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I started to work up a sweat. My inner thighs were going to be burning tomorrow, but I needed to stay inconspicuous until I puzzled out what was going on here.
Then the man wandered off. Damn. That didn’t make sense.
I watched Mrs. Glass, who pretended she didn’t care at first. A few moments later, I saw her watching him with a deep kind of longing. That wasn’t just a sexual longing. That was something else. There was history there.
I stroked my chin, then got up from the machine. I hopped on the treadmill beside Mrs. Glass and started walking. “Hey, Mrs. Glass,” I said.
She jumped, staring back with wide eyes. “Barry? Why are you all sweaty?”
“I was hitting my inner thighs,” I explained. “Do you come here often?”
She looked at me. “They have a locker room here. You can change out of your work clothes.”
“Nah,” I said. “I just wanted to get a quick lather in. I was thinking about seeing if they do any personal training, though. Any staff members here you’d suggest? Someone particularly helpful? I kind of prefer a male trainer, though.”
“Um,” she said, shaking her head. “Nobody comes to mind.”
Except I saw the way her eyes darted to the little man who was on the other side of the gym now. “Too bad,” I said. “I guess I can ask around.”
“Is everything okay, Barry?”
“Definitely. I needed to stretch my legs and I thought I’d come down here to clear the jitters out. Then I saw you and figured we could chat while we burned some fat.”
She gave a strained smile. “Well…”
“Alright!” I hopped off the treadmill. “I need to call it quits. Elizabeth is probably wondering where I am.”
Mrs. Glass just stared after me in complete confusion.
But I had something. Maybe it wasn’t going to wind up being useful, or maybe it would. Mrs. Glass was infatuated with another man. More importantly, it was a deep infatuation—one that seemed like it had roots going way back, if my guess was right.
When the woman was currently trying to avenge her husband by bringing us down, I’d say feelings for another man qualified as juicy and useful. I just didn’t know how to use it. Yet.
19
ELIZABETH
Mrs. Glass had decided that Barry should be present at every company meeting for the foreseeable future. So when we all gathered in the conference room upstairs, I wasn’t surprised to see Travis there, sitting cheerily right next to my spot. I took the chair and tried not to pay attention to him.
Before Travis came along, I had no problem seeing this place for what it was. A tank full of circling sharks and shark food. The people who didn’t see the business world for what it was were the shark food. The moment you forgot everyone was out to get your job was the moment someone came and snatched it right from under you.
Lately, I kept finding myself surprised to notice the way Rand watched me with predatory eyes. The man was just as ambitious as me and half as talented. He couldn’t out-work me or impress Mrs. Glass enough to take the job from me if I was on my game. But if I screwed up, he made sure he was firmly in position to be her “Plan B.” Naturally, that meant he was always watching for opportunities to help me fail.
The meeting was about logistics for the Callie Rose tour. We had to figure out which lines of clothing to get to her, how long she’d need them, and do our best to have weather-appropriate options ready. It was going to be a tedious job, and Mrs. Glass wanted to make sure she had the right people on it.
“I’ll need someone to establish contact with Callie’s people and start digging into her preferences,” Mrs. Glass said. “I want to make sure we don’t muck this up by sending her something she hates. Who can be my point person on this?”
Travis had discreetly smuggled in more of his sunflower seeds to the meeting. Mrs. Glass hated when people ate during meetings, and I found myself transfixed as he messed with the crinkly bag in his suit pocket, then lifted a few seeds to his mouth to chew.
“I’ll do it,” Rand said.
I stirred. Shit. I had been zoned out on Travis and his stupid seeds. I should’ve offered to do that, but I couldn’t jump in now without looking greedy.
The rest of the meeting went on without much of note, except that Mrs. Glass asked Rand to stay behind so she could personally give him instructions on his new role. He shot me an obnoxious sneer before I left.
Travis fell in beside me while we walked from the room. “Everything good?” he asked.
I looked up at the ceiling, then suddenly pushed him into an empty conference room and shut the door behind us. “No, actually,” I blurted once we were alone.
