Page 15 of Hers to Love
Greater than arm’s length.
That meant not seeing her after hours at the hotel. No more gondola rides. Meals were okay to discuss business, but they had better be witnessed by a lot of people.
Definitely no more meditating on how beautiful she looked. He’d use the intercom system between their office phones to communicate. He could probably go eleven out of twelve hours without seeing her.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Marshall heard a knock at the door. Perry again? “Come in.”
Ah, the lovely Ms. Kaye. This was going to be more difficult than he’d thought.
“How can I help you, Ms. Kaye?”
Something briefly flickered in her eyes, then her face was all stone. “Sir, I think we need to talk about the last year.”
More criticisms.Great.She was already starting to be less attractive.
Not so great.
Chapter 7
Kori really didn’t want to disparage Marshall’s previous assistant. She had told herself she wouldn’t win this argument if she did. Kori believed the last girl did enough to keep Marshall out of grievous trouble, but pushing him to keep his commitments or going above and beyond wasn’t evidenced. It grated on Kori’s nerves; she took her job seriously and considered an executive assistant as both a shield and mirror to the CEO. They kept bosses out of trouble, and they made sure they were prepared for anything.
And Kori was about to hang up a mirror.
It hadn’t taken Kori long to realize that organization was sorely lacking in Marshall’s life. She empathized. The man had a tough divorce. The death of a relationship as deep and profound as marriage was tantamount to the death of an actual family member or friend. Bouncing back from that would be incredibly difficult the deeper the love went. Kori suspected that despite his ex’s behavior, Marshall had loved her dearly. She gave him some credit.
Only some.
But to completely let stuff slide? He oversaw several of the company’s internal audits for various divisions and the employee appraisal program—by choice. A few of these had blown right through monthly and quarterly deadlines. Kori was surprised the board of directors gave Marshall this much slack. Maybe it didn’t matter so much because they wanted to get rid of him anyway.
Well, he wasn’t going to let up any more under her watch.
At least not for the last few months she and Marshall had jobs. She would make sure he left the company on a high note and her as well. Their performance would be irreproachable, which would definitely help her impending court case and securing another position.
“Last year?” Marshall asked in response to her statement about them needing to discuss it. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Sit. What about last year?”
Kori marched forward and planted herself in a warm seat. She ignored the feeling and gave Marshall a cold look in response to his easy grin. She set her iPad on the desk and scrolled through a couple of pages and then screen shared a document she had prepared to his computer.
“What you’re seeing on your screen is a collection of missed suspenses for various departments under your immediate direction.”
Marshall’s head snapped to his screen. “How did you get access to my computer?”
Kori willed his gaze back to hers. “Sir, I’m good at my job. I pride myself in being efficient.”
“Point taken.”
“The ones in red, at the top, are the most urgent. The rest I’ve categorized by color to make it easier on the eyes to spot those needing immediate attention.”
He inclined his head forward, his eyes narrowed in concentration. “Good, good. I’m following.”
“I’ve researched the files left by the previous assistant and can find no follow-up notices or any plans to conduct the needed audits. With your permission, I’d like to schedule meetings with the heads of the departments immediately to discuss a way forward.”
Marshall was still reading the massive laundry list of things to do. Red all the way down the page. That list was followed by another extensive block of yellow, and a splattering of green mixed in. Several departments were completely in the red. None were all green. Kori suspected he would probably not want to deal with any of it.
“You’ve come up with this all on your own?”
“It’s my job, sir, and I do it well.”
