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“What do you mean?”

“Come on.”

Jude shook his head, grinning. “Doesn’t matter what she looks like. We should still see other applicants.”

“Are you going to look through them?”

“I’m tabling this discussion,” he glanced at his watch before slamming his glass on the table, “and leaving early. See you tomorrow.”

I stared after him and then went back over to the table, frowning. Inhaling deeply, I could still smell Henley’s perfume lingering behind.

4

Jude

I swear, I hadn’t been so pissed off in my entire life. I’d had a lot of bad business meetings in the past, that was for sure. But that was…

I couldn’t even put it into words.

I left early for the first time in years and headed to the bar downtown where we had our own private table, closed off from everyone else. The barkeep came by, asking about Maverick since we usually came together. Although I wasn’t mad at him or anything, I hadn’t felt like waiting for him and had needed to get the hell out of there as fast as possible.

We had no good lawyers, and no good applicants. Henley was pretty and all, but I wasn’t feeling her as an employee. On some level, I knew it was because of how distracted I’d be with her around.

My phone went off in the middle of my second martini, but I ignored it, knowing it was Maverick probably wanting to give me some moral speech about using people. Sighing, I finished my second drink. Mad as I was, I knew I couldn’t leave him hanging. So a little while later, I found myself heading back to the office, pretending not to notice everyone’s inquiring stares. I stopped at Maverick’s office. He was at the computer, his face screwed up and his shoulders tensed. Probably worrying himself over nothing, as usual.

“Back from your pick-me-up?” he said, sensing my presence without even looking up.

I scoffed as I made my way to his desk and perched myself on the edge of it. Glancing at his computer, I saw that he was looking at the market again, comparing it to our numbers. Annoyed, I reached over and clicked off the screen. Maverick sneered in protest, finally looking at me.

“You still obsessing over this shit?” I said, flicking the papers he’d laid out in front of him. Everything had to be so planned and organized with him. It was irritating.

“No. Just checking on things.” He arched his brow. “You wanna tell me what was up with you and that interview?”

I averted my gaze. Suddenly, everything was more interesting than this conversation. I undid my jacket and cuff links while Maverick continued staring at me.

“Nothing,” I said after a moment. “I thought she looked like a good candidate.”

“Based on what, her resume or her face?”

“Look, don’t hound me on this,” I said, although I couldn’t help cracking a smile.

“I’m not. But she was a good candidate, so I don’t know why you grilled her like that.”

I rolled my eyes. “I was just asking basic questions.”

“Not really, man. And you were making her uncomfortable. That’s not what we’re about.”

“Seriously, it isn’t that deep, man. I was just…” But my voice trailed off, unable to think up a valid excuse.

“Whatever, dude. She would have been a good choice. I can’t imagine she would want to work for us now though. Maybe—” He stopped abruptly.

When he began ignoring my stare, I gripped his shoulder. “What?” I demanded.

A hint of a smile formed on his lips. “Nothing. I just think you should have gone easier on her, that’s all.”

“I wasn’t being too hard on her,” I said, rolling my eyes. Between the two of us, Maverick was way too nice and easy on people, leaving me to look like the bad guy for being a hard ass.

He stood with a sigh. “Yes, you were. She was a good candidate, to me at least.”


Tags: Nicole Elliot Romance