Present Tense (Out of the Fire #3) - Candace Blevins Page 0,24
sunrise, even if they need to be protected from it. Tell me, how do you feel about the Fabulosa trio?”
“I’m not certain I have enough data yet to answer your question.”
He wasn’t happy with her answer, but didn’t press for more.
“Due to your known anxiety issues, we provided more therapy appointments for you in your benefits package than most get. You’re expected to make the phone call if you need someone to talk to. Our in-house therapist knows all about vampires, and she’s a sexual submissive. Nothing you can tell her will shock her. She’s a good listener, and she asks the right questions, so you can figure things out.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”
He breathed in and seemed to come to a decision. “We were able to negotiate to hire you only because the local Strigorii affirmed we’d be able to keep a baby vamp in line. After speaking with you, I really didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, but I smell...” He sighed. “You’ve had to be punished already?”
It’d been too long since she’d fed for her face to flame red, but if she’d been human, even her ears would’ve glowed. “I’m having more difficulty than I expected speaking American English. My Australian accent keeps coming out, Your Majesty.”
“As I’m not your king, you’ll refer to me as Nathan or Sir while you’re working. Use your best judgement if we’re around others in a formal or political setting.” He eyed her critically a few seconds. “Should we arrange time with a speech coach?”
Kelsey breathed easier. She didn’t need a speech coach, she just needed to remember to watch her accent, but the fact he made the offer told her the kind of boss he’d be. One who looked for solutions rather than merely pointing out problems.
“Thank you for the offer. If I feel a speech coach will help, I’ll take you up on it, but right now I think it’s just a matter of remembering to be conscious of how I sound.”
“In which case, consequences when you get it wrong are probably the way to go. It’s important your coworkers don’t associate you with Australia. A couple of them might guess who you are if they have that data.”
She nodded because she’d quickly realized the same thing.
“On another note,” he told her, “Eunice and Fabio will be assigned to guard a client coming into town for the day on the seventh. It’s an eighteen-hour shift, which means you’ll need to feed from Collosa on that day. We’ll have either Collosa or Fabio available to you when you rise, but once the three of you get settled in, it’s doubtful all three men will be home at the same time very often.” He stood. “Is there anything else you need to speak with me about? Something I should know?”
“Thank you for this opportunity.”
“You thank us by doing the job we’re paying you for. Your work this morning is promising. Also, you’ll find a bonus deposit in your bank account. We posted a five-grand reward to the first person inside weeks ago, and upped it to ten grand a couple of days ago.”
“Anything else out there with a bonus?”
“There’s a list, but I believe you worked on at least two of them. When you’ve had your ass in a seat here for fifteen days, you can ask to see the list. It isn’t printed in hardcopy, and won’t be forwarded. You look at it on a screen, but we need some history with you before it’s shared.”
Fair enough. She stood, followed him out of the conference room, and went back to her desk. Her next assignment was to look through several Drake protocols and offer suggestions for how to improve upon them. Tricky, since doing so might put whoever had come up with them in the first place on the defensive, but failure to recommend specific improvements would be a poor statement on her abilities. They didn’t just want her to hack into other databases and systems, but to help defend the Drake Security systems and databases.
When the morning meeting was over, a nice werewolf named Ranger drove her home, walked her to the door, and literally handed her to Eunice.
“I heard from Nathan,” Eunice said as he closed and locked the door after Ranger left. “You seem to have made quite an impression on your first night.”
She nodded, and he crossed his arms. “Practice makes perfect, dollface. No nodding. Talk to me.”