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Sam had been gone for less than an hour when he returned, papers in hand. He told Alli she could sit at his desk for the time being and fill out all the online paperwork. It appeared that she’d hit the motherlode with this job. In addition to agreeing to her salary demand, the company also had profit sharing and a generous 401(k) match. Heck, even the health insurance looked decent.

“Until Leigh’s desk is released by the police, I’ll have a small table sent up so you can at least have a place to sit. Jenny said that IT should be here this afternoon to set up your laptop.”

“It’s fine, really,” Alli insisted. “Although I’m sure you want your desk back.”

His big chair was comfortable as hell, the leather soft as butter. Unfortunately, with her petite stature, her feet didn’t completely touch the ground. She almost felt like a little kid in a grown-up’s office.

And Sam Winslow was that grown-up. Except…

This office didn’t look like Sam. She’d only known him for less than a morning, but nothing felt quite right in this room. It was too formal and stuffy for the man who had suddenly offered her a job after knowing her for less than five minutes.

Which was a lot less than a morning…

“I doubt much work is going to get done today,” Sam replied with a sigh.

He couldn’t hide the toll that his assistant’s death had taken on him this morning. He easily looked five years older than he had just the night before at the tavern.

Not that he wasn’t a devastatingly handsome man. He was. Really, really good-looking. She’d seen all of his brothers last night, but he was the best-looking by a mile.

In her humble opinion, anyway.

But despite his movie star looks, she could see the grief and fatigue he was trying to hide from the public, but she didn’t know him well enough to have any words of comfort to make him feel better. Even if she had known him for decades, was there anything one could say when a person found a dead body?

“Have you tried a shot of whiskey?”

Christ on a bicycle, this was a one-way ticket to losing the job she’d only been hired for this morning. What was she even thinking? It had simply been the first thing that had popped into her head when she thought about how to handle finding someone dead.

This man seriously made her stupid, just by being in the same room.

Sam looked surprised at her query, but then he smiled. A real one this time.

“No, but it’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard. Is that the normal prescribed antidote for finding a dead body?”

“I don’t think there’s anything normal about this,” Alli replied with a shake of her head. “And I’m sorry. That just came out of my mouth without thinking. I’m just amazed that you’re handling this all so well.”

“Between you and me and these four walls, I was downstairs sitting by the lake thinking about puking about fifteen minutes ago,” he confessed. “I just compartmentalize well.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Let me call Henry and see if we can’t get a table sent up here,” he said, lifting up the receiver on the desk phone and punching in a few numbers. “How is the employee manual going so far? Have you been able to stay awake?”

She didn’t have time to reply as he began speaking into the phone, his expression turning frustrated within seconds.

“I only need a table, Henry. Hell, she can use one of the guest chairs in my office. I’m not asking for the world. I know we have a basement full of extra furniture. Just get a small table up here within the next hour. Don’t make me come down to your office to discuss this. I’m approving it. Get it done.”

Who was Henry? And why were they arguing with the guy who ran the company? It seemed a career-limiting move, but who was she to talk? She’d dated her boss, for fuck’s sake. Talk about a career killer.

“I’m approving it,” Sam repeated. “Get it done. I won’t be explaining it.”

She could hear another voice on the other end of the line, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying.

“I’m approving it. Get it done.”

Sam set the receiver down, his features tight. Whoever was on the other end of that call had pissed him off royally.

“Will he call back?” she asked.

“Probably.”