Brock looked up from his desk, reacting with subtle surprise to my unexpected arrival. He leaned back at his desk and spun a ballpoint pen in the air. “Did you change your mind, Charlie?”

My vision felt like I was looking through a kaleidoscope and so I didn’t understand the question. “About?”

“Having drinks with me on Friday,” he smirked, brown eyes dancing with earned confidence.

He was a very good-looking man, and my mother would have seen him as the perfect choice for me to marry. He’d gone to Vassar, came from a good family, was well-built, thick blonde hair, highly intelligent, great work ethic. Good genes to pass down, she would have said.

But he left me cold.

I could no more picture kissing him than kissing a live crab. Despite how he presented himself to the world, Brock Tyson had claws. He hid them well, but not from me. Instinct told me to always be careful of him getting too close. I also didn’t want to have him on my bad side. But he was very good for Wyntech. His judgment had proven as sound as his skillset. Vassar had even offered him a job teaching business finance, and he’d turned it down to stay with us.

Trouble is he’d been asking me out ever since my Grandfather passed away and left me this company. It had almost become a game. He would ask – I’d decline, pretty much every time we were alone. Most of the time he took it in stride but I had seen a shift in his eyes on several occasions that told me his casual and even friendly acceptance of my refusals was an act that wouldn’t last forever.

My father always said, There’s no reason to worry about the future until it’s here. Only then can you do anything about it. And who knows? It might turn out fine.

So for now…this game was fine.

“Oh. No, I haven’t.” I took a seat across from him, biding my time until Ethan went back to wherever his office was, so I could safely escape to mine.

Brock watched me, and he set the pen down. “You change your mind, you let me know. Is something wrong?”

I blinked at him, so distracted it was almost like he wasn’t even there. Gathering myself I crossed my leg and relaxed my body in an attempt to appear natural. “Just getting a lot of calls this morning and I wanted to escape for a minute. You don’t mind, do you?”

His concern transformed into an easy smile. “Of course not. Gives me a chance to have an intelligent conversation for once. I’ve been on the phone with our investing team and they…well, you came in here to escape so I won’t add to your burden.”

I mumbled an honest, “Thank you,” and sipped my coffee. It was the perfect temperature, offering even more consolation for the embarrassment I just put myself through.

“How have you been? How’s your golf game?”

“I rarely lose.”

Brock laughed, “So, it’s the same then.”

Smiling I nodded a little and took another sip. “They say when you’ve done something for ten thousand hours it makes you an expert.”

“Depends on how good you are at it,” he countered.

“And if you did it to the best of your ability.”

Brock leaned back and kicked one heel over his knee, comfortable in his own skin. “How’s your grandmother doing?”

I appreciated that he was keeping the conversation off work, on purpose, but my mind was elsewhere and he couldn’t help me with that. I just wanted to get back to my cave and hide.

“Same. Listen, which office did you assign to Ethan Cocker?”

Brock’s eyes darkened as he asked, “Why?” He cast a quick glance down to his pen, lifting it off the desk once more. Did he avert his gaze on purpose before I’d witness that strange glimmer? He’d recommended Ethan to me, said they were friends in high school. I’d heard the name before. Everyone knows about the Cocker family in Atlanta with two living members politicians, and many others in the public eye. One was a very successful music producer who’d started a record label years ago. Another owned a large construction company that had an excellent reputation. One of the ex-Senator’s children, Gabriel Cocker, had a song on the radio that I absolutely loved. The Matriarch, Nancy Cocker, was on every board known to woman, as she was a huge activist for women’s rights, and it was said that some of her granddaughters were even more passionate about the cause than she was. And that was just scratching the surface. I didn’t go to school with any of them, but I’d seen some at the school games when we played their teams. Tight knit group, and they seemed like good people. You really couldn’t miss them.

So when Brock suggested Ethan Cocker, I simply agreed without thought after Brock explained he was a computer genius who’d patented an invention for high-clearance agencies like the C.I.A. and would be able to, in essence, hack the hacker who’d attacked Wyntech.

So, why did Brock look angry when I asked where Ethan’s office was located?

Whatever the reason, his almost imperceptible reaction inspired me to lie. “I haven’t met him yet, and I figured I should greet the man. Size him up.”

Brock smiled at me. “You know Charlie, you’re funny. Can we take off our work caps and allow me to be candid for a moment? Off the record as they say?”

I warily sipped my coffee then answered, “Sure. Go ahead.”

“Sometimes you sound like you’re sixty instead of thirty.”

“I’m twenty-eight,” I corrected him.

“Even better! Or worse,” he chuckled. “What twenty-eight-year-old says, greet the man, size him up?”

“If you’re about to suggest that I talk about boys and overuse the word ‘like,’ I’ll throw this coffee in your face.”

His chuckle grew to a laugh, teeth perfect. “I’m just teasing you. But I do think you need some fun. Come on. How ‘bout that drink? You can even bring Vanessa if you want.”

Rising from the chair I smoothed my suit down with one hand, favorite coffee cup in the other. I was a woman in a man’s world and Brock might think me stuffy but in order to be taken seriously I had to behave like a man, without all the cussing and talking about getting laid, of course. There would be no light-hearted bubbly conversation for this broad.

“Brock, it is true that I need some fun. And Vanessa and I already have plans that night. While I find you a very worthy conversationalist, I need some girl time. Please don’t be offended. Maybe another time.”

“Absolutely.” His manner was friendly without a hint of disappointment. “A man can try. And try. And try.”

I smiled and mumbled, on my way to the door, “Yes, well, your persistence hasn’t gone unnoticed.”

“I’ll wear you down one of these days.” His voice was filled with confidence, and I know he believed it, but I also knew he would never kiss these lips. “Corner office diagonal to the break room.”

My hand paused on the shiny, silver doorknob, and I glanced over my shoulder. “Sorry?”

“Ethan Cocker’s office. But I wouldn’t go in there. You might laugh in his face.”

“Why would I do that?”

Brock’s face twisted in ugly mockery. “His contract had ridiculous stipulations. He’s got an enormous dolphin fountain in there.”

My hand dropped to my side as I turned to face Brock in utter confusion. “Dolphins?!!”

“Just one porpoise. He said it’s a replica of the one in his grandparent’s backyard. Wants to put Koi fish in it. Can you believe it? Eccentric, all of ‘em.”

He meant techies, I think, but I barely heard him. I was still wrapping my mind around the reason for the fountain. It was odd, but sort of sweet. It certainly took me off guard.

Nor did I wish to acknowledge Brock’s put-down. Because that’s what he meant it to be, and he wanted me on board, as most people do when they gossip. I’m not interested in that bullshit, especially at work. To me we are a team. And gossip never did anyone any good.

“Get him the fish,” I said as Brock stared at me, appalled. “We need him happy. In fact, we just need him. Period. Give him whatever he wants. And this conversation is between us. Don’t tell him I gave approval.”

I left just in time to avoid an argument that I had no interest in.