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Ten thousand dollars for one meeting?Oh my god, that’s wild.

But the best kind.

With dollar signs flashing like a bright neon sign in her mind, she smiled. “What time should I be there?”

2

Some stereotypes existed for a reason and Maureen Somers turned out to be the quintessential efficient, unflappable middle-aged woman one would expect to hold the position of the executive assistant to the CEO.

In the span of sixty short minutes, she put all those qualities to effective use, setting up a space for Kennedy in the smaller of the two conference rooms on the ninth floor, supplying her with a gold executive name badge, a spare laptop, a quick overview of the company, and a thumb drive containing the PowerPoint presentation being delivered to Sahara and her representatives that afternoon.

No one expected that Kennedy would be asked any questions—that was the VP of Marketing’s wheelhouse—but just in case, she was instructed to respond in generalities and make sure to emphasize her social media experience. Next, she went down to see Sally in HR, who not only took care of the housekeeping issues that allowed them to pay her the bonus directly, rather than through the temp agency, but shed total light on the seeming urgency of the situation.

It appeared yesterday Sahara had walked into a meeting with one of their competitors, looked at those in attendance, and had promptly walked out without saying a word when she didn’t see one Black face in the room. Which was why ECO Apparel was willing to pay ten grand to make sure the same thing didn’t happen to them.

Ten grand!

Every time Kennedy thought about it, she wanted to pinch herself. She was torn between the desire to pay down what remained on her student loan or stash the bulk of it away for a rainy day. Like if she didn’t get a job right away, she’d at least be able to pay her rent for a few months without emptying her savings.

By the time lunch rolled around, Kennedy’s stomach was filled with too many butterflies to accommodate actual food, so she donned a pair of sunglasses and went to the deli across the street. There, she bought a large lemonade, grabbed an empty table in the back where it was quiet enough to have a conversation, and hit the speed dial on her phone to call her best friend, Aurora.

The two met when they were seventeen, their senior year in high school, at a national debate competition and had been best friends since. She was the one who’d convinced Kennedy to apply to universities in New York. They’d both been accepted to Columbia, become roomies, and the rest, as they say, was history. Now, after nine years in the Big Apple, Kennedy couldn’t imagine herself anywhere else. This was home.

Aurora picked up on the first ring and skipped preliminary greetings. “Hey, I was just thinking about you, and I have a plan. If you don’t find a decent-paying job by the end of the month, I can talk to Nate.”

Near-bursting with excitement over her newfound fortune, Kennedy’s train of thought was immediately sidetracked. “Ror, for the last time, I’m not working for your brother,” she exclaimed, rolling her eyes.

This wasn’t the first or undoubtedly the last time Aurora would raise the subject. She’d said the same thing when Kennedy started looking for a job after they’d graduated, and then every time she expressed an inkling of dissatisfaction with said job.

Work for Nate, he’s brilliant. Work for Nate, he’s good to his employees. Work for Nate, he pays great.

While all of that might be true, Nate could be a teensy bit intimidating—okay, plenty intimidating. And coming from someone who pulled off cool and collected as if she’d been born to play the role, that said a lot.

Kennedy had dealt with her fair share of good-looking men of all strata her entire adult life. Nathaniel Robert Vaughn, however, was an entirely different species. He wastooeverything: too good-looking, too smart, too opaque, too driven, too cool and detached, andwaytoo far out of her league.

And that was the rub. Something she hated admitting even to herself. Suffice it to say, the less she had to do with him, the better. A job at his company would open a door best kept closed.

Her objection wasn’tentirelypersonal. At the age of thirty-two, he was the founder and CEO of Constellation, a tech company in the vein of Amazon and Apple, andshehad no technical skills to speak of.

“Look, I know my brother can be a little...standoffish, but I promise, he likes you. He thinks you’re a good influence on me. Anyway, you wouldn’t be working directly for him, and you’d barely see him.”

He likes you.

That was debatable.

Agitated, Kennedy began toying with her hair, winding a dark ringlet around her index finger. “It’s not a matter of having to see him,” she lied. “It’s a tech company, which means he’d literally have to create a position just for me.” Not a lie, that one.

“Actually, he’s been talking about bringing Constellation’s marketing in-house.”

For a brief second, that piqued Kennedy’s interest, before she squashed it beneath her stiletto-clad toe. “Well, until he does, this discussion is over.” Softening her tone, she continued soothingly, “Don’t worry. I’ll find something by the end of the month. As a matter of fact—”

“And if you don’t, do you promise you’ll let me talk to Nate?” Aurora cut in. “You know he’d hire you in a heartbeat.”

Because his baby sister would make him.

The thought brought a reluctant smile to her face. Not just her best friend in the whole world, Aurora was her fiercest defender. Her blonde ninja. And she loved her to bits because of it. “I promise.”

“Cross your heart?”

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