He waves vaguely in the direction of the entire office and walks through the green door ahead of me. I catch a briefglimpse of a desk, a huge window, and a sculpture of a pair of dice. Then the door swings shut, and he’s gone.
Rising, I head straight to HR to get my contract signed and processed before he can fire me.
I have one day to prove myself.Just keep your damn mouth shut.
I’m not gone more than fifteen minutes, but when I come back, my heart sinks.
A bald man is standing just inside Mr. Jones’s office, and I think I recognize him from the conference room. He has a monotone voice that I can hear from across the office, and when Mr. Jones sees me, his irritated expression sours even further.
I had one job: to keep the world away from him for the remainder of the day, and I’ve failed before I’ve even begun.
Well, I’m either fired or I’m about to be. Might as well seal the deal one way or the other.
“Do you have an appointment?” I ask, walking up to the guy as if he’s a problematic customer at the club and I need to get rid of him.
He turns to me mid-sentence, eyes widening as he runs them over my figure.
“Excuse me?”
“Do you have an appointment?” I ask again. “Mr. Jones doesn’t want to be disturbed for the remainder of the afternoon. If you have something you need him to review, you can send it to me. Jacqueline Jenson.”
“This is an urgent matter?—”
“No, it isn’t,” I say coldly, using a tactic of Flynn’s and dropping my voice to a low murmur. “If it were urgent, Mr.Jones would have told me he needed to meet with you, and he didn’t. So that means you’re disturbing him unnecessarily. Please come back later or send me the details, and I’ll inform him myself.”
The guy looks to Jones like I’m completely insane, but when I glance at my new boss, he’s already stepped back from the doorway, the corner of his mouth turning up just a little.
“Gray, are you seriously?—”
“You heard her, Devan. This will have to wait. Send it to Jacqueline, and she’ll make sure I review it when I have time.”
Then he closes the door in Devan’s face. I look back at the man. He must be in his late forties, with a mottled redness across his cheeks that suggests he likes to drink. Slowly, the redness intensifies as he puffs out his chest. He looks as if he wants to punch me.
“Didn’t you just start today?” he snaps.
“Yes, sir,” I say with a falsely reverent tone.
“Do you want to work for asecondday? Because I’m the CFO and I pay your salary.”
I wonder whether he knows what Sterling House is and what I’ve been hired to do. Maybe Jones handles all that privately. I couldn’t care less as long as the money lands in my account.
“That sounds like an important job,” I say coolly. “You should probably get back to it.”
He turns even redder and spins away from me, muttering under his breath as he gets out his phone and starts jabbing at the screen.
I imagine my time here is going to be limited, considering that I’ve already pissed off my boss, the agency I work for, and the guy who signs my paycheck.
But then, I’ve never lived an easy life.
Chapter 9
Gray
What follows is the most productive afternoon I’ve had in months. Granted, I didn’t expect my new EA to speak to my CFO as though he were a small child, but then, that isn’t aninaccuratedescription of Devan Chase. He may be a wizard with the finances, but only a small portion of my staff can stand him.
For the remainder of the day, I listen to voices come and go outside my office. Jax has gotten herself situated in record time, faster than any of the other EAs I’ve had working for me.
Honestly, I don’t really need calendar support. I’m a man who likes to arrange his own schedule. My needs and requirements change like the wind, which makes it hard for someone to anticipate my next step.
