2
ALEXANDRA
A lex was utterly pissed, but absolutely determined not to let the new co-owner of the company know it.
Sparkle! she reminded herself. I am sweetness and light! I am a cupcake with sprinkles! I am a zen flower of agreeability. I am harmony and softness!
The problem? Alex wasn’t any of those things.
Snafu River Security had been her baby for nearly five years, ever since her previous boss tried running it into the ground. When he made drinking his full-time work, Alex turned the business from a struggling butt of local jokes and disdain to a respectable company that won high-profile contracts.
She was the one who had gotten them gold-level ratings. She was the one who refined their training program, and put their finances in order. She was the one who upgraded them to the digital age technology they needed to be competitive. She was the one who knew every security guard they employed, down to the names of their children and their pets.
She was the one who had secured the pipeline contract.
And now, thanks to a sell-out she wasn’t even consulted about, this complete jerk from the lower 48 was barreling in to take all the credit and glory…and probably fire her as part of the turnover.
“You gotta be nicer, honey!” Sandra had advised Alex. “This guy isn’t going to want a second in command who could kick his ass and take his name. You need to giggle at his jokes and maybe wear a skirt. A cute, short skirt. And don’t glare like that! You’ll make him fire you out of self-preservation!”
So here she stood, in an uncomfortably short skirt and a ridiculously sexy shirt feeling like a side of meat trying her best not to bite the head off her new boss.
Speaking of meat, if Alex hadn’t been so mad about the business sale, she might have had some appreciation for the slab of beefcake that was representing the new owner of Grizzly Protection Services.
He had a short, tidy beard and well-muscled arms crossed over the kind of chest that publishers put on dirty books. His hair was neatly cut, and his face would have been breathtakingly handsome if he wasn’t scowling so ferociously.
Who pissed in his oats? He was getting a successful business— her successful business!—handed to him on a platter .
The more Alex thought about it, the madder she got, so she forced a giggle, like Sandra had suggested.
“Tee hee hee.” She meant it as a light-hearted conversation noise, but it sounded like she’d gotten a chickadee stuck in her throat.
Everyone stared at her. The guards because they’d probably never seen her look so inane. Sandra because she’d suggested giggling , not that noise she’d just made. Orson Davison because he was undoubtedly deciding whether to fire her now or wait and do it in private.
Alex tried again. “Can I get you something, Mr. Davison? A cup of coffee?” In your lap? “Do you take sugar?” She tried another giggle that was only slightly more effective than her first.
“No, tha— No!” he roared. “I don’t want sugar! No coffee!”
Now, everyone stared at him, because his outburst was totally inappropriate for an offer of coffee.
Great. The new boss was a pampered rich kid and an unhinged grouch.
It was a shame, because he was so damn handsome. Well, no one was the whole package. “Okay!” Alex chirped, all the sunshine she could muster in her voice. “You don’t have to have coffee! Would you like a tour of the facilities?” It was the last thing she wanted to do, but Sandra’s words were burned into her brain. She didn’t want to start over. She loved this company, and half the staff would quit in solidarity if she got canned. Alex could stomach risking her career, but not theirs.
So she would sparkle like a… sparkly thing…and kiss his ass, even if it killed her.
“Yes!” Orson roared, and snapped his mouth shut like he’d just given away state secrets.
Was this a moment for another giggle? “Tee hee hee.” The third try was slightly better, and Alex tried to walk with little light steps instead of striding like she usually did as she led him past Sandra’s desk to the door marked private.
He paused to glower at the guards. “Don’t you people have jobs to do?”
They murmured apologies and scattered, suddenly remembering urgent work elsewhere. Sandra sat behind her desk and began typing furiously. Apparently, they would not get the peppy new-boss speech they had anticipated.
Alex led Orson back down the hallway to his new office, keenly aware of him close behind her. She’d been expecting a spoiled brat, so that part wasn’t a surprise. He was the youngest of the Davison brothers and came with a reputation as a playboy and prankster. But he was older than she’d expected, probably in his late twenties, like she was. He had a thick, short beard and an impressive physique.
He’d make a good poster boy for the business, but Alex doubted he had the substance to back up the broad-shouldered image. She could probably take him in the ring; he looked slow and smug. And she could undoubtedly outdo him in experience and hard work.
“We’ll update the nameplate at the door as soon as possible,” she said through gritted teeth. Sparkle!
This had been her office, the best room in the building, with a view out over the inlet. It was low tide right now, with the mud flats glistening in the morning sun. Alex had cleared out the desk of her things and moved into a dark corner of the surveillance lab with no windows.
“If you need anything, let Sandra or me know right away,” Alex said, trying not to snarl. “I’ll show you where the supply closet is, too.”
Her mug was still on the desk where she’d left it after she savored her last cup of coffee before all her hard work was upended. There was a snarling grizzly bear on one side and the other side said “Don’t mess with Alex before coffee!”
There was a little coffee left in the bottom and she didn’t want to waste it.
“Wait, are you Alex Vex?” Orson asked as she finished it.
Sandra had suggested that Alex Vex was too threatening a name.
“ Alexandra ,” she said through gritted teeth. She hated her full name, but she was willing to suffer the extra syllables to keep the peace and keep her job. Fucking sparkle , she reminded herself. “Tee hee hee. You can call me Alexandra. Tee hee.”
He blinked at her, then pulled his mouth into a judgmental scowl. “ Alexandra Vex,” he said, like he didn’t like the sound of it.
That makes two of us, jerkface.
“Let me show you the training room!” Alex suggested quickly. “Tee hee hee.” It was easier to giggle the more she did it.
The training room had been an attached auto shop, and Alex had leaned into the weird set-up by sinking a climbing wall into the old oil pit when the lift was removed. There was a big padded sparring area and free weights with a selection of resistance machines against one wall. A Star Trek Borg poster above them that said ‘Resistance is Futile!’ Headphones hung from screens in front of ellipticals, and punching bags were suspended from the ceiling on chains. Upbeat 80’s music played on the sound system, and a row of lockers allowed the guards to store their workout gear and uniforms on site.
“We compensate our teams for the hours they spend working out and training,” Alex explained cautiously. It was one of her particularly risky business decisions that had paid off well. It fostered feelings of loyalty and teamwork and drastically improved employee health and skill. Once or twice a month, she hired experts in different fighting and fitness forms to do hands-on work with them. Physical security was only one part of the business, but it was an important one.
Was Orson going to be the type to second-guess what was working so well for the business and overthrow the program on his first day?
Alex was prepared for a fight—a sparkly fight?—but Orson only grunted as he looked around, and then followed her upstairs.
“We’ve upgraded our security and surveillance infrastructure considerably in the last five years,” Alex said, then wondered if she should dumb herself down. Sandra had been adamant that she should stay as non-threatening as possible. “Tee hee hee. It’s all so shiny and new!”
He grunted unhelpfully again, though he was polite enough when she introduced him to Tom, the cybersecurity head.
“Is a lot of what you—we— I! —do remote?” Orson wanted to know.
Alex looked at him curiously, and he growled at her. A literal growl! It was sort of challenging and sexy, but Alex tamped down her urge to growl back at him. “Tee hee hee.”
Tom pretended not to notice anything out of the ordinary and showed Orson the screens he was monitoring, pointing out some of the projects they were watching.
“Is that a bridge?”
“The pipeline is slung under that bridge,” Tom told him. “It’s the only place to cross the Yukon River up there, and it’s open to the public, but we monitor activity there. We’ve got some drones in the area that we can send in.”
“Can’t you send actual people from here?” Orson asked, furrowing a brow.
Tom was silent, looking at Alex.
She didn’t want to be responsible for telling Orson he was an idiot, but she didn’t want Tom to get in trouble, either. “Tee hee hee,” Alex said. “It’s five hundred miles from here. It’s even a three-hour drive from our smaller Fairbanks office.”
Tom looked at Alex like she was insane. Alex sparkled at Orson even harder. Smiling this much made her cheeks hurt, and the makeup she was wearing under duress felt crinkly on her face.
Orson grunted again, but Alex thought his ears looked a little red.
Sandra’s words rang in her head. If you embarrass him, he won’t keep you around.
But Alex didn’t want to embarrass him. She wanted to destroy him.