Page 99 of Mr. Almost

“Of course. That’s the staff elevator, but there is a public elevator at the back of the hotel too. It’s the one that anyone coming to visitthe offices uses. You can use it too. Then you pop out right at the reception to this area.”

I give her a grateful smile. “That’s a good idea.”

“Any who. Here’s the break room.” She leads me inside the room.

There are a couple of employees sitting around, but no one pays us any mind. Iris goes to the fridge and pulls out two waters. She hands me one.

I take it, opening it to take a swig. My nerves have settled significantly.

“Ready for our meeting? No reason to be nervous. It’s not bad,” Iris tells me.

“Yeah. I don’t want to keep Max waiting.”

Iris snorts. “The man can take a little waiting. No one should be jumping at his beck and call.”

She loops her arm in mine again, leading me down the hall.

“Aren’t you his assistant? Isn’t that your actual job?” I ask.

“Yeah, right. Most people view me as his assistant because I’m a female and always at his side. We are more like partners. He wouldn’t be able to manage without me.”

“That must be nice. Do you like your job?”

She smiles. “Love it. It’s like I get to be the boss behind the scenes. He’s the face, but I’m the brains. Not to say he’s not smart. He does a lot of things that I couldn’t or don’t want to do, but I’ve made myself invaluable to him. If I were to ever leave, he would be lost.”

“Sounds like a man for you,” I joke.

“Right? Here we are.” She opens the door to the office, leading me inside.

Max is sitting behind his desk with two chairs in front of it. Iris gestures to one seat as she takes the other. I take it, my nerves settling back in now that I’m here.

“Hey, Olivia. How are you?” Max asks.

“Good, and you?” I reply, wishing he would get to it already.

“Good. Ari doing well?” he asks.

I lick my lips. “She’s fine. Mason’s grabbing her from day care for me today.”

He nods. “He’s a good man. If he steps out of line, let me know. I can still kick his ass.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be rude, but did you call me in here to talk about Mason? If so, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this.”

Max’s eyes widen as Iris muffles a laugh beside me.

“Not at all. Sorry. I was making small talk. That, and I really did want to know how my niece is doing. I’m sorry if that made you uncomfortable.”

I relax a little. “You can always ask about Ari. She loves her uncle Max.”

He gives me a warm smile. “And I love her. Okay, back on topic. I called you in here as your boss.”

“I figured as much. What’s going on?” I tell him, trying to think of anything I’ve done wrong.

“Do you know much about what was going on when you were hired?” he asks.

“Only that you had some turnover and needed to resort to the temp agency to hire some employees.”

“That’s right. Before you were hired, we had a few employees who were acting poorly. They were allowing the other employees to do things that weren’t good for business. When you started, we had gotten rid of most of the bad seeds, but morale was down. We were pulling from other areas to fill positions temporarily, hoping for the best. Then you walked through those doors.”

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