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She watched him as they both sat down. Gerard got the impression Rowan didn’t miss much. They sat there, not speaking, staring at each other in some sort of power standoff. He’d almost flinched from the punch to his gut when he saw her eyes. Chocolate pools of curiosity, determination, and something more. A hunger, maybe? Something he couldn’t define, but wanted to understand better.
Emersyn had been right. He was so screwed.
Damn. Rowan McCarthy tried hard to maintain the decorum of an almost-hired director as she watched the man who would hopefully become her boss. Barrett was more handsome in person than his online head shots. And those eyes. They bored into her with laser-like intensity, as if trying to divine her darkest secrets. Double damn. A shiver slid down her back. Fear? No. Something else. Something she didn’t want to think about right now. Working for him would be hard enough. If she gave in to some misguided attraction to the man, she’d fail. And failure would not happen. She would succeed here.
Rowan schooled her face to hide all emotion and waited for him to speak. It took every bit of willpower she had to wait him out, but she sure as hell wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of blinking first.
A couple of eternal minutes later, he moved, and Rowan gulped back a huge sigh of relief.
“Do you have a resume?” he asked.
Oh, Lordy, his voice could melt chocolate. This was not good.
“You have my resume in the folder Emersyn handed you.” Rowan swallowed to clear the lump in her throat. Her first day and already she was more intimidated than ever before.
Sure enough, there it was, and not even five minutes into this meeting. His eyes dipped to her chest. The boob assessment men used to tell women they had the upper hand. Typical one-track minds. Rowan couldn’t control the blush, but she strengthened her resolve to show him she had the chops for this job.
He opened the folder and scanned her resume so fast there was no way he could have read anything.
“I see you have master’s degrees in both business admin and finance. Yet you’ve never actually managed people.”
Okay, maybe he read that fast. But the remark was uttered in a slow, determined cadence with just the slightest hint of a patronizing tone that told Rowan everything she’d begun to suspect. He wasn’t happy about hiring her, and he expected her to fail.
This wasn’t her first rodeo, and she delivered her response in the same slow, determined cadence. “Mr. Barrett…” She emphasized the mister. “I eat, sleep, live, and breathe money management.”
He leaned back in his chair, telegraphing that he was the big dog in the room. “Why should I believe you?”
In that moment, Rowan threw away the last of any deference she might have brought into this encounter. “I’m hungry, Mr. Barrett, hungrier than anyone you know except maybe for you and your sister. I did not get to where I am without the knowledge, skills, and yes, instinct to back up that declaration.” In one fluid movement, she allowed herself to relax against the back of the chair and crossed her legs before sweeping her curly hair over her shoulder.
Emersyn had told her the job was pretty much hers, but clearly, this man had the final say.
Gerard Barrett drummed his fingers on the desk and glanced at them as if surprised. He moved her resume to the short stack of files on his desk. Had she been dismissed?
“I guess we’re going to find that out, aren’t we?”
With a slow, measured exhale, Rowan let go of the breath she’d been holding. It wasn’t easy when she wanted to scream, shout, and dance around the room. Emersyn had warned her about her brother, and Rowan had just passed the biggest hurdle.
Rowan knew Barrett Investment Group inside and out, or as closely as she could without being part of the executive board. She’d devoured everything she could find on the company. Studied them and lost sleep as she figured out how to get them to take her seriously. She needed this job to prove herself. With her sights set on an executive position, she’d put her plan into action.
Refocusing, Rowan realized the co-CEO and co-owner of Barrett Group had continued speaking, spouting the standard company overview and mission, all things she knew from her research.
“And we do not allow fraternizing with employees or clients.”
What had he just said? Rowan concentrated, recalling his last statement, feeling the ire drip from her brain to her mouth and trying hard to not let it loose. “Fraternizing?” Rowan’s Irish anger drowned out the fantasy flash of bodies writhing on satin sheets and hit her like a blast from a furnace. She could feel her cheeks heat from the mixed emotions racing through her.
Rumors abounded in places like this. At Murdoch Industries, she’d gotten one pitiful promotion because she’d earned it. That hadn’t mattered to the guys working there. The assumption that she’d slept with someone to get that, instead of the fact that she’d worked her ass off, had circulated the office with record speed. Calling on every bit of her professionalism, Rowan buried that anger deep.
“You know what I mean, Ms. McCarthy.”
Rowan stood, placed her palms on her boss’ desk, and leaned in. “Mr. Barrett, I’m a professional, and I don’t require a lesson in ethics from you or anyone else. I’ve enjoyed our meeting, and Ms. Barrett is expecting me.”
Rowan picked up her portfolio and strode to the door with measured steps and head held high. She’d met her boss’ disdain with a competent, professional decorum and would continue to do so.
“Ms. McCarthy?”
She froze with her hand on the door, unwilling to dignify his use of her name by turning around. “What?”
“I’ll be watching you.”
