Page 6 of Nothing to This (Nothing to… #8)
“You have a team,” she said. “A team who felt it necessary to put this contingency in place. I don’t know why they did or who they were protecting, but clearly, they thought they might need it, and if you truly didn’t know about it, this proves they act without your explicit authority.
Whether it’s you or not, someone could use this against me. It’s smart to protect myself.”
He nodded. “I understand. I’ll keep it to myself, if you do something for me.”
Making a noise of surprise as she inhaled, shock and outrage were less potent than vindication. Now the compliment made sense.
“What something?”
“I need someone to work with me up here,” he said. “Someone I can trust, someone I know.”
“To work with you?” she asked. “What does that mean?”
“To take calls, sit in on meetings—”
“An assistant,” she said. “You need an assistant.” She jabbed her thumb backwards over her shoulder. “Is that why you’re auditioning swimsuit pinups?” He smiled. “Seriously, JD, was the ad cup size and bimbo-IQ specific?”
“See why I need you?”
“I see why you think you need me,” she said. “But I have a job.”
“Working for me. You don’t want me to pull rank, do you?”
Careful not to smile, she let her eyes wander as her tongue moved across her upper lip. “If you pull rank here, I’ll pull rank at home.”
“Deal,” he said, startling her when he slapped the edge of the desk.
That was supposed to be a threat, not a condition. Before she could object, the door behind her opened. JD stood up; it seemed their private conversation was over.
“Need more time?” a male voice asked.
Twisting in her chair, a man about JD’s age joined them. He was just as dashing too.
“No, we’re good,” JD said. “Rylee Hampton meet Greg Birch. He’s the closest thing I have to a grown-up friend.”
Greg laughed as he came in. “Really? Guess I lost the pool.”
“Guess you did,” JD said. Was there any hint of recognition in Greg’s expression? She couldn’t decipher any. Either he didn’t know who she was, or he had an incredible poker face. “She’s my new executive assistant, effective immediately.”
“Excellent,” Greg said. “I prefer to get the formalities out of the way so we can get down to actual business. Want me to get rid of the others?”
“Sure,” JD said. “Then bring the team in.”
Greg left the room. Like she’d become invisible, JD sat down and picked up a pen to begin perusing some fat document that lay in front of him.
She sank back into her chair. “ You should interview all the candidates before just picking a random person for the job. I don’t have any experience with this.”
“Sure you do. You did training and side jobs at college.”
Taken aback, she gawped at him for a second, but he kept reading. “How do you know that?”
“You told me,” he said, glancing up for a quick second.
Better that than he’d stalked or background checked her. Though she wasn’t exactly sure he was right, she couldn’t discount that it may have come up… on the night they met.
“How do you remember that?” she asked. His only response to the direct question was a shrug. Once it was clear he wasn’t going to say anything else, she continued. “Do you have your own team or are the old one staying?”
“Ted and the others are staying for a transition period,” he said and leaned back to open one of his desk drawers. “They’re getting pretty impressive exit packages.”
He produced a booklet and a stack of papers. After holding them up, he put them on the desk and pushed them across to her.
“What’s this?” she asked, picking up the pile.
“You have a desk just outside my door,” he said. “I’m orienting myself, smoothing over some wrinkles. Go on out and read as much of that as you can, understand it, then you can join the noon meeting. Is that okay?”
Leafing through the pages, she stood up. “Do I have to call you sir?”
“Yeah, or Master, or Overlord,” he said, “whatever you like.”
When she peeked over the top of the page, he was grinning. “What about jerkoff? Can I call you that?”
His amusement didn’t go anywhere. “Sure, if you want everyone to know there’s a different set of rules for you than for them.”
Gritting her teeth, she acknowledged he’d won this one by holding up the stack of documents. “Better get to my reading, Overlord.”
Steepling his forefingers over his mouth, he covered a smile and gave a single nod. Retreating from the office in reverse, she waited until the door was closed to roll her eyes.
As she turned, thoughts of JD shot out of her mind in lieu of sudden panic.
A stampede of suits headed her way with Greg spearheading the pack.
Stumbling aside, she caught her breath after fumbling her way to the desk chair.
The herd went into the office, the door swung shut, and then there was peace.
She’d never wanted to be anyone’s executive assistant. At least being in proximity to JD meant she’d be able to keep an eye on him and ensure he didn’t blow their cover.
If he was planning to stay in town, they might have to revisit who knew about their children’s parentage. Until she knew for sure, it had to stay a secret.