All He Really Needs(17)

“Fine.” But he could tell from the narrowing of her eyes that it wasn’t fine at all. She spun on her foot to leave and he was pretty sure he heard her mutter, “If your personal life has to be that mysterious…”

He nearly called her back and explained the truth about his work for Hope2O but instead he kept his mouth shut.

Marion had been hired for him by his father’s assistant. He’d liked Marion without ever really trusting her. And to be honest, as wily and cunning as Hollister was, Griffin wouldn’t be surprised if the whole CEO office suite wasn’t bugged.

Still he didn’t want Sydney to think he was purposefully shutting her out—even if that was what he was doing.

“Wait a second.” Instead of letting her leave, he stood and crossed to where she hovered near the door. He held out the folder he’d gotten from Dalton. “Here are all the notes from Dalton about his search for the heiress. Make copies for yourself and take an hour or so to look it over, then we’ll talk more.”

She looked from him to the folder and then back, finally meeting his gaze as she took the folder. Her expression was cautious but less openly distrustful than it had been just moments ago. “Okay.”

“Look, I know I’m difficult to work with. And I know the company’s in trouble. I’m going to do my damnedest not to screw it up any more than it already is. Let’s just get through this. Together. Okay?”

“Okay.” She tucked the folder on top of her iPad and left the office.

Alone in the room, Griffin was all too aware of the overbearing décor, the heavy French furniture and massive mahogany desk that had been in the office since Griffin’s own childhood. The very walls seemed to close in on him.

Juggling the disparate elements of his life was typically something he excelled at. He kept his work for Cain separate from his work with Hope2O and his love life separate from both. He functioned best with everything compartmentalized.

He hadn’t been lying to Sydney when he’d told her was going to try his damnedest not to screw anything up. That was true for the company and for his relationship with her.

*

Sydney worked furiously for the next couple of hours setting up the board meeting. The fact that every single member of the board was willing to rearrange his or her own schedule to be there—either in person or virtually—was either a good sign or a very bad one.

A half hour before the meeting she went across to the big conference room on the other side of the building to verify the folks in the IT department had gotten everything working for the board members who couldn’t be physically present. She double-checked that catering had done their job, and she even removed one limp lily from the floral arrangement on the sideboard. Now everything was perfect.

This meeting had to go well. If the board didn’t approve Griffin as interim CEO, she’d probably be out of a job. Yes, she’d find another one, but this was a good job, especially for someone as young as she was. She’d lucked into it. She’d first been hired as a temp when Dalton’s previous assistant had knee surgery, but he’d kept her on when Janine had decided not to come back.

If she lost this job, her next position wouldn’t pay nearly this well. Which meant making her mortgage payment would be a strain. It was already steep, but when she’d first bought her house, it had seemed like such a good investment. It had represented all the security she’d desperately wanted. Now, it just represented all that she’d lose if this didn’t go well.

She left the conference room and hurried down the hall to her office. Griffin was leaving his as she walked in.

“I was just checking on the conference room. Everything looks good there.”

“Thanks.” He smiled that same breezy smile she was used to, the flash of white teeth and deep dimples. Suddenly the nerves she felt for the meeting morphed into a pleasant fluttery sort of anticipation that had nothing to do with efficient IT and catering departments.

She handed him the folio folder from her desk. “Here’s your copy of the agenda. I kept it simple.”

He flipped it open and read over it as she spoke. “Looks good.”

He was about to walk out when she stopped him. “Wait a second. Is that what you’re wearing?”

“Yeah.” He glanced down as if seeing his jeans and shirt for the first time.

“You don’t look the part of the business executive.”

“I haven’t exactly had time to go home and change.”

She held up a hand to ward off a protest. “Just give me two minutes.” She dashed into Dalton’s office and dug around in the coat closet for a minute before returning. She held out what she’d found. “Here, put this on.”