching Ellen videos.”
Huh. Scott hadn’t mentioned that retaliation was illegal when I’d told him what happened. But that didn’t surprise me. He was too busy lecturing me for being topless on the beach.
I stood. “Thank you. Maybe I’ll do that.”
The handsome man rose from his chair. He stared at me, almost looking like he wanted to say more, but had to deliberate over his words. I waited until it got awkward.
“Umm… It was nice meeting you,” I said.
He nodded. “Likewise.”
I started to walk away, and he stopped me by speaking again. “Would you…want to have lunch later? You can’t very well give me the excuse that you’re too busy now that I know you’re unemployed.”
I smiled. “Thanks. But I don’t think so.”
Mr. CEO nodded and sat back down.
I walked out of the coffee shop, not quite sure why I’d said no. Of course there was stranger danger and all. But meeting him for lunch in a public place wouldn’t be any more dangerous than going out with a guy I met at a bar. And I’d done that before. If I were being honest, something about the guy intimidated me—not unlike how I’d felt when Scott and I first got together. He was just too good-looking and too successful and, well, I guess I felt gun shy about the type.
But that was just stupid. The man was seriously sexy, and my morning was going to be shitty enough. Why not go out to lunch and take a chance?
I halted in place on the street, causing the person behind me to bang into my back. “Sorry,” I said.
The guy made a face and walked around me. I rushed back to the coffee shop and opened the door. The CEO was standing and picked up his cup like he was about to leave.
“Hey, Mr. CEO, you’re not a serial killer, right?”
His brows jumped. “No. Not a serial killer.”
“Okay. Then I changed my mind. I’ll have lunch with you.”
“Well, now I’m glad I didn’t go on that rampage after all.”
I chuckled and dug into my purse for my phone. “Put your number in. I’ll text you my contact info.”
He typed into my cell, and I immediately sent him my contact information. When his phone buzzed in his hand, he looked down. “Ireland. Beautiful name. Fitting.”
I looked down at my own phone, but he hadn’t entered a name. “CEO? You’re not going to tell me your name.”
“Figured I’d keep you curious until lunch.”
“Hmmm… Okay. But I’m guessing you have some sort of uppity CEO name that gets passed down, along with a trust fund.”
He chuckled. “I’m glad I stopped in for coffee today.”
I smiled. “Me too. I’ll text you later about lunch.”
He nodded. “I’m looking forward to it, Ireland.”
I left the coffee shop and headed for the office in a much better mood than I’d started with. Maybe today wouldn’t be so bad after all…
***
“Seriously? You couldn’t even have her wait until I’d cleaned out my desk?”
Our office space was a large, open square with cubicles in the middle and private, fishbowl-type glass offices lining the perimeter. Security had escorted me to Bickman’s office like I was a prisoner, and now I could see Siren on the other side of the large space, moving boxes from her cubicle into my office.
Bickman yanked on his belt buckle and pulled his pants from beneath his belly to up and over it. “Don’t cause a scene, or I’ll pack up your crap for you.”
I scowled and began to tap my foot as I spoke. “I hope you at least gave her pay parity with a male of the same education and experience. Oh wait…that might be hard since a man with her qualifications works in the mail room still.”
He pushed a few buttons on his phone and looked across at my office as he spoke on speakerphone. “Ireland is here to clean out her office. You might want to give her some space and finish setting up your new office when she’s done.”
“Yes, Mr. Bickman.”
I rolled my eyes. Yes, Mr. Bickman.
The asshole waved his hand, dismissing me to go do what I needed to do. “Don’t take too long.”
Disgusted, I turned to walk out of his office and then stopped and backed up. I hadn’t decided if I was going to go to HR about him firing me for retaliation. I really didn’t have any proof—I couldn’t show that Bickman was the one who’d surfaced the video that was my reason for being fired. And I knew threatening wouldn’t bother him at all. Still, I needed to make him feel like shit, so I could at least feel better.
I stepped back into his office and quietly closed the door behind me, turning to say one last thing.
“You’ve been looking for a reason to fire me for years. But it’s hard to justify when I’ve been a model employee, and our ratings have gone up consistently since I joined the show. Finally you found a reason. I don’t know how you did it, but I know you were behind Human Resources getting ahold of that video. Tell me, did you keep a copy for yourself? I hope you did, because that’ll be the only piece of ass you’ll ever see from this office. You certainly won’t be seeing any skin from the unqualified, barely-out-of-high-school girl you gave my job to. You think that will make her like you, but she’s busy banging that new intern from advertising. Oh, and remember Marge Wilson—the divorced, middle-aged temp you got drunk at the office Christmas party a few years back? The one you think no one knows you went home with?” I smiled and held up my pinky, waving it in the air. “Well, we all know. Her nickname for you was Inchworm.”