Page 6 of With Us

“That was fast.”

He lifted his phone, still typing something. “I sent the email from your account.”

A minute later, the doors silently opened to another lobby. I barely stepped off before Rosa launched out of her seat.

That’s not a good sign.

Working as both my receptionist and office manager, Rosa was more like Superwoman in business attire. If she was upset, there was a reason.

“I’m sorry, he refused to wait out here.” She tipped her head toward the monitor on her desk that accessed cameras in my office. “Other than looking at your shelves, he’s been sitting there, huffing and puffing as if you’ve had this meeting on the books for weeks. Which, I might add, I suggested he domultipletimes.” She put her hands on her hips, a sure sign she’d done something wrong.

“What?” I asked.

“He pushed past me.” At the look on mine and Luc’s face, she backtracked. “Notliterally. But he wouldn’t accept my very polite offer to sit out here and have a cup of coffee. So… I may have tripped him when he walked by my desk.”

“You’re fired.”

Rosa just rolled her eyes before turning away from me to kiss Luc’s cheek. “Mama called. She said dinner tonight.”

He shook his head. “Can’t.”

“If it’s a date, bring her. It’ll get Mama off your back for at least two weeks.”

Luc scoffed. “Yeah, right. More like two days, and that’s only if I’m lucky. It could be like last time when she tried to set me up with someone else while my date was right next to me.”

“Yeah, but that woman was awful.”

“I know, which is why I never saw her after that. Anyway, I don’t have a date tonight. Work.”

Since she knew our schedules better than Luc and I did, she knew there was nothing official on the calendar.

Like all the Ricci’s, Rosa was tall, with light brown eyes and hair. She was hardworking, loyal, and basically family, which meant she, too, got away with more than most. Like her brother, she knew when to ask questions.

More importantly, she knew whennotto.

“I’ll let her know. She’ll reschedule, though, so you’d better get in touch with her,” she said before turning back to me. “I pushed your next meeting back, but there was only a twenty-minute window.”

I nodded, setting an alarm on my watch as I headed toward my office.

Pushing open the heavy wood door, I entered, setting my expression to a friendly neutral.

The smell of stale cigars filled the space, emanating from the paunch bellied man wasting my time. Nothing on my desk looked out of place, not that there was anything important sitting around. The chairs in front of the desk were empty. Instead, Simmons was seated in one of the four chairs positioned around a coffee table.

Strategic power play.

Too bad it’s a poorly thought out one.

I bit back my smile.

At my desk, it was clear I was in charge. In his mind, the casual seating area would put us as equals.

“Mr. Simmons, what can I do for you?” I approached the chair across from him, but I made no move to sit.

His beady eyes widened as he realized his error. He shifted as if to stand before pausing.

Bolting up would highlight his insecurities. Remaining seated meant I loomed over him, literallyandfiguratively looking down my nose at him.

Obviously reaching the same conclusion, he reluctantly sank back. “I wanted to discuss the contract.”

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