Page 7 of On the Fly
At the door, she slapped a hand on his forearm and said quietly, “Outside,” without breaking stride through the door he’d pushed open for her.
“You did that on purpose,” she said once she was through the door, wheeling around, but she hadn’t anticipated how closely he’d followed her. She pointed a finger at him and ended up knocking him in the chest. The contact shocked her, and she took two giant steps backward.
“Which part?” he asked, clearly enjoying her discomfort as he towered over her. Holy Havana, he was tall. She’d known that from those long legs on the plane, then again when he’d stood to leave, but she’d been seated. Standing so close gave her an entirely new perspective. He followed her, coming to within a step of her, and she forced herself to hold her ground. She had to crane her neck to meet his gaze. He had to be six-two or six-three, maybe taller. With her a completely respectable five-five, he loomed over her, even with her two-inch power heels.
The grin on his face looked unnatural, intended to get under her skin, as if he found her…amusing. She narrowed her eyes, ready to take him on if that was what she needed to do.
“Who are you?” she demanded. Emma pulled in her temper best she could until she figured out who this guy was to the new owner of the company.
“I took you for smarter than that,” he said. The tilt of his head and inquiring stare ticked her off until she didn’t care about his link to the owner or her job security.
“Augh. After the day I’ve had, of course this.” She took a step forward, closing the distance between them, and angled her head back enough to look him directly in the eye. With a press of her pointer finger to his chest, she tried to push him back. When he didn’t budge, she poked him again and said, “You could have said something. My open and honest words while sitting next to you on that plane left nothing but room for you to be a gentleman and offer the same in return. I suppose that’s my fault for thinking you had any gentlemanly qualities about you. Lesson learned.”
Emma stepped back and spun around to leave him standing there, when another thought occurred to her. Wielding her finger like a sword, she stepped into his space one more time. His eyebrows only raised, and if she wasn’t crazy, it almost looked as though he were entertained, which ticked her off even more.
“And one final thing, I don’t care who you are to the owner of this company. If my work doesn’t stand on its own merit, if I have to be nice to the likes of you to keep this job, then the new owner can shove it.” With that, she turned on her heel and headed straight for the elevator. She refused to turn back at his bark of laughter.
~~~
Ander walked the length of the hotel’s top floor, heading to the suite booked just for him. From what he’d just learned, the entire floor had been reserved for the airline’s executive team. He wasn’t certain when he’d become miserly, but all he could think of was the poor bottom line, and nowhere in that dire financial situation did he see the money to houselocalexecutives in these expensive suites. The whole company was going to need a shakeup.
But even that thought, of having to streamline staffing and reallocate positions, didn’t weigh as heavily on him right now as it usually did when he restructured companies. For some reason, seeing Emma’s reaction to him at the meeting had lightened his mood. Ander grinned. He’d relished that moment. If he knew her better, he’d know ifshethought she’d maintained her professionalism when she spotted him standing by the door after he’d asked his question. Everyone in the room saw her expressive face go the full range of emotion, from shock to worry and then straight through to anger. Oh yeah, that executive team wanted to know what was between them. Ander could practically see the cogs turning in their aging brains.
He’d only interrupted her once he’d listened to her wrapping up the presentation and acknowledged how well she presented herself. He watched her hands as she spoke, if for no other reason than her fingernail imprints were likely still embedded in his wrist creating a link between them on some weird level. She had an odd mix of fidgeting then going utterly still, but it was all done with her hands.
And then her reaction outside the room. That temper. Ander’s lips twitched with amusement as he touched his chest where she’d poked him with her dainty finger. Something about that temper and her finger poking his chest made him want to grab that wrist, press her against the nearest flat surface, and taste those sassy lips. Ander nearly groaned at that image. He shook his head at the absurdity of his interest and reached for his card key as he passed by a glass wall with a large door leading to the executive suites dining area. The room had a primo view of Sacramento, but that view wasn’t as impressive now that darkness had fallen.
He didn’t have the stamina to chat with another executive after the full afternoon and evening he’d had. He’d barely avoided being roped into some team karaoke on his way through the lobby. But a quick scan of the dining area showed it to be nearly empty, except for a single person bent over some electronic device at a corner table, close to the windows. As he passed the door, he stalled mid-motion and swung back to the dining room with narrowed eyes. He knew that head. He’d watched it for hours as it was slumped over on his shoulder. Ander veered closer and scanned the room again, looking for any companion she might have. This floor was exclusive and reserved, and while she was a department head, she wasn’t on the executive team directly. Someone had to have let her in.
He saw no one, not even a waiter, and he pushed through the glass door and walked the length of the room to stand over her as she typed on her laptop.
“I’m good,” she said and reached for her half empty wineglass, not sparing him a glance.
He took the seat to the side of her and crossed his ankle over his knee. “Are you now?”
The wineglass sloshed as she jerked her head toward him. A tiny bit slipped from the glass to her lap as she first gaped at him then looked down at her lap. “Jeez, you again. We should attach a bell to you.” She frowned at him before reaching for the napkins on the table. “I had planned to wear this this weekend. Thanks a lot.”
“It wasn’t my fault. You’re the one who couldn’t be bothered to look up,” he said. The same amusement he’d experienced watching her discover him the first time happened again. And that feisty mouth of hers. She was just so unintentionally funny—unintentionally sexy too, but he chose to ignore that.
She looked up, giving him a hard glare. “Why do you just keep popping up out of nowhere? You’re annoying and intrusive.”
He burst out another laugh at her verbal slap. “I think that’s the other way around. This suite is for the senior team. I’m surprised to see you here.”
Her critical stare didn’t falter at his rebuke, and she lifted a single brow that he interpreted to mean he was an entitled ass for implying she couldn’t use this room. For the second time in a day, and that was two more times than he’d had in the last month, Ander laughed. His laugh seemed to upset her more, and she straightened her spine as though ready to lay into him, so he changed course.
“Wait, pull the claws back in. I just meant the whole company is downstairs enjoying themselves while you’re up here in this stuffy room meant for stuffy people.” This time he held up both hands in symbolic truce.
“You saved yourself,” she finally said, and her pretty eyes left his as she reached for her glass of water and dabbed a corner of her napkin inside.
“Thank you,” he said, watching her work the stain in her lap. “Now answer the question.”
“For my job, it’s a lot of work to be down in all that chaos. I’m ineffective. If I take the pictures, I have to get written permission to post them online which is hard when there’re so many people in one shot. Mr. Jorgensen was very much into privacy. But there’s no reason for me to be there when the hoops outweigh the reward at the end.”
Ander tapped his finger on his knee. Annoyed that her focus had strayed from him to her clothing, and that realization annoyed him further. He didn’t have time to play with this little employee, no matter how much she intrigued him. Not wanting to reflect on what any of those thoughts meant, he said, “But if they send you the picture…”
“Then we consider it permission granted,” she said and tossed the napkin on the table but kept her focus on her outfit. “I wish I had one of those Tide sticks.”
“What if others besides the sender are in the pictures sent to you?” This turned into the perfect redirection of his thoughts. Every policy and procedure he’d gone over today had so much inconsistency. He had no idea how this company kept any forward momentum when the left hand had no idea what the right was doing. He’d need someone like his assistant, Lyla, to help make company policy and procedure cohesive.
