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I was about to argue that Gracie wasn’t bothering me when Beth turned her cold expression my way.
“They’re ready for you. Conference room C.”
I stood up and straightened my skirt before kneeling in front of Gracie. “It was nice meeting you, Gracie. Maybe I’ll see you around if I get this job. We can take our lunch breaks together and talk crap about everyone around us. Sound good?”
She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tight before rushing back to Beth’s desk of bore. I ignored the rush of emotion at the feeling of being hugged and went in search of conference room C.
The one good thing that had come from being with Monroe for five years was his constant need to hear himself speak. He’d ranted for the entire half decade about the Graves brothers and how they conducted business. He loved to talk about the rumors he’d heard and the things he knew from people he’d poached from their interview process. The brothers were notorious for making it hard on their applicants, even down to finding the correct conference room.
They were interviewing me for position of digital strategist, however. If I couldn’t find the men, I didn’t deserve to be hired. I solved problems. It was literally what I did for a living. Well, it had been until Monroe got a bug up his butt and fired me.
With a new wave of white-hot rage coursing through me, I stopped in the middle of the hall and studied the expressions and glances of the people milling about. Finding the correct conference room was easy after I read the nervous glances of the employees. Despite it not being labeled and looking like a janitor’s closet from the outside, I knocked lightly and let myself into the correct room before two minutes had passed on my watch. It was actually a minute and thirty seconds.
Unfortunately, my carefully laid plans and Monroe’s gossip hadn’t prepared me for the three men standing around the head of the small conference table. History would’ve called them charismatic. EvenIhad a moment of cult-like reverence when they turned to look at me, their dark expressions burning me alive.
2
***Aggie***
“Wow.” I whispered the single word under my breath and then did my best to regain my control. Sure, the Graves brothers were much better looking than their pictures did justice, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that I needed a job. The job they were hiring for. There wasn’t another job in the country that would allow me to do what I needed to do; they were it.
Still, I couldn’t help noticing the height and strength of the men in front of me. I’d always been a sucker for well-built men and they didn’t lack in that area. The three of them all had the same thick, dark hair that reminded me of melted chocolate, and unfortunately, I loved chocolate. Their intense gazes were identical in the way they seemed to want to ignite me on the spot. Those dark gazes helped me refocus on why I was there. Arrogant men with attitude problems had to learn to play nice.
“Ms. Young. We’ve been waiting. Take a seat.” The oldest brother, Zander Graves, looked me over with the coolness of an iceberg. “I’m not sure how you’re used to conducting business, but we run a tight ship here at The Graves Company. Punctuality is important.”
I smiled. “Of course, Sir. That’s why I knew something had to be wrong when my ten o’clock appointment came and went with no word. I hope everything is okay.”
His eyes flashed as he unbuttoned his suit jacket and folded his long body into the chair at the head of the table. I couldn’t see what color his eyes were from across the room, but I couldn’t mistake the fire in them. “Cute.”
I barely resisted making a face as I settled into the chair across from him. I had spent a decade of my life working at their biggest competitor. I’d bought into the narrative that Monroe’s family company was just that, a family company, and that TGC was a massive monster, built of new money and pompous egos. It was hard to let that go so easily.
Knight Graves sat next to his older brother and looked me over. “You spent ten years at Monroe Blake’s company and now you’re here. Why?”
I licked my lips at the utterly dry feeling his question left in my mouth. I hadn’t expected them to go for the jugular quite so quickly. “Things change. I worked my way to the top and found that my opportunities to grow shrank to nothing. I love my work and I love being challenged. I didn’t feel like more time at Blake Corp would’ve changed the level of opportunities.”
Zander twisted his fingers together on top of the table and stared me down. “It has nothing to do with the supposed breakup between yourself and Monroe Blake?”
I ground my teeth together as a renewed fury washed over me. What I’d known would happen had already happened, it seemed. No one would’ve known about our breakup without Monroe making it known. The only way the three men in front of me would’ve known was if Monroe was blacklisting me in our industry. I just hoped it worked in my favor. The Graves brothers hated Monroe. “My personal life should hold no bearing here. My work speaks for itself.”
Kyrin, Knight’s twin, shook his head and rested his fists on the table. “You honestly expect us to believe that Monroe Blake didn’t send his little girlfriend over here to play spy?”
I felt the top of my head tingle as the desire to punch the men seemed more and more like a valid option. “I amnotMonroe Blake’s little girlfriend, Mr. Graves. My name is Aggie Young and I’m the best digital strategist you’ll ever have in this room. I understand that my past employer could cause some pause, but I trust that three men who grew a small company into what you have today are beyond rumors and speculation.”
Knight pulled his black framed glasses off and squeezed the bridge of his nose. His dark hair was slightly too long and it fell across his forehead as he put his glasses back on. With the shadow of a beard on his strong jaw, he could’ve been Clark Kent with those glasses and his strong body. “Some pause? You say like that we haven’t been thwarting Blake’s idiotic attempts at sabotage for the past decade. Why would we ever think this is anything different?”
Kyrin stood up and gripped the back of his chair. In just a button-down shirt and slacks, he looked the most down to earth, but when he spoke, it was more than clear that he was a Graves, through and through. “We’ve attended the same fundraisers over the years, Ms. Young. Blake kept a tight leash on you. Are we supposed to believe that he just let you go suddenly? And that you just showed up here?”
I interlocked my fingers in my lap and met each of their hard gazes. It was news to me that we’d attended the same events. I would’ve remembered seeing them. “He didn’tlet me go suddenly. He broke up with me and fired me when I wouldn’t leave work to do his bidding. He cast my job away like I didn’t save his company time and time again over the last five years, especially. I assure you, nothing about losing my job and my life’s work wassudden. Not to me.”
Zander held up his hand and leaned forward. “We take our hiring process very seriously. We only hire the best and we vet each and every hire. The things we do here are all top-secret and letting a fox in the henhouse, so to speak, would be one of the dumbest moves we could ever make.Iassureyou, Ms. Young, nothing about what we do could ever be labeled as dumb.”
I straightened even farther. My back was a steel rod at that point of the conversation. I was fighting to keep my temper in check as hard as I could. “Have you looked at my resume? I attached a portfolio of the projects I’ve led, minus identifying features, of course. I’m sure you won’t feel like hiring me would be a dumb mistake if you looked everything over.”
“Why do you want to work here? Honestly?” Knight stared me down with an intensity I’d never felt before. I would’ve sworn I could feel his gaze burning through my clothes and scorching my skin.
I took a deep breath. “Honestly?”
Zander nodded once. “It’s what we prefer.”
