Chapter Thirteen
EMILY TRACED THE HEMof the cloth napkin draped over her lap, focusing on the rough texture against her fingertips and trying to ignore the discomfort growing inside. She’d ordered the chef’s special, but unless she got answers soon, she expected the food to taste like sawdust and sit in her stomach the same way.
On the car ride to the restaurant, Justin and Antonio kept the conversation light, trying to pull Emily in. She wasn’t interested in talking about what her favorite movie was in high school; she wanted answers.
Under the table, Antonio nudged her knee with his. She looked up with a scowl, and he raised his brows. He turned to Justin. “If you don’t ask her soon, she’s going to threaten to walk back to the office.” Even the way the wordthreatenrolled off Antonio’s tongue and down her spine wasn’t enough to lift her mood. That he recognized she was irritated helped, though.
“All right. I suppose we’ve spent enough time proving this isn’t a work meeting,” Justin said.
Huh?She tried to make sense of the statement and failed.
Justin studied her for a moment. “I—we’ve been thinking about what you said last night. That if we want to put more hours behind PP, we consider hiring a contractor outside of the company structure.”
He’d actually listened to her. She was pleased. “That’s great. But why tell me? I meant what I said about keeping things to myself, but you’re pushing your luck, looping me in on decisions like this.”
“And we’re about to push it a step further.” Justin looked at Antonio. If they exchanged some kind of agreement or signal, she couldn’t tell. He turned back to her. “We’d like you to consider taking a second contract. With us. Nothing extensive, mind you. I don’t expect all-nighters or even your entire weekend. I’m hoping you’ll give us maybe five or ten hours a week. Paid out of our pockets.”
Her brain stuttered to a halt, returning a resource-overload error. “I think you missed the point of my suggestion. You’re supposed to be avoiding conflicts of interest. While we’re at it, I signed a non-compete agreement. As a retainer, I’m not allowed to take anything I learn to another contract and compete against one of Grant’s investments.”
“There’s none of that going on here.” Antonio picked up the pitch. “We made sure of it. None of these conversations happen while you’re on the clock as a contractor. You’re not using what you know to compete against us.”
“Exactly.” Justin dove in. Did they rehearse this? “In fact, you’re doing your job, but one better. What is it you keep reminding us of? We finish the beta—everyone wins?”
Hell. She didn’t like having her words turned against her. Worse, she hated that she couldn’t come up with an argument. The offer wasn’t right in spirit, if not in letter, but she couldn’t find the right words to explain why. “Why do you want me?” She bit back a cringe at the choice of words and pushed on. “Make the offer to one of your developers. Someone who’s already been on the project. Who knows your product in and out.”
“Eh...” Justin dragged out the word. “The thing is they don’t know they’re not supposed to be working on PP We’ve asked them to keep it quiet and been vague about why, but that’s standard for any of our new products. You’re the only person we know of who’s figured out we’re bending a few rules.”
“That doesn’t make me any more likely to help you continue to do so.” She didn’t know how to make her point, and after what she saw last night, she wasn’t sure how hard she wanted to argue. The technology they were working with was the kind of challenge she thrived on. It was similar to her reasons for helping Cynthia.
Justin leaned in, and his eyes softened. “I’m going to be straightforward—I know, don’t die of shock—and put this all on the table. I’m desperate to finish this project, and you offered up a viable way for me to get it done without stepping on toes. We’ll pay your full rate. You set your schedule.”
Indecision warred inside. Sayingyeswas a bad idea. Probably a worse idea than screwing Justin last night. On the other hand, she wouldn’t mind padding her savings with a little extra cash. That wasn’t the big thing tipping her toward accepting. Sure, there was the learning opportunity, but Justin sold her with his pitch. She’d struggled in school. Wished on many occasions someone would notice she was bored. This was good experience. There were a dozen excuses to tell themokay. When it came down to it, she wanted to.
But she couldn’t force the words out. “I don’t know.”
“You’ve got time to think about it.” Antonio was kind.
Justin didn’t look as accepting of the answer. “Until Monday. I wish I could give you longer.” The undercurrent in his voice said he was reluctant to offer her that much. The heavy beat of an alt-rock song filtered from his direction, and he grabbed his phone from his jeans pocket. He glanced at the screen. “Have to take this. Be right back.”
Justin walked away, and she turned to Antonio. His attention was focused in the direction Justin walked. She followed his gaze. Correction—he was specifically watching Justin. She knew the look on his face, too. She suspected she wore a similar one every time she stared at one of the men while they weren’t looking.
The equation chugged away in her head, and even when it returned results, she took a minute to process. “Have you considered telling him?” The question escaped before her brain caught up. Justin was worried she’d tell Antonio they used his likeness on Saturday night, and had no idea Antonio might be happy to take her place.
*