Page 17 of Indecent Secrets

Jack grimaced. “The state of academia is… deplorable. They’re constantly asking us to do more with less and we’ve been understaffed for ages. I’m probably the last person they’ll be giving tenure for a long time. But at least I trained for everything I do there. And my colleagues weren’t trying to oust me.”

I smiled reassuringly at him. “Well, I’d suggest maybe retiring if it wasn’t for the fact that it would satisfy the vultures.”

“Trust me, I’d consider it too if I could,” Jack grumbled.

Hmm. This might be easier than I’d thought. If he was already primed to want to retire back to being a professor, all I had to do was show him that it was actually possible. But he didn’t like the idea of these vultures getting one up on him. I’d have to frame the dissolving of the company in a way that would make them all look bad.

The temptation to tell him my idea right this second was a strong one, but I had to stay calm and patient. I couldn’t let my eagerness run away with me. He’d find it suspicious that the person who was supposed to help him thrive in the company was immediately saying, “Well, give it all up and split the company apart then!”

That didn’t fit with the idea of who I was, and it sounded like crazy advice from just about anyone.

“Well, we can’t always choose the cards that life deals us,” I said pragmatically instead. “Have you given any thought to your public image? I know it’s the last thing you want to think about right now but it’s something you need to get control of as soon as possible.”

“How do you know it’s the last thing I want to think about? I think my image is pretty good.” Jack winked at me.

I rolled my eyes. “Ha, ha, ha. Because you’re a recluse up until two weeks ago, that’s how I know that.”

“All right, fair.” Jack shrugged and leaned further back in his chair. “What would you recommend I do? I want to have something solid to show for it before I walk out there to hold a press conference and start making promises. Nobody is going to take anything I say seriously if I don’t have something to show for it.”

“But if you don’t make some public appearances and talk to reporters now, you’re leaving the door wide open for other people to say whatever they want about you or to draw their own conclusions,” I pointed out. “People aren’t great on their own, Jack. They make their own assumptions and they speculate, and next thing you know you have conspiracy theories on your hands. Just look at any television show fandom during the summer hiatus.”

Jack snorted with amusement. “This isn’t about who’s going to die on Game of Thrones.”

“You realize that show ended, right?”

“No, it’s still going.”

“That’s a prequel.”

“Oh my God.” Jack laughed, the low, rumbling sound doing arousing things to my female parts. “You’re a nerd, aren’t you? You’re a total nerd.”

“I’ll have you know that only makes me sexier,” I pointed out. Men loved that I could talk about their video games and fantasy shows with them.

“Never said that it didn’t,” Jack replied.

“Let me guess,” I said, tapping my chin with my finger. “You’re strictly into sports.”

“The philosophy professor who’s into sports?” he asked incredulously. “That’s a new one.”

“It sounds like the start of a joke, honestly. Does he also walk into a bar?”

Jack looked absolutely delighted by me. I found my face heating up. This wasn’t flirting. Not quite. There weren’t any sexual undertones to it. But it was a kind of banter. I liked that we could go back and forth like this. It was fun. Jack was fun.

I took that thought, crushed it in my hand, then dropped it on the floor and stomped on it. I didn’t care if Jack Lawton was fun or not. He was my prey, my mark, not my actual fuck buddy. Or, God forbid, my boyfriend.

“Let’s talk to the people in the company on a direction we can go,” Jack said. “Once we have that, we can discuss doing some press, how’s that sound?”

“All right,” I agreed.

He would feel better if he had something to say about where he was taking the company, that was fine. It wasn’t like I was actually an expert on public relations anyway. But I did find it refreshing to meet a man who didn’t actually care about getting into the spotlight the first opportunity he could.

“I’ll see what Rebecca can come up with.”

“Perfect.” He sat up straight and reached for the paperwork on his desk. “I have to go over these files and then I have those meetings, so feel free to do what you need to during the day. We’ll reconvene here after that ad presentation?”

I nodded. A few hours to make friends in the office and start to plant some seeds of destruction. “Sounds perfect.”

Chapter 9

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