Not even Mitchell Bond, who was closer to her father’s age, had a tie on. Just black pants and shoes, and a nice shirt.
Ethan was dressed similarly, but the cut and style were different. More modern. Charcoal trousers, black shoes that looked more like sneakers, a light pink and silver striped shirt, the top few buttons undone, the sleeves rolled up showing his forearms that she remembered so clearly as he braced himself on them while he was inside of her.
She cleared her throat and picked up her glass of water, trying not to fidget like she always did around her father. After all those years of working on her inner strength, he still had the ability to knock it down, but she was going to be damned if she’d let him see it.
This job could never work out because of that night with Ethan and talking about this position with her father was only going to cause a fight.
Besides, Ethan wouldn’twanther working for him. Not after she’d ghosted him the next morning.
Lord only knew how many women he’d been with in his life. And it didn’t bear thinking about.
No way would a man like him want one of them sitting across the table in meetings and privy to the most confidential details of his business.
Stay in control, she told herself. “Dad, I’m dressed appropriately for the positions I’m applying for.”
“You need to dress higher than what you’re looking to achieve. That’s how you show grit.”
The server arrived to take their order. She asked for a salad with grilled chicken when what shereallywanted was a big, greasy burger. Something to fill the hollow pit that had opened in her stomach the minute this conversation started.
The second she got back to her apartment, she was changing, lacing up her sneakers, and running until her brain stopped replaying this train wreck of a day.
“I’m the least gritty person I know, but I picked up my life and moved here. A city I hadn’t been to in decades. Living on my own for the first time and making all the arrangements and settled in alone. How many people can do that and not ask for help?”
“I would have helped you.”
She didn’t want it. He didn’t get it. She just proved to him she could do it. That she handled a big life change and moved on her own. Yet she still wasn’t strong in his eyes.
“I’m not going to be someone I’m not,” she said calmly.
Hadn’t she done that already?
Look howthatturned out.
Keep your identity a secret from a man.
Go to his room for one night of wild, toe-curling sex.
Slip out before dawn and pray you never cross paths again.
Smartest plan ever. Right until she remembered the man was her father’s boss!
“Sad but true. Tell me how the interview went.”
“Which one? I had two of them today.”
Her father hesitated. “Both if you must, but I’m more concerned with the one you had second.”
“First off, just because Blair appeared to like me means nothing. She’s not the one hiring me. And second, I’m your daughter and they might feel it’s a conflict of interest.”
“I don’t work for Ethan,” her father said.
She lifted her eyebrow. “You’ve said before you do. You’ve even complained about it. That he’s younger and does things differently, not ways you agree with.”
Her father straightened his shoulders and prepared to put her in her place. She’d seen it before when she was younger and more recently when he didn’t like to have something pointed out he didn’t agree with.
“I report to Mitchell via Mason. I’ll never report directly to Ethan because I’ll be retired long before he takes over fully. Is Ethan ranked higher than me? Sure. But I report directly to Mason and always have.”
Funny how his tune changed with his own needs.
