Page 39 of Indecent Ventures

Her lips are an inch from mine. She breathes, “I guess we’re a match.”

I nod. Our lips are about to meet when something on her desk buzzes. A voice says, “Ms. McGinley, you said to remind you when your appointment with Mr. Windsor was thirty minutes away.”

Jade turns her head and shouts, “Thanks, Minnie. In thirty-five minutes, show him in.”

“Will do.”

“Your assistant’s name is Minnie? Does she live with Mickey or Donald?”

“Obviously Mickey. Daffy lives with Donald.”

“My bad. Why thirty-five minutes?”

“Reagan is interviewing this guy for the vacant CIO position. She wants me to be the bad cop with him. To test his boundaries. I’ll make him wait a few minutes.”

I’m not sure why that’s hot but it is. Everything about her take-charge demeanor is hot.

“What’s a CIO?”

“A Chief Investment Officer. He or she identifies opportunities. Businesses we should invest in. Properties we should buy and develop.”

“I see.”

She nods toward the file. “We should get started.”

We spend the next thirty-five minutes going through my vision for the rebuild. She asks thorough follow-up questions. It’s clear she’s good at what she does and is passionate about it. I suppose she wouldn’t hold this position at her young age if that wasn’t the case.

Precisely thirty-five minutes after her assistant rang, there’s a knock at the door. She stands and straightens her jacket. “Time for me to squeeze his balls.”

“Ooh. Where do I sign up for that?”

She waves her hand. “Bye, Collin. I’ll let you know when this is done. Give me a little time. I’m slammed.”

“Bye, Jade. Let me know if you need to be slammed more.”

* * *

JADE

I knock on Reagan’s door and hear her say, “Come in.”

I walk in and she looks up and smiles. “What’s up?”

“I just met with Windsor.”

“And?”

“And you didn’t tell me it was Beckett Windsor.”

She gives me her devilish smile as she taps her chin with her pen. “It must have slipped my mind.”

I narrow my eyes at her bullshit. “It slipped your mind that we’re interviewing a billionaire entrepreneur to workunderyou and Carter? The man who was once named the most brilliant mind in the business world? The one that doesn’t have to work another day in his life?”

“He’s bored. He’s not ready to hit the golf course and early bird special circuit yet. He doesn’t want the hassles of running his own company anymore, but he still wants to play the game.”

“Anymore? He can’t be more than forty-five or fifty. It’s not like he’s got one foot in the grave.”

“I know. That’s what appeals to me. There’s a lot more gas left in his tank. He’s obviously got a proven track record of finding small businesses with the potential to become big ones. He wants to keep busy, and he likes what we do and how we do it. I just want to make sure he can handle being the worker bee, not the queen bee.”

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