Page 81 of Unfinished

“Great the skirt it is.” Aston laughed as he walked out of the room. Like he said, he was a geek gay so I was going to choose the one he didn't. I met Aston at work a few years ago and we became fast friends. A year later, and we were all living with each other.

The white short sleeve blouse didn’t show off too much cleavage and accentuated my curves when tucked into my black pencil skirt. I added a thick black belt, a long silver necklace and a simple silver bangle. Slipping into my black heels, I fixed the ankle strap and gave myself a quick once over in my full-length mirror.

My hair was curled into big waves and pulled back on one side so the rest hung over the opposite shoulder and down my back. I decided on a natural look for my makeup, so I applied a dusty rose lip color before I stepped back and gave myself a nod in the mirror.

“You’ve got this job, Hannah. Today is the day,” I whispered to myself in the mirror.

I grabbed my purse and Aston was standing near the door in black pants and a white button down with the sleeves rolled up, “You’ve got this promotion. It’s already in the bag.”

“I really hope so, this is what I have been working for.”

Aston handed me coffee in a travel mug as we walked out of our apartment. I'd achieved almost everything I wanted to and this promotion I would check the final goal off my list. Dream job, living in New York City, and climbing the corporate ladder.

Aston flagged down a taxi and I slid in after him. Typically, I took public transportation, but today I couldn’t handle being near that many people. I needed to keep my head in the game.

At work, I dropped my purse in a desk drawer and clipped my work ID to my skirt. Taking a second to close my eyes, I took a few deep breaths. Standing up straight, I rolled my shoulders and made my way to the elevator. I pressed the button for the top floor and reminded myself I deserved this promotion.

The elevator doors opened and I was greeted by reception.

“Hannah Meyer, I have a meeting with Declan,” I informed the person at the desk.

“Right, down the hall and on the left.”

They smiled at me and I smiled back. Declan’s office was in between Douglas, his father, the CEO; and Damien, his younger brother and the COO for VanadiumWorks. Darius, the youngest King brother and CFO, had an office on the other side of Declan’s office. I met everyone when I was first hired, but after that, I haven’t had any meetings with them.

I knocked on Declan's door and a deep voice told me to enter. I opened the door and was greeted with a beautiful view of the city and a large office. Declan sat behind a big desk with two chairs in front of it. A black modern leather sofa with a couple of matching chairs were set across from each other on the other side of the office.

“Good morning, Hannah,” Declan said, standing and walking around the desk to shake my hand.

Declan was a good looking man at about six feet, perfectly messy black hair, and deep brown eyes that were extremely kind. He was tan and you could tell he was strong, even through his suit. His eyes slid down my body in more than a professional manner, but I let those thoughts go immediately. Declan was my boss and freaking brilliant. Graduated from FIT, then went off to finish another Masters in Business at Trident King University. Rumor had it he had been programming since he was twelve.

“Good morning, you wanted to meet with me?”

Declan gestured to the seat, “Yes, I have a couple of things I’d like to talk to you about.”

I sat down in a chair as he took his seat behind his desk again. He leaned back and faced me with a smile.

“I’ve been watching your work and it’s impeccable. You also shared a few ideas that helped other teams complete new products. We are proud to have you working for us,” he paused and I swallowed but kept a soft smile on my face, “You are being promoted to Senior Software Developer. There is a raise, an office, and a few more benefits. HR can handle all of that after this meeting.”

“Thank you.” I smiled brightly, trying to hold back my excitement but failing to completely contain it.

Inside, I was jumping up and down for joy and screaming. I’d worked damn hard to get here and I was so excited to have finally reached my big goal. And I did it before I turned thirty.

“Now, we have signed on to a huge project that we are being contracted to do and I want you to head the project.” Declan looked at me with his eyebrows raised and my eyes went wide, my mouth even parted slightly.

If the party bus was running through my head, the tires squealed as it came to a quick stop. Did he say head up a project?

“What type of project?” I questioned.

“We need to create software that will do cookie-less tracking for advertisers. With browsers ending support for third party cookies, advertising companies are looking for ways to track their ads online without any cookies at all.”

“Ad tech?”

“Yes, the client approached us last weekend and we signed the contract this week. Now we need to make sure we put the correct team on it. You will put together that team and head up this project, working directly with me.” My mind was already running through software developers I wanted to add to the team.

“Okay, I have a few people in mind.” I nodded as a team was starting to form in my head.

“Right, we will be working directly with the client a lot, so there will likely be some on-site work, here in the city, as well as meetings. We are also hiring a team of lawyers to consult regarding international laws concerning tracking and they’ll be playing a major role in the development of this product.”

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