Five minutes later, I leave the bank with a smug smile on my lips. I immediately call Sharon. “Everything is fixed with the bank. Can you go ahead and send over the direct deposit for the last pay period?”
“Of course. I don’t know what you said, but thank you.”
“Just a little friendly persuasion,” I reply airily.
And making a grown man almost shit his pants.
Mindy is staring at her phone when I re-enter my office suite at noon, but as I approach her desk, she lifts her hazel gaze to mine.
“I just got a notification that I have a direct deposit in my account.”
“Good,” I say.
“Thank you, Mr. Hale. For whatever you did to fix this.” Her voice shakes and I avert my gaze, noticing she’s eating a croissant from the office coffee shop. Come to think of it, she’s eaten lunch at her desk every single day this week. She had a scone and a peach Monday through Wednesday, and today she’s only eating a damn croissant?
Does she not have enough money for food because she hasn’t received a paycheck in almost a month? Fuck me, I feel like shit.
“Don’t thank me. This shouldn’t have been a problem in the first place. I’m a little angry you didn’t let me know about it sooner.”
She nods and picks a piece of the flaky croissant from her plate and eats it. I’m supposed to be acting like an asshole so she’ll quit, but I can’t seem to find it in me to do that today. So I formulate a plan on the fly.
“Ms. Espinoza, I need you to work through lunch today. I want you to go over the Task-Pro app with me so I can better understand it.Phoenix and Helix outvoted me, so I guess we’re keeping it.” I make myself sound exasperated at the idea.
“Sure,” she replies, pushing away her meager meal and standing.
“Before you come into my office, order us something to eat. Whatever you want is fine,” I say nonchalantly. “There are several places around here that deliver.”
She blinks at me, brows narrowing. “You’re buying me lunch?”
I chuckle. “If I ask you to work through lunch, then yes, I provide the food. That’s how a working lunch works. You have an expense card, right?”
Mindy unlocks her top drawer and pulls out the black card. “I have it. I’ve never used it before though.”
“Great. Anytime you work through lunch, even if I’m not here, I insist you use that card to pay for your meals. Otherwise, I could get in trouble with Human Resources.”
That’s complete bullshit, but she doesn’t know that.
I sigh as soon as I enter my office and close the door. I’m not doing a great job of making her want to leave, but I promise myself I’ll do better tomorrow.
Tomorrow I’ll be a complete asshole.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Wishing for brain damage
Mindy
My boss is a complete asshole.
I stumble into work exactly four minutes late, and of course, he’s standing at my desk with his arms crossed over his chest. Like every day, he’s wearing one of those perfectly tailored, leg spreading suits that make women—of which I am one—want to flop onto their back and open their thighs for him.
Perhaps if I did that, it would confuse him enough he would forget about my tardiness.
“Hi, sorry. Transportation issues this morning,” I pant out.
He lifts one finger and smiles smugly behind that impressively rideable beard. “That’s strike one, Ms. Espinoza.”
Fuck a big ole bucket of assholes.
