Page 19 of All for Love

“Okay.” Surprisingly, she was keeping up pretty well considering the suitcase she was wheeling over the plush carpet under our feet.

“Our workspaces were designed by an ergonomic expert, so don’t go messing with those. Each space was modified for the worker who uses it to eliminate risk of injury and increase comfort. We also paid the dude a fortune, so just let it go right now if you had any plans to move any of that around.”

She sighed, but when I glanced at her and arched a brow, she nodded. So I nodded, then motioned toward the admin pool. “That’s what we affectionately refer to as the fishbowl. Typists, assistants, and our personal researchers sit there. They’ve all been told you’re coming. Feel free to ask them if you need anything.”

“Thank you.”

I shrugged. “I wasn’t the one who told them you were coming.”

We strode past the floor-to-ceiling windows in the receiving area of our level and past the well-appointed, comfortable waiting room. “The vending machine and coffeemakers in there are free. We’ve only got healthy snacks and some basic medicines stocked in the vending machine. That doesn’t require any organizing and the coffee is organic.”

She sighed again, and when I looked at her, she dragged her fingers through her thick brown hair and closed her eyes for a beat.

I frowned. “What?”

“Nothing.”

I inhaled deeply and tried to keep the flare of annoyance at bay. “Fine. Conference rooms, squad strategy session areas, and huddle pods are down here.”

“What’s a huddle pod?”

“A fancy word for a meeting room, but a small one that’s been designed to get the creative juices flowing. We got an occupational therapist to design it for us. There’s even a teepee in one of them.”

“What’s a squad strategy session area?”

I snorted. “What does it sound like? It’s where the teams meet to strategize. What’s in the suitcase?”

We stopped in front of the pop-up office Kaden had put together for her last week. It used to be another break area, set apart from the corridor with wooden partitions and containing sofas to relax on, but it wasn’t a relaxing space anymore.

It was now a place that stressed me right the hell out and I didn’t want to spend any more time here than I had to. I motioned at the desk. “This is yours.”

She nodded and lifted the suitcase onto the desk, snapping open the clasps and managing to give me a tight smile. “Would you like to see what’s in it?”

“I would’ve been okay with you just telling me, but fine. Show me.”

Just as I’d suspected, it was full of organizational tools. I narrowed my eyes at all the colorful pens. “A bit childish, no?”

“Don’t knock it before you try it,” she said. “My process is tried and true. If you’re willing to give it a chance, you won’t be disappointed.”

“Wagner Industries is one of the largest privately owned companies in the world, Mercedes. We’re in every industry from agriculture, to manufacturing, to clean energy, to investment banking. Every office building we have has been combed over by experts in every field and adjusted to fit the roles the people in that building play. We’re not some slap-dash tiny little firm who needs help organizing our file room.”

Her eyes burned bright with irritation at my dismissal of her so-called ability to help, but she beat it back and gave me a firm nod. “I’m not going to interfere with your work and I’m not going to mess with anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. I respect the professionals you’ve brought in to help with everything, and frankly, they’ve done an impressive job, but now you have to let me do mine.”

Our gazes clashed for a long, drawn-out minute, but as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t tell her to leave. And she couldn’t go even if she wanted to. We were stuck together.

“Fine. How do you start doing whatever it is you do?”

Her eyes still burned into mine and I could practically hear the insults she was hurling at me in her mind, but she ground her teeth and nodded. “I usually start by shadowing employees for a week, which means that we’ll be spending a lot of time together this week, Kody. I know you’re not going to want to do it and I don’t either, but I won’t compromise the integrity of my process. Not for anyone. Not even you.”

I groaned, but I was fresh out of other choices. “I won’t get in your way. Let’s just get this over with, okay?”

“Okay.” She let out a long breath before she hung her head and put her hands on her hips, inhaling slowly before she looked up at me again. “This is going to be a long three months.”

“You’ve got that right, but the sooner we start, the sooner it’ll be over. Just don’t fuck it up so you can stay longer.”

“Trust me, I won’t be staying a minute longer than I have to.”

“Good, because I won’t let you.”

Our eyes locked together again and hatred flared in hers, but it was mutual. I was going to be counting the seconds until she was gone, and then I was going to throw a big party to celebrate her leaving.

Now if only I can get back to a place where I can look at her without imagining her naked and wanting to get her that way again, that would be just great. Wherever that place was though, I wasn’t there yet, but I urgently, desperately needed to find it.

Or else she was going to be driving me crazy in a lot more ways than one for the next three months—and that was cruel and unusual torture that I just really didn’t want to have to go through.

Until I found that place, I was going to have to fake it. That was the only way I could imagine getting through this with my sanity—and this company—intact.