13. Orion

13

ORION

I was supposed to be focused on Roman's presentation about the Davenport opportunity. Instead, my eyes kept drifting to the small window on my desktop where the security feed from Ember's workspace played.

She had returned from her extended lunch seventeen minutes ago. The moment she sat down, she looked directly into the camera, smiled, and proceeded to eat what appeared to be a massive burger dripping with sauce while maintaining unblinking eye contact with me. I knew she was doing it to get under my skin. What irritated me most was that it was working.

"...and as you can see from these projections," Roman was saying, gesturing to figures displayed on the conference room screen. "Even if we only got one of the three Davenport properties, it would double our quarterly profits for the next five years. Getting all three would?—"

"Foster hasn't heard a word you said in the last ten minutes," Moira interrupted, her dark purple lips curving into a knowing smirk. "He's too busy spying on our newest employee through the security feed."

I snapped my eyes away from my laptop screen, glaring at Moira. Meanwhile, Roman stood at the head of the table in his too-perfect suit, looking like I had personally insulted his mother. Julian slouched in his chair beside them, doodling what appeared to be a ghost on his notepad.

"Mr. Foster?" Roman prompted. His tone suggested this wasn't the first time he'd tried getting my attention.

I cleared my throat. "I don't need further convincing about Davenport. These properties would be game changers. I understood that when you presented it the first time."

"Yes, but—" Roman started.

"You wanted to really drive home just how important the little bone you brought to our boss was?" Moira suggested. "Maybe he didn't pet you hard enough last time?"

Roman's jaw clenched. "If you paid attention, Moira, you would know the point of this presentation was on the outcomes of acquiring less than all three properties, which?—"

"Enough," I said, eyes drawn back to the little screen. Ember was now making a show of licking sauce from each finger while staring into the camera. "Moira, how is our new... hire performing today?"

Roman threw up his hands in disbelief, then walked to sit at the far end of the conference table like a sulking child.

Moira's dark eyes narrowed. "She isn't like our usual hires. In fact, the circumstances surrounding her appointment here are highly unusual."

"Yeah," Roman said sourly. "Because she's the girl who was reading Mr. Foster Hate Notes every morning until he hired her."

My head snapped up as I fixed Roman with a glare that usually sent employees running. He held up both hands as if I'd pointed a gun at him.

"You pay me to catch things, Sir. I'm only making an observation."

"An observation that's none of your damn business," I growled.

Moira looked like she wanted to press the issue but thought better of it. "In any case, was there a specific reason you wanted her involved in a project as important as the Davenport properties?"

"Several specific reasons," I said, eyes magnetized back to the screen where Ember was now dramatically brushing non-existent crumbs from her chest. Each swipe of her hand made her cleavage give a dangerous wobble, further threatening to release one of her breasts from her halfway buttoned blouse.

Julian's head popped up from his doodle. "I heard she's already causing chaos. Someone said they warned her about leaving for lunch, and she walked straight out of the building not even a minute later. Legend," he added with a grin.

"Focus," I snapped, perhaps more sharply than necessary. On my screen, Ember had finished her burger and was now making direct eye contact with the camera while slowly licking each finger clean.

God damn this woman.

Roman leaned forward, a knowing glint in his eye. "With all due respect, sir, you never do anything without a reason. If you hired her and immediately involved her in our biggest project, you must see something valuable in her skill set."

On the screen, Ember had produced a chocolate bar from somewhere and was now taking exaggerated bites while pretending to work. Each bite seemed deliberately calculated to drive me insane.

"I want you to seriously consider Ember for this task," I said. "If you ultimately decide someone else is the better candidate, so be it. But I'm going to hold you personally responsible for the outcome of negotiations with Davenport, however they may go."

Moira paled but nodded.

"About that," Julian interjected, still focused on his ghost doodle. "I had this weird dream last night where Davenport's ghost was haunting me. Do you think it's a sign we shouldn't pursue this? Like, maybe his spirit is trying to warn us?"

Roman pinched the bridge of his nose. "Julian, he's not dead yet."

"Oh." Julian brightened. "Well, that's good news!"

I stood abruptly, making them all jump. "We'll reconvene tomorrow. I need to handle something."

As I strode toward the door, I heard Roman mutter, "Ten bucks says it involves the new girl."

"Twenty says she's gone by the end of the week," Moira replied.

"Haven't you two ever watched a princess movie?" Julian asked. "It's pretty obvious what's going on here. Mr. Foster is Beauty, and this new girl is The Beast. Duh."

I slammed the door behind me, their words echoing uncomfortably in my head. Ember's presence was already disrupting my carefully maintained order. The smart thing would be to fire her immediately.

Instead, I found myself walking toward her workspace, drawn there like a moth to a particularly irritating flame.

Heads popped up briefly at the sounds of my footsteps across the office. When people saw it was me, their eyes widened before they immediately ducked back down behind computer monitors or scurried to desks like frightened mice.

I ignored them all, tearing a path straight toward Ember's desk.

I stopped in the doorway and found her lifting the last bite of her chocolate bar to her lips. She froze when she saw me, smiled, and then popped it into her mouth and licked her finger clean. "Hello, Mr. Foster," she said with feigned innocence.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I know," she said. "The sugar isn't good for my body, but it's good for my mental health. And at some point, you've got to consider the balance, right?"

"I don't mean about the goddamn chocolate. You've been staring at the camera like?—"

"Oh, that thing?" Ember asked, leaning back in her chair and batting her eyelashes. "Were you watching me? Out of all the cameras in here and with all the important things you must have going on in your day?"

"I wasn't just watching you. No."

"Oh, good," Ember said. "Because that would give me the wrong idea. I'd wonder if you only hired me because you had some sort of inappropriate attraction to me. Like you wanted the power fantasy of having me under your thumb. You know, the whole perverted boss calling his secretary into his office after hours and..." she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"You're not my secretary," I snapped. The damn woman had me reeling. I could hardly form a complete thought, let alone remember why I thought coming here in person was a good idea. "And I'm not?—"

"Oh," she said, lifting a greasy bag toward me and giving it a little shake. "Did you want some fries?”

"I don't—no."

"Okay," Ember shrugged. "Was there something else you wanted? Or should I get back to work? I was working really hard before you interrupted me, by the way. You'd know that if you had been watching me on the cameras closely."

I had watched her do nothing but slowly and defiantly eat her lunch, and the woman knew it. She was teasing me. She wanted me to admit I had been watching her closely enough, and if I called her lie about working, she’d have her proof.

"Wow," Ember said, biting back a smile.

"What?" I grated.

"I just thought steam coming out of people's ears was a cartoon thing. Today I learned it's real. That, or you're actually a robot and something is about to blow up inside you..."

"Get back to work," I said.

"I was planning on it before my boss came in and began distracting me. This office space is great, by the way. I love the privacy. Makes me feel so... special."

I paused mid-step with my back to Ember. Just walk away, Orion. Every word you say is only fuel to this infuriating woman.

"Was there something else?" she asked sweetly.

"No," I said, then slammed her door behind me as I left.

I heard her laugh echo through the door as I walked away, and I realized with growing horror that the sound made something in my chest flutter.

This woman was going to be the death of me.