“Oh, I like him already,” Lennon shook his hand, then looked at me with raised eyebrows. “Alex, honey, you’ve been holding out on us.”
“Well, you know how I can be about mixing personal and professional,” I stepped closer to Finn, wrapping my hand around his arm. “But some things are too good to keep secret.”
“Way too good,” Finn added, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth as he covered my hand with his. He turned back to Lennon. “Alex was just saying you’d be able to give me the grand tour while she handles some boss lady business.”
“Consider me your personal guide,” Lennon clapped their hands together, eyes sparkling with delight. “I havesomany embarrassing Alex stories, and unlike Tabitha, I have no professional obligation to protect her dignity.”
“Excellent,” Finn’s grin turned slightly predatory. “I’m very interested in compromising her dignity.”
“He wants to compromise you,” Lennon turned to me with obvious pleasure. “It is now my solemn duty to make sure that happens.”
Heat flooded through me at the innuendo, and suddenly I was acutely aware of Finn’s solid warmth beside me, the way his fingers tightened over mine, thumb stroking over my skin. Stars, I wanted that. I wanted him to compromise me in every possible way.
“I’m going to find Oliver,” I managed, my mouth dry as I stepped away, “before you two become best friends and plot my complete downfall. Lennon, please don’t traumatize him while I’m gone. And Finn?” I slid my fingers against his and he caught them. “Try not to let them convince you I’m completely unhinged.”
“Darlin’, I already know you’re unhinged,” he replied, leaningover and brushing his lips across mine as he squeezed my hand. “It’s my favorite thing about you.” His eyes sparkled as he stood back. “Go do your big important exec stuff. We’ll be fine.”
I watched Finn and Lennon fall into a comfortable position with each other as I moved toward the glass doors separating reception from the rest of the office, already deep in conversation. He was going to be fine.
The familiar sound of the office pulled me back as I walked through to the other side. Coffee brewing, co-workers conversing quietly in the break area, a voice over speaker in a conference room, soft ambient sounds playing through strategically placed speakers.
I stopped at the open kitchen to get a glass of water before continuing toward Oliver’s office. Tabitha and Kirsty were at their desks, looking at their respective monitors as they planned out our day.
Tabitha noticed me and stood as I walked behind the glass partition that set their space off from the lounge area.
“Hey, we’ll be there in five to go over what Sherlock found,” she smiled. “You look great today, by the way.”
What Sherlock found. The Titan research. My spine straightened, mind shifting gears to deal with whatever was coming.
“There she is,” Oliver appeared in his doorway with a warm smile, can of Diet Coke in hand and reading glasses perched on his nose. “How was your evening?”
“Better than I could have hoped,” I followed him into his office, settling into one of the four chairs around a small table.
“Good,” he studied me over his glasses as he sat down. “You look different this morning. Rested. I’m glad you took the extra time this morning.”
Tabitha appeared with her laptop and a thick folder. Kirsty followed, tablet in hand, closing the door behind her and lowering the privacy shades over the glass office walls.
“Morning, all,” Tabitha set everything down carefully and turned on the TV Oliver used for conference calls and screensharing. “Sherlock found some interesting patterns.”
The way she said“interesting”made mymouth go dry.
“How interesting?”
Tabitha pulled out two copies of the summary and handed them each to Oliver and me. “Sherlock flagged seventeen acquisitions in the last five years. Average timeline from acquisition to workforce reduction was fourteen months. Average percentage of original staff retained after three years—”
My eyes flicked up to Oliver as I finished. “Seven percent.”
Oliver set the summary down with deliberate care, his fingers lingering on the edges as if the paper might bite him. The reading glasses slipped down his nose. He didn’t push them back up.
“Seven percent,” his voice hollowed out on the words.
I smoothed my copy flat against the table, aligning the corners. The data marched across the page in neat rows of clinical, sterile numbers that represented thousands of people who’d trusted their employers to value them as more than line items.
“Walk me through the methodology,” I said.
Tabitha peered at her laptop, fingers moving across the trackpad. “Sherlock cross-referenced SEC filings, LinkedIn employment data, and publicly available press releases. We also pulled Glassdoor reviews from acquired companies’ former employees.”
“Show me the timeline breakdowns.”
