Page 40 of Due Dilligence (Takeover)
Fazil exhaled. “I know. I’m really proud of my work, butpleasedon’t tell anyone. People get really odd around me about the PhD, especially on these jobs. I’m just a guy who wants to help them turn things around. Normal. Ordinary.”
Nothing about Fazil wasordinary, but he hadn’t considered that aspect of Fazil’s job, the need to be one of the crew. If he’d come in as Dr. Kurt, guns blazing, no one at Singularity would have listened to him at all. Some people, like that asshole Nathan, were skeptical simply becauseFazilwasn’t Joe or Jack or whatever, but he’d made inroads with other members of the team.
“Do people at your work know?” He poked at the hazelnuts that had fallen off his French toast.
“Sam knows. Eli, too, since they both saw my CV. I don’t know about anyone else. We don’t use titles at work.” He scratched the back of his head.
“And you’re not on LinkedIn.”
“God, those fucking e-mails. No. Never.” Fazil stabbed at his ham-and-cheese omelet.
Todd chuckled at that.
“So?” Fazil waved at the window. “This isn’t LA... How’d you end up here?”
“I hated LA. Loathed it. Too dry. Too hot. I wanted somewhere green like home, so I was haunting every site I could find for a job anywhere else. Saw a listing for Singularity Storage, thought Seattle had to be less dry than LA, being rainy most of the time. They liked me, so here I am. Came here three years ago.”
Another sip of coffee, then a smile. “It’s nice.”
“Yeah, Seattle’s a great town. Accepting, for the most part. Interesting. Lots of stuff to do...”
“Mountains.” Fazil stared off at the horizon.
Todd’s heart flipped and he picked up his coffee.You could stay, Z. Stay with me.They could finally be together. “Let’s try to see as much as we can today and tomorrow. I’m guessing you leave Friday? Or Saturday?”
Fazil touched his juice glass, then hefted it. “Saturday, though...” He shrugged, and sipped.
Wait, what?“Though?”
“I may be here longer. Depends on what Sam works out with your CEO.”
The leap in his soul at the prospect of Fazil staying clashed with thereasonbehind it. “Things aren’t going as planned.”
He blew out a breath. “No.”
Shit.“Do you— How can I help?”
“Short of strangling your CFO or making procedures appear out of thin air?”
Oh.He winced.
“It’s not horrible. Just means I might be here longer.”
“I can live with that part.”
That grin again. “I bet you can.”
How to juggle Fazil and work, he’d figure out. If it came to it, there were plenty of other jobs in Seattle. “I have this feeling Mr. Dragon’s going to get some use in the near future.” The way Fazil squirmed in his seat had Todd hardening in his. He smiled across the table and finished off the rest of his breakfast.
“I should have answered.” Fazil’s voice was so soft, Todd thought he’d imagined it.
All those lost years. If Fazil had managed a PhD, he hadn’t spiraled nearly as badly as Todd had. “Let’s let up on that.” He didn’t want to think about that part of his past. “How many people work for Anderson, anyway?”
Fazil’s mood lightened almost instantly. “Seven, including Sam.”
Seven?“That’s it?”
“Three up front, and four in the back.”
