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“How about HR’s H-and-B Reserve?”
“Sorry. No.”
I frown. “Tech’s FY Initiative?”
“I’m afraid not.”
And yet they’re eating millions of dollars every year. How is it possible she hasn’t heard anyone talk about them? Or seen those bottom-line balance sheets?
There’s something going on, and it’s sketchy as shit.
“Do you have a few minutes to give me your interpretation?” she asks. “I hate to keep you at the office on a Friday night, but I’d like to grab my laptop and talk through the report.”
“Actually, I appreciate that, if you don’t mind me cutting into the start of your weekend.”
“You’re not. I’ll just take my wine with me.”
Is vino the reason for the hint of mellow in her voice?
“Now I’m jealous. I’d love a beer.”
Her laugh is soft and throaty. It does things to me I wish it didn’t.
Finally, after a little more rearranging, she seemingly plants somewhere with her computer. “Give me a minute. This thing is rebooting.”
“No problem.”
“You say that, but I know it’s past office hours in Phoenix, too. Have you even had dinner?”
“Nope. I fell into the rabbit hole with this annual report and…”
“That happens to me all the time. People from every part of the organization come to my office, and they—” She stops herself with a forced laugh. “Well, they realize they’ve found a sucker who wants to figure out what makes Reservoir tick and doesn’t mind putting in the effort to fix whatever’s broken.”
I don’t doubt that. “I was the same in my previous corporate job.”
It’s probably true of Jeremy. He’s a go-getter, and if he didn’t have a broken heart now, he wouldn’t have given me this account.
But if I can relate to Sloan on a personal level, I can build trust between us. She might get comfortable enough to blurt some of Reservoir’s hush-hush plans, particularly about when and how they intend to approach Wynam.
“I can picture that. And since a leopard doesn’t change its spots, that’s probably why you’re still in the office at nine o’clock.”
I’m actually not, but I’ve done it often enough to confess. “Guilty.”
“Workaholic, huh?”
“It takes one to know one.”
She gives me that soft, husky laugh again. “Touché. So…you had the pleasure of talking to all three Rawson boys. How was that?”
“A thrill and a half.” I don’t even try to disguise my sarcasm.
“I’m sure it was. After all, you got a blow job vicariously through Shane.”
“It was incredibly cringy.”
“For me, too. I’m very careful when I call him now.”
“He’s done that same thing to you?” I don’t know why I’m surprised. Maybe because it’s even weirder that he’d be getting off with his sister on the phone.
