“You’re doing it wrong.” He stands, brushing me off to the side. The attitude coming off of him is palpable.
I watch as he undoes all my work only to redo it once again. “Here’s where you’re doing it wrong. This is what needs to be done.” He turns to Leo, showing him.
“Excuse me, but you need to be telling this to Miss Foster. She’s the one running the show.” Leo’s tone says don’t mess with him. He turns back to me, showing me what he just did.
“And as you can see, once these filters are set, the search works as it should.” He enters a simple search—to find the news sources our clients want— but nothing comes up. “What did you do? This has always worked.”
Ryan starts punching at the keyboard as I calmly state, “And as you can see, this is the issue we are running into. If we can’t get this piece of the puzzle to work, the entire program fails.”
“Well, it’s obviously something you did wrong.”
“You just undid everything Miss Foster did, only to redo it and have it fail. Your program is the reason we’re here, not her or any other member of my team. Now instead of placing blame where it is not due, I suggest you take our feedback and make this right.”
My eyes find Leo’s for the first time since coming into the room. His are burning with anger. An anger so intense I feel it wash over me. I’m glad I’m not on the receiving end, because I’d be burned alive.
“We should have this reworked in the next two weeks.” Ryan looks properly chastised now as he shoves my computer back to me.
“You’ll have it by Monday.” Leo stands. Authority radiates off him. It’s the kind of power that saysthis is how I own a billion-dollar company at the age of thirty-seven.
“Yes, Leo.”
“Mr. Scott,” Leo corrects.
Ryan nods and scurries from the room.
Holy shit. I think I just came with the way Leo took control of the room like that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that.
“Has he always been this difficult to work with?” Leo picks at the cuffs of his sleeve.
“Never that outright rude, but usually swinging his dick.”
Leo looks at me, trying not to smile. “I assure you, he is overcompensating.”
“Oh yeah?” I quirk a brow at him.
“He clearly needs to make up for something he’s lacking in. And to take it out on the smartest person in the room? It’s a dick move.”
Butterflies burst in my stomach. God, Leo is the most unexpected man. This big, closed-off man, who I thought would send me on my way when I told him I was pregnant, jumped in with both feet. Instead of allowing Ryan to walk all over me and my skill, he sticks up for me. It does things to my insides. They swirl and twist, making it hard to breathe when he’s this close to me. When he’s looking at me like this.
Like he wants to devour me.
“Want to see the sights? That took much less time than I thought.” The delight in Leo’s voice makes me giddy.
“Yes.” I answer without thought.
“Then let’s go.”
“I’msorry for how that man treated you.” Instead of getting in the car, Leo led us to the cable cars. It gave us an incredible view of the city and of the mountains that dominate the landscape.
This time, Leo’s hand is clasping my arm. It sends tingles throughout my body, settling in my core.
“I’d like to say it was the first time, but it wasn’t. And it won’t be the last.” Leo takes a long pull on his drink. We’re on top of the city up here at the Stratosphere Bar. With the early arrival and Leo cutting the meeting short, we had extra time before we needed to head back to the airport, so Leo got drinks and apps for us.
“I guess I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”
I snort. I can’t help it. “Because you’re a man. No one is going to doubt your ability. I’m a woman working in the tech industry. Most automatically assume I don’t know what is going on. I have a master’s degree in Data Science. I can school most people in the room.” It’s why I’ve fought so hard to never rely on people. Because no one believes I can do the work, I have to fight for myself, to prove myself.
“You’ve schooled me, and I have no problem admitting it.”
