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“She knows you’re a consultant. And that you brought me Phoebe, then ghosted me.”
“You told her?”
“I had to explain why I went from being in a great mood last month to a shitty one that lasted until last Wednesday, when I came back from lunch with a spring in my step, that hasn’t gone away.”
“She’s going to think I’m an asshole.”
“On the contrary. I think she liked the fact I left work early on Friday to ‘finalize your contract’. Anything that keeps me out of the office, she appreciates.”
The elevator dinged to announce they’d reached the sixth floor, and they stepped out once the door opened.
It was immediately evident they were in the executive wing based on the lavish décor at the elevators alone. It felt like they were in a luxury hotel.
The plush carpet muffled their footsteps as they walked the long hall that led to his corner office.
His assistant sat at a mahogany desk just outside a door with Liam’s name on it, but even she had a wall of windows overlooking the courtyard. The furniture in the waiting area next to Kathy was nicer than what she’d had in her apartment. Utah could only imagine how posh his office was.
“Good morning, Mr. McDonnell.” Kathy stood as they entered the glass doors.
Liam paused at his assistant’s desk, so Utah did, too.
“Good morning, Kathy. This is Utah Douglas, our new IT consultant. Utah, this is Kathy Walters—my right-hand woman.”
His assistant extended her hand with an enthusiastic smile. “It’s great to meet you.”
Utah shook her hand and returned the smile. “Likewise.”
Kathy walked in front of them into Liam’s office and retrieved a cup of coffee from his desk.
“I’ll get you a fresh cup. I was expecting you at your usual time, so this has been sitting a while.”
“Thanks, Kath,” Liam said as he went around his desk and set his briefcase on top of the blotter.
The woman closed the door behind her, and Utah spun on the ball of her foot to give him an accusatory look.
“I thought you said eight o’clock?”
“I did.”
“So, then why did you have a cold cup of coffee waiting for you on your desk?”
“You heard Kathy, she brought it in before I got here.”
“Yeah, at your usual time, which obviously isn’t eight-thirty.”
“No, it’s not. But I’m the boss, and I didn’t have any meetings this morning, so I could come in when I wanted.”
“What is your usual time?”
“I’m usually here by seven.”
“That means you leave at six-fifteen?”
“No, traffic’s lighter that time of the morning, so if I’m out the door by six-thirty, it’s fine.”
Fuck.
She hadn’t even gotten up that morning until six-thirty, and it had still been a battle not to hit the snooze a third time.
