“Four years,” he provided.
“Marines?” Taylor’s brow arched. “You guys are scary. Don’t think this will be your normal PT.” Her mouth curled up in a grin. “I’m a lot harder than your average drill sergeant.” She clapped her hands together. “Okay, people. Are we ready to get this started?”
“No,” London said.
Samiah burst out laughing as she took London by the arm. “Remember, this is just a test run. She’s going to take it easy on us.”
Less than five minutes into their workout, it became apparent that Samiah was mistaken and he had been correct. When it came to a kick-ass PT session, Taylor Powell held her own against any of his past drill sergeants.
Chapter Twenty-Two
No. No. No. That’s not going to work.”
Samiah massaged her right temple with the blunt end of her electronic pencil and cursed herself for laughing off Taylor’s suggestion that she start diffusing essential oils to help relieve work-related stress. She’d trade her favorite pair of Malone Souliers pumps for a few drops of lavender and eucalyptus right now.
She glanced at the time on her computer and realized this impromptu brainstorming session had been going on for an hour already, which meant she would have to tack another hour onto her workday to get the rest of her work done. If someone could guarantee that she could get French roast coffee in prison, she would happily murder each and every one of the people sitting in her office. How could such brilliant minds be so bad at coming up with original ideas?
“Guys, look. I’ll admit that Huston-Tillotson University came to us with a unique problem, but it shouldn’t be this hard to formulate a workable solution that won’t require them to triple their tuition cost.” Samiah held up both hands. “You all know how much I hate clichés, but seriously, it’s time to start thinking outside the box.”
“Well, they did say they were willing to throttle their bandwidth during peak hours,” Amy said.
“Yes, which gives us a starting point when it comes to devising a system that will meet all of their needs without breaking the bank.” She swiveled to her monitor and logged into the online collaboration software used for strategy discussions.
“I’m setting up an Insight Room,” Samiah continued. “I talked it over with Justin and Bianca in the Cybersecurity Department. They’ve agreed to restore a higher level of security access to those of us who worked on the Anderson project last year. That work is proprietary, but because the university’s issues are similar, I think we can use those things that aren’t proprietary from Anderson to figure out a solution for Huston-Tillotson. We can do this, gang.”
She ended the meeting, and the team filed out of her office. Everyone except for Keighleigh Miller. Samiah had barely tolerated having her in here after the bullshit she’d pulled yesterday, and she had the nerve to stick around?
“Do you need something?” Samiah asked, her tone deliberately unwelcoming.
Keighleigh hunched her shoulders and smiled. “I just wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings after what happened with Grant yesterday.”
“You mean the part where you presented my ideas on the Swiss Burger account as if they were your own?”
Samiah had emailed her proposal to her team for feedback. Not twenty minutes later, Grant Meecham came into her office, praising the ingenious plan Keighleigh had sent to him.
Keighleigh’s smile wobbled slightly. “I was just so excited after the long hours we’ve all spent on Swiss Burger. I wanted Grant to know about the idea ASAP.”
Samiah leaned back in her chair and steepled her fingers over her stomach.
“So, you were so excited the thought of mentioning thatIwas the one who came up with the solution completely slipped your mind? Is that what happened?”
“You know Grant.” Her coworker shrugged dismissively. “He doesn’t look at individuals. He’s all about the team effort.”
Samiah arched a brow. “So why didn’t you tell him it was theteamthat proposed the idea? I saw the email you sent to Grant.”
Keighleigh’s eyes bulged.
“Yes,” Samiah continued with a nod. “He was so thrilled with your idea that he forwarded the email so I could read it myself. You presentedmyidea as if it was your own. You didn’t mention the team.” Samiah pushed up from her chair and marched toward her. Lowering her voice, she said, “I’ve tolerated this kind of bullshit in the past, but no more. I’ll be damned if I just sit here while you take credit for my work.”
Her eyes had grown to a cartoonish size. “It…umm…it’s not that at all,” she said. “You should take it as a compliment.”
The fuck?
“A compliment?” She was two seconds from taking off her shoes and earrings and going straight-up Houston Third Ward on this bitch. “You can keep your damn compliments,” Samiah said. “I don’t need them. If you try that shit you pulled yesterday again, I will literally kick your ass up and down these hallways, you hear me?”
Samiah straightened her shoulders. “I have work to do. You can go back to your desk, or straight to HR. I don’t care. But you need to get out of my office. Now.”
If she wasn’t so pissed, Samiah would have laughed at the shock on her coworker’s face. But this wasn’t a laughing matter. Keighleigh Miller was well on her way to making a career out of taking credit for other people’s work.
