Page 31

I fought the immature urge to roll my eyes and yanked out my desk drawer to grab a box of fine-point pens. I pushed back from my desk and walked over to where she was standing. It was then that I noticed the way her fists were clenched and her mouth was trembling.
She was scared.
“Come have a seat, Sutton. I will be back in just a moment.”
Bethany seemed surprised when it was me leaving the office and not Sutton. I didn’t bother to speak with her. Walking to Sutton’s office, I grabbed the stack of papers that did seem a tad excessive. On the way back out, I stopped at Bethany’s desk.
“Call human resources and set up an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. This is a ridiculous amount of paperwork.”
Bethany flushed guiltily. “Maybe I could go through it and see what is truly necessary, Mr. Williams.”
I had suspected that she might have something to do with it. Damn, Sutton had been right.
“Bethany, you have worked here for over two years now.”
She nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“You are aware that Ms. Landry is Mr. Sutton’s daughter?”
Her blush increased. “Yes, sir.”
“It would behoove you to treat her with the respect that she deserves. Consider this your final warning—are we clear?”
Bethany hopped out of her seat. “Yes, sir. I understand, sir.”
As I turned to go back into my office, I saw her going into Sutton’s office. She had better be making things right, because if she wasn’t, I would have no problems letting Bethany the Bitch go.
When I returned Sutton was sitting behind my desk in her father’s desk chair. She sparkled when she saw me.
“That was fucking brilliant!”
I jolted at her words, “What was?”
Sutton laughed, the sound sneaking its way straight into my chest. “The way you handled Bethany.”
I cocked my head to the side. “How do you know?”
“I listened with the door cracked,” she responded cheekily. I loved that she wasn’t the slightest bit embarrassed to admit that she had been spying on me.
“I have changed my mind,” I said gruffly. “You will be spending the day with me observing and attending my appointments. Once you have the swing of things, I will get someone from HR to prep you on the internal workings of the company. But for now, you are stuck with me.”
The joy on her face was palpable and I felt a kick in my gut. She was too damn tempting to be around all day. This might not have been the best of ideas.
“What do we do first?” she asked anxiously. The signs of the scared girl were so far gone I wondered for a moment if I had imagined it.
“First, you give me my desk and chair back,” I said with a wolfish smile.
Sutton laughed and stood, “I suppose that is fair. What is second?”
I held my hand out to her, “Second, we get you a login and password for your computer. I have been forwarding copies of emails that I had thought you might be interested in.”
She nodded. “Sounds perfect.”
I heardher squeak the first time Sutton pulled up her email.
“Fuck, Mark! There are eighteen hundred unread emails!”
The tone of dismay had me wanting to go slay a few dragons in her honor. I really needed to get my shit together before I fell head over ass for this woman.