Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love) (2 page)

His assurance stunned her. He must have planned this for
weeks, perhaps months, but never said a word, which hurt her feelings. Still,
she sucked it up and tried to focus on the positive. Trent wanted to grow up
and take responsibility. “I should still come in and show the person…guy or
girl?”

The question made him choke. “Are you kidding? After Grant?
No way in hell I’d hire another male.”

She understood his aversion. Grant, their temporary EA
while she received training as a Change Specialist, had proven most
Machiavellian. Trent, no doubt, would feel safer with a woman. “I still need to
show her where things are.”

“As organized as you are? If she can’t find everything on the
first try, I’ll fire her. However, she will need your password.”

Carrie frowned. No way would she share that.

With a gentle hand on her back, he spoke. “Carrie, this is
business, not personal.”

“I’ll go into the system and change the password to ‘NewHire’.”

He shook his head. “It won’t work. Jack has blocked your
access.”

Had he slapped her, she wouldn’t have felt the blow harder.
“When?”

“Once we left on Friday.”

Now she understood why he’d insisted upon leaving at four.

His hand grazed her cheek with tenderness. “Carrie, don’t
make me out to be the bad guy. I’m trying to be a man you can love.”

She pressed herself against his hard chest. “I already love
you.”

“All right, then I need to be the man
I
can love. He
eased her back and stood up. “Password for your computer?”

“You’re taking my computer?”

“It’s company property, and I’m pretty sure the new EA will
need the information on it.”

She nodded. If the girl had any hope of surviving the week,
she would. “My password is one, L, zero, V, E, T, R, E, N, T.”

He typed it in his blackberry and smiled. “I Love Trent. Cute.”

Cute? Had he grown up so fast he now saw her as a kid in
comparison. “I’ll go get my laptop for you.”

“Not necessary. Sam had instructions to find and retrieve
it.”

And yet another blow. He had his driver sneak into her
house and steal her computer? “Trent, do you no longer trust me? Are we
breaking up?”

He knelt down in front of her. “No! Although I feared you
might strike out in anger. I know how much you love my company—probably as much
as my prior girlfriends have loved my money. My experience has taught me to
expect a she-devil drawing blood when a woman is parted from what she loves
most.” His sad eyes met hers. “I’m hoping
I’m
what you love most—not Lancaster
Chairs.”

She cupped his face, now understanding what motivated his
horrible behavior. Trent still feared she didn’t love him.

“You are.”

As if a heavy cloud had dissipated, he smiled and lifted
her into his arms. “God, I love you. And don’t worry about money. I’ll take
care of you, pay all your bills.”

“I’d rather receive a two month severance package and pay
them myself. It’s standard business procedure.”

He covered her face with kisses. “You’ve got it, but I’ve
one favor to ask in return.”

She scowled. Her severance should not depend upon favors.
“What?”

“Don’t take a job with Ian.”

His request calmed her fears. She’d worried, despite his
assurances to the contrary, he wanted to break up with her. His determination
to keep her from Ian said otherwise. Ian Goodman, Trent’s ‘frenemy’, had taught
her to be a world-class Change Specialist. He’d also spent the whole two weeks
trying to seduce her, which she’d shared with Trent once she’d returned to the
East Coast.

“Why would I take a job on the West Coast? I would hate the
commute,” she teased.

“But he did offer you a job, right?” Trent challenged.

He had, but the offer would not activate until she and
Trent broke up. Since they had not broken up, but had only become a normal
couple where each worked at a different company, his offer hadn’t activated.

“I promise you. I will not work for Ian.”

Trent kissed her with intense hunger. For
self-preservation, she pushed him away. “Don’t get me worked up if you aren’t
going to follow through.”

Carrie donned a robe and walked him to the front door and
waved good-bye as Sam drove “Master Trent” away from her middle-class, suburban
home.

Her need to plan sent her to her personal computer. Thank
God, Sam knew the laptop belonged to her and not his company.
Sh
e would have
been devastated if he’d taken it, too.

Sitting down in her top-of-the-line Lancaster Chair, Carrie
typed out a list of things she needed to do today to prepare for tomorrow. After
powering up, she typed
take T’s clothes to cleaners
but then erased it.
Since Trent wanted to grow up and do things for himself, she’d leave it for
him. She had a résumé to write.

But first, she needed to research the matter. She had never
written one before. The day she graduated from college, she’d wandered by
Lancaster Chairs, noticed a handwritten sign on the glass door stating an
opening for an executive assistant, and interviewed for the job.

Trent hired her sole
ly
on her promise she’d show up on time and work. This time,
she doubted finding a job would be half so easy.

In fact, she expected the next few months to be most
worrisome.

Monday
morning
, Carrie stood outside Dan Marshal’s resource firm, wearing
her best blue suit. She’d arrived
early,
knowing Dan kept to a tight schedule. She smiled as his car
pulled to the curb.

Dan let himself out of the limo, something Trent still
wouldn’t do, and headed to the office door. His brow remained furrowed until
his gaze settled on her, then a smile brightened his handsome face.

“Carrie! What a pleasant surprise.”
Leaning
down, he
kissed both her cheeks in greeting. While Dan didn’t possess Trent’s height, he
still towered over her. “Are you by chance wishing to speak to me?”

“If you have time.”

He glanced at his watch and the furrows in his brow
returned. “Fifteen minutes, before a meeting I’ve called. If you need more
time, hopeful
ly
, you can wait an hour for the meeting to be finished.”

“More than fair since I didn’t make an appointment.”

His head tilted as he studied her. “Which is unlike you.”

“True, but I didn’t know I needed a job until yesterday,
when Trent decided the time had come for him to grow up and run his own
company.”

Dan led her to the elevator with his hand rested on her
back. “
Really
?” His tone turned happy upon discovering her state of unemployment,
but she let it slide.

“Evidently, he made the decision a while back, but didn’t
bother to share it with me until yesterday.”

Dan’s smile grew more pronounced, borderline celebratory.

Once they entered the elevator and the doors closed, she wrinkled
her nose at him. “Well, I’m glad my unemployment makes you happy. I expected a
stern lecture after the last time I asked you to get me an interview.”

His smile disappeared. “Good point. Is this a real job you
want, or are you trying to get rid of one of Trent’s groupies?”

She laughed. “Trent doesn’t have groupies. And this is a
real job I want. We’ve decided to become a normal couple with dai
ly
time off from
each other. Otherwise, Trent will continue to rely on me too much.”

For some reason, her reply saddened him. She gripped his
hand. “I’m sorry I cost you two commissions.”

Three months ago, she’d asked Dan to send her on an interview
with a competitor so she could talk up the temporary EA from hell and get him a
job far away from Lancaster Chairs. Her plan worked, but Dan lost the job
placement commission since Econoline wooed and hired Grant direct
ly
. Then, due to
her recommendation about promoting from within for their systems manager, Trent
canceled their contract with Dan on the systems manager position. So, in total,
her good deeds had cost Dan $40,000.

His eyes remained a touch sad even as he smiled. “Fixing my
database more than covered my loss.”

She had restructured his database so reports could pull useful
data and taught his strange but adorable, bright daughter how to do the same.
“How’s Destiny?”

Dan’s face lost all hint of sadness. Instead, he smiled
with pride. “She’s doing terrific. She’s going to Columbia, studying computer
programming and finance. I believe she wants to be you.”

Carrie smiled at the compliment. As Systems Manager,
Destiny had to approve everything Carrie planned to do to their database. When Dan
checked up on their progress, she had no doubt of his love for the girl. Initially,
she’d thought the two were a couple because Dan looked to be in his early
thirties and Destiny in her twenties. Turned out Dan had become a father when
he was seventeen and Destiny was younger than she looked.

When the elevator doors opened, Dan’s comforting hand
returned to her back and he led her into his office, closing the door. “Can I
get you a green tea?”

She appreciated he remembered her favorite drink. Even
after two and a half years together, Trent still couldn’t remember her
preference.

“Why don’t I get myself a tea and you a black coffee? I’m
sure you need to prepare for your meeting. We can talk afterwards.”

He smiled. “I’ll take you up on getting the drinks, because
I need to make a call, but I do want to speak to you before the meeting.”

She headed to the break room. After a quick search, she
found the ground coffee and filters. Upon giving the coffee machine a filter,
coffee grounds, and fresh water, she returned to Dan’s office. Otherwise, he’d
never get a chance to talk to her before his meeting.

Seeing him on the phone, she sat outside on the bench
against the west wall of his outer office. A second later, Dan’s voice spoke
from the secretary’s desk. “Carrie, come on in.”

She rose and entered, surprised he remained on the phone.

“Charles, I’m putting you on speaker phone. I need both
hands.”

He pointed to his ear and then the couch.

She assumed he wanted her to listen to the conversation. Perplexed,
she sat down.

“If we can prove collusion, we have a case, if not, Miss
Parker will walk,” the man on the phone said.

“What do I need to prove collusion?”

“E-mails would be nice. If the woman you fired would
testify and she’s believable, a jury would find it compelling.”

“What if I placed a person I trust on my staff and she’s
approached. Would it help?”

“Depends on the woman. It’s all about credibility of who is
saying what.”

“If she tapes the conversation, can Parker’s lawyer claim
entrapment?”

“Ah, I see where you’re going. Not if your hire does not
ask for clients. To do this right, make the person a new hire and have her tape
her conversations. New York
only
requires the consent of one party to legal
ly
tape a
conversation.”

“Thanks, Charles. I’ll get back to you.”

He hung up and joined Carrie on the couch. “I’ve got one,
maybe more, bad consultants on my staff. I’ve picked up some odd stats from
those reports you made. The number of placements leaving their job one day past
the date I pay the agent’s commission is very high for a few new consultants.

“I didn’t know if they colluded with the new hire and split
the commission or placed overqualified people who then quit the jobs after I
paid the commission, but in either case I didn’t want them anymore.”

Carrie nodded in understanding. Dan’s reputation depended
upon his people. If they couldn’t place candidates who would stay and perform
to expectation, he would lose his reputation as the best resource firm in the
city.

“I called a staff meeting this morning to explain why I
fired three seemingly good consultants and reiterated the need for the
candidates to stay and work for the company. However, Destiny attended a party
somewhere last night and overheard the fired girl bitching about losing her
job. She didn’t understand why I let her go. She’d struggled at first to make
her quotas, but I didn’t fire her until one of the well-connected consultants
started giving her great candidates to send for interviews.

He massaged his neck. “I suspect these candidates are the
same ones who quit the day after the commission is paid.”

“But wouldn’t the commission go to the new girl?” Carrie
challenged.

“Half of it. The originating consultant gets fifty percent.

He ran his hands through his hair. “I’m pretty sure my true
problems remain on my staff. If you’re willing to help me out, I’d like to hire
you as a consultant. You fit the profile of the three I fired: Bright,
charismatic, and enthusiastic, but with no prior experience.”