He still just stared at her. But where his stance was furious, his eyes were nothing but warm—a honeyed amber iris and melting, deep pupils that widened the more she watched—daring her nearer, willing her to dive in and drown.
‘Let me have a go at fixing this,’ she eventually croaked.
‘And make it worse?’
‘Why not trust me to do the job I was hired to do?’
‘You’ve already shown you’re incapable of doing that. You chose to walk out.’
‘So a person can’t make a single mistake? You can’t give someone a second chance? This wasn’t a capital offence, Alvaro. This wasn’t even illegal.’
It had been the tiniest mistake and he was totally overreacting.
‘It was a data breach.’
‘Actually, it wasn’t,’ she said firmly. ‘It clearly states in the terms and conditions of the app that Byrne IT has the right to use that data in any publicity.’
His gaze narrowed on her.
Yes, she’d spent the time waiting for the train reading up all she could. And she was good at reading long, boring documents and legalese.
‘While it wasn’t ideal and while it certainly might not have been best policy,’ she continued, ‘it wasn’t illegal. And you can change the policy to better reflect what your consumers are now saying they want.’
‘You’re not going to admit to doing anything wrong?’
‘Actually, the contrary.’ She straightened on her chair—pointless as it was because he was still so much taller than her. ‘I take full responsibility. It was my mistake and I’ll apologise for it.’
Juno had posted the wrong graphic on one of their social media channels. Version one instead of version two. Version one included user names whereas version two had been made anonymous. It had been such a simple mistake but some of those users had noticed and didn’t like their usernames being displayed. The lack of initial response had led to that small flame of discontent flaring to a dumpster blaze and an online debate about privacy rights.
‘Fine. You’ve apologised. Now you can leave.’
‘Not leaving.’ She spun back to the screen.
‘What are you doing?’
She didn’t glance away from the computer. ‘I said I’d apologise.’
‘You just did.’
‘Not only to you.’
He paused. ‘You’re emailing the team before you leave?’
‘I already have. Because I’m sorry for going AWOL at the weekend, but I’m back. And now I’m replying to the complainants.’
‘What?’
‘Everyone makes mistakes,’ she said heatedly. ‘And most people deserve a second chance, right?’ she said. ‘Most normal people are willing to give that.’ She sent him a look.
He folded his arms across his very muscular chest. ‘You think a little apology is going to make this all go away?’
‘An acknowledgement can mean a lot.’ She nodded.
‘As can getting something for free,’ he added cynically.
‘Then I’ll give them a month free on their subscription. You can take it directly from my salary.’ She swallowed. She could cover that cost for Juno once she was back in Monrova. And it would be worth it just to prove herself in front of the furious one here.
‘You’re willing to the pay the price all by yourself?’ he asked.