That was probably easierthan the alternative. Pretending wehadn’tmet would havebeen weird and awkward.
As ifthiswasn’t weird andawkward enough.
I really needed my brain tocome back from its unplanned vacation soon.
“Will you accept the job?”he asked, looking at me from over the rim of his mug, amber eyes even morestunning under the power-saving LED lights of the office.
“You don’t think you shouldtell me what it is, first?”
Dammit.
What happened toprofessionalism, again?
Needing this job was gettingto me. I should have walked away. This probably wasn’t even a real job, thoughMiles didn’t exactly strike me as the kind of man who’d pull a prank like this.
“Come through to my office,”he said, nodding to a door a few feet away. “And I’ll tell you anything youwant to know.”
I wet my lips, barelyholding back ananything, huh?, and followed him through to his office.
There was a wide leathercouch pushed up against one side and the neatest desk I’d ever seen in the middle ofthe room, facing the door. The wall the couch wasn’t against was just glass,with a view out to the park beyond.
Books on biology andmedicine filled two dark, solid wood bookcases flanking the couch, aleather-bound copy ofGray’s Anatomyproudly displayed face-outin the middle of one of the shelves.
Doc would have liked to seeit, I thought. He would have liked this whole office.
Miles sat down behind thedesk in a high-backed leather chair that was probably all kinds of ergonomicand nodded to the flimsier ones in front of it. Theylookedgood, andfit in with the rest of the décor, but as soon as I sat down I felt like I wasgoing to break the damned thing.
They were probably verycomfortable for someone half my size, which most of the people who worked hereseemed to be.
“On Monday, my car wasbroken into,” Miles began, looking past me at the door of his office, as thoughhe was afraid of being overheard. “It was parked in a different spot thanusual, since our parking garage was closed for maintenance that day. The thiefdidn’t take anything of value, so it was just the broken back window and somerifled files. I wrote it off as one of those random things that happenssometimes.”
“Sure, makes sense,” Iagreed. One car break-in would be enough to rattle most people, but not enoughto get them to the point of hiring a bodyguard.
“Except that my office wasbroken into on Tuesday. Now, there are quite a few things in this office worthtaking,” he gestured around the room. “But you’ve seen our security.”
“Can’t operate the elevatorwithout a key card or a guest pass. And your receptionist is good. And cute.You should give him a raise.”
Miles’ eyebrowtwitched.
Professionalism, I’d decided, wasfor other people. He struck me as a man who’d benefit from a little gentleteasing.
Besides, hedidseemupset about this, though I still got the impression that he wasn’t athire-a-bodyguard levels of upset.
“So whatdidthey take?” I askedbelatedly, realizing Miles had implied that it hadn’t been a smash and grab oranything.
“Files,” he said. “Specificfiles relating to a project I’m heading up.”
“Secret project?” I asked,wondering if Emerson Medical had defense contracts.
A professional wouldprobably have looked that upbeforecoming here.
“No. A small study onchildhood cancers,” he said. “If they’d stolen state secrets, I would havecalled the FBI.”
“I don’t know if you callthe FBI.”
I actually had no idea,since I’dnever had to deal with them.
“I’m an Emerson,” Milesresponded. “I call whoever I want.”
