"Good morning! Welcome to the kickoff meeting for Project Orion. I'm Delilah Monroe, but everyone calls me Lilah. I'm leading the financial auditing team." Shoulders back, she pushed her breasts front and center and flourished into the open room.
He was massive. If he had worn a red buffalo plaid shirt, I would have sworn he'd fallen off a paper towel package. His light brown hair, deep-set eyes, and strong chin made him handsome too. He stared at Lilah's breasts before he caught himself. He smiled and turned to look behind him.
In walked a man who could be best described as a male model. If the first guy was all things outdoorsy, the second guy was everything urban and sophisticated. The room fell silent as I admired his handsome profile. I could hear the exhalation and inhalations echoing in my head. I should walk over and say hello. My mind knew I should move, but I felt like cinderblocks firmly rooted my legs in place.
"Hello, Delilah. I'm Hunter Reeves, the Director of Application Development." The first guy fixed his gaze on Lilah's face before extending a hand. His voice had a distinctive midwestern timbre.
"Nice to meet you, Hunter." She turned her attention to the second man. While Lilah introduced herself to him, Hunter walked over to shake my hand. I forced myself to stop staring at the door and turned my attention to him.
The gorgeous guy addressed Lilah with a quick, perfunctory, professional handshake. His earthen-hued eyes searched the nearly empty auditorium until they landed on mine. His eyes were on me as if he recognized me. I was so jarred by the air of familiarity with his gaze that I subconsciously ran through my mental Rolodex.
Did we attend college together? Was he on another project? We don't know each other outside of work, do we?
As he approached, he gave me a once over that started at my head and ended at my toes. He was tall, at least six-three, his clothes impeccably tailored, emphasizing his muscular limbs.
I paused before I cleared my throat and extended my hand. "Welcome, I'm Jasmine Carmichael. I'm the engagement manager for Project Orion."
I continued to flip through my memories as his throat bobbed. I stared at him like a madwoman. In return, he looked at me with interest—one eyebrow cocked, and the corner of his lips raised. It was an arrogant smile, and I wasn't sure if he wanted me to feel unwelcome or uncomfortable. It wasn't uncommon for permanent employees to view consultants with derision. A select group feared that our ulterior motive was to make suggestions for workforce reductions.
Pushing me away or not, the guy was smoking hot.
"Good morning. I'm Garrett Hamilton, the Vice-President of Network and Applications."
Is he going to make our lives pure hell? Or will we be friends?
As if he heard my thoughts, he continued. "Hunter and I wanted to arrive early to introduce ourselves. We will work closely during this engagement."
Oh great.
"Great! There's a hot coffee and tea bar along with pastries and scones. Please, help yourself."
I barely got the entire sentence out before Hunter hightailed it to the coffee bar with Lilah trailing closely behind. They left me alone with the hot guy, and I was nervous. Oh, so nervous.
"I didn't count on Chicago being so warm. I'd hoped for relief from the heat and humidity."
"We welcome the warmth when you compare it to January's frigid temperatures. You're from Atlanta, right?"
"Yes. Lilah and I both are."
"I love Atlanta. Terrible traffic, but I can't help but love southern hospitality."
"My birthplace is small at heart but big in size. So . . . is Chicago your hometown?" I smiled.
"I've lived here for eight years. I'm originally from Detroit." He paused for a beat while his tawny eyes wandered from my lips to meet my gaze. Garrett had to have been a poker champion in a previous life because I couldn't tell what he was thinking or feeling. "Dynex can be fast-paced. Sometimes, it will feel like you're drinking from a firehose. Let me know if I can be of any help."
Thankfully, attendees began filing into the room. Hunter and Garrett settled into two seats next to each other. Lilah and I walked around and introduced ourselves to friendly faces. At the same time, Garrett and Hunter exchanged small talk with their colleagues. Soon, the voices in the room crescendoed to a consistent hum as everyone caught up on work discussions and shared their weekend activities.
At precisely ten o'clock, a slender, petite woman with a perfectly layered bob arrived. I immediately recognized her as the CEO, Nic Sewell. Following her closely was Junior, my boss. Judging from her brisk stride, I'd guessed he'd had his nose pressed firmly in her ass. He could probably smell last night's supper.
He had one job. We needed Parker to kick off the presentation and introduce Lilah and me. Instead, he arrived after we set up the room and greeted the attendees.
"Girls . . ." He nodded in our direction.
Lilah turned toward the computer display and shot him a dirty look, nostrils flared and eyes shooting daggers. I caught her gaze and smiled at her. She plastered a phony smile in response.
The CEO's arrival was the formal signal to begin the presentation. Junior stepped to the podium and spent fifteen minutes reviewing the history of ER Wallace. The audience sat on the edge of their seats, enraptured by his spiel detailing our client roster and service offerings.
Then he passed the presentation over to me.
Showtime!
Stepping up to the podium, I planted my feet in a power stance and began my speech.
"Good morning. Welcome to the kickoff meeting for Project Orion. I'm Jasmine Carmichael. I am a Senior Director of Client Services for ER Wallace & Sons. I’ll review the financial, application, and security review approach and answer questions that you may have.
"Dynex is an IPO candidate. It is commendable that you are doing the due diligence to create a clear path to profitability. If web commerce is your business, stakeholders want to feel confident that a company's products and services are efficient and safe. That's where we step in. Lilah Monroe will discuss the high-level details of our contract and the organizational structure of our project team."
I stepped back, giving Lilah the floor. She walked through her portion of the presentation. The room was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. This was one of the most engaged audiences that I'd ever had. Everyone had a shared commitment to achieving a successful IPO.
My eyes searched the room and landed on the space where Garrett and Hunter sat. Garrett leaned back in his chair and jotted notes from time to time. At one point, our eyes met, and we shared a polite smile. He was so damn attractive.
Lilah completed her portion of the speech and returned the presentation to me.
"Thank you, Lilah." I scanned the audience for reactions. "Are there questions?"
The room was silent as the attendees looked around for one brave individual. Garrett raised his hand, his voice clear and strong. "I have two questions. First, which security standards will you use to test the systems?"
"We'll use the most secure standard, Department of Defense."
"Can we count on you guys to take us to one-fifty?" The second question solicited applause and boisterous laughter.
I pressed my lips together to hide a grin. "The Wallace team will do everything in our power to help you succeed."
Another round of applause echoed through the room.
I closed the presentation with a line intended to illustrate our pledge to partner with the Dynex team. "If there are no more questions, I'll leave with this. There will be long hours. There may be some intense moments, but we will be successful."
Garrett
I sighed and said a silent prayer before entering Nic's office. The weekly meetings began as a chance for us to discuss the status of departmental efforts, reaffirm her vision and strategic goals, and to review the direction of my career. More often than not, she wrestled the agenda of the meeting and turned it into a personal bitch session.
After eight months of these meetings, I knew the routine by heart.
We devoted the first fifteen minutes to Nic's complaints on the speed of the application updates. Every week, she leveled a threat to cut my department in half and hire more offshore coders. I knew she was full of hot air, so I did as I always did, nodded and mentally tallied my daily macros.
Next, Nic spent fifteen minutes whining. She didn't get along with the board of directors. She believed that the eight-member team didn't treat her with the same respect they would show a man. Nic didn't take dissenting opinions well. She behaved like a child when they provided guidance. Maybe, just maybe, she should treat them as team members and not a formality.
In a typical meeting, she spent the remaining thirty minutes droning on her personal life. As if I cared.
"Garrett, thank God you're here. I need your help." Nic reached for a stack of printouts on her desk and pushed them over to my side of the desk. "Look at this!"
I remained quiet and scanned the headlines. Nic had printed out every news report on the Dynex IPO. I didn't need to take a more in-depth read because I'd already read most of the articles. They were critical of the company, its financing, and leadership.
"I don't trust reporters. Fortune promised to feature me as strategic. They asked for a quote on breaking through the glass ceiling. Instead, the article criticized my leadership and characterized me as impulsive and immature. Two fucking paragraphs devoted to my age and gender. I'm on the 'Forty under 40' list! I've paid my dues and worked my ass off. They made me out like I was a diversity hire. I fucking earned this job!" She flopped down in her chair and massaged her temples. "Fake fucking news! I'm not allowed to defend myself. The corporate communications team had to issue statements and field all inquiries. Everyone's not like you; some of us don't like the attention."
I cringed at the insinuation of my feature in the Chicago Sun-Times.
"The Wall Street Journal pondered if Dynex could make investors rich. One of their numbskull reporters wrote that we are potentially misleading investors because we've classified ourselves as a tech company when our business is science. What difference does it make? Buy the damn stock or don't buy the damn stock." She reached into the glass candy dish on her desk, grabbed a handful of M&Ms, and flung them into her mouth. "Look at what happened in Silicon Valley. The board ousted their CEO, my friend, because of accusations of fraud. She became a mockery, and the media went through remarkable lengths to make her look like a scammer. Her personal life circled down the drain along with her career. She never recovered from it."
"To be fair, the machine didn't analyze the blood as she claimed. People could have died because of misdiagnoses."
She tossed another handful of candy into her mouth. Chewing noisily, she stared at the papers scattered across her desk.
"While you're thinking, here's a copy of the status of the application projects. I thought that I would bring you up-to-speed on what my team's working on." She met my attempt at returning to our agenda with complete silence.
"This is moving so fast. We need to figure out how to slow the IPO." Nic leaned back in her chair.
"Why? This is what we've all waited for." I tried to tamp down the panic in my voice.
"I know! I blame Tony Jones for this. The fucking pig practically salivated at going public. He wants my job and my head. The board and the investors don't care about the company; they only want to cash out." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Strangers looking into our dirty laundry makes me nervous. You and Jeff are my only allies. He pledged to help me get out of a small mess, and I am requesting the same from you."
My boss, Jeffrey Cagle, was Nic's personal lackey. He performed all the menial tasks that Nic didn't have the patience or interest in doing. For a minute, I took offense to the comparison and wondered how I became mixed in with this band of misfits.
Improving and increasing the product line offering had been our corporate strategy. Made sense that the Chief Product Officer would lead the company. My peers and I applauded Nic's promotion. We'd thought she was the best option; she'd known the company and the products and could strongly advocate for the right thing. We'd thought we had someone on our side.
Three years later, I'd heard rumors of personal and financial impropriety. Word had it that the balance sheets were a mess. The rumor mill called her financial stewardship into question when she secured a personal loan using Dynex shares. She routinely rejected ideas to enhance the business in favor of those that improved our external appearance. There was no greater example of that than when we moved the headquarters from the suburbs to the most expensive zip code in downtown Chicago.
I sat in silence for a beat before continuing. "As you can see from my status report, we are in green status for all the projects, and I've found a few analysts to work directly with the ER Wallace team."
"Yeah, about that. I saw you making eyes at those women. I know you. I want you to be careful with your attention and remember where your loyalty lies. I need the old Garrett Hamilton magic. Is there anything we can do to make the website more attractive to potential stockholders? What about your proposal for a partnership with that gene research company? What do you need to get it going? I'll give you the budget and the people to make it happen. We could announce it shortly, before the end of the audit."
"Nic, you nixed the idea. They reached out to another company. You said the partnership didn't align with the corporate strategy. I don't know if there is anything I can implement in the next six months."
She'd unapologetically pooh-poohed the idea as a punishment, a reprisal for ignoring her or not kissing her ass. Who knew?
"It need not be active on the website. All we need is a signed agreement or a documented idea. Also, think of anything you can do to keep the Wallace team from digging too deeply. I need a few months to tie up a few loose ends." She straightened in her chair and looked me in the eye. "I don't want to do this, but you know I will. Either help me, or I'll get Jeff to fire you. We may blame you for the failed IPO. It'll be all over the news and will put these articles to shame. Your career will never be the same after I have you blackballed. I'll throw out your friend, Hunter, too. Do we have an agreement?"
A rush of air escaped my lips. Historically, I've given Nic a bit of leeway. We were peers before the board of directors promoted her to CEO. I couldn't imagine the amount of stress she was under. To be thirty-four and on the brink of becoming a leader of a multi-billion-dollar public organization. How do you prepare for that?
But this was a new low for Nic. I was used to her tantrums and strong-arm tactics, but I never thought that she would resort to blackmail and threats.
Headhunters called me every day; I didn't need to stay at Dynex. However, I was five months away from full vesting on my shares. I couldn't walk away from a quarter of a million dollars.
"I'll see what I can do."
"Here's what I expect. You'll develop an innovative idea. You'll disrupt the ER Wallace analysts. Give them the wrong information. Take control of the situation." She watched my face, studying my reaction. She stacked the articles, along with my status report, into a neat pile before tossing them into a nearby recycling bin. "We're done. I'll keep these meetings on the calendar. Please keep me updated."
And like that, she dismissed me.
Control the situation, echoed in my head as I walked from the executive suite to the conference room. I was in shock that Nic would blackmail me. Half a million dollars, my professional reputation, eight years of late nights and working during vacations—it would go down the drain.
It's one thing to say that the board didn't respect her, but when she asked me to do something unethical, then that became a problem.
Like every other meeting, I left Nic's office feeling drained. I needed to relax and change my mentality to have a happy work experience. As I walked to the project war room, I repeated a mantra familiar to all disgruntled employees. I love my job. I love my fucking job.
The Skokie room was one of the largest, most secluded conference rooms at Dynex and t
he home to the audit team for the next four months. The designers furnished the space with state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment. We had all the modern amenities to make their stay comfortable.
Reeling from the discussion with Nic, I barked hello to Jasmine, Lilah, and Hunter and exhaled the breath of air that I'd held.
If I wanted my money, I would do Nic's dirty work.
The three huddled around a whiteboard as Hunter talked through a flowchart. He raised a brow when our eyes met.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." Wanting to avoid any conversation regarding the one-on-one with Nic, I called over to Jasmine. "Jasmine, in fifteen minutes, I'll need an update."
She jumped at my sharp and demanding tone, giving me a smile full of uncertainty about me and my request.
"Um. There's not much to report. We've had several interviews with the—"
"Fifteen minutes, I require a full, formal report on what you've done in the last three days." I tapped my finger on the table for emphasis and instantly felt like an asshole. Avoiding Hunter's glare, I interlaced my fingers, slid them behind my head, and leaned back in my chair.
"I'll be ready." The curt response showed her aggravation at my request. She stiffened and walked to her laptop.
Lilah stared at me with narrowed eyes while walking to Jasmine's side. From the other side of the table, Hunter stared at me in disbelief.
The two women peered at Jasmine's laptop screen and developed the update.
My telephone pinged with a text message from Hunter. There were three letters—WTF. I put my phone on the table face down and stared out the window.
I can't believe that I agreed to be a dick.
After seven minutes, Jasmine cleared her throat. She called out to no one in particular.
"I'm ready to present the status." She displayed the presentation on the seventy-inch television monitor in the room and stood next to it.
Jasmine was a well-dressed woman, but today she wore what had to be my favorite dress. It was black and clung to her hourglass figure. A long silver zipper started at her nape and ended at the hem. It wasn't risqué, but I wanted to use my teeth to unveil her rounded ass, firm hips, and beautiful thighs.
It's a Work Thing Page 3