The Tycoon's Baby Revelation - Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,14

to project wealth in order to attract more clients. Also, the kinds of people I want to hire will demand a work environment commensurate with their skills and egos.”

She wasn’t sure what he meant, but suspected that he planned to hire a bunch of arrogant jerks. But instead of offering her opinion, she wrote that down as well. “Right. Hire a designer.” She scribbled quickly, sensing that he was impatient with her questions. “If I’m to oversee the construction of this building, can you give me the name of the contractor you’ve hired?”

He named the company, and she wrote it down. For the next fifteen minutes, she asked questions and he answered them, if not patiently, at least he answered them thoroughly.

“Any other questions for me?” he asked.

Sloane glanced down at her list, more than slightly intimidated by what he was asking of her. She had no idea how to hire an office designer, but as she looked up into those green eyes of his, eyes that were watching her as if he suspected he’d made a dire mistake in hiring her, Sloane stiffened her resolve. “None, Mr.…uh, Josh,” she finished lamely.

“Good. Then I’ll leave you to it. I’ll be working out of my home office. Email me at the end of your day with your progress.” With that, he turned and headed towards the exit. With one hand on the door, he paused and turned back to her. “And Sloane, you need to get out of here before ten o’clock tonight.”

With that, he left and Sloane felt…deflated. There was something about the man that was enervating. And that was such an odd sensation, so she brushed it aside as ridiculous. For the next several hours, she researched and sifted through all of the information. There was a knock on the glass doors around one o’clock and she looked up, startled to see a food delivery person standing at the door, looking around as if he suspected that he was in the wrong place.

Sloane walked over to the door and unlocked it, pushing it open slightly. “Can I help you?” she asked.

The guy jumped at the sound of her voice, then smiled weakly. “I have a delivery for Sloane Abbot. Is that you?” he asked.

She nodded, not sure what to say. “But…I didn’t order anything.”

He pulled a bag out of his satchel and handed it to her. “Well, this was ordered for you by some guy named Starke. At least, that’s what’s on the credit card receipt.” And a moment later, the guy, barely more than a teenager, hurried away.

Something warm and wonderful blossomed in her chest as she peered into the bag and found a meatball sandwich with chips and a soda. The bag was still warm and she went back inside the building, locking the door behind her.

“Thank you for the sandwich,” she e-mailed to him.

In response, he sent her a list of other tasks he wanted her to accomplish. As Sloane looked at the list, she suspected that she could truly grow to hate her green-eyed boss. Seriously hate him!

“I’ll make it six months,” she vowed. “Just six months and then I’m gone!”

By seven o’clock that night, she’d either finished everything on the list he’d given her this morning or had made headway if the task required others to get back to her, such as researching health insurance options. Feeling extremely proud of herself, she shut down her computer and sighed with satisfaction. Some of the task items had been simple, such as scheduling meetings and arranging for a delivery person to deliver some papers to the lawyer’s office. Other tasks had been more complicated and required her to call several people, asking for help. But she’d done it! Sloane had panicked a bit over some of the tasks, not sure even how to figure out how to do them, but she’d called one of the social workers at the shelter who had helped her and her sisters over the past few months, Maggie Bennet. Maggie knew a lot of people and connected Sloane with people who knew other people. Eventually, she’d figured everything out and patted herself on the back.

“You’re still working?” he snapped as soon as she called to update him. “Get out of that building, Sloane. Call me in the morning!”

And he’d hung up on her.

Sloane stared at her cell phone, furious with the horrible man and wishing that he were here so that she could kick him.

“Six months!” she muttered as she gathered