By the time I arrived in my office the next morning, my excitement was beginning to build. It had been a sleepless night as I went over all the details of my first day, but I knew in my heart that this internship was right for me.

A small part of me was even hopeful that I could somehow do something to impress Devon. A very small part.

As I sipped from my takeaway coffee cup and waited for my computer to finish booting up, I wondered what Devon was doing. Our meeting in the conference room had ended much better than it began, and I was more than a little excited to see him again.

Scared, of course. But excited.

If only I could prepare for the next time I would see him, but I didn’t think I would get much warning.

You should have been more sociable in college, I thought to myself. The girls I hung out with all would have known how to use their feminine charms to make sure Devon was on their side, but I had no clue. I didn’t even know if I had any feminine charms.

As soon as the computer finished booting, a message popped up saying I had an email. My heart skipped a beat when I clicked the icon to see Devon’s name in the “From” line.

It was short and to the point. Just like I was learning to expect from him.

“Nikki,

I need you to read the attached report and have a summary for me by 1 p.m.

Devon.”

Opening the attached file, the first thing I noticed was the number of pages: 120. My internal freak out began immediately.

How the hell was I supposed to read all of that and understand it enough to summarize it?

I closed my eyes and counted to five. It was a strategy I had learned when I was a little girl, and it was usually enough to clear my head a little. Just a little.

This time, it was barely enough. When I opened my eyes again, the file was still there, its page count mocking me. Reading the title, I felt even more out of my depth: “History of Land ID 10289001.”

I don’t even know what that means, I thought, scrolling through the first chapter. By the end of it, I was none the wiser.

Sighing, I wiggled around until I was comfortable in my chair. It was going to be a very intense few hours.

* * *

“Ready to go?”

I almost jumped out of my chair at the sound of the voice. Looking up at my now open door, I saw Devon’s laughing face. “What the hell were you looking at? Porn?”

My blush must’ve made me look guilty, and that realization made me blush harder. I just couldn’t win. “No! I’m writing that summary you wanted.”

“Is it done yet? We’re ready to go.”

I glanced at the clock on the computer screen, and got the second shock in less than a minute. It was nearly 1:00, but it felt like I had only started writing a few minutes ago.

Time flies when you’re completely out of your depth and unprepared for a task.

“I guess so. I’m nearly there, at least.”

“That’ll have to do, Nikki. Print three copies and meet us in the car out front.”

The urge to argue with him – about my name or printing an unfinished report – was strong, but it didn’t matter. He was gone almost before he had finished his sentence.

Without even a quick proofread, I navigated to the print menu and set it to print three copies at the printer near Maureen’s desk. With a little luck, there would be few spelling and grammar errors. With a little luck, it would be almost readable.

Maybe.

I rushed from my office, snatching my bag from the hook near the door as I went.

The printer finished working just as I arrived, and I gathered up the warm pages from the tray.

Papers in hand and heart racing, I headed for the elevator. It took only a second to arrive, and long before I was ready, I was descending to the ground floor.

Daniel greeted me when the doors opened, and I felt a little more confident. His smile was big and genuine, and I found myself wishing I could work with him more. He seemed like the right kind of mentor to help me get through the nervousness that threatened to overcome me at times.

Not to mention that he knew exactly what I was going through. After all, he had finished the same internship I was beginning. He had performed well enough that he was now Devon’s close associate, so his brain must be packed full of tips.

It was just a pity that none of us had the time to stop and chat.

“Are those the reports?”

I nodded and placed them all in his outstretched hand, causing him to laugh. “You’ll probably want to keep one for yourself,” he said, turning and walking toward the front door as he handed one back to me.

Devon was on the other side of the wide sliding doors, talking quickly into his cell phone as we approached. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but he didn’t seem very happy.

When he glanced up and saw us, he nodded and then climbed into the backseat of a Mercedes SUV. Daniel and I followed, and I found myself taking the less comfortable seat facing the back window.

Suddenly, motion sickness was a very real possibility.

Devon ended his call, and I found myself sitting quietly, watching as he and Daniel read my report.

As city moved past the windows of the car, I waited impatiently for them to finish. There were lots of questions burning in my mind after reading the report I’d just summarized. The first one was simple: What the hell is this all this about?

The land was formerly the site of a car factory, and it had been the subject of an Environmental Protection Agency order that limited what could be done with it. Whoever owned it could build heavy industrial only, and they would have to spend a small fortune to do even that. The level of toxins left in the soil meant that it was far too dangerous for anything else.

Knowing that Pristine didn’t do much heavy manufacturing, I couldn’t begin to imagine what Devon wanted with it.

Unless, of course, he really liked lakes. There was a small one right in the middle of the land, and it looked calm and peaceful. As a nature lover, I thought it looked perfect for a picnic while looking out over the water on a nice day.

Well, as long as I was able to ignore the deadly chemicals just below my picnic blanket.

“Not bad,” Devon finally said, looking up at me. “And you’re sure you’ve got all the important parts in there?”

“I think so,” I said, suddenly asking myself the same question. “I’ve got the chemical reports, the EPA’s order and the history of it. Except the current ownership – the report you sent me didn’t mention that.”

“Ah yes, the current owners,” Daniel interjected with a laugh. “I’ll let Devon tell you all about them.”

Devon’s face was visibly darker at the mention, and I was dying to know what the deal was.

“We haven’t got much time,” he said, to my disappointment. “But here’s the important part: It’s owned by Carey Gully Coffee, and that company is owned by Iris Investments. We’ve agreed to buy it off Iris since Carey Gully can’t use it, and we’re going now to sign the documents.”

“Wait, why did you have me summarize that report if you’ve already bought the land?”

There had to be a big lesson to be learned here. Perhaps the importance of double-checking a purchase right up until the last second?

“You needed the practice,” Devon smirked in a maddening way, making my blood start to boil.

I glanced at Daniel who looked as annoyed as I suddenly was. Good to know that I wasn’t the only one who upset. I turned back to Devon. “You had me write a summary for no reason at all?”

“Don’t be like that.” Devon laughed. “There’s no such thing as bad practice, especially when it comes to taking in new information while you’re under time pressure.”

I turned again to look out the window, fuming inside. I kind of understood his point, but I had stressed like crazy to get it done.

I wanted to make every second of this internship count. Busy-work wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

Daniel spoke up. “Don’t worry, it’s not personal. He just likes to have his fun.” His expression suggested he was almost as annoyed as I was.

“Will I get to do some important work at some point?”

The question left my mouth before I could arrange the words more politely. It sounded rude, even to me.

Devon’s smile faded. “Like what? What would you do if you had the choice?”

“I don’t know. Maybe get involved in deals like this. If there are other deals in the works, I could do the due diligence for you.”

He shook his head. “You’re talking about deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Nikki. Interns don’t touch those.”

“But surely there’s something I could do.” I sighed, working to keep my voice calm and professional. I told myself I had every right to have this discussion, even if I felt like I really didn’t.

“You could lead this meeting.”

I sat bolt upright with an immediate smile, and it took me only a second to realize he was joking. “You’re not leading the meeting,” Devon said, with a sexy, maddening chuckle.

Suddenly, I wondered what the hell had caused me to fall under Devon’s spell.

“We’re here,” Daniel said, opening his door and climbing out of the now tense interior.

I had to wait until Devon moved before I could, and I ignored his final remark: “Your summary was good, though.”

We were parked directly in front of the doors to Iris Investments, so it didn’t take us long to arrive at the large reception area. The receptionist seemed to expect us, and she gave us all temporary passes before telling us to follow her.

I tried not to think about how much easier it was to get into Iris’ building than it had been to get into Pristine’s. That felt like a lifetime ago.

The atmosphere was quiet and calm like at Pristine, but with something different. It took me a little while to work out what it was, but I realized it when I saw uniformed elevator operator smiling at us.

Iris showed off its money.

The guy was there to do a job that people had been doing themselves for decades, and he was presumably on a full-time, albeit likely small, wage. Iris was about showing that they were rich, whereas the Pristine building seemed to be quietly confident.

I liked the Pristine building much more.

We followed the receptionist into a conference room twice the size of the one near Devon’s office, and I watched as the executives – all male – shook hands with Devon and Daniel.

The glass ceiling, I thought, wondering if I would one day break it.

“This is Nicole Blythe,” Daniel said, putting a hand on my back and gently pushing me to the front of our little group. “She’s only just been briefed on this deal so she’ll be observing.”

I shook hands with several of the men, smiling and forcing myself to look confident. Secretly, I was glad that Daniel had given me an excuse for not taking an active part in this meeting.

By the time the introductions were finished, Devon was already seated at the long table, taking the chair in the middle of the side closest to the door. I couldn’t help but feel a little pride when I noticed my summary sitting directly on front of him.

Before the others had even found their seats, Devon spoke up. “Are we ready to do this?”

Sitting to Devon’s left, I tried to fake the confidence he exuded. To me, his attempt to start the meeting before the hosts were ready was rude, but to him it was normal. It looked very much like a power move I had read about in some of my textbooks.

When the seats were almost all filled, I noticed one directly opposite Devon remained empty. That’s strange, I thought, staring at it. Why would no one want to sit in the prime position?

As soon as I finished the thought, the door to the conference room opened behind us. I turned my head expecting to see someone bringing coffee to supplement the water on the table, but the new entrant didn’t look anything like a waiter or receptionist.

His suit was even nicer than Devon’s, and he wore it with the same kind of arrogant cockiness. He seemed to stride around the table, moving toward the empty chair I had noticed a few seconds earlier.

When I felt Devon stiffen beside me, I instinctively knew that something had just gone wrong. I just couldn’t figure out what.

Devon spoke before the guy had even sat down. “What are you doing here? Coming to see me buy your baby?”

The man laughed. “Nice to see you, too, Devon and you too, Daniel.” The latter got a nod and a smile that seemed almost genuine. Then the newcomer turned his attention to me, and I fought to look calm. I had no idea what was going on, but this certainly wasn’t good. “You’re new,” he said. “I’m William Markos, CEO of Carey Gully.”

“She’s Nicole Blythe,” Devon said before I could answer. He turned his attention to one of the other men in the room. I couldn’t remember his name from when I shook his hand earlier.

“What’s going on, David?”

The man apparently called David looked as uncomfortable as the silence that had fallen over the room. No one seemed willing to breathe, let alone talk.

“I’ll take this, David,” William said. I still didn’t know this guy, but his condescending smile made me hate him already. “Things have changed, Devon. I know you had your heart set on this land, but we’ve decided not to sell it.”

I risked a quick glance at Devon’s face. He looked ready to commit murder.

“We’ve spent a year putting this deal together,” Devon said, calmly and slowly. “I’ve paid far more than anyone else would ever offer you for it, so don’t start with some kind of bullshit about getting a better offer.”

“No need,” William said, with a bark of mocking laughter. “We’re keeping it. Here, look at this.”

He reached for a small remote in the middle of the table as he turned his attention to the wall to our right. A quick press of a button turned the lights out, and another caused a picture to be displayed on the screen attached to the wall.

After spending an entire morning reading and writing about it, I instantly noticed the picture was of the land in question. Except in this one, it had buildings and roads professionally drawn across it.

“This is what we’re doing with it,” William said, a smug tone filling his voice. “It looks amazing, doesn’t it?”

He fell silent, choosing to let the pictures do the talking as he clicked through them. The detail on each one suggested that they’d spent a lot of time on them, and it was clear that this had been in the works for a while.

I could only imagine what Devon was thinking as every slide cemented the fact that his deal was falling through.

Finally, we arrived at the last picture. In that one, there were dollar signs and numbers superimposed over the land, instead of buildings. They were big enough that my eyebrows nearly raised through the roof.

“And this,” William said, triumph in his voice, “Is why Iris won’t be selling it to you. This is only the first year’s profits, and it doesn’t even include the buildings at full capacity. Just imagine how much we’ll make when the hotel and office buildings are completely tenanted.”

William looked directly at Devon, who was still staring at the last slide. From my position beside him, I could see the veins working overtime in his neck.

His mind must have been racing, and I wanted desperately to help him out. Devon Carell wasn’t a man used to losing, and he clearly wasn’t taking it well. Neither was Daniel, whose fists were tightly balled on the table in front of him.

Without thinking, I opened my mouth. “But the EPA won’t let you do that,” I said, immediately regretting it when I felt Devon tense even more.

William laughed, looking me in the eye as I forced myself to look confident. I was a part of the meeting, and I had every right to mention that his plan wasn’t going to work. Didn’t I?

“Oh, don’t worry about the EPA, little lady. They’ve changed their minds about the toxin issue.”

I immediately joined Devon in his clear hatred for this man.

“How much did that cost you?” It was the first thing Devon had said in minutes, and his rage was palpable.

William’s only response was to maintain his smug smile.

I had nothing to do with this deal, but his attitude had even me wanting to climb over the table and punch him in the nose. It was like watching a schoolyard bully, except that we were dealing with millions of dollars instead of lunch money.

Devon shoved his chair back and stood up without a word. Daniel and I did the same, following him as he left the room.