Page 21 of Bling

Chapter Seven

Isabelle drained her coffee cup—her second that morning—and tossed it into the trashcan on her way into the fulfillment center warehouse. Last night at the Glenview, she’d spent the evening learning the check-in system and reading the employee handbook. Her shift had only lasted until three in the morning, so she was able to grab a couple hours of sleep before getting the girls up and ready for school. The sleep had worn off quickly after wrangling backpacks, lunches, and getting laundry going for her dad to finish later that day.

When she walked into Garrett’s office, she paused, drawing in a sharp breath. New furniture had been delivered sometime between yesterday and today. The office looked completely different. But that’s not what took her breath away. Garrett stood, leaned against the shiny new desk, legs crossed at the ankles. He had a headset on and wore charcoal gray slacks and a black button-down shirt that hugged his arms and shoulders and made her want to run her hands over them. A tie that had likely started around his neck, now lay over the arm of one chair, and he’d rolled his sleeves up to his elbows.

This was Garrett in work mode, and it was fucking sexy. How was she supposed to sort her feelings for him if she was constantly assaulted with his physical attractiveness? Not to mention his intelligence and intense dominant aura. Right at this moment, he was speaking a language she didn’t understand, with his arms folded across his chest, looking quite stern.

When he looked up and noticed her, he gave her a terse nod and motioned for her to sit in one of the chairs.

“I’ll be done in just a few minutes,” he whispered, covering the mic on his headset.

Lowering herself into the chair, she forced herself to tear her eyes away from him and look around the newly decorated office. It had a definitively masculine feel to it, with a lot of black leather and rich stained wood. The art on the walls was abstract and modern and she had a feeling it was worth more than she’d made in her entire life.

“Yellow suits you,” he said abruptly, startling her out of her thoughts. She glanced down at the yellow blouse she’d picked up at a thrift store and smiled.

“Thank you. It’s a favorite color of mine.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? I didn’t know that.”

Isabelle felt her face warm. Yellow was Garrett’s color at the club. It was one reason she’d been happy to be matched with him.

He cleared his throat and pulled a large stack of folders from a file tray on his desk.

“Your first task of the day is to call these people. I split the stack into two groups. One, you’ll be offering their jobs back to them. The others, you’ll be informing that there was a mistake in their severance pay and they can expect an additional two months of pay.”

“How can you afford to give me and Uncle Henry such big raises if the problems at this facility are financial?”

He gave her a wry smile. “A fine question, Isabelle. For starters, a third of the management team has already either resigned or been fired. I’m restructuring the organizational chart in this sector of the company, so I won’t need to pay as many executive level salaries. That money can go to paying staff that are actually worth it. Second, I’ve found at least some of the bleeding likely came from Darren stealing from me. With him gone, I should be able to right the ship by the next quarter.”

Isabelle nodded as she flipped through the folders until she came to Alan’s. He was slated to get his job back.

“Do you mind if we switch Alan to the other group? He’s my cousin. I can talk to him, and the two months of severance pay will be helpful. He got accepted to an excellent school on almost a full scholarship. I don’t want him to be distracted. It would be better for him to not be working right now.” She felt bad for meddling that way, but she didn’t want her cousin to miss this opportunity.

Garrett leaned back in his chair. “Do the math and tell me how much he still needs to cover all of his costs. We’ll create a second scholarship and award it to him as a graduation gift.”

Isabelle gave him a wary glance as she kept flipping the folders. “They may not accept it. I wasn’t kidding about my family being proud.”

Garrett shrugged. “It’s free money. I don’t see why anyone would turn it down. I’ve given high school seniors who’ve done summer internships for me scholarships before. If they need to see that it’s not a charity case, I can get you proof. I’m sure you’ll find a way to make him see reason.”

He turned to his computer and began typing. “I need to get back on the phone, you can work from Jason’s old desk. I wasn’t sure of your tastes, so I haven’t ordered new furniture for that space yet. You’ll find catalogs on the desk. Just mark what you want, and I’ll have Regina order it. You’ve got a ten-thousand-dollar budget.”

Who is Regina, she thought as her eyes grew wide at the number he threw out. “That’s entirely too much.” The way he said it as if ten-grand was no big deal had her head spinning. She understood most of the members of Solitaire were wealthy, but sometimes their spending habits gave her anxiety.

Garrett gave another shrug. “Spend whatever you like. It just needs to look nice.”

Isabelle nodded as Garrett turned back to his screen. “I’ll get started on these calls then.”

Backing out of the office, she sat at the rickety old desk that had been there for years. It needed to be replaced, and she would definitely pick out a more comfortable chair if she were going to be spending any amount of time working here.

When she was done with the calls, she put sticky notes with details of the conversations on each folder and placed them in a neat pile at the corner of her desk before turning her attention to the furniture catalogs. She found a desk that looked nice and a chair with excellent reviews for comfort, along with new seating for visitors.

Garrett stuck his head out and motioned for her to come in a couple of hours later. She handed him the folders with notes and the catalog with furniture marked.

“You didn’t pick any art,” he said as he flipped through the pages with a scowl.

Isabelle gave a curt laugh. “I know nothing about art. It didn’t seem like anything I really needed.”

It has to look professional,” he scolded. “I can pick some things I find acceptable and you’ll choose from that.”

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