Office Affairs (+18) | Completed

CHAPTER 3

Peter POV

Harmon was trying to screw us on the sale, and I wouldn't let that happen. My legal team had already gone through the contract and highlighted and annotated points of interest, but I went through as well to make sure I fully understood it. Before I gave any money to that weasel, I wanted to have this contract memorized front and back.

My father would have been proud to see how much growth I had added to the business since his death nearly three years ago. That was something I held close to my chest every time someone like John Harmon came in, with his cologne and fancy cigars, and tried to blow enough smoke in my face that I wouldn't see the bullshit through it.

If I had to, I'd tear him a new one. My business, my employees, and my family all relied on me to be ruthless. In situations like this, I took a particular pleasure in it.

The whole office, and the East Coast acquisitions division, were all working at breakneck speed to secure this sale before it turned stale. Do it too quickly, you miss the fine print that costs you hundreds of thousands. Take too long, the investors get antsy.

I was interrupted by my personal assistant, Georgiana, knocking on the door and entering. I looked up to see that she had brought me a steaming mug of coffee.

"Brain fuel," she explained, setting it down on my desk.

I smiled. She was a slight little thing, but she had always gone up to bat for me with the ferocity of an Amazon warrior. She was a useful employee and a good person.

Her only flaw was being inexorably in love with my brother.

"Thank you, Georgiana," I said.

She knew that was about as chatty as I got when I was stressed out, so she left the office.

I went back to my contracts, I tried not to scream in frustration when I found another clause that Harmon's lawyers had snuck in there to try and cheat me out of some obscure revenue stream for the next five years. It wasn't that losing the money would be that much of an issue. Lord knows I had lots of it.

But nobody tried to double cross Peter Bricks.

Jane POV

By the end of the day, I was starting to feel just as stressed out as everyone else looked—and I hadn't even gotten through a quarter of the book.

I was just packing up for the day when there was a knock at my door.

"Come in!" I called. I tried to sound more cheerful than I felt. I was glad I did, because the man who walked through my door was probably one of the most attractive men I'd ever seen.

It was hard to keep my jaw from dropping as I watched him enter the room and close the door behind him. He was tall and wore an impeccably tailored charcoal suit, with a sea blue tie that matched his eyes. His hair was dark and pushed back from his forehead, and on his broad jaw there was a thin dusting of stubble.

When I realized I was staring, I immediately directed my eyes downward and pretended to be organizing some papers on my desk. I looked back up and he looked thoroughly amused.

"Hi," I said. "How can I help you?"

"I just wanted to introduce myself," he said, striding toward me on his long legs. "I needed a bit of a break, so I thought I'd come say hi."