Page 7 of A Hard Fit

Finn raised an eyebrow. “Yup. And I didn’t hear his life story.” A low chuckle slipped out. It had been a good date. Henry had asked to see him again, and there was no reason to say no. They were going to go out again Wednesday night.

Luka snickered as their boss Ilona clacked in.

“Good morning, everyone,” she said, perfect and polished as usual. Raven-black hair cascaded onto her sharp red blazer, lips painted a matching color. “Hope you all had a good weekend. Now, if you’ll refer to the agenda I sent out on Friday…”

They were making their way through their files, reviewing the status of their major projects, when Ilona paused, shuffling a stack of papers. “One moment…I’m just trying to find the numbers for the PDF downloads.”

“The downloads for the PDF were up by two hundred and five percent,” came a small voice in the silence. Heads snapped over. It was Rory. “It was one hundred and twenty percent the previous quarter.”

Ilona raised her groomed eyebrow.

Rory squirmed. “I’m pretty sure.”

Ilona flipped to the next page and ran her finger down some columns. “That’s right.” She studied Rory for a moment. “Any chance you know the click-through rate?”

As a matter of fact, Rory did know. They proceeded to rattle off any number Ilona could ask about.

“Um.” Ilona put the papers down. “Thank you, Rory.”

Finn picked his jaw up off the table. So. Eidetic memory. No big deal. What else was going on behind those deep brown eyes?

“Before I let you go,” Ilona added after the file review, “I wanted to let you know that I heard from head office this morning, and they are sending a VP to head the Sartini file. Thomas Badgley will be joining us in about two weeks.” Sartini was a prestigious wine label that had recently expanded into the fine-dining business and had chosen Breakpoint as their new advertising firm. It was a huge client and would take up a lot of their time and energy.

Finn knew that name. “The Big Bad Wolf is coming here?”

Ilona narrowed her eyes. “I can only assume, Finn, that you will refrain from using that nickname again, particularly when Mr. Badgley is in our office?”

“Er, of course, boss.” Finn mimed zipping his lips shut.

“The Big Bad Wolf?” Rory asked as they filed out of the room. “What’s that nickname about?”

“Well, he’s big and bad.” Finn laughed. “That’s all I know.”

“He’s apparently a little scary,” Luka added. “He’s huge, wears expensive suits. They send him in for the really big clients.”

“Another suit telling me about art.” Finn rolled his eyes. “Can’t wait.”

“They say he’s helpful.” Luka shrugged. “Maybe it’ll be a good thing.” He checked his watch. “Damn it, I’m supposed to meet Morgan. Catch you later.” He waved and disappeared down the hall.

The silence stretched out between Finn and Rory. “Well—” Finn said, at the same time Rory started talking.

“What are some good lunch places around here?” Rory asked. “I couldn’t face my leftovers this morning.”

“Uh, there’s a great deli just down the street. It’s my favorite lunch spot.”

“Sounds great. I’ll give it a try. Would you care to join me?”

“Oh.” Finn’s stomach twisted. “I brought a lunch.”

“Okay, ano—”

“Sure,” Finn blurted. “Yes. I don’t want to eat my leftovers either.”

Rory’s eyes crinkled. “Great. I’ll meet you in the foyer at twelve?”

“See you then.”

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