Chapter Six
COLTON
"I always want the truth," I said.
I was making a huge effort not to look at her hips. Something about the way her skirt hugged her figure was far too appealing to me.
"Fine. Then yes, I overheard. I didn't mean to. I simply stopped in front of the door to send my mother the picture we’d taken. I wasn't expecting to hear anything. Least of all that."
"My grandmother is a character. I know she has my best interest at heart, but sometimes she can go about things the wrong way. I'm sorry you were exposed to that."
She waved her hand, but I detected a blush on her cheeks. "Really, it doesn't matter."
"I'd like to make it up to you," I said.
She grinned. "Oh? That's unexpected."
I sat up straighter. "Listen, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."
She laughed. "You think your grandmother made me uncomfortable?"
"I know she made me feel that way."
She looked down and then back up. She seemed thoroughly amused by the situation. "Okay, yes, I was very uncomfortable."
"Hence my effort to make it up to you."
She came closer, sitting down opposite me. "Okay. I want you to take twenty minutes to go through the documents with me."
I whistled. "You're very good."
"I know."
"All right, hit me," I said. "Do you want to come on my side of the desk so we can both look at the documentation at the same time?"
"Yes, that's a good idea," she said.
She got up, and I moved her chair to my side of the table. Her perfume caught me off guard. She smelled delicious, and all I wanted was to get closer, inhale deeper. From where I was standing, I had an excellent view down her blouse.
Fuck, I don't need this image in my mind.
I looked away quickly, noticing her fingers moving through her brown hair, pulling it to one side, baring her neck.
Its curve beckoned to me, and I wondered if it was a sweet spot for her.
Exploring this woman would be a privilege, and no question, I'd be very thorough about it.
I wouldn't leave one inch of her untouched or unlicked.
I snapped my gaze up from her neck to her eyes. She darted the tip of her tongue between her lips, and I nearly groaned. My brothers always pointed out that I had an excellent poker face, but right now, I couldn’t pretend.
The last thing I wanted was for her to feel uncomfortable around me. I had to get my shit together. This was unacceptable behavior. I wasn't my father, and I was determined not to follow in his footsteps, no matter how different our circumstances were.
"So, a big complaint from your business partners is that you're not responsive. That it takes you a long while to reply to an email, phone call—any communication, for that matter."
"Yes, but I get a lot of correspondence every day," I said. Heck, my own family had this complaint about me.
"Why don't we start there? I can go through your emails with you and help you separate things according to priorities and work. You’ll be amazed how effective this type of communication management is. That will also help you with prioritizing phone calls, texts, and the rest. Make sense?"
"You want access to my emails?" I double-checked. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but that was private company information.
"Don't say it like that. It makes me sound like I'm the bad guy here."
"That is a big ask. It's confidential information."
"Colton, I've signed NDAs. I can sign anything else you want to make you feel comfortable."
It was great that HR had her sign nondisclosure agreements, but that didn’t mean I was okay with all of this.
“If it makes you feel more comfortable, I do this with all my clients. I would never share or use information in an untoward, let alone illegal, way.” Zoey seemed a little upset with me, and I got it. My hesitancy came across like I was accusing her of something, and that was not my intention.
Yeah, your people skills suck, Colton.
“Okay. I could use help with my inbox," I said. And that was the truth.
She took a paper out of the stack she'd left me earlier. It was a screenshot of an inbox with what seemed like a million labels.
Maybe this wasn't going to be a total disaster.
Her shoulders sagged a bit, and she breathed out as if this weighed on her. Had I been that much of a pain in the ass that my agreeing to one little thing made her sigh with relief?
"All right, I might need some information from you in the beginning, so it might feel like you’re wasting time."
I had opened my mouth to reassure her when she continued.
"But you won't be, okay? In the long run, it'll save you time. Just give me the benefit of the doubt. I only ask for one week to get this set up."
"Fine," I agreed.
She grinned. "We should call your grandmother here to embarrass you more often if it means I get my way."
I stared at her. "Embarrass me? Right. You didn't hear everything, did you?"
"No, I left when she started berating you on why you're not dating."
"Then you missed the part where she suggested I date you."
I didn't know what possessed me to say that, but her face changed. She parted her lips. Her cheeks turned red. She brought her hand to her neck, rubbing her fingers on her bare skin, and swallowed hard. She was so expressive, it made me wonder if dating Zoey would indeed be a good thing.
"Oh my God, that's why you said you wanted to make it up to me. It made no sense to me." She laughed nervously. "Now it does."
She glanced at the stack of papers and then at the screen in front of me, where my inbox was open. Her blush intensified. "Where was I?"
Damn, she was cute.
Her voice was high-pitched. I was enjoying this immensely. Until now, she'd been the one who rattled me, but for the first time, I was able to do the same to her. And her reaction was delicious.
"I believe you were telling me my grandmother should embarrass me more often so you can get your way."
"Oh yeah," she murmured.
She looked from the screen to me. I was certain she was going to start talking about my email, but she seemed to be bursting at the seams with another question.
"Whatever it is, just say it," I said.
"Why would she even say that? I mean, why me?"
I laughed. "It's very hard to explain how Jeannie Whitley's mind works, but I think it boils down to the fact that she likes you."
"I like her too. She seems to be a very warm person."
"She is," I said. “I owe her everything. And Grandfather too. The two of them dealt with a lot."
"After your father left?" she asked. I felt cold. I never spoke about my father. "I'm sorry,” she murmured. “I just found out, and it’s still messing with my mind."
"You didn't know before you arrived here?"
"I truly didn't. I only read the recent history of the company, and it never occurred to me to look into the family. Anyway, I'm sorry for bringing up the topic. It's none of my business."
It wasn't. I could simply shut her down, but I didn't.
"Our grandparents are amazing people. And I indulge Grandmother a lot.”
“You're a good grandson," Zoey said in a soft voice. She glanced back at the computer. "Let's get started!"
She didn't push, didn't press, or ask anything further, and I appreciated that more than she could know.
We spent the next twenty-five minutes going through one hundred of my emails, and that was a good start. On every email, she made notes about the sender and the project.
At the same time, she walked me through all the papers.
Frankly, it was a miracle that she managed to do all that in twenty-five minutes, but for the first time since I found out she was going to spend some time with the company, I didn't think this was a total waste of time.
I could see why this would be beneficial, and I couldn't deny it: I liked being in her presence.
She was smart, witty, and definitely didn't shy away from going toe to toe with me.
"All right, Colton, I have a flag system set up in different colors. Over the next few weeks, I’ll monitor your inbox and sort it according to priorities in this folder right here.
" She pointed to the left of the screen.
"How does that sound? That should shave some time off your workload while getting you to address the most important topics in a prompter manner. "
I got another whiff of her perfume. Now I was obsessing over it. It was a honey smell combined with something more, but what was it? I didn't recognize it.
"That sounds good," I said.
"I also think there’s some potential in reducing the number of email responses. I mean, you come into the office anyway, and some of these things are more efficiently discussed in person."
I narrowed my eyes. "No. Going to someone’s office is pointless. A lot of time is wasted with small talk.”
She glanced away, but I was certain she was suppressing a smile. "Not a people person, huh?"
"Not one bit," I admitted.
"Good. All right, then! I think we’re done. Thank you for your time."
“Which ran up to half an hour. Not twenty minutes.”
Zoey smiled sheepishly. It was an adorable look on her. "I’m a good negotiator, am I not?"
"What if I had something important planned?"
"You didn't. I checked your calendar. I'm respectful of your time, Colton, and the work you do. Really, I'm not the enemy here."
"I'm starting to accept that."
"Yeah," she laughed. "Accept it. Okay, well, I guess it's progress, so I'm going to take it. Now, where were we? You owe me one, right? Because of your grandmother’s comments?"
"Yes," I replied, wondering why she was bringing it up again.
"So I can ask anything, and you'll agree?"
"No, that's not how this works."
"I knew I shouldn't have pushed my luck," she murmured.
"What do you want?" I asked. I figured she probably wanted to leave earlier or maybe take a day off, but her request took me by complete surprise.
"I’d like to see your lab.”