“I don’t care what you meant. You were late for this meeting, and even worse, you wasted weeks of my time fiddling around with designs I could have gotten from a first-year student. You’re fired. Joan will take care of your paperwork.”
Hutchinson stood there for a moment, utterly speechless. He was a tall man; a somewhat intimidating man with his graying crew-cut and his broad shoulders. But next to Samson, he amounted to nothing. Realization dawned in his eyes as it sunk in that he was now among the ranks of the unemployed.
Finally, Hutchinson left, returned for a brief moment to collect his forgotten briefcase, and then sheepishly went out the door again. Samson brushed his hands over the front of his suit as though wiping off dust, and he sat.
“Now then. Let’s get back to our meeting.”
Chapter Five
April rapped nervously on the outside of Samson’s door. Babette had been preoccupied with something that involved poking a needle through some kind of squarish blue wrapper, so April just slipped by and hoped her boss wouldn’t mind the unannounced visit. He’d been more aloof for the past week, and while that had been exactly what she wanted, somehow April still felt awkward around him. She still felt a little guilty for losing her temper with him.
“Come in.”
Samson was at his desk, leaning over his computer and holding a piece of sushi aloft on the end of his chopsticks.
“I didn’t mean to banish you from the break room completely. There’s nothing wrong with your eating lunch there.” April stepped up to the desk, remembering her interview. He had been so… much. So tall, so handsome, and so intense. Everything he’d been in Lana’s house and more. She felt her cheeks blushing just from the thought.
“Oh? You came in just to tell me I’m allowed to eat lunch in the break room of the business I own?”
April made a noise. “No, I came to tell you how sorry I was that we were so unprepared today.”
“Hm.” Samson leaned back. “You weren’t unprepared at all. Hutchinson was unprepared.”
“Well, I—”
“And if you’re here because you feel bad about him losing his job, don’t. I was going to fire him after the meeting anyway.”
April sat and looked up at Samson in confusion. “Why?”
“For the same reasons I fired him today. Well, apart from being late. Do you think that was the first time I’d seen his designs? He’s been sending the same ones up for me to look at for weeks, and I’ve been giving him notes for changes that he barely considered.” Samson picked up another piece of sushi. He chewed thoughtfully, and then said, “He never once sent your designs up, though.”
“Why?” April huffed, “I didn’t disagree with everything he said.”
“No, I’m sure Garcia and Jessie disagreed with the rest. He was trying to bury you, though. He never thought of this as a team effort. Lucky that the rest of you understood that.”
“Or we’d be out, too?”
“Probably. Well, not Jessie. She’s the daughter of the former owner, and Ramirez is still working in management. She does good research.”
“Oh.” April looked down at her hands, hating that she felt so unsure about what she was about to ask. “Why did you hire me?”
“I thought that was obvious. I liked what I saw in your portfolio.” Running two long fingers over his lips, Samson regarded her seriously. “Also, I knew that you went to Parsons when I suggested that you apply. Not to be a snob, but your education is far out of this firm’s league. You took Hutchinson down a peg today. Impressively. You know his business better than he does, which is an accomplishment, since you’ve been in it for such a short time. Don’t let a man like him cause you to doubt what an asset you are.”
“I, um. Ugh. You’re
right. I’m sorry.” April felt her cheeks burning even more brightly.
“I’ll admit that I like to see you blush, but righteous indignation looks so much better on you.”
April laughed and pulled some loose hair behind her ear. “I have to be that way,” April swallowed. “I lost my last job because my boss sexually harassed me. He started with jokes, and when I humored him, he started grabbing me.”
Samson’s brows shot up.
“So I don’t mean to come off as demurring, or unconfident. This job is simply so much more important to me than working as a waitress, and I don’t want to lose it.”
Samson furrowed his brows, then narrowed his eyes as he chose his words. “April, I promise you that your employment here will always hinge on the work you do, not how I perceive our relationship. And I will never lay a hand on you without your consent.” He smirked. “You’ve seen the papers. You know that I don’t have to do that sort of thing.”
“I never thought you did. But bosses I’ve had in the past, they just sort of liked having the power to do whatever they wanted to their employees.”