Page 18 of Designed for Disaster

“What were you saying?” I asked.

He opened his mouth, clearly ready to let me have it…but a beat later, he remembered we had an audience, and he closed it with a disgruntled look. “I think you know what I meant.”

“Do I?”

Bonnie smirked, covering her mouth with her hand. It occurred to me that maybeIshould be a little more aware of the fact that we had an audience—an audience I wanted to make a good impression on—but I couldn’t let him get away with annoying the hell out of me. If we were going to make this little working relationship happen, I needed him to know that even though he was the boss, I wasn’t going to let him get away with talking down to me.

Trent cleared his throat, changing the subject, and I smirked, feeling like I’d made progress with Mr. Coffeezilla. Despite the initial frosty reception from my team, I was starting to feel hopeful that this job might work out after all.

6

TRENT

“Dee! So good to see you!”

I looked up from my computer, hearing my secretary’s voice. Pam, a middle-aged mother of three with the practiced efficiency of a drill sergeant, tended to treat me like I was one of her sons who she’d caught making mischief. But, like everyone, she adored Dee, who she’d connected with in my early days as CEO, shortly after I’d taken over from my parents.

I checked my phone, half rising out of my seat. There were no messages from Dee saying she was coming by. At first, I worried something was wrong, but if that was the case, why would Dee have trekked all the way out here? Surely, Sofia would have called me.

My door swung open a moment later, and Dee strode in, fresh-faced and put together. Her pearls were in place, her hair was curled and coiffed the way she liked it, and there was a fine dusting of blush on her cheeks. The only indication that Dee wasn’t in peak fighting form was the canister of oxygen she rolled along behind her.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, buttoning my jacket as I walked around the end of my desk to plant a kiss on her cheek. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, everything’s fine.” She looked at me funny. “I’m here for lunch, of course.”

We used to have a standing weekly lunch date, but she hadn’t felt up to coming into the office recently. The last big event I’d managed to get her out of the house for had been the opening of the Red Lion—a new bar that was a joint venture between Aiden’s fiancée, Cora; Cora’s best friend, Jenn; and Aiden’s dad. Since then—and especially since being placed on supplemental oxygen—she’d been mostly housebound.

“That’s great!” I said, thrilled at the exuberance in her voice and the renewed pep in her step. “So…Gallery 45?” The boutique Spanish eatery had her favorite tapas, and it was just down the street from the office. “Are you up for walking? Are you feeling okay?”

She waved off my questions, glancing over her shoulder.

“What are you looking for?”

“Nothing,” she said, turning and heading back into the hall.

I grabbed my wallet and my phone, darting after her. Pam gave me a shrug in answer to my unasked question—What’s with her?I didn’t know what had gotten into Dee today, but if it got her out of the house, I was on board.

She headed for the elevator, and we stepped inside. I hit the button for the lobby, but she reached out and quickly hit floor five.

I frowned at her.

“I just want to pop in and visit the design team,” she said.

I rolled my eyes.

“Hello everyone!” Dee called out when we got to the fifth floor, walking straight into the conference room. Talia and Javi immediately came out to greet Dee, giving her hugs and gushing over her blouse and her shoes. My eyes trailed to Natasha’s office. Her door was open just a smidge, and I could hear the click of a keyboard.

I scrolled through a couple quick emails while Dee caught up with the design team for a few minutes. When I looked up again, she was knocking on Natasha’s door. “Just me,” she sang.

“Dee!” Natasha said. I couldn’t see her face, but she sounded pleased. “Sorry, I was just finishing up some orientation things.”

Dee waved her off. “Leave that for now. You must join us for lunch,” she insisted. “I want to hear all about how your first day is going.”

Ah, I thought. So this was why Nana Dee had come all the way out here. She wanted to check up on Natasha and me.

“Oh, no,” Natasha said. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Impose?” Dee said. “How would you be imposing?”

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