“What?”
“The arms crossed and the ‘get as far away from Stew as you could’ stance.”
Ding!
We’re at the ground floor.
I stride past her out of the elevator, but she keeps pace easily enough even in those heels that bring her forehead right to my nose.
“I don’t like hospitals,” I say, as we finally escape out into the Brooklyn night and I pull in a deep breath of crisp air, only slightly tainted by the exhaust from the ambulances idling at the curb.
“Fair enough,” she says, wrapping her arms around herself and rubbing them up and down against the chill. “Where’s the car? He said he’d be right around.”
“So that’s it?” I ask.
“What’s it?”
“You’re just letting it go? Me helping you?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“You know how Stew said that you don’t have the head for being aGM?” she says, as the car pulls into the driveway and comes to a stop right in front of us. She opens the door for herself and then turns back to me.
“Yeah?” I ask, stepping closer and getting another hit of that fucking incredible scent as her eyes flash at me, the streetlights making them sparkle.
“Well, I do.”
The implication is clear. She’ll allow me to be there because she knows she can run circles around me.
I should be insulted.
I should be furious.
And I’d have time to be either of those things if I wasn’t so fucking turned on by it.
Chapter 5
FRANCESCA
Interim General Manager.
This is what I’ve always wanted.
Almost.
One day thatinterimqualifier won’t be there. But for now it’s time to get to work.
Russell Field is nearly empty when I arrive, just a few security guards and Gregory, Stew’s assistant, who is faithfully at his desk every day by seven.
It seems that won’t change even with Stew in the hospital.
“I’m going to swap desks to sit over here while you’re filling in. He left his notes from his call with Dan Wilson for you,” Gregory says from my office doorway, a stack of paperwork in his arms. “And his notes on the pitch presentation you sent him about Nakamura. I’m going to head over to the hospital in a few if you have anything for him.”
“I don’t right now,” I say, taking the files from him. “Go and make sure he’s resting as much as possible and then I’m going to need you back here. I won’t be able to do this without you.”
“Really?” Gregory asks, clear surprise playing across his face.
