By the time he finished with me I decided being on time for work was overrated anyway.
Still, I couldn’t help but tease him. “So as the acting interim CEO, you can just show up whenever you want?”
He swatted my ass. “I’m large and in charge, baby—and don’t you forget it.”
“Mmm. You reminded me of that very thoroughly this morning, Mr. Lund.”
His smirk was entirely justified.
“What is on your agenda for today?”
“There’s a board of directors meeting on Thursday. I’m sort of treading water until then.” He drained his coffee. “How about you? Any more news from Wolf Sports North?”
I shook my head.
He glanced at his phone. “I’ve got to run but I wanted to give you something first.” He pulled his keys out of his pocket and unhooked one key from the rest of the ring. “I want you to come and go as you like. Naturally, I’d prefer you to be here all the time, but I won’t push.” Then he held the key out.
The key dangled between us for a moment. I curled my fingers around it and was tempted to clutch it to my heart. “Thank you.”
“There’s an alarm code to open and lock the door: 8532. That’s mine. We’ll set you up with your own as soon as you decide on one. The security box is identical to the one at Lakeside so you shouldn’t have a problem. Any questions?”
“No. I’m actually a bit speechless.”
Nolan kissed me. “I’ll call you later.”
I watched him walk off and wondered how I’d gotten so lucky.
And I worried that the other boot would drop and my luck would run out.
Twenty-Six
NOLAN
Acting interim CEO.
Didn’t feel good.
Didn’t feel right.
On Monday we’d waited a full four hours after sending out a company-wide memo about my change in title before PR sent out the press release. It hadn’t gotten much notice from the mainstream media.
The announcement hadn’t changed anything for me.
I still worked from my same office.
My uncles had handled the phone calls, reassuring investors everything was running smoothly.
Monte had called a board meeting.
Part of me had silently wondered if that should’ve been my responsibility.
The fact that Monte ran the board of directors should’ve put me at ease, but it just drove home the point the acting CEO title was an honorarium and nothing more.
All my Lund cousins who were shareholders were in attendance. No one congratulated me; I hadn’t expected it because I didn’t deserve it.
Britt, the floating admin who worked with me, my father’s secretary and Sam, handled rescheduling appointments and filled me in on little things that were vital to running a company.
Problem was, I already knew most of what she’d deemed necessary.
This was more busywork. I wasn’t finding answers to what I really wanted to know.
I had Sam call Kayla, head of IT, into my office.
She popped in within five minutes since we were on the same floor. “How may I help you, sir?”
“I’m getting access denied on a bunch of files.”
Kayla came around my desk and stood over my shoulder. “Can you show me which files?”
“Sure.” I relogged in to the cloud and clicked through security screens until I reached the executive file section. “See?” I put in the password, which changed every day, and the access denied message appeared.
“No wonder. Those files can only be accessed on the executive floor.”
“Since when?”
“It’s an additional security system failsafe installed about six months ago. Do you have problems logging in when you’re on the CEO’s floor?”
“Not that I can remember. But I guess that makes sense.” I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “Were you taking bets in IT how long I’d stay on this floor after I learned about lack of access to the executive files down here?”
Her lips twitched. “No. But if I may be honest, I advised against that system change.”
“Why?”
“It’s a pain in the ass for us too. Unless LI is suddenly dealing with government contracts that require another layer of security, it’s redundant.”
“Who made the change?”
“Your father.”
I slumped back in my chair and Kayla returned to her seat in front of my desk. “So let’s say I haul my laptop up to his office. What are the chances of me gaining access to any of those files?”
“Zero. Before you ask, I can’t get you access in terms of resetting passwords. It’d have to be a system change and that . . . would be a bit of an undertaking.”
“But you could do it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“To countermand his initial order, I’d need to sign off on a confidential