Big Dick Energy - Cindi Madsen Page 0,13

come across as a tattletale who had as fragile of an ego as Penelope accused me of having. “I’d like to clarify my role. Is she the point person on this project?”

“I’m afraid she’s not tough enough to run point, nor does she have the experience. The clients love her, though, so let’s think of this as more of a test run. See how you two work together, do whatever it takes to keep the Pythons and the city happy, and we’ll go from there.”

If she wasn’t tough enough, then who was he going to get next? Freddy fucking Kruger?

Doug must’ve read my introspection as confusion or perhaps disagreement, since he added, “Don’t get me wrong. Penelope’s brilliant and has great potential. She’s designed some beautiful fountains and always does the salon portion of the resorts we work on. But I’m not sure she’s got the chops to design a soccer stadium. What woman would? Which is why I need you to ensure the plan we present to the client appeals to a male audience as well.”

Made sense I supposed, but so far, I hadn’t seen anything in the files that screamed feminine. Did he expect her to take the usual oblong stadium shape and present it as an ovary?

“I was golfing with Chuck Miller and Bob Duvall. I mentioned the complex and how important it was to deliver on this project, and they called you the Home Run King.”

Admittedly, I enjoyed the hell out of it whenever my clients and colleagues used a nickname that’d also been given to Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. My dad had also taken a liking to it, the way I suspected he would, and often called and asked me how the Home Run King was doing. “That’s me,” I said, because humility was for losers.

Another gem from my dad, but people didn’t want someone who hemmed and hawed about their skills. Who’d pay millions for buildings they thought would end up mediocre? They wanted confidence, wanted someone who’d knock it out of the park, and that was me, no doubt about it.

Well, unless someone asked Penelope Jones. Pretty sure she had a whole lot of doubts about me, and there was only one thing for it.

If she was going to play to win, she needed me on her team, and I’d gladly provide a demonstration of that when we met up with the client later this week. If the stubborn woman decided she’d rather go toe-to-toe than work with me, I wouldn’t think twice about handing Penelope her own fine ass.

6

Penelope

Catalina’s secretary waved me on by, too busy with her stack of files to do much else. Although, if the situation called for it, she’d leap over the desk and tackle anyone who dared to interrupt my bestie when she was in her office doing her badass lawyer thing.

Cat held up a finger when she spotted me. Then her face went deadly calm, her dark eyebrows twitching the slightest bit. “I beg your misogynistic pardon,” she said, and then she told whomever she was on the phone with that if he didn’t answer her question, she’d reach up his anus, grab his spine, and yank it out so he could see how weak it was.

I brought up my shoulders, grimacing on the person’s behalf and thanking my lucky stars she was on my side. Then again, based on the first part of the comment, the guy deserved it.

She casually kicked her heeled feet on the desk and studied her dark red fingernails. “Guess I’ll just hold your weak spine for ransom until you can find someone with a working knowledge of the actual law to answer my goddamn question then.”

I couldn’t be sure, but based on what I could hear, the groveling had started up on the other side of the line.

I walked closer to the plexiglass that provided a superior view of downtown San Diego. One America Plaza was the tallest skyscraper in San Diego, and the trolley ran right up to it. My office was eight blocks east, and Ellie usually worked from home. I leaned a bit closer to the giant windows to peer at the lights of the city. Not too close, though, as I had this illogical fear that after thirty years of holding up, they’d choose the moment I was by them to just pop right out and crash to the ground. I’d rather not use the Plexiglass as a surfboard when that happened.

I swung my gaze