Against the Rules by Ella Goode Page 0,8
a grape into my mouth. “Good. Everyone is really nice.” Except Becky, but you can’t win them all. She was never going to give me a chance. Her mind had already been made up about me and I’m not going to play her games.
“You and the boss man-” Kevin stops talking and coughs, looking down. I peek out of the corner of my eyes to see Finn has entered the lunchroom. He seems to be searching for something. I wonder if he comes here every day to have lunch.
“It’s fine.” I rescue him. He smiles and we both go back to eating our food so we don’t get busted talking about the boss.
“You need a drink?” I look up at Finn, who is standing next to me. He’s wearing an odd expression and I swear there’s a small tick in his jaw, but it quickly disappears. Maybe he doesn’t like Kevin.
“Thanks. I forgot to grab one.” That nervous feeling comes back that I get when he’s around.
“Let me.” He sets a sandwich and chips down on the table before leaving. Kevin and I give each other a look, not sure what’s happening.
“I wasn't sure what you would want.” Finn sits down with a water, soda, lemonade and some sports drinks.
“Thanks.” I laugh. “I don’t think I can drink all of that.”
“I’ll help you.” He pulls out the chair next to me, sitting down. “Got you a brownie too. We get them from a great local bakery down the street. I noticed that you missed dessert. You always need dessert.”
“That’s really nice of you.” Too nice. Does he think I’m going to tell everyone what he did? Is that why he’s being extra nice? Maybe he doesn’t want everyone to know what he’s really like. This is all very suspicious.
“Kevin, right?” Finn asks.
“Yep. Nice to see you again, sir.”
“Jim told me he wanted to see you.”
“Right now?” Kevin starts to stand.
“Yeah, you should take your lunch.”
“Oh, yeah.” He picks up his food. “Thanks.” He nods at Finn. “See you later, Lucia.”
“Bye.” He heads out, leaving me alone with Finn, who is playing on his phone.
“Sorry. Had to send a message real quick.” He tucks his phone back away, his attention coming back to me. A small thrill runs through me. That same feeling I can’t place comes back again.
I think Finn is a lot more trouble than I bargained for. I’m not sure what his angle is yet, but I do know that he’s starting to make it hard for me to resist him. My mind might be telling me one thing about him, but my body is saying something totally different.
Chapter 7
Finn
I was glad to see Lucia with her co-workers, but she was sitting way too close to Kevin for my comfort. I wonder when I decided that male employees were necessary for my corporation. Maybe I should fire all of them--or at least all the ones under fifty. Even better, I’ll implement a new hire policy requiring everyone to be at least fifty years or older. I’ll have to check with Monica.
“You seem to be enjoying your first day.”
“Yes, thank you.” Her answer is so formal. Worse, she sounds tired and not at all interested in me. I’ve had a lot of offers in my day—not that I’ve accepted any of them—but I don’t lack for female attention. Maybe this is my problem. I’ve spent years honing my negotiating skills in the boardroom, but have ignored the female population so I have no skills in that area.
The key to a good negotiation is to truly understand your target. I need to know everything there is to know about Lucia, and not just the kind of thing that I can read in her personnel file because the laws these days don’t allow you to ask questions like: are you married, do you have kids, are you willing to jump into bed with your boss? Instead, I have to engage in an in-person fact-finding mission which isn’t a bad task. I want to spend time with Lucia.
“What’s your favorite color?”
She blinks a couple times, surprised by my question. “Um, pink.”
“Pink?” it’s my turn to be taken aback. My initial thought was to figure out all the things she liked and then I’d get a suit made, a new car, that sort of thing. I’m going to have to recalibrate.
“It’s a pretty color,” she says defensively.
“Yeah, of course. Really pretty.” I don’t own a thing in pink. Not even a necktie or