Arrogant Boss

Julian Hunt was not for me, and I was certainly not for him.

Julian

At every launch, there were two types of assholes.

The first were the ones who went all-in at every event, who drank as much of the free champagne as they could. They handed out business cards and smiles like currency and stayed until closing, posting the whole thing on their social media. There might even be a live stream sometime during the evening.

The second type of asshole arrived late, posed for the requisite photos, said hello to everyone with a practiced handshake and left in time to get their sleep and workout in.

I was in the second category.

Yesterday’s launch was as standard-mill as they go. I figured Viper would last maybe five to eight months. I saw versions of the same story all the time; poorly developed apps with an innovative interface and a slick promotional campaign. Investors inevitably backed them, like they did anything out of the Valley, despite the software being mediocre at best.

Nothing I would ever invest in. Hell, Rafe and I had placed bets on how long we thought Viper would last. My press secretary, the one I had left, had correctly pointed out that going to the launch and getting photographed would cause a buzz. With our new launch up and coming, Hunt Industries needed all the buzz it could get-so I went. But for all other intents and purposes, the night had been a bust.

I’d been more than ready to head out and leave the polite small talk behind when a young woman quite literally tripped into my arms.

She’d come out of nowhere.

I grinned just thinking about it. As soon as I saw her, I knew she would fit me perfectly-I could imagine pulling her close, bending my head down, having her reach up. Her body had been soft when she crashed into me.

I had replayed the image of her flushed cheeks the entire morning, wondering if I could get her like that by other means. Long black hair, shiny down her back. Eyes that had seemed just as captured by me as I had been by her.

And when I carried her… she smelled divine. If my body had called the shots rather than my brain, I would have carried her straight past the valet and to my car, taking her home and making her mine.

She had seemed sweet and shy-until I made the comment about the her attempts at entrapment.

She’d been so angry at me, her eyes flashing as she scolded me for my presumption. Pushing her buttons was surprisingly amusing. I wanted to see her flash like that again-call me out and tease me.

Emily Giordano.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

The name had been familiar, but it had taken me nearly an hour until I’d made the connection. That was just my luck, wasn’t it? She just happened to be Emily Giordano.

As in, the brother of Turner Giordano.

The boy genius my HR rep was meeting with today to discuss a potential starting contract. He’d sent over information, and I was well aware of the young man’s talents. It was why I wanted to hire him in the first place. David had made it clear, though, that the way to the boy was through his older sister.

A very beautiful, very feisty older sister. An older sister that might or might not despise me.

This could be very fun.

I called David and he answered on the first signal. “Mr. Hunt, what can I do for you?”

“I want an update on the meeting with Giordano.”

“I’m preparing for the meeting now.” I heard the sound of rustling paper in the background. “They’ll be here at ten o’clock.”

“They? Is his sister accompanying him to the meeting?”

“Yes. She was his legal guardian for several years and Turner made it clear that he wanted her to participate in the negotiation.”

I thought of her flashing eyes and her outrage. “The older sister can’t be bought.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Have you been reading the information I sent over?”

“Yes.” I hadn’t, but I would the second I hung up. “I’ll be at the meeting too.”

This time David’s silence was incredulous. “I didn’t think you had the time, but of course. The CEO being here when they arrive shows just how seriously we take Turner’s potential. We need to charm them into accepting this.”

I tapped my fingers against the desk. “We need to meet their demands and make them an offer they’ll feel happy about.”

“That too. I think one of his mentors at MIT wants a word with us too. It might be the key to convincing him; the opinions of those he respects.”

“And his own opinion.”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

“Text me the location and time.”

“Will do.”

I hung up. Pressing down the buzzer on my desk, I phoned my secretary.

“Yes?”

“Clear my schedule for the coming hour.”

Tim’s silence was also shocked. “Okay. Absolutely.”

I leaned back in my chair and pulled up the file David had prepared on Turner Giordano and his family.

I skimmed the section I knew by heart-about the coding prodigy. The things Turner could do had already made it possible for him to attend online classes by MIT, professors taking a special interest in him. It was only a matter of time before one of the big tech companies snapped him up with the promise of a big salary and unlimited bandwidth.

I was damn lucky that I was still friendly with a high school buddy who was on the faculty, and that we’d heard of Turner’s potential first. My friend had spoken excitedly about a quiet kid who could write legions of code that magically sped up nearly the entire system of course registry.

In his spare time.

Coding like that could make my company millions. It could change the technology landscape entirely, if properly harnessed.

But it was the section labeled Family that I focused on most.

All of Turner’s communication goes through his former legal guardian and older sister, Emily. Age twenty-five, educated media strategist with a major in marketing. Currently works for Pet and Co.

Attached was Emily’s resume. I grinned as I read through it. Straight A’s, community college. Had risen quickly in the ranks. I saw her flashing green eyes in front of me again and the way she’d protested when I’d lifted her up. Hell, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d carried a woman like that. There was just something about her…

Below her dossier, David had added a hand-written caveat. Emily will likely need to be convinced that her brother should bypass college and begin working for us.

College… I remembered what a hell that had been for me, when all I wanted was to be let out of the gates and try my own hand at the world. To be misunderstood. Expected to behave one way and failing to live up to that. To want to test your wings right away. From reading Turner’s bio, I had a feeling that might be what he needed.