Page 46 of Stolen Kisses

Upon first meeting Chase’s brothers, I’d assigned them personality tags, so to speak. Even Chase didn’t realize what it all entailed.

Knox, Finn, and now Wyatt were the outgoing obnoxious guys, but probably in a fun-loving way. Duncan struck me as a stable, responsible man, probably because he had a son. Griffin seemed more like Wyatt than Duncan, though I could be wrong. And Chase was... a grump. Of that I was certain.

Magda walked up to us from her office. "Excellent. I like that you're such an early riser," she said, coming straight to me. "Chase, good morning."

"Good morning, Magda."

She glanced at me and then at Chase. "Good thinking on bringing her up in the private elevator. I forgot to tell you to avoid eight thirty at all costs, unless you want to brace the line. Come on, I'll show you to your place."

"Have a great day, Hannah," he said.

"Thank you." I walked quickly with Magda, hoping she couldn't tell there was something off between Chase and me.

With a final wave, he went back in the elevator.

Magda clapped her hands together. "All right, I've got everything prepared for you at your section."

"I get a permanent desk?" I asked.

"Yes."

I sighed in relief. "That's good. I'm not a fan of those office spaces where you have to bring in your things daily because you don't know where you’ll be sitting."

"We tried that once, and it was a nightmare. Everyone was wasting so much time in the morning searching for a free spot. It just wasn’t productive. And we all need a place to store our laptops anyway, so why not have specific seating?”

“That makes sense.”

"And you also should know we have a strict policy of people not taking their work home with them. I implemented it," she said proudly. “I sold it to the boss as a security issue, but what I was really hoping for was to bring a semblance of work/life balance in the investment world. The only ones who do not abide by this rule are the bosses. They're certified workaholics."

I really liked Magda.

She showed me to my seat, which was on the third row out of fifteen, square in the middle of everyone. I would've preferred to sit close to a wall or a window, somewhere that I only had a neighbor on one side, but I couldn't go around making any demands.

"All right, you've got everything you need here. You can email questions as you have them. I'll do my best to answer them right away. The work package will be in your email, so you can hit the ground running," she explained.

"Excellent. Thanks, Magda."

I was giddy as I started my computer and then dove into work. Two hours later, though, my enthusiasm receded a bit. Crap. What if Iwaslooking forward to this just because of Chase? Well, that didn't mean I couldn't do a great job. I liked working with numbers and analyzing market data. I just liked running the inn more. But still, I knew I could do this for a while, and do it well.

The room filled with other brokers soon enough. I was impressed that I got noise-canceling headphones from the company, because they were a lifesaver with an open-plan office like this.

Around lunch, I took a break. We could all order from the canteen restaurant downstairs, and they would send it right up. There were several break rooms on each floor, and most people ate their lunch there. Some also ate at their desk, which was what I opted to do today.

I took off my noise-canceling headphones while I ate and realized my neighbors were talking about Chase.

"Why do you think he was in Magda's office so long this morning?" one of them asked.

Chase had been down here?I instinctively glanced through the window, but Magda seemed to be alone right now.

"No clue. Let's hope they're not preparing for a firing round."

"I don't think so," I pitched in. "I mean, they just hired me. They wouldn't be doing that if they were preparing to lay off people."

The two women smiled at me.

"I thought you looked new," the one closest to me said. "Sorry we didn't introduce ourselves, but you seemed in the zone."

"I was," I admitted.

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