Conflict of Interest - By Allyson Lindt Page 0,35
smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
*
Kenzie poured milk and honey into her tea, stirred it all together, and dropped the stick into the trash. She wasn’t going to turn around. There was no reason to head back to the table and sit and chat. Scott wasn’t on the clock, and it would just ruin the mood if she gave him a hard time for the High Tops that looked like they were only staying on thanks to an act of God.
She sipped her tea as she headed home. Why had she even come here? She knew the answer, but she was loathe to admit it. She’d spent the last twelve hours reminding herself she was done with this job. That she was resigning on Monday. But still she’d convinced herself it wouldn’t hurt to swing by the coffee shop. It would be the perfect reminder of why she needed to quit.
And instead she’d all but said she was staying on. It was the right thing to do. She could teach that jackass Hank Cartee that Scott was a better man and prove herself at the same time. As long as she and Scott kept their hands off each other moving forward.
She navigated the familiar route, finding herself home much sooner than she wanted. She trudged up the steps, trying to figure out how to approach things from here on out.
Her phone chimed, and she pulled up the new email from her boss, Greta. There was a URL and a note: Please tell me this isn’t what it looks like.
Ill-ease crawled through her, and she clicked the link. Her stomach flipped in on itself when she saw the website. Maybe she should have resigned after all.
* * * *
Scott looked up from his work when a shadow crossed his office. Kenzie stood in the doorway wearing slacks, a matching cream jacket, and a dark shirt buttoned all the way to the top. Did it make her head ache to pull her hair back that tight?
Still, she was there. He hid his smile. He was only relieved she was back because it meant more fun and games, right? He nodded to the chair across from his desk. “Have a seat.”
Her expression didn’t change. She strolled the short distance to the padded leather, set her laptop bag next to her on the ground, and perched—he couldn’t think of a better word for it—with her legs crossed. “Mr. McAllister.”
Not this again. He kept his tone pleasant, trying to figure out what he was up against. “Good morning. You look nice.”
Her right eye twitched. That was new. She took a deep breath. “Why do you have so many issues?”
The sharp edge in her question sliced through him, and his curiosity shifted to hurt. “Excuse me?”
“I mean publicly, in general.” She maintained her straight-backed posture, expression flat. “You’re not in a high-profile industry, not as far as executives are concerned. You’re not some big-shot Hollywood celebrity. You’re a metaphorical suit. Why do I have to worry about things like photos of you in compromising positions showing up on websites? What’s so special about your personal life that it’s public enough to make your investors nervous?”
She was only just asking these questions? “Shouldn’t you already know that? Isn’t that why you’re here?”
“You’d think that. I certainly did.” She managed to pull a manila folder from her laptop bag without bending over and rested it in her lap. “I know it happens, but I want to know why. People care about actors, politicians, public faces. But you’re just a software developer. Why does anyone care how you spend your weekends?”
Just? His eyes narrowed at the accusation and the disdain for his job. What had happened between Saturday and now? Had thinking about the situation with Cartee really soured her this much?
He shouldn’t go on the defensive, but he couldn’t help it. He hadn’t done anything to deserve this hostility. “Maybe if you’d paid attention to our company, instead of just harping on what a fuckup I am, you’d know that.”
“Maybe if you were taking this seriously, instead of using a couple of stolen kisses as an excuse to not do what you’re supposed to, I might have time for things like that.”
The honest accusation caught him off-guard, but he recovered quickly. This wasn’t about them, it was about his company, and that was more important than almost anything. She opened her mouth, but he cut her off. “When you took this job, did you look at all into how we’ve built