Chapter 29 – Mindy
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The arrogant bastard
Mindy
“Ms. Espinoza!” my boss bellows through the intercom, almost startling me out of my skin.
I press the button. “Yes?”
“I thought you said I had a busy schedule today. There’s nothing on my calendar.”
My heart pounds in my chest. Shit, what is going on? Did I really screw up something on my first day with Remington in the office?
“Be right there,” I reply with faux cheeriness.
Standing, I make my way into the inner office and behind the desk, seeing the problem immediately. “You’re using the wrong app. We updated to a new scheduling system.”
I reach over him, trying to ignore how positively fabulous my boss smells. I mean this company does sell high-end fragrances, and his dad always smelled so nice, but the difference was that I didn’t want to bury my nose in Mr. Haywood’s neck and sniff him. And possibly lick him.
But I keep my nose—and my tongue—to myself and tap on the silver icon on the screen. “This is Task-Pro. My friend Brayden developed it.”
The screen fills with a grid topped by colorful tabs.
“Everything is color coded.” I tap on the red tab.
“These are your high-priority meetings and events. The orange tab shows international calls or meetings, the blue is for local and in-house stuff, yellow is for U.S. online meetings, and the green lists events you’ll need to travel for. ”
He finally speaks, and he doesn’t sound happy. “I like to have all my shit on the same page, not have to go to fifty different screens to see my schedule.”
Yeesh. Grumpy much?
“Sure, that’s no problem. That’s all on the first tab you see, the silver one.” I tap on it, and the grid shows his entire day, each block colored according to its category. “This is for today, but if you would like to see your entire week or even the month, those options are at the bottom.”
“Hmph,” he mutters, not sounding impressed.
I put some brightness into my tone as I open up the green tab. “The coolest thing is this one. You can click on each event, and it will show your entire travel itinerary. Go ahead and try it,” I encourage, thinking maybe if I get him involved, he’ll be a little more enthusiastic.
His long finger taps on a green square for a weekend meeting at Hale’s Chicago offices. I narrate what he’s seeing. “Of course, this still has your dad’s info, but I’ll change everything and put it under your name.”
He’s still silent, so I continue. “Most of your travel will be on the company plane, but if there’s a conflict with another executive, I’ll book you a commercial flight.
All that is right here in one place… your flight, hotel confirmation, and reservations to restaurants with clients.
You can also download the Task-Pro app on your phone, so everything will be right in the palm of your hand when you’re traveling. ”
My boss still doesn’t speak, so I blather on like an overeager idiot.
“Another great feature is that it will give you activity and restaurant suggestions to do while you’re in that city.
And it can be custom-tailored to the traveler’s preferences.
You want a hiking trail? You can find that.
If museums or art are your thing, that’s on there too.
It’s like having your very own travel agent.
” I finish with a flourish of my hand like Vanna freaking White.
Finally, Remington swivels his chair and looks up at me. “So let me get this straight. You used my company to advance your boyfriend’s career?”
I. Am. Stunned.
Bumbling over my words, I shake my head. “No, that’s… Brayden is my friend Caroline’s husband. And he designs workplace applications for tons of companies and industries.”
“But the fact remains, you used your connection to Hale Cosmetics to get what I assume was a lucrative deal for your friend. Without my permission.”
Ooooh, he is pissing me off, but I grit my teeth and explain.
“Your father, you know, the man who ran this place for decades, was unhappy with the old scheduling system, so I set up a demo for him with Brayden. He also tried out three other systems, and this is the one he liked. Your father chose this one, and he was my boss.”
Remington stands, towering over me with a fierce glare in his brown eyes. “I think you’re forgetting who’s the boss now, Ms. Espinoza. Would you like me to remind you?”
Okay, I’m just going to admit it. That brings to mind visions of me bent over his desk with my skirt shoved up around my waist while he shows me who’s boss. Something is wrong with me. No, seriously. I obviously have some kind of disorder or something.
Even my voice is breathy when I eke out, “You’re the boss, Mr. Hale.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “I’d like you to repeat that so you don’t forget it.”
I want to punch him in the face and fuck him at the same time, but I do neither, reminding myself how much I need this job. So I dutifully enunciate, “You are the boss, Mr. Hale.”
His lips twitch beneath his well-trimmed beard, and by god, his eyes are positively sizzling with desire. He liked hearing me say that, the arrogant bastard, and I silently vow to use that phrase as much as possible to get under his skin.
“Thank you, and you’d do well to remember that if you want to keep your job.
I happened to look over your contract this weekend and noticed you’re still on your probationary period.
” He lifts a haughty-as-fuck eyebrow. “That, Ms. Espinoza, means you are subject to the three strikes and you’re out policy, so if I were you, I’d tread very carefully. ”
“Yes, sir,” I say meekly. And because I’m not a complete pushover, I add, “You’re the boss, after all.”
He shifts on his feet and reaches down to adjust the front of his pants. It’s a discreet move, but I see it. And I fucking revel in it.
“I want you to put all my information on the old app. There’s nothing wrong with it. And delete this crap out of our system.”
“I’d be happy to remove it from your computer, boss, but everyone else in the building, including your brothers, uses the new app, so I can’t completely delete it.”
I can hear his teeth grind, but he gives one quick nod of his head. “Fine, though I’ll be talking to Helix and Phoenix about completely getting rid of it.”
As soon as I’m back in my area, I release a pent-up breath. And then I spend the rest of the morning redoing his schedule on the shitty old app.
And plotting ways to make my boss suffer without getting myself fired.