Page 27 of At Her Will

“John has applied here before. He didn’t have the qualifications we were seeking.”

“Let me guess.” He gave her a wry smile. “You were looking for someone who isn’t an egomaniac with impulse control problems?”

“There’s only room for one egomaniac here. I refuse to share the limelight.”

Vera’s gaze shifted to Cyn, leaning in her door frame. “You’re no egomaniac. But as far as impulse control problems…”

“Uptight people often thinknormalpeople have impulse control issues.” Cyn crossed her eyes at Vera, then turned her attention to a grinning Ren. “I know you don’t start for a couple weeks, but before you head back to your hotel, I thought we’d do lunch with your team.”

“I’d planned on it. If you have other things to do, I can take them solo. We can get to know one another before I’m formally their boss.”

“That would work.” Cyn tossed Vera an approving glance. This was going to be a good choice.

Ren rose and shook Vera’s hand with a firm but not overcompensating grip. “I’ll shoot the copies of your benefits paperwork and contract to your email,” she said.

“Great. I’m looking forward to working with you all.”

Cyn stepped aside. “I’ll meet you at Bastion’s desk in a few minutes to do the hand off, so they know I okayed it.”

“You got it, boss.”

“Supreme Bitch in Charge is sufficient.”

Vera sighed as Ren took his leave of them with another chuckle. “The bad thing is he thinks you’re joking.”

“Not at all. My winning personality came through loud and clear during our interview. Bastion took a decided interest in him, by the way. Nothing inappropriate, HR nazi,” she added. “I could just tell. Hard to say if Ren’s bread is buttered on the bisexual side, though. Sexual preference really should be part of the hiring process. Stupid EOE guidelines.”

“Said no smart HR rep for a company,ever,” Vera responded. “Using the workplace as a dating pool isn’t wise. Just ask Watt.”

“Wisdom and sex have nothing to do with one another.” Cyn grinned. “You want to be my date at Progeny this weekend? Mick won’t be back from Quantico until Monday.”

Vera straightened the two pens on her desk. “I may bring Rev. He’s not ready to be thrown into the deep end, but he can take a stroll around the pool.”

“And you’re going to be his lifeguard to keep him from falling in.”

“Or to keep him from being pushed.” Vera did the watching you gesture at her friend.

“No pushing.” Cyn glanced over her shoulder, confirming no employees from the lower levels were visiting Skye, Ros or Abby’s offices. “But if he decides he wants to be slathered in oil and strapped to a fucking machine, I’ll help choose the right sized rubber dick to put up his ass. Because the right size is everything. How’s his, by the way? Dick, I mean, because his ass looks superb.”

“Cynbad Marigold…you are in a forever, until the end of time relationship, with a male whose stamina has to compete with a racehorse’s to keep up with you.”

“Just because I’ve chosen the cake I want doesn’t mean I don’t notice how good the others in the case look. And Mick hasn’t lost a race yet.”

Vera eyed her. “Get out of my office. Your tender smile creeps me out.”

Cyn’s sexy laugh trailed over her shoulder as she headed for the stairs. “See you later, HR nazi.”

Two days later, Vera had a meeting with the client near Rev’s middle school again. She’d called the school that morning to verify Rev was working today, and that he usually took his lunch break around one-thirty. She could have left a “call me back” message for him, but for certain things, she was on the same page as he was about the phone. Asking him if he was ready to join her at Club Progeny, now that they’d had their first date, was a face-to-face thing.

She let Bastion know she was taking a long personal lunch hour. When she told him it was none of his business who she was meeting, he smugly informed her she’d told him exactly who it was. She didn’t confirm. Or deny.

When she arrived, she went to the admin offices for her visitor pass. “I can page Rev for you,” Cherry, the school secretary, told her. Mavis was at a school board meeting.

“If you know where he takes his lunch, I’ll go there, so he doesn’t waste any of it coming up here to fetch me.”

“Where you met Mavis on your last visit, the shed by the playing fields? You’ll probably find him with one or more of the kids. They like to talk to him during their lunch breaks.”

“Mavis said he’s the kid whisperer.”

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