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“May I help you?” Shit, she sounded pinched.
Maybe if he turned on the charm. He could be charming. “Good morning. Josh Campbell to see Mark Strickland.”
He flashed his best smile for good measure.
“I’ll see if he’s available.” She picked up a phone and then snarled at him. Josh wondered
“We have an appointment,” he added brusquely.
Holding the black handset to her ear, she sniffed. “Yes, well, I’m checking.”
Checking? Fucking hell. There should be no checking. Campbell Holdings was paying them hefty sum to conduct the site analysis. There was no checking.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Campbell. Please wait over there. He’s on a call with London.” She pointed to a heavy leather sofa, very much like the one in his parents’ library. It appeared the place was as pretentious as it was inefficient.
“I don’t have time to wait. Please tell me where I can find Caroline Rossi, if you don’t mind.”
“Mr. Strickland asked you to wait here.”
“Mr. Strickland should not be wasting my time.”
The woman finally had the good grace to look at least mildly chastised. “Miss Rossi’s cubicle is down that hallway. It’s one of the first ones you’ll see.”
Josh smiled and went in search of the girl who was probably going to give him a spectacular brush off, but he had to see her. He had to try.
He followed the receptionist’s directions and after two turns found himself facing a very nicely designed cubicle farm. And while he wouldn’t normally consider cubicles aesthetically pleasing, this area was workable. Most of the front walls were low, so there was line of sight, and it looked like windows were built into the side walls. The colors were subdued and earthy. It wasn’t a bad workspace for what it was. He asked a woman who was passing where he’d find Caroline and she pointed him to the cubicle that was three away from where he was standing. She was at her desk, glasses on, hair pulled back tight, punching something into a computer. She was looking at the screen and jotting things down on a big legal pad. She looked brainy and intimidating and hot as hell.
He knocked on the low cubicle wall and she snapped out of her trance. “Josh!”
“Hey,” he said.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m supposed to have a meeting with Mark, but he was on a call, so that gave me an excuse to see you.”
“Oh.” She bit her lip and Josh tried to gauge if she looked happy. He thought she did. He hoped she did. “You had an appointment?”
“Yeah, he’s held up.” He wanted to say he was an asshole, but he didn’t know if everyone within earshot would appreciate his assessment, so he kept his opinion to himself.
Caroline’s brows knitted together and she shook her head. “When will he learn? If you make an appointment with a client, you keep it.”
He stepped into her space and Caroline tilted her face toward his. She was twisting her fingers uneasily and Josh wondered why. He was the one who’d fucked up. Her eyes were liquid, like melted chocolate, and he hated that he’d betrayed her trust and wanted more than anything to fix it. The silence stretched out, crossing over into awkwardness. He didn’t say anything, but watched as she turned toward her desk. The opening and closing of the drawer caught his attention, and Josh didn’t know what to say when he saw Caroline stand with her gigantic purse. Yeah, this wasn’t going well. Was she making a run for it? Maybe she was going to hit him with the bag.
“Going somewhere?” That was smooth.Not.
“I usually go to lunch around now.”
He glanced at his watch. He’d have to remember that bit of intel. “Oh, okay.”
“Want to join me?” she asked. And just like that, Caroline had made things better.
He saw the corner of her mouth tease up. Damn, she looked good enough to eat, and it looked like he might be forgiven. “That should teach Mark.”
Caroline smiled and nodded. “It’s going to make him crazy,” she said.
“I’m counting on it. He’s trying to get the upper hand. I’m not giving it to him,” he responded. “So what are you up for?”
Caroline smiled up at him and shrugged. “Whatever you want.”
