Page 24 of Santa's Wish
Of course, it was behind me. The shining red light. I swiped my badge over it, and it turned green. I wondered how many guards were watching the camera feed and laughing.
Thankfully, when I pushed on the door, it moved. A little further, and I could tuck myself sideways and slip from the doorway. The door continued moving on its own until the V-shaped interior lined up with the door opening.
It moved on its own. I was going to die of embarrassment.
My cheeks burned as I hurried toward the bank of elevators to my right. I glanced at my fitness tracker for the time. Ten minutes was plenty of time to reach my desk, I hoped. Beyond the fifth floor, I didn't know where it was. My heart was beating so hard in my chest that my vision wavered, giving everything around me a dreamlike quality. I made it into the elevator, up to the fifth floor, and out without incident, but I might as well have been in a different world.
Santa was right. Metal accordion plates covered the windows, preventing all sunlight from seeping in. Instead of the harsh purple lights of most businesses, the floor, and every hallway I'd traveled so far, glowed with soft yellow light from overhead globes.
A young woman in jeans and a t-shirt saw me gaping at the room and took pity on me. "Are you the new guy, Mr. Bostwick?"
At least she hadn't called me Blaine. "I prefer Boz."
"Oh, I know." She grinned and extended her hand. "I wanted the chance to sound formal before you banished it forever. I'm Kristin, analytics department head. Until we decide which team would fit you best, you're my direct report."
She looked far too young to be a department head, and I couldn't stop myself from asking, "Why are you dressed like that?"
She rolled her eyes. "Colette likes to tell everyone we're full business attire, but that's only for the stuffynight crew. During the day, comfort is key. You can wear jeans or dress pants, but no yoga or sweatpants. If you need to tie them to hold them up, I'll send you home to change."
I scrambled in my briefcase's outer pocket for a little notebook I kept there to jot ideas on the fly. I flipped to a blank page and started taking notes.
"As for shirts," she continued, "No swearing and nothing sexually suggestive. If your shirt starts a fight among the team, I might ask you not to wear it again, but for now, anything goes. And if you're wondering if something is suggestive, please err on the side of caution. Have you seen that painting of two rats kissing in bed?"
"No."
"I wish I were that lucky." She wriggled with a whole-body shake. "It's not that easy to forget."
She turned on her heel in her black ballet flats and motioned for me to follow her. She walked all the way to a glass-enclosed office and pointed to the desk just outside the door. "This is you." She pointed to the office door and grinned. "And this is me. You'll be under my watchful eye until sunset. Then, Colette wants to meet with you each day for five to ten minutes."
There were two names on the office door. "You share the office with Colette?"
"We hotel, daytime and nighttime. I work eight tosunset, and she checks my work from sunset to around ten. Pretty sweet vampire life, if you ask me."
"Why aren't you a vampire, then?"
She blinked at me.
"I'm sorry, was that rude?"
She burst out laughing. "No, but it's been a long time since anyone mistook me for human." She patted my arm. "I'm a leopard shifter, Boz. The lycanthrope condition and the vampire virus aren't compatible. I don't mind having a shorter lifespan if it means I can walk around in the daylight pretending I'm human." She chuckled again. "You get a gold star. You have made my day."
She led me into her office, where she placed a gold star on the chart beneath my name for Monday. Beneath the chart she wrote, "mistook me for human."
"Colette will laugh when she sees this!"
Even when I wasn't trying, I embarrassed myself.
She grabbed the office chair from behind Colette's desk and rolled it into the hallway. "Let's get you started on our computer system. Have a seat at your desk."
For four hours, she walked me through how to sign in, how to check historical global market reports and exchange rates, and how to track investment funds purchased by the firm's financial advisors.
"We found two corrupt vampires in our advisory division, so we're checking the department's work forthe last five years. It's going to be tedious, and I don't envy you one bit."
"I don't mind." Tedious had been my middle name at MIT. I only hoped I'd learned my lesson enough over the years and didn't overcomplicate the math.
We ate delivered Pad Thai in her office for lunch. "I'll introduce you to the heathens tomorrow. They're a good bunch, but they can be a bit rowdy. Do you bake at all?"
"Not really."
