Page 11 of Billionaire Grump's Baby

Isit outside Luke’s office for an hour and a half, refusing to budge. Joey, a deceptively organized frat bro in a pastel polo shirt, keeps shooting me looks that are half terrified, half impressed.

“No one’s ever tried to force Luke to meet with him when he doesn’t want to,” he says, like I’m the eighth wonder of the world.

I’m trying to decide what to say to that, when Luke’s office door finally opens, and I’m faced with the man himself.

He’s wearing gray slacks, a white button up with the sleeves rolled up, and a tie he loosened at some point during the day. He looks sophisticated and powerful, a man at work.

He looks like a man who can keep planes from falling out of the sky with the sheer force of his will.

His eyes darken when they see me.

I scramble to my feet.

“Hazel. I told Joey to reschedule you.” He narrows his eyes at Joey.

Joey cowers, as much as one can cower while seated behind a massive desk.

I raise my chin. “Joey delivered your message. But I refuse to accept it.”

He glowers at me. “Hazel. I don’t have time for this. I can’t fit five hours into my schedule at the drop of a hat—”

“Then we won’t do five hours today,” I say. “We’ll just do however much time you have.” I turn to Joey. “How much free time does he have today?”

Joey consults the calendar on his laptop. “He has a thirty-minute lunch break. Well, 27 minutes. We’ve talked through three minutes of it.”

“Thank you, Joey,” Luke says, forebodingly.

Joey winces, realizing too late he probably shouldn’t have said anything.

“27 minutes it is,” I say, heading into Luke’s office. “Joey, order Mr. Dewinter something he can eat while he’s being interviewed.”

“Joey donotlisten to her,” Luke growls.

But he follows me into his office and shuts the door behind him, which I think means I won.

I settle into one of the gray upholstered chairs across from his imposing desk. This office feels like Luke, I realize. Sleek, luxurious, and totally impersonal.

“Don’t you want to order lunch?” I say. “It sounds like you have a full day.”

“I normally work through lunch,” Luke says shortly. “Let’s get this over with.”

He settles behind his desk, looking like he owns the world.

Or maybe just the skies.

I set my audio recorder on his desk and turn it on. “I’m recording this interview, but it’s only for my own notes, to make sure I quote you accurately. I won’t share the recording with anyone.”

Luke grunts.

I take that as consent.

I pull my notebook out of my leather backpack and flip to the questions I wrote down for him. “Let’s start with an easy one. You’ve been working for Helius since you were in high school. What’s that like?”

His eyebrows shoot up. “What’s thatlike?Do you know how many jobs I’ve had here? How many teams I’ve worked on?”

“No,” I said, gritting my teeth. “That’s why I’m asking.”

“I spent at least a month as an administrative assistant for every director level position, getting the lay of the land. In college I worked in marketing for a bit.” He represses a shudder.

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