“Trent.” I finally duck under his arm and move behind my desk again. I grip the back of my chair and raise my chin. “I appreciate the thoughtfulness behind your accomplishment, but there will never be anusagain.”
“I’ll wait for you. Bask in the knowledge that it’s ready for the final test phase before we can launch it into production,Lulu.”
I wrinkle my nose and tamp down a growl that’s building in the back of my throat. “Thanks.” My tone is clipped and cold. “I look forward to reading your report and bringing it before the board for final approval. Can you have it on my desk before the end of theday?”
“Already done. Cassie hasit.”
I’m at a loss forwords.
Trent’s always been thorough but not when it comes to paperwork. The man could build anything with his hands, but ask him to write something down, and he becomes inarticulate andlazy.
I clear my throat. “I’ll call an emergency meeting and get the ball rollingASAP.”
He turns to face me before he makes it to the door. “Want to have a drink with me after work tocelebrate?”
“It’s never going to happen, Trent. We have a business relationship, and that’sit.”
“But…”
I hold up my hand because I don’t want to waste another minute having this useless, repetitive conversation. “Trent, stop making a fool ofyourself.”
I swear I hear him mumble bitch as he walks out, but I don’t say anything because I don’t want to give him a reason to comeback.
Before I can sit, Cassie strides into the room holding Trent’s report. “Thank God he’sgone.”
“Tell me about it,” I mumble and hold out my hand, eager to read about the new engine. “Let me seethat.”
She places the report in my hands. “I’m sorry he just walked in. I tried to stop him.” Her lips are pursed as she speaks, but I’ve told her a hundred times I never blame her for hisintrusion.
“Don’t worry aboutit.”
She sinks into the chair Trent just occupied and kicks off her high heels. “Is there anything you need me to do rightnow?”
Cassie’s been my assistant and lifeline for the last five years. She’s always prompt and put together, dedicated to her job and to me, and I don’t know if I could do my job without her by myside.
Typically, she knows what I want and need before I do, but she also knows the report Trent has placed in her hands, ones I trust implicitly, is important to the future of the company and will consume my entiremorning.
I open the report and push down on the spine with my index finger as my eyes start sweeping over the first paragraph. “Can you call an emergency board meeting for tomorrow morning atnine?”
“On it,” she says beforeleaving.
I sit for the next hour, reading word-by-word in complete awe. Most of the information has been so under wraps, even I didn’t know everything untilnow.
The cocky bastard had figured out a way to make the engine work without using jet or rocket fuel. No longer would we be the second-largest aerospace company in the world, we were going to rule theuniverse.
Interstellar is about to become the leader in travel. Not just airline travel, but his invention could be used to power ships into outer space and allow humans to travel farther than they’d ever gonebefore.
This is a gamechanger.
I’m one step closer to achieving my dream and myfather’s.
