Cuff Me

“Ready?” I asked her. She blinked rapidly, trying to hide how she was sizing us up.

She was the first girl of the ten or so to actually look at us. I felt human again, and she had quite the wandering eye. For both of us. She was perfect.

“Yes, thank you.”

She started by introducing herself and I leaned forward, all ears. And it was a super fucking bonus that I liked her idea. It matched what we had been doing for the past few years, and she referenced our environmentalism enough times, I knew she did her research properly. As she turned her back, I wrote a note to Logan.

She’s ours.

He arched a brow and mouthed what.

We’re taking her. Boardroom and bedroom.

He chuckled and played it off as a sneeze. She looked over from the graphic and went back to the screen. I could already see the vision. Young, hip college students hopping on the compost train. So much so that universities get involved, and that could increase our reach and revenue big time. Government tax breaks and reimbursements for our company, brilliant. It was set, we had to hire her.

I didn’t want to buy her out, because then she would be gone. She needed to run the show, so I could be around her for the next twelve weeks, maybe more. She caught my eye like no one else; I watched her every move. Her slender fingers as they pointed to the screen, the flick of her wrists and the vein of her neck that sliced through her sinuous, creamy skin. Her voice was like a fucking Disney World princess, it echoed in the room and washed over me.

I knew Logan was attracted to her too because he kept cricking his neck, one of his only tells. He wrote back finally.

Yeah. She’s ours.

“That’s all I have.” She giggled nervously.

I paid attention for the most part, and I had a few questions. But she answered them so well I was already sold.

“Is this something you want to sell?” Logan asked.

Her thin brows creased as she pursed her lips.

“In all honesty, no. I want to run it. With your help, of course.” Her small hand reached up to curl stray hair behind her ear. Thank goodness she said that.

“Give me one moment.” I stood up and went to Jana outside.

“Hey, tell the rest of the applicants the position has been filled. If they still try to come inside…just try and make sure they don’t.”

She frowned. “That isn’t fair. You should at least listen.” That was Jana for don’t be absurd, you aren’t doing that.

I rolled my eyes and went back inside. We still had to pick buyouts anyway.

I was so set on this girl, I was ready to go.

Back in the room, Madeline looked very poised as she packed up her things, and the look on Logan’s face told me he was thinking the same thing. We wanted her.

It had been a while since we shared someone, we’d been busy; I guess. But now, things were calming down. The team was taking care of the more time-consuming shit so we could just focus on the big things, like this damned interview session that had gone on for almost three hours.

I sat back with Logan, as Madeline finished gathering her oversized graphics I took the opportunity to discuss things with Logan.

“What do you think?” I whispered to Logan. He shrugged.

“I liked the presentation.” He murmured, though he was talking so quietly he was practically mouthing.

“Yeah, obviously.”

“We’ll make her the CEO offer. But we’ve got to keep things separate to avoid a scandal.” He said.

That was pretty much code for he was on the fence about it. He liked to keep things separate or he loses it, it may be a condition or something; I don’t know. Even if his food touches, he doesn’t like that very much.

He cleared his throat and took the lead. It was better that way anyway, I wasn’t very good at being subtle.