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Instant relief overwhelmed Chess. Thank God, she hadn’t damaged him for life.
But that relief swiftly turned to annoyance when he started to flirt with the female paramedic.
“Mr. Khan,” the female paramedic said, “We’ll need to take you to the hospital. Is that okay?”
Tazeem flashed his dimpled smile at the lady. “How can it not be okay when I get to ride with a pretty girl like you?”
“Oh… okay!” The paramedic giggled. Shegiggled. This lady, who’d seemed so cold and clinical just seconds before, transformed into a tittering bundle of female hormones andgiggled.
Ugh!Chess rolled her eyes. This was typical Tazeem. He was great at gassing women up. Unfortunately, he was great at disappointing them too.Asshole!
The paramedics helped him stand up, then led him out of the office towards the elevators. Several people were milling around the hallway and the reception. Among those people was a smirking Mark who watched Chess as she followed behind Tazeem and the medics.
Tazeem and the paramedics got into the elevator. Chess didn’t.
Tazeem’s gaze met Chess’s. His mouth crooked in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You know I’ll get you for this, right?”
Chess scoffed and flipped him the bird just as the elevator doors closed.
She turned and started towards her office. But she didn’t even get past the reception desk.
“Winters!” Richard, who she hadn’t even noticed was among the crowd, barked. “My office. NOW!”
Uh oh!
Whispers and snickers followed her as she trudged behind Richard. Once they were in his office, she closed the door behind her to limit the number of witnesses to the whooping she was about to get.
Richard settled in the leather seat behind his desk. That desk was so large that he already looked intimidating without even saying a word. Chess stood beside the desk like an errant student waiting for the principal to tear her a new one.
For a moment, Richard just sat silently with his head bent and his pale hands linked over the table as if he was trying to rein in his temper. When he finally lifted his head and met her gaze, cold rage shone in his eyes.
“You knocked our biggest client out.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement of fact. And his tone was so wintery that it sent a chill down her body. He added, “We had to call nine-one-one. They had to take him to hospital. I have to pay his bill.”
“I’m sorry. I swear, I didn’t mean to do it.” She quickly offered, “I’ll cover the hospital bill.”
“Before we settle on who gets the bill, I’d like to know why.” Richard frostily demanded, “Why did you put our biggest client in the hospital?”
Of course she wanted to blurt out ‘sexual harassment’, but that would mean telling Richard everything that had led to that knee in the groin. And honestly, she wasn’t certain she’d come out smelling like roses. So, she just shuffled uncomfortably on her feet and kept her silence.
“Okay then. No silence means you cover the bill.” Richard scowled. “And you better be sure that I’m getting him the best suite there.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I did not expect this from you, Chelsea.” He shoved his seat back roughly and stood. The wheels creaked loudly in protest at his movement. The creases at the edge of his eyes had grown into almost dents as his blue eyes sparked with fury. “Of everyone in this office, you’re the one who knows how important my business is to me. Do you know what will happen when news gets out that we lost Le Stride and are now sending our clients to the hospital?”
She meekly nodded. “Yes, I do.”
Richard answered anyway. “We’ll be blackballed. And do you know what happens to companies that have been blackballed?”
“I do.” She couldn’t bring herself to keep looking him in the eye so she bent her head.
“They don’t get hired,” Richard paced the length of carpet behind his desk. “And when they don’t get hired, they don’t make money. When they don’t make money, they can’t pay people, and they certainly can’t afford to hire a new VP.”
“I’m sorry, Richard.” She met his eyes. “It won’t happen again.”
“I don’t want promises. I want action.” His sharp eyes on her, he demanded, “Make sure his company doesn’t let us go. Now. Get out there and fix it.”
She wanted to protest that fixing this was impossible. She wanted to reassure him that losing Le Stride wouldn’t break Synovent. She wanted to suggest that if Richard wanted to keep this project, he was better off assigning it to someone else. But Richard didn’t even give even a second to get another word in.
