I’m fully aware that he’s driving and dominating this entire process, but I’m off balance now and don’t know how to get things back under control. My fingers tighten on the pen I’m still holding, and I already have a death grip on it.
I force myself to relax. “And what do you believe I should be asking?”
His head tilts. “How about anything to do with my ability to grow things and run a crew? What is my method of germination? Fertilization? Linage? Grow cycle? Management style? Those are good starts. I don’t have a lot of patience for non-essential information. Truth is you’re not gonna find anyone else with even half the knowledge I have. If you hire me, you’ll get crops you didn’t dream possible.”
He’s throwing a lot of confidence in my direction. “You think you’re that good?”
“I know I’m that good.”
Coming from him, the words don’t even sound boastful. He says them as fact, like I should be as certain of him as I am that the sky is blue.
“So why can’t I check your references?”
He puts his palms flat on my desk. “Because you already have the best reference possible, Gabe. It’s none of your business why I left, because it has nothing to do with my ability to harvest your fields. So what’s it going to be? You in, or you out?”
The silence hangs thick between us. It’s ninety and humid today, and despite the air conditioning blasting through the vents, a bead of sweat trickles down my spine.
Our eyes lock, the air so tense you could cut it.
This is without a doubt the worst interview I’ve ever conducted in my life.
Everything about this interaction screams that while I might be the boss, he’s got the upper hand and doesn’t respect my authority. If I hire him, he’ll challenge me every step of the way. As sure as I’m sitting here, if he works for me, we will do battle.
Obviously, this is a bad match for someone I need to work with closely.
More than anything, I want to send him on his way so I never have to lay eyes on him again. Except once again, I’m desperate, and Gabe trusts him. And my instincts also tell me he’s not bullshitting, that he’ll deliver what he’s promised.
I have a lot of faults, but my instincts aren’t one of them.
So even though it kills me and gives him far too much power, I’m going to put my family, and our business, ahead of my dislike. With as much grace and dignity as I can muster, I take a fresh piece of paper and write down my offer before folding it and handing it to him. “That includes room and board. You can move your stuff in tonight and start first thing tomorrow.”
He flips open the folded note, reads it, and nods. “Why don’t you show me where to put my stuff.”
Only time will tell if this is the best or worst decision I’ve ever made.
I stand and hold out my hand. “Welcome aboard.”
His big palm slides into mine, and an electric shock races along my skin. “You won’t be sorry.”
When our hands part, his rough, calloused fingers scrape across my palm and my skin heats. I narrow my eyes and say in a hard voice, “We’ll see about that.”
Caden
Ifollow Cat McKay out of her office and down a narrow corridor that leads outside. Maybe my tactics are unorthodox, but they got the job done.
As she walks in front of me, my gaze slides over her golden brown hair, which is pulled off her neck in a messy ponytail, along the line of her neck, down the curve of her back and dip of her waist in a white tank top, to her perfect ass in tight, faded jeans.
She’s tiny. Tiny enough to put in all sorts of interesting positions. And her body is fan-fucking-tastic. But that’s not my worry. Good bodies are a dime a dozen.
It’s her face that’s the real trouble.
Unusual steely gray eyes, high cheekbones, and a lush mouth set off perfectly by her peaches-and-cream skin. Individually, taken apart piece by piece, Cat McKay should be wholesome and pure looking, but put together, well, that’s a different story.
She’s not exactly sexy. She’s more… I don’t know the word. But it’s something.
She has a vulnerability about her that makes me want to violate her.
Not that I will, because I’ve made the mistake of mixing business and pleasure a few times before, and I’ve finally learned the lesson.