Page 89 of Hale Damage
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 subjectto thethree strikes and you’re outpolicy, 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.
CHAPTER THIRTY
I hate being wrong
Remington
“Hellno I’m not going back to that ancient-ass scheduler,” Phoenix balks that evening over dinner at my apartment.
Helix slurps up some noodles and shakes his head. “I’m not switching either. That thing was basically a white calendar, and that’s it. I think it was developed the same year I was born. The new one has all kinds of features like alerting you thirty minutes before a meeting. That’s saved my ass more than once.”
I scowl at them. “You’re supposed to have my back. I’m your brother.”
Nicolette expertly picks up a dumpling with her chopsticks. “You’re not my brother.”
My eyes narrow in her direction. “But we’re family now.”
“And family members are supposed to be honest with each other, so here goes. You’re being a stubborn ass, Remi. No one wants to use something that’s one step above Moses carving the Ten Commandments on stone tablets.” She rolls her eyes. “We’re a Fortune 500 company, for Christ’s sake. Next thing we know, you’ll want to replace everyone’s cell phones with a flip phone and one of those old Palm Pilots.”
“Definitely a stubborn ass,” Phoenix agrees, pointing hischopsticks at me. “You’re just looking for shit to complain about, Rem. The app is fantastic. Even Jordie uses it now to keep up with her schedule. Games, practices, photo shoots, special appearances, all that stuff.”
“Speaking of Jordie, where did you say she went tonight?” I ask, changing the subject because they’re obviously not going to be swayed on the Task-Pro thing.
“It’s a kids’ night event at the stadium. Kind of like a mini-camp for the players’ children. She took Reece.”
Nicolette smiles and rests her hand on her barely swollen abdomen. “I love how family friendly the WNFL is. The league really seems to care about the players who have children.”
They launch into a discussion about the women’s league while I sit there and try to figure out what to do. I’m apparently the only person in the entire building using the old app. Maybe I should get with the program and use the new one.
I’ll download it and play around with it tonight.
I hate being wrong.
But the fact is, the app is just as good as everyone said it is. I’ll hold out and use the old one for the rest of the week for posterity’s sake, and then I’ll quietly start using Task-Pro next Monday.
