“Seriously, Callie.I’m really impressed.Not many people can get up to speed in just a couple weeks and contribute so quickly.”
She glanced away, a blush creeping into her cheeks.
We’d been spending more and more time together while working on this project, and my attraction to her had risen to a fever pitch.It was maddening.And completely inappropriate.She was here to work, not have her boss drool all over like an acne-ridden teenage boy.
“You ready then?”I asked.
She nodded.
“After you.”I stood and opened the door, gesturing for her to lead the way to the conference room.We were about to present our pitch for the community housing development to the company’s leadership team.We had arrived early, so we used the time to set up the presentation on the conference room screen and lay binders with the project details at each seat.At exactly half past two, Gene Smith strode into the room, followed by Wick and a timid-looking woman behind him.
“Where’s Dad?”I asked, frowning.
“Called away,” Gene said tightly.I nodded and took my seat opposite Callie.
Throughout the presentation, I couldn’t stop staring at her mouth, barely hearing the brilliant words coming out of it.
I snapped out of my fantasy when I registered the deep rumble of the president of the company.Gene was second in command after Dad.They were best friends, but they couldn’t have been more different.Where Dad was kind but pragmatic, Gene was often rude and unreasonable.I’d never liked him.If he knew what was good for him, he would step down before I took over as CEO.
He was asking questions about the pitch Callie had just presented, but he was addressing them to me.I stared at him.Callie shifted in her seat.The awkward silence continued until she chimed in with an answer.He nodded and asked another question, still looking at me.
Is this old fuck for real?
I wasn’t sure whether he was refusing to acknowledge Callie because she was an intern or because she was a woman.Either way, I was having none of it.
A couple options lay before me: I could answer Gene’s questions and get this meeting over with, or I could continue staring while Callie uncomfortably answered questions he refused to direct at her.
Then there was the third option.
I pulled out my phone and frowned at the blank screen.“Sorry, I need to take this.”
“We’re in the middle of a meeting,” Gene protested.
“I know, I know.”I stood and waved a lackadaisical hand in the air.“This should only take a few minutes.Miss Winters is more than capable of presenting her own plans.Callie, please carry on.”
“Of course, Mr.Price.”Her voice was quiet but self-assured.
“Emmett, this is important business,” Gene said.
“So is this.It’s my proctologist.I need to discuss this issue I’m having with a pain in my ass.”
Wick choked on a sip of his coffee.Next to him, Callie’s eyes were wide as saucers.
I sauntered out of the conference room and down the hall to the small kitchen area.After grabbing a bag of Skittles, I plopped down in an uncomfortable cafeteria-style chair.The next thirty-five minutes were spent scrolling TikTok—because yes, that’s possible when you get sucked down a rabbit hole—until I heard quiet footsteps enter the kitchen.
Pointy black shoes appeared in my line of vision.I peeked up through my eyelashes and found Callie standing in front of me with a bemused smile on her face.“You’re something else, you know that?”
I lowered my phone and grinned at her.“How did the rest of the meeting go?”
“It was fine.How’s your ass?”
“Turns out it’s a benign condition.Something caused by prolonged exposure to old, white men.”
“Mm.I see.”She beamed a megawatt smile at me.
We grinned at each other for a few long moments before her smile fell and her expression became serious.“Thank you, Emmett,” she said quietly.
Then she turned and walked away.
