Page 76 of Love In Hiding

Kenzie would fly back to Utah with Nelson next week to take the bar there, and once she was done, she’d work fulltime for a bit while she continued to study for it in New York to take in February.

“She can. And she will continue. Let me know if there is an ongoing issue with Noelle,” Braylon said. He stood up. “I’ve got to meet with West unless you need me for anything else.”

“We’re good. There won’t be a problem with Noelle.”

Because he wouldn’t allow it. And he’d be damned if his boss thought he couldn’t handle it.

The minute they were alone, he turned to London. “So that is why you’re pissed?”

“I don’t need some newbie wannabe trying to tell me how to do my job.”

He put his hand up. “Stop. As you know, I wasn’t aware and I’ll take care of it. It doesn’t mean you have to come in here and bite my head off, nor talk down to her.”

“I didn’t talk down to her.”

“You did. I’m not saying it shouldn’t have been said, but it didn’t need to be delivered likethat.”

“You talk your way, I’ll talk mine.”

Guess this was how it was going to be when they were working.

He was trying not to take offense to it.

It wasn’t as if London yelled at Noelle. Wasn’t even as sarcastic as he’d seen her before.

She stated a fact that she didn’t appreciate what was done, lacing it with Noelle’s title proving she wasn’t qualified enough.

“Are you done?”

She pushed back from the table. “Yep. I’ve got work to do.”

She strode out, leaving him with a perfect glance of her stellar ass.

He wanted to call her back in and kiss her senseless, but that wouldn’t solve a damn thing.

Not that he knew the right thing to do right now either.

Yeah, he did.

He got up and moved toward Noelle’s desk. “Can you come into my office?”

She looked up from where she had been typing. “Coming,” she said cheerfully, as if everything that had happened in the conference room didn’t exist.

He could understand why London got bent.

“Have a seat,” he said, shutting the door, then sitting behind his desk. “In the future, when I give you something to do, do what is given to you. Follow those directions. If you have questions, you can ask. If you want to take the initiative to look into something more, do it if your other work is done, but that is on you and your time. You’re not to step on the toes of a client, a partner, or any business associate.”

“I didn’t step on anyone’s toes. I’m doing my job. You heard Braylon. He thought it was good that I did that.”

“He replied that way on what little information he had. When he heard the rest, he agreed with me. You wanted to be on the ground floor of a project and I think it’s a great stepping stone for you. But there are rules I expect to be followed and a chain of command to be adhered to. We contract with Westerly Consulting. They are our clients and we are theirs. We don’t rip their work apart, nor insult them on their work.”

Noelle’s face flushed deeper than an apple. “Sorry. I should apologize to her, right?”

“I’d advise it. It’d go a long way because the next time it happens, I have to pull you.”

“Did she say she didn’t want to work with me?” Noelle asked, her eyes filling with tears.

He hated that even more.