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She looked down and then back up. She seemed thoroughly amused by the situation. "Okay, yes, I was very uncomfortable."
"Hence my effort to make it up to you."
She came closer, sitting down opposite me. "Okay. I want you to take twenty minutes to go through the documents with me."
I whistled. "You're very good."
"I know."
"All right, hit me," I said. "Do you want to come on my side of the desk so we can both look at the documentation at the same time?"
"Yes, that's a good idea," she said.
She got up, and I moved her chair to my side of the table. Her perfume caught me off guard. She smelled delicious, and all I wanted was to get closer, inhale deeper. From where I was standing, I had an excellent view down her blouse.
Fuck, I don't need this image in my mind.I looked away quickly, noticing her fingers moving through her brown hair, pulling it to one side, baring her neck. Its curve beckoned to me, and I wondered if it was a sweet spot for her. Exploring this woman would be a privilege, and no question, I'd be very thorough about it. I wouldn't leave one inch of her untouched or unlicked.
I snapped my gaze up from her neck to her eyes. She darted the tip of her tongue between her lips, and I nearly groaned. My brothers always pointed out that I had an excellent poker face, but right now, I couldn’t pretend.
The last thing I wanted was for her to feel uncomfortable around me. I had to get my shit together. This was unacceptable behavior. I wasn't my father, and I was determined not to follow in his footsteps, no matter how different our circumstances were.
"So, a big complaint from your business partners is that you're not responsive. That it takes you a long while to reply to an email, phone call—any communication, for that matter."
"Yes, but I get a lot of correspondence every day," I said. Heck, my own family had this complaint about me.
"Why don't we start there? I can go through your emails with you and help you separate things according to priorities and work. You’ll be amazed how effective this type of communication management is. That will also help you with prioritizing phone calls, texts, and the rest. Make sense?"
"You want access to my emails?" I double-checked. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but that was private company information.
"Don't say it like that. It makes me sound like I'm the bad guy here."
"That is a big ask. It's confidential information."
"Colton, I've signed NDAs. I can sign anything else you want to make you feel comfortable."
It was great that HR had her sign nondisclosure agreements, but that didn’t mean I was okay with all of this.
“If it makes you feel more comfortable, I do this with all my clients. I would never share or use information in an untoward, let alone illegal, way.” Zoey seemed a little upset with me, and I got it. My hesitancy came across like I was accusing her of something, and that was not my intention.
Yeah, your people skills suck, Colton.
“Okay. I could use help with my inbox," I said. And that was the truth.
She took a paper out of the stack she'd left me earlier. It was a screenshot of an inbox with what seemed like a million labels.
Maybe this wasn't going to be a total disaster.
Her shoulders sagged a bit, and she breathed out as if this weighed on her. Had I been that much of a pain in the ass that my agreeing to one little thing made her sigh with relief?
"All right, I might need some information from you in the beginning, so it might feel like you’re wasting time."
I had opened my mouth to reassure her when she continued.
"But you won't be, okay? In the long run, it'll save you time. Just give me the benefit of the doubt. I only ask for one week to get this set up."
"Fine," I agreed.
She grinned. "We should call your grandmother here to embarrass you more often if it means I get my way."
