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His breath caught at the way she said his name, like a secret shared between friends. He cleared his throat. “I don’t see why that matters. Just do your job and we’ll be just fine.” He straightened his tie. “You’ll find I don’t concern myself with many things beyond my business.”
She’d figure that out soon enough.
“You protect Zia, Miss Rodriguez, and I’ll be your biggest fan. You betray me?” His jaw tensed at the thought. “I’ll go to the ends of the earth to make sure you never work outside of a Best Buy again.” He steeled his gaze, driving home the point.
Cole had dedicated his entire life to his goal. Ending up as the CEO of the company hadn’t been in his plans, but being the CEO gave him decision-making power he’d never have as a researcher or manager. And, of course, the personal money to make things happen.
She stiffened at his words, jerking her chin upward. He pushed away the desire to reassure her. Of what, though? He wasn’t joking. Twenty-five years of work had led him to a place where he could change the world, and he wasn’t going to let Miss Rodriguez or anyone else jeopardize it.
“Do you understand?” he asked, doubling down on his attempt to make her understand just how serious he was about this job.
She held his gaze, apparently unbothered by his intimidation tactics. “Perfectly,” she responded in a clipped tone, no expression revealing her true feelings. Not fear or admiration, the two emotions he was used to seeing on the faces of those he worked with. No, she wasn’t scared of him. And she definitely didn’t admire him. She almost seemed to hate him.
Which was fine. He wasn’t here to make friends.
CHAPTERTHREE
Joey suckedin a deep breath of fresh air when she was released from the town car. It was as if the small space had been designed to flaunt Kensington’s wealth and power. Sitting there made every difference between the two of them blatantly obvious to her. He was supremely confident, almost arrogant in how he controlled the conversation. Her hands were still shaking slightly from the confrontation. They were supposed to be on the same side. At least, he was supposed to think they were.
She ground her teeth together, remembering the threat about banishing her to Best Buy. She’d figure out how to respond to that comment later. For now, she was actually proud she’d managed to bite her tongue. Digging into Cole Kensington would be far easier if she could get him to trust her–even if she’d never trust him. She probably should have been less confrontational at dinner. Maybe he’d be less guarded. But she couldn’t change that now.
She walked the two blocks to the office after he dropped her off so no one would see them arriving together. Whatever she could say about Kensington, he wasn’t stupid.
Joey pulled out her phone and texted Flint a quick update.
Joey: Headed in for day one. No phones allowed. I’ll check in at lunch.
Flint: Be careful.
She deleted the messages and tucked her phone away before stepping into the building. She tried her best to appear as an enthusiastic but nervous computer tech on her first day. Employees trickled in around her, flashing their badges and proceeding through four sets of doors leading out of the lobby. In the center was a large reception desk. It was a safe bet that it was where she should start.
She tightened her grip on her shoulder bag and strode to the desk, chin high and eyes forward.
“Good morning. What can I do for you?”
Joey glanced briefly to the left and right of the friendly receptionist. Overweight and balding, the uniformed security guards seemed to be more for show than anything. They had radios on their belts, though. Surely, there were others behind the scene. Perhaps ones with more muscle.
She smiled warmly. “Hi. Um, it’s my first day. I’m supposed to report to Patrick Wragge, I think?” She feigned ignorance and added a bit extra flighty-ness to her persona. It never hurt to be underestimated.
The receptionist brightened. “Oh, well! Welcome to Zia. Let me just call Patrick and see where you should go first. Usually, it’s straight to HR for a few hours of paperwork.” The middle-aged woman rolled her eyes. “Gotta keep the paper-pushers happy, don’t we?”
Joey smiled. “Every company seems to have that in common.”
“Hi, Patrick. It’s Lisa at the front desk. I have–” She looked at Joey. “What was your name, honey?”
“Joey–I mean–Josephina Rodriguez.”
The receptionist repeated her name. “I’ll sign her up and send her to Tammy. Thanks.” She turned back to Joey. “You’ll need to lock your phone, smart watch, and any other Bluetooth-enabled device in those lockers over there.” Joey’s gaze followed the path of Lisa’s gesture to the lobby wall. She hadn’t noticed how many employees were stopping at the sleek-looking lockers to put their devices inside.
Tammy turned out to be a curvy blonde with glasses and a keen ability to talk non-stop for nearly four hours. By the end of the one-on-one orientation marathon, Joey’s brain was ready to melt from the mundane chatter and the mind-numbing paperwork. During the review of the employee handbook, she briefly wondered if Black Tower even had one, smiling at the thought of what Flint would come up with for guidelines.
“We’re almost all done here, and then I’ll deliver you to Patrick myself. He’s a great guy. You’re so lucky to be in his department. Honestly, half the single women in the building have a little crush on him. Well, if they aren’t harboring delusional thoughts about making Mr. Kensington fall in love with them. You’d think they did nothing but read cheap romance novels about the prince falling for the peasant girl and whisking her away to his castle.”
Joey laughed at the accurate assessment. Miranda loved those books, much to her dismay. Joey’d take a good space opera any day. Or a Marcus Warner adventure thriller. If it weren’t for the whole working with the “evil empire” thing, she might begrudgingly admit that Cole was handsome. Even then, there was the unavoidable fact that he’d made his fortune profiting from drug monopolies. She knew firsthand how they took advantage of people who were unwillingly dependent on them to survive. Of course, most girls probably saw the money as a perk, not an absolute dealbreaker. “You don’t think Mr. Kensington would do that?”
Tammy laughed. “Have you met the man? Sure, he’s handsome. But he’s not interested in anything if it doesn’t have to do with Zia and the research foundation.”
Joey filed away that information. If there had ever been any gossip about the boss, Tammy would have heard it. And she seemed one-hundred-percent willing to share it to the newest employee. She was exactly the well-connected type of person who knew just about everything happening inside of Zia.
