“You were a little harsh, weren’t you?”

I glanced at Daniel Flax as he left the security desk he had been leaning against while pretending not to eavesdrop on my conversation with Nicole. Joining me mid-stride, he hit the button for floor 32 as we entered the elevator. I watched Nicole as the doors closed for us.

“How would you have me handle it? Perhaps give her a shoulder massage and tell her everything’s going to be just fine? Maybe let her know that it’s really not a big deal to keep the CEO waiting in the lobby?”

“Of course not. I’m just saying, sometimes these things happen. They don’t deserve to be punished by the threat of being fired.”

“I didn’t fire her, though, did I?”

“No, but you set her an impossible task. We usually organize the catering months in advance. What makes you think she can come up with something in that short of a time?”

“You would’ve managed, when you were an intern.” I scoff. “And you would have thought to ask a couple of questions, such as where is it being held and how many people will be there.”

Daniel turned to me sharply as the elevator doors opened with a quiet ding to announce our arrival. “Is that really the best use of her time? Setting up catering for a meeting that doesn’t exist?”

I laughed, striding down the hallway. “Keeps her out of my hair.”

I would have felt bad if she was a normal intern, but she wasn’t. Nicole Blythe had the unfortunate luck to be the daughter of Jerry Blythe, a liar and thief.

He was the reason she was our newest intern in our best program, and that meant she was going to suffer for it. It would be tough for her, but she had her dad to thank for her place on the internship in the first place.

Whatever happened from here on out would be on him.

“No messages,” Maureen said when I walked past her desk and into my office. Any other receptionist would happily email any messages to me, but not Maureen. She was eighty-years-old and still considered email to be the work of the devil.

Truthfully, she didn’t do much other than answer the phones these days. Everything else was done by one of the other receptionists who wasn’t terrified of computers. But I didn’t mind keeping her around since she had been with me from the day I started this company.

And no thanks to Jerry Blythe, it had become a massive success.

My cell phone rang as I sat at my desk, causing me to grunt in annoyance as I stood up again to remove it from my pocket. I had a desk phone, email on my computer, a cell phone that stayed on my desk and a team of receptionists, but someone always rang the cell in my pocket just as I sat down.

I glanced at the name on the screen as I sat back down. Senator Evans, the “honorable gentleman” from Virginia who was anything but.

His only goal in life was to get as rich as he possibly could from whoever was handing out money, and until I had certain issues dealt with, that was me.

“Mike,” I said, purposely refusing to use his title. I knew it angered him to no end.

“Mr. Carell, I’ve been informed that we’re supposed to come and see you for a meeting.”

“Yes, Friday afternoon, I think.” I knew exactly when it was. We were working hard to come up with the material we would be distributing to him and his colleagues.

“I’m just wondering if you can tell me why I’m supposed to drop everything and come to see you.”

“You’ll find out when you get here,” I said, starting to wonder where this was going. Calling to ask for the agenda of a meeting was far beneath a man of the stature he thought he was.

“Look, Mr. Carell, there’s a bit of a problem. My colleague, Senator Mackay, isn’t quite as, well, open as Senator Wilson and I. He’s concerned as to what we will discuss.”

I knew what he was hinting at, and the urge to call him out was strong. But I needed the help of Evans and his friends, and politicians didn’t take kindly to straightforward conversations. They much preferred to pretend they were talking in some kind of unbreakable code.

As annoying as it was, I had to be a little gentle with people with such fragile egos. “So, tell him not to come, I don’t care. He’s not exactly great company from what I’ve heard.”

Probably a little more gentle than that.

“No, you misunderstand me, Devon.” It must have been serious if he was using my first name. “I mean that he wants to know if the things we talk about are confidential. He’s worried they’ll get out and his voters will be less than thrilled with him.”

For fuck’s sake, I thought, pushing myself back from the desk and turning to stare out the window. It all look so tiny from so many floors up. Somehow, the view always made me feel powerful and successful.

Dangerously powerful – especially when I was trying not to tell a senator to shove it up his ass. “I’ll put it simply,” I said, avoiding the words I really wanted to use. “The meeting will be in my building, and it’s free of secret recording devices. If he thinks I’m going to go and tell the media what we discuss, then he’s an idiot. Why would I tell the public something I want hidden as much as he does?”

“I know, I know,” he said, finally realizing that I was losing my patience. “I’ve tried telling him that, but he’s new to the game. He’s cautious.”

“Make it simple for him, Mike. Tell him that he can come if he wants, but if he doesn’t you’ll be replacing him with a more grateful senator. I told you, I need three senators for this.”

“Okay, that’s fine. I’ll do that.”

I hung up the phone before I could say something I would regret, and threw it onto my desk. Phone calls from senators were never free of pain, but now that we were dealing with one who had only just been elected, it was becoming agony.

Most of them learned quickly that if they wanted to be elected again, they needed financing. The new senator from Tennessee didn’t need as much as his colleagues, but he needed enough to make his party feel like he was pulling his weight.

Which was why he was meeting with me. Well, it was why he had agreed to; whether he actually would remained to be seen.

If he played ball, I would help him build his re-election fund. If he played really well, I might even pay him enough to avoid having to raise any more money for the rest of the year. Of course, he would still raise more – none of the politicians I had ever met could help themselves.

But if he didn’t, we might have to switch to plan B. That was a much more expensive plan that required a lot more effort, and I wanted to avoid it. I didn’t get to where I was by spending more money than I had to.

Whatever he decided, I wouldn’t be put off my goal. We were going to put a new competitor out of business or fold them into my company no matter what.

As I put the cell phone back in my pocket and continued watching the city below, I thought of another goal: Pushing Nicole until she quit. It was mean, and I felt a tinge of guilt about it, but it couldn’t be helped.

She wasn’t going to hang around my company any longer than was absolutely necessary. I didn’t need the memories every time I saw her last name, and I certainly didn’t want to take the risk that she was spying for her old man. Jerry had proven himself to be dishonest, and I couldn’t be sure his insistence that I hire his precious little girl wasn’t a trick.

It would be a good one if it was, though. Sending your hot, curvy daughter to work for your enemy and steal his secrets was smart. Just like his original sin from a few years ago that had driven me to hate him.

Still, I had to admit that his daughter looked nothing like my old enemy. Her green eyes were clear in my memory, stark and wet from tears as she tried to fight them off. If she was a spy, she was also an extraordinary actor.

But no matter how attractive she was or how good she looked in her heels, I wasn’t going to be fooled. Not by the Blythe family again, anyway.

I suddenly remembered setting her the catering task, and the corner of my mouth twitched upward. No way she’d come through. Not on this short notice—not in this town. But hell, if she was as successful as she promised she would be, I would at least be having a great lunch in my board room today. Maybe I’d even invite her.