"We offer high end baby products that are ecologically responsible and ethically made," I said as I walked him back to the part of the warehouse where the products were stored, “Bernard Yates had made sure that everything in our inventory was something that improved the lives of the people making it and the lives of the people buying it.” I stopped and turned around to look at him as I continued, "But I'm sure you already knew that, didn't you?"
"Leah, I know very little about my father's business," Jack said. I held his gaze longer than I needed to, but I couldn't look away. I cursed myself silently as a slow smile spread across his lips, and he added, "But anything you want to tell me is something I'd like to hear."
"We do our own packaging and mailing using Earth-friendly products," I said as I tried to turn the conversation back to the business. "It's been quite profitable, and it's given the company good press. I think we've garnered more business as a result."
"Do you now?" Jack said very close to my ear. Startled, I jumped. My head hit something hard, and I heard him cry, "Oh fuck!"
"Oh my gosh, Mr. Yates . . . Jack, are you okay?" I asked as I turned and saw him holding a hand over his nose as blood slowly dripped out from between his fingers. "Oh no! You're bleeding!"
"No shit, Sherlock," he said as he pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stanch the bleeding. I ducked into the nearest bathroom and cursed softly as I realized that we no longer had paper towels in our bathrooms. I rushed out and headed down the hall yelling, "Hold on, I've got something to help!"
In the lunchroom, I grabbed a towel from the dish rack where employees left their lunch dishes after washing them and raced back down the hall to where Jack stood holding his nose and looking up at the ceiling.
"Here, use this," I said, shoving the towel at him. "It should help catch the blood."
Jack took the towel and held it over his nose as I led him down the hall to the lunchroom. There was blood all over the front of his suit, and I felt compelled to try and clean it up. I grabbed another towel, ran it under the faucet, and then dabbed at the blood on his dress shirt.
"It's coming out," I said as I slipped my fingers between the buttons and blotted the stains. I could smell Jack's musky cologne, and, as my fingers grazed his chest, I suddenly felt a little lightheaded. I looked up and found him smiling down at me with a lazy grin that simultaneously made me weak in the knees and pissed off at his arrogance.
"You're doing a great job, Leah," he purred in a way that made me think of big cats stalking their prey. I, however, had no intention of being Jack Yates's next prize.
"Here, you can finish it up," I said holding the towel out and backing away.
"Don't you want to finish what you've started," he said in a low voice that made me shiver a little.
"No, I think you can handle the rest," I said, shaking my head and backing up toward the door. I was acutely aware of the fact that the warehouse staff was due to walk through the door at any moment, and I didn't want to be caught in anything remotely resembling a compromising position. I'd worked too hard to earn the respect of my staff. To have them think that I was currying favor with the new boss was not the way to ensure loyalty or respect.
"C'mon, Leah," Jack said with a grin. "You know you want to."
"Mr. Yates," I said in a voice that cut through the flirtation. "You are a grown man who is perfectly capable of removing stains from his own suit. If you have trouble doing that, I'd be happy to recommend a reputable cleaner who can do it for you, but I'm not the maid. I believe our tour is over, so if you have any other questions, I'll be happy to answer them and, if not, then I have a warehouse to run."
"No, that'll do," he said coolly, as he dipped the towel under the faucet and dabbed at his suit.
I nodded before turning and walking out the door. Once in the ha
llway, I walked a few steps and then leaned heavily against the wall. I tried to catch my breath as I realized that I had not only rebuffed Jack Yates, I'd put my new boss in his place. I wasn't sure how this was going to play out, but I crossed my fingers and hoped that this was enough to keep him at a safe distance. I had my doubts.
Chapter Eleven
Jack
Once I'd stopped my nosebleed and cleaned the blood off of my suit, I went back to the office where I found Norma sitting at her desk eating a sandwich as she sifted through a pile of papers and sorted them into smaller piles.
"What on Earth happened to you, hon?" she exclaimed as I walked through the door. "You look like a drowned opossum!"
"You should see the other guy," I said with a wry grin.
"No, seriously," she repeated holding the sandwich halfway between the plate on her desk and her mouth. "What happened to you?"
"Minor accident," I muttered as I quickly moved toward my office. "Don't get your panties in a bunch."
"Hon, I assure you that my panties have never ever been in a bunch," Norma said as she put her lunch down and picked up a stack of papers, following me into my office. She shoved them at me as she said, "Well, if you're okay, then you need to deal with these people who have been calling."
"Who are they?" I asked as I took the stack and began shuffling through the sheets.
"Delivery people, inventory trackers, bank representatives," she rattled off. "Your father was in the middle of renegotiating some of the contracts when he passed. So, some of these people are hanging in midair."
"I see," I said as I continued shuffling through the papers. I quickly realized that despite the fact that I had built a business based on developer apps, and made a lot of money selling my own technology, I really had no idea what it meant to run a business. My company had been in its infancy when I’d sold it to a mega-tech company that was now using it as a test lab for their own app development, so I'd never spent any time actually running the business.