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  “If you say so.”

  Murray rose out of his chair. “Considering how closely the two of you will be working, perhaps it would be best for Ms. Flannery to show you to your office.”

  While Isabel appeared ready to throttle Murray for his suggestion, she bobbed her head in agreement. “It would be my pleasure.”

  Oh Jesus. The last thing I needed was to hear the word pleasure come from her lips. It conjured up so many illicit images in my mind. Get a grip, Thorn. “Thank you, Ms. Flannery.”

  After picking up a manila envelope from his desk, Murray came over to hand it to me. “Here are the keys to your office and desk. IT will be by at nine-thirty to get your computer codes set up.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  He nodded at Isabel. “I’ll leave you to it.”

  Isabel wore an expression like she was about to go to an execution rather than show me around. Motioning to the door, I said, “After you.”

  When I fell in step beside her, the heady smell of her perfume entered my nostrils. Even though I’d already been in close proximity with her, I hadn’t noticed it yet. God, it was distracting. It called to me, telling me to bury my nose in her skin. Maybe I could fake a migraine sensitivity so she wouldn’t wear it around me anymore.

  Once we were alone in the hallway, Isabel cleared her throat. “I would like to apologize for my earlier behavior in my office. You were correct in calling me out for my unprofessionalism.”

  Holy shit. I wasn’t expecting that one at all. Of course, considering Isabel’s previous reactions in Murray’s office, I couldn’t help wondering about how sincere she really was. While words of apology might’ve been coming from her lips, the expression in her eyes told me she didn’t truly mean them.

  “Thank you.”

  “I hope we can put the past behind us and move forward,” she suggested.

  I had a feeling she was speaking more about me seeing her topless than any actual attitude she’d displayed. “Yes, I’m sure we can.”

  Isabel seemed pleased by my response, but her positive feeling was soon replaced by unease when she spotted Ty approaching us. “Now that I know who you are, I guess I can assume he is more than just your henchman?”

  “Yes, this is Ty Fraser, my Secret Service agent.”

  When she paled slightly, I imagined she was trying to process the horror of not only the son of the president of the United States seeing her topless, but also a government employee.

  Ty extended his hand. “My apologies for almost tackling you this morning. I wasn’t aware of what had happened just prior, so I automatically thought he was in danger.”

  Isabel nodded while shaking his hand. “That’s understandable.” She glanced between the two of us. “So you’re just going to be hanging out here?”

  Ty chuckled. “Something like that. Whatever it takes to keep my eyes and ears on him at all times possible.”

  “I see.”

  “After a few weeks, you won’t even notice I’m here.”

  “I’m not so sure about that,” she murmured.

  It was then I realized Isabel was no longer looking at Ty in embarrassment. Now she was looking at him like he was a grade A piece of man-meat. I imagined she was thinking with his good looks and British accent, it would be impossible not to notice him. While I shouldn’t have given two shits about what she thought of Ty, a pang of jealousy crisscrossed through my chest.

  I cleared my throat. “How about that tour?”

  “Am I to assume Ted didn’t take you around the office last week?”

  “No. Our meetings were done outside of the building.”

  “I see. Why don’t we start with the break room, and then I can show you the offices of some of the analysts and associates on your team?”

  “Sounds good.”

  As we made our way down the hall, conversation seemed to evade us. I couldn’t for the life of me think of what to say to her. Finally, I tried to steer the conversation to something business-related. “How long have you been here?”

  “I’ve been full-time for seven years, and I also did my undergrad internship here.”

  “That’s a pretty short amount of time to be up for a vice president position,” I mused.

  Isabel bristled. “I know you haven’t been in the business world in a few years, but with hard work and sacrifice, it is completely feasible to be promoted that quickly when you show leadership qualities and client management skills.”

  “I stand corrected.”

  With a sugary-sweet smile, she replied, “I’m sure this won’t be the last time that happens.”

  Before I could make a smartass remark, she threw her arm out to point at one of the offices to the left of me. She then began rattling off names of people and their titles. I knew I would never remember them, but I managed to nod my head and smile.

  The tour ended at my office, which happened to be two doors down from Isabel’s. After I took the keycard out of the manila envelope, I opened the door and stepped inside. Even though it was a large, spacious office most of the staff would have killed for, it felt stifling to me, perhaps because I wasn’t used to four walls surrounding me.

  “Whatever you do not find to your liking with the furniture, you are welcome to change. Your secretary can handle the necessary paperwork,” Isabel said as she hung back at the door.

  I eyed her curiously over my shoulder. “What were you going to change?”

  She shifted uncomfortably on her feet. “I’m not a fan of the modern décor like Ted was.”

  Neither was I, but Ted obviously had been. It was way too streamlined to me—too cold and sterile. “I’m sure I can make do for the time being.”

  After appearing somewhat surprised at my declaration, Isabel replied, “Alice has the catalog whenever you’re ready to make your choices.”

  Nodding, I then walked around the side of the desk and sat down in the chair. A slight shudder went through me at how surreal the moment felt. I’d sat at many desks over the years in my career as a solider, but none had felt quite like this. As a sudden choking feeling overcame me, I fought the urge to reach up and loosen my tie.

  Isabel motioned to the files on my desk. “There are several important mergers coming up, and we are also courting several new clients. I’ll be happy to walk you through them if you’d like.”

  Using my index finger, I lazily flipped open one of the folders. “That won’t be necessary. I’m sure Ted covered all of this.”

  After pressing her lips together tightly, Isabel then gave a nod of her head. “I understand. I hope it’s not too presumptuous of me to remind you that your most pressing matter is next week’s presentation with the potential investor for the Tri-State Chiropractic Board’s new coccyx massager, The Tailsmen.”

  My inner teenage boy fought the urge to snicker at the mention of a coccyx massager. When Ted went over the files with me, we’d both chuckled at the absurdity of such a product. However, this was Isabel, and there was no way in hell I was going to reveal that I was thinking of massaging a cock rather than a coccyx.

  “Yes, I’m aware of that. How many analysts do we have on the presentation?”

  “Two.”

  “When do we anticipate them being finished?”

  “By Thursday at the latest.”

  I nodded. “Good.”

  After cutting her eyes around the room, Isabel shifted on her feet. “Since it seems you have everything under control, I’ll go back to my office now.”

  “Yes, dismissed,” I replied. My words had the affect I was looking for because Isabel appeared to be silently seething. I would have given a hundred bucks to be privy to what she was thinking about me in her head. I’m pretty sure she was mentally stabbing me while at the same time kicking me in the junk repeatedly.

  “Thank you, Mr. Callahan,” she bit out before whirling around. Her heels stomped into the carpeting as she made her way out of the office. Of course, her retreat gave me a fantastic view of her as
s, which peeked out beneath her suit jacket. Just before she slammed the door, she caught herself.

  As soon as I heard the click, I groaned and rubbed my hands over my eyes. I was in so much fucking trouble.

  Chapter Five: Isabel

  When my lunch hour rolled around, I practically bolted from my office. While the celebratory aspect of our lunch no longer applied, I desperately wanted to see Mila. There was no one I could unload my troubles on quite like I could her other than my mom and younger sister, and they were thousands of miles away.

  As soon as I exited the building, a crack formed in the façade I’d constructed since leaving Murray’s office. It had taken everything within me to endure the sad smiles and forlorn expressions from some of my coworkers who had expected my promotion just as much as I had, but I’d held my head high while appearing every bit a steel magnolia. I would not allow anyone to pity me, although I sure as hell felt sorry for myself.

  By the time I waltzed into Mad Dog and Beans, my emotions must’ve been written all over my face because the moment she saw me, Mila’s expression fell. “You didn’t get the promotion?”

  I shook my head as I flopped down in the booth. “No. I didn’t.”

  “But how is that even possible? It was just supposed to be the formality of him offering you the job.”

  “We were both unaware of an outside hire. Well, Murray found out late last week. I guess he didn’t want to completely ruin my weekend by telling me then.”

  Mila’s brows furrowed. “An outside hire?”

  “Not a completely outside hire considering he’s the president’s son—and when I say president, I don’t mean the president of the board. I mean the actual president of the United States.”

  “You’re shitting me!”

  “I wish.”

  “What’s he like?”

  I shuddered at the thought of my first interactions with Thorn. “It was just a nightmare from start to finish that involved him groping me and seeing my boobs.”

  Mila’s eyes bulged. “Excuse me?”

  After drawing in a ragged breath, I proceeded to give her all the gory details. If I hadn’t been so traumatized, I might’ve found her varying expressions somewhat comical, but I’d lost my sense of humor somewhere between punching Thorn and hearing Murray confirm I wasn’t getting the job I’d been sacrificing my life for.

  When I finished, Mila stared at me open-mouthed. Considering she was rarely speechless, it was a little unnerving. “I don’t even have words.”

  “It really is that bad, huh?”

  Mila slowly shook her head. “Belle, if you were hoping I had some words of comfort for you, I’m sorry. I mean, the guy who stole your job saw you topless.”

  “And felt me up,” I added.

  “Exactly. It had to be pure torture meeting the guy who had snatched your promotion away from you, but to have all those other things happen on top of it?” She reached across the table to take my hand in hers. “The margaritas are on me today.”

  “I appreciate that, but I better just stick to one. The last thing I need is to go back to the office blitzed and have everyone talking about how I got sloshed to deal with the pain of not getting the promotion.”

  “Would it really be a bad thing to appear vulnerable?”

  Shaking my head, I replied, “In my business, you cannot afford to appear weak, especially if you’re a woman.”

  “If anyone has the figurative balls to pull it off, it’s you,” Mila acknowledged.

  I laughed. “Thank you.”

  After we gave our meal orders to the waiter, I slouched back against the booth. “The only small hope I have is that because of who he is, Thorn will be promoted soon.”

  “Like how soon?” Mila asked.

  I shrugged. “A year? Eighteen months? However long it takes him to master the vice president job.”

  “Hmm,” she replied. As she swirled her finger around the rim of her margarita glass, Mila appeared suddenly lost in thought.

  “What’s the ‘hmm’ for?”

  “I was just thinking…”

  “A dangerous pastime,” I teased, stealing a line from Beauty and the Beast.

  Mila fell right in step like only a true best friend could. “I know.”

  “Seriously though, what’s up with the lined-brow contemplation?”

  “Twelve to eighteen months is a long time to have to deal with the entitled asshole.”

  “You’re telling me.”

  “Because of who he is, it isn’t likely he would get fired even if he was doing a shitty job.”

  Now it was my turn for the furrowed brow. “What do you mean?”

  Mila began running her finger so quickly around the glass I expected to see smoke curling up at any moment. “Even though Thorn can’t get fired for sucking at his job, he could get transferred to another department or demoted into another position, right?”

  “Maybe. I mean, there are many different facets of the Callahan Corporation. It might be that he’s not a good fit in mergers and acquisitions, so they try him out in underwriting. I think private equity and venture capital might be a stretch for him.”

  “Somewhere along there you stopped speaking my language.”

  “Sorry. Regardless of the terminology, I was agreeing with you.”

  “Good. I’m glad to hear you’re on board with my evil plan.”

  I snickered. “Your evil plan? Don’t tell me you’re devising some scheme to sabotage Thorn?”

  Mila nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about.”

  My amusement quickly faded. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Oh, I’m serious as a heart attack.”

  “Mila, have you lost your mind?”

  “Come on. You know you’ve been quietly contemplating some way to get rid of him so you can reclaim your promotion.”

  Once again, Mila had the uncanny ability to see straight through me. Refusing to meet her eyes, I shifted in my seat. “Maybe.”

  “Ha! I knew it.”

  “But those were just my own private little fantasies. I sure as hell wasn’t going to do anything to act on them.”

  “And what would be so wrong if you did? Broadway is notorious for sabotage.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not some grasping understudy ready to shove Thorn down a flight of stairs to take his part like in Showgirls.”

  Mila held up her hand. “I know you did not just make a reference to Showgirls in relation to legitimate theater.”

  With a roll of my eyes, I replied, “Fine. Would you have preferred me to go for the All About Eve reference instead?”

  Mila nodded. “Much better, although now I’ll forever be imagining Thorn as a drag version of Bette Davis.”

  “He’s far too good-looking for that.”

  “Oh he is?” She waggled her brows suggestively.

  “Yes. The usurper is handsome.” When it became clear that Mila was privy to the fact that I was holding back about Thorn, I sighed. “Fine. He’s drop-dead gorgeous, like model gorgeous.”

  At my declaration, Mila grabbed her phone off the table. “What are you doing?”

  “Research.”

  “Excuse me?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Duh, you know I don’t follow politics, so even though Thorn’s the president’s son, I have no idea what he looks like.” She waved the phone at me. “So, I gotta stalk him.”

  “That’s so unnecessary.”

  “No, it isn’t. I need something to wipe away that drag Bette Davis image in my mind.” I was about to answer her verbally—because she’d missed my epic eye roll—when she gasped loudly. “Holy shitballs.” She briefly glanced at me but then went straight back to her phone. “Good Lord, the man is fine.”

  I reached across the table to grab her phone. Yeah, the guy had been hotter than anything I’d ever seen in a suit, but surely he couldn’t look even better in—

  “Oh.” Before me was Captain Thorn Callahan in his desert BDU pants looki
ng…positively edible. How is that possible?

  Before I could form any other words, Mila said, “You get to see that every day?”

  Since I was still discombobulated, I merely managed a nod.

  “Damn, that’s unfortunate.”

  “Tell me about it,” I muttered.

  “It’s easy to sabotage some homely dude who looks like Shrek or Gollum, but it’s going to be a hell of an epic undertaking to take out a hottie.”

  “Whoa, wait a minute—I never agreed to any sabotage.”

  “You don’t have to undertake anything violent, just small things to make him look bad and to make people question his ability to carry out the job.”

  I felt slightly better that Mila wasn’t implying I should shove Thorn down an escalator and land him in a full-body cast, but at the same time, I wasn’t completely convinced I could actually do what she was suggesting. “I don’t know…”

  “Belle, you deserve that promotion. You’ve worked harder to get where you are than anyone I know outside of the theater.”

  “I do appreciate your belief in my abilities, but I’ve never been someone who could break the rules in order to advance my career, and I don’t think I could start now.”

  “You are seriously to be commended for your code of conduct all these years. With that said, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing in your employee handbook about sabotage. It’s something that occurs each and every day, but no one acknowledges it.”

  “It just seems so underhanded and despicable.”

  “So is nepotism and cronyism,” Mila countered.

  “You have a point.”

  “I’m glad you’re starting to see things my way.”

  After taking a thoughtful gulp of my margarita, I let the tequila coat my stomach and wash away some of my inhibitions. What would it really hurt to pull a few small pranks on Thorn to make him look bad? No, I wasn’t talking about pranks like in The Office when Jim put Dwight’s office supplies in Jell-O or the time he giftwrapped his desk. I was looking more for underhanded deeds than pranks, anything that could highlight how unqualified for the job Thorn truly was. That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?