Chapter 7 Jonah
JONAH
My jaw slackened as I stared at Lexi.
I couldn’t bring myself to look at anyone else. The mystery woman from that night stood before me, her presence consuming every corner of my mind.
The snarky, insolent mystery woman, I supposed, if she was indeed the one who had sent that message.
My emotions warred within me—relief to see her again, disbelief at the way she’d written to me, and fury that a woman I fantasized about now stood in my workplace.
In my domain.
“I need you to wait outside, Kacie,” I said, my eyes never leaving Lexi’s shocked face.
“But the HR rep is on her way—”
“Now,” I interrupted, my voice sharp.
Something in my tone must have concerned Derek because he followed Kacie out. “Go easy on her,” he murmured before the door clicked shut behind them.
Now, it was just the two of us.
Her chest rose and fell quickly, her surprise palpable. Last time, her neckline had dipped dangerously low; now, she was buttoned up to the collar in a cheap blouse that somehow showed me the outline of what she wore underneath.
Balling my hands into fists, I barked, “What are you doing here?”
Her wide eyes glistened, as though she’d been holding back tears.
Then she closed her eyes, briefly collecting herself. When she spoke, her voice was cooler than I’d expected, with an undercurrent of anger. “I was summoned here.”
“I meant, what are you doing in this building?”
She fixed her gaze on me, her eyes studying me intently. “You’re Joe Walkers?”
Bits of our conversation from that night came rushing back. She was a coder, starting a new job.
Shit.
I realized my glaring mistake. I hadn’t told her my full name at the bar. What were the odds that the woman I’d had a fling with would end up as one of my employees? Out of the five million women in New York City, I’d slept with the one who worked for me.
Unless…
Years of experience had taught me that boardroom manipulation wasn’t the only kind of scheming in business. Could Lexi have orchestrated this? Had she gone to that bar deliberately, hoping to use our night together to gain an advantage, or worse, to blackmail me?
“Did you sleep with me on purpose?” I growled, stepping closer.
Her expression darkened. “Of course not,” she snapped. “I’d never stoop to something like that.”
Her indignation was unmistakable, and it confirmed my suspicion. She definitely was capable of sending that insolent message.
I held up the tablet with her feedback, her scathing words visible as I turned it to face her.
“Do you consider this to be professional behavior?” I asked.
She flinched but quickly recovered, her gaze dropping to the floor for only a moment before meeting mine again. “So, that’s why I’m here,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I was told the responses were anonymous.”
No apology, just defiance.
“Clearly, you’d formed strong opinions about me before we even officially met. You have a lot of nerve,” I said, studying her.
A beat of silence stretched between us. The air felt charged, crackling.
“I do,” she agreed. “And you have a lot of power. It seems fair.”
Damn. She was exactly the same as I remembered—beautiful, stubborn, and fascinating.
I sat back, tipping my head slightly. “Tell me, Ms. Haley, do you always insult CEOs in writing, or was this a special occasion?”
Lexi didn’t so much as blink. “Only when they deserve it.”
My lips twitched. “Then by all means, sit down. Let’s talk about how much I deserved it.”
Her expression hardened.
She sat, lifting her chin slightly, and I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the desk.
“Here’s the deal, Ms. Haley. You clearly think this company is incompetent and ‘sinking,’ as you so colorfully put it.
So prove it. If you can justify every word of that email, if you can convince me your accusations weren’t just workplace dramatics, then you can continue working. If not, you’re fired.”
Lexi’s expression remained impassive. “So, my job depends on whether or not I can prove I’m right?”
“Damn straight.”
She drew a sharp breath, and I was struck by the sudden, raw determination in her eyes. A single pendant chain glinted at her neck, a stark contrast to the rest of her clothes, which seemed to belong to another decade. Was she struggling financially?
Lexi folded her arms. “This morning, I attended orientation. By the time I was done, I found out my assigned mentor had been transferred to another department last week. And the senior engineer who was supposed to train me? Moved to a different team this very morning. According to my manager, there had been no warning. They were abruptly re-assigned.”
Her voice was steady, but edged with steel. “Tell me, Mr. Walkers, how am I supposed to believe this company isn’t sinking when no one at the helm seems to know what’s going on?”
Her words carried the sting of bitter personal experience, and I exhaled slowly. I’d signed off on the restructuring, but hearing it put that way… it didn’t sound like leadership. It sounded like chaos.
“It was a business decision,” I said, though I knew how weak it sounded. “And I don’t expect a new hire to understand the complexities of this company, especially when you’ve been here less than twenty-four hours.”
As I spoke, a red flush crept over her neck. I couldn’t help but remember the feel of her skin, the way I’d left a mark there. If I looked hard enough, I might even see a faint trace of that hickey…
I shook myself.
“I don’t know about the other employees, but you can’t work here,” I said, recognizing how inappropriate my thoughts were.
“Because you don’t buy my explanations?” she asked, her blue eyes flashing.
I did, and I admired her for standing up to me.
“No, not because of that,” I said.
Her cheeks flushed, this time with indignation. “Because of our night together?” she asked, her voice low, as if worried Kacie might overhear from outside.
I didn’t answer right away.
“I didn’t know who you were that night,” she added defensively. “Or that you were the Jonah Walkers.”
“I don’t owe you an explanation,” I said curtly.
She turned bright red at my tone but plowed on regardless.
“Well, can our night together really be held against me when it happened without prior knowledge, before I even started working here? It won’t happen again, I assure you.
We’ll hardly ever see each other anyway.
I’m a coder; you’re management. Our paths won’t cross. ”
Her words hit me like a gut punch. I hated that she was correct. I hated that we’d never meet again. And most of all, I hated the thought of going back to that same bar, knowing that nothing could ever happen again.
God, how I’d been looking forward to that.
But she was right; our paths wouldn’t cross. I never ventured to the third floor, where the developers worked, and they sure as hell didn’t have any reason to be up here, on the fortieth.
A knock at the door snapped me back to the present.
Kacie’s voice drifted in. “It’s the HR rep, Tom, like you requested, Mr. Walkers.”
Lexi’s wide eyes met mine, and I caught a flicker of fear there.
“He’s not here for you,” I lied. “But our conversation is not done, Ms. Haley. Come back here tomorrow at seven a.m. I need to ask you a few more questions.”
“And you’d better not mention a word about our night together to anyone,” she warned. “I just started working here, and I don’t want people thinking I got this job because of anything other than my skills. What’s left of my job, at least.”
She strode toward the door like she owned the place.
I stood there, stunned. She’d brushed past me like I was nothing.
“I’m not done with this conversation, Lexi,” I called after her, my tone a low warning, meant to stop her in her tracks.
She spun around at the door, fury lighting her features. “Well, in that case, HR is waiting outside to do what you can’t.”
Oh, the sass on this woman.
I turned away, determined not to watch her leave. But even as I faced away, I could see her movements reflected in the glass as she reached for the doorknob.
God, how I hated her.