I sat back, tipping my head slightly. “Tell me, Ms. Haley, do you always insult CEOs in writing, or was this a special occasion?”
Lexi didn’t so much as blink. “Only when they deserve it.”
My lips twitched. “Then by all means, sit down. Let’s talk about how much I deserved it.”
Her expression hardened.
She sat, lifting her chin slightly, and I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the desk.
“Here’s the deal, Ms. Haley. You clearly think this company is incompetent and ‘sinking,’ as you so colorfully put it. So prove it. If you can justify every word of that email, if you can convince me your accusations weren’t just workplace dramatics, then you can continue working. If not, you’re fired.”
Lexi’s expression remained impassive. “So, my job depends on whether or not I can prove I’m right?”
“Damn straight.”
She drew a sharp breath, and I was struck by the sudden, raw determination in her eyes. A single pendant chain glinted at her neck, a stark contrast to the rest of her clothes, which seemed to belong to another decade. Was she struggling financially?
Lexi folded her arms. “This morning, I attended orientation. By the time I was done, I found out my assigned mentor had been transferred to another department last week. And the senior engineer who was supposed to train me? Moved to a different team this very morning. According to my manager, there had been no warning. They were abruptly re-assigned.”
Her voice was steady, but edged with steel. “Tell me, Mr. Walkers, how am I supposed to believe this company isn’t sinking when no one at the helm seems to know what’s going on?”
Her words carried the sting of bitter personal experience, and I exhaled slowly. I’d signed off on the restructuring, but hearing it put that way… it didn’t sound like leadership. It sounded like chaos.
“It was a business decision,” I said, though I knew how weak it sounded. “And I don’t expect a new hire to understand the complexities of this company, especially when you’ve been here less than twenty-four hours.”
As I spoke, a red flush crept over her neck. I couldn’t help but remember the feel of her skin, the way I’d left a mark there. If I looked hard enough, I might even see a faint trace of that hickey…
I shook myself.
“I don’t know about the other employees, but you can’t work here,” I said, recognizing how inappropriate my thoughts were.
“Because you don’t buy my explanations?” she asked, her blue eyes flashing.
I did, and I admired her for standing up to me.
“No, not because of that,” I said.
Her cheeks flushed, this time with indignation. “Because of our night together?” she asked, her voice low, as if worried Kacie might overhear from outside.
I didn’t answer right away.
“I didn’t know who you were that night,” she added defensively. “Or that you weretheJonah Walkers.”
“I don’t owe you an explanation,” I said curtly.
She turned bright red at my tone but plowed on regardless. “Well, can our night together really be held against me when it happened without prior knowledge, before I even started working here? It won’t happen again, I assure you. We’ll hardly ever see each other anyway. I’m a coder; you’re management. Our paths won’t cross.”
Her words hit me like a gut punch. I hated that she was correct. I hated that we’d never meet again. And most of all, I hated the thought of going back to that same bar, knowing that nothing could ever happen again.
God, how I’d been looking forward to that.
But she was right; our paths wouldn’t cross. I never ventured to the third floor, where the developers worked, and they sure as hell didn’t have any reason to be up here, on the fortieth.
A knock at the door snapped me back to the present.
Kacie’s voice drifted in. “It’s the HR rep, Tom, like you requested, Mr. Walkers.”
Lexi’s wide eyes met mine, and I caught a flicker of fear there.
