Club Destiny 1 Conviction (4 page)

There was a great Vietnamese
restaurant just two blocks away that she and Liza liked to frequent. For the
last few months, they’d managed to escape the nonstop shuffle of the office and
go to lunch. Today she welcomed the chance to get her mind off of work.

After they’d eaten more than
their fair share, Liza convinced her to run through the coffee shop for an
afternoon caffeine fix. As she sat at her desk, drumming her fingers on the
keyboard in front of her, Sam wondered if she should have bypassed the extra
espresso shot.

She only had a few minutes to
skim through her email, check to see if there were any fires she needed to put
out as well as review the job description she would be discussing with Logan
McCoy.

Feeling slightly frazzled, Sam
pulled up the email James sent and opened the attachment to read through the
details of the position.

Vice President of Project
Operations
.

Damn that was a long title.

Trying to stay focused on the
words in front of her Sam couldn’t help but think about whether she had
actually ever met Logan McCoy. She didn’t think she had, unless he had come
through the San Antonio office at some point in the last few years. Being that
his name was so familiar, surely she would remember having met him face to
face.

It was unlikely she had actually
been introduced though, since James often went to visit the Dallas office, at
least twice a month, rather than have any of the big wigs show up here. Each
month all of the VPs met with the President of Strategic Operations at one or
more planning sessions usually held at the corporate office.

As her mind wandered farther and
farther from the words on the monitor, Sam found herself reflecting back to the
very first day she started on the job. It had been a fairly unremarkable day.
Introductions to the company, the people, her work and then left to run through
the requirements laid out and put together a plan by the end of the day for a
particularly challenging project.

It was a
welcome to the
company
type of project – one that would make or break someone as
inexperienced as she was at the time. That had been a challenge, but she had
been up to it in her new role as project manager. Nothing had slowed down since
then, but how could it when she had taken on the role of director four years
before. Nope, nothing slowed down, with the exception of her social life.

As she read through the brief job
description, she realized she didn’t feel any better about making a decision.
Sure, she was qualified. She was familiar with managing projects and people; it
had been her life for the last decade or so. Her biggest concern was related to
the actual projects in question.

Surprisingly, the short blurb
attached to the email didn’t tell her much besides she would be managing people
and projects. Not that her current position was much different, except for the
level of individuals and apparently the level of visibility according to James.

At this rate, she could probably
stay in her comfortable job with the people she had now and be just as
successful – although it may take her twice as long to get to where she wanted
to be.

Which was where?

If she sat down and thought about
it, which she really hadn’t, she didn’t know what else she would want to be
doing. The pace in Dallas was probably twice as fast which meant the pressure
was twice as high.

The fact was, her current
position allowed her to get up close and personal with what she enjoyed most.
There was nothing more exciting than digging into code and breaking it down or
building it up into something bigger than they could have imagined.

She had just leaned back in her
chair and was sorting through her email when Trevor knocked lightly on her open
door and then sauntered in like he owned the place.

Trevor Michaels, the bad boy of
the San Antonio office, was one of her prized employees; the one who would stay
all night with her if they knew they could break through an obstacle no one
else seemed to be able to get around. He took his job as seriously as she did
and since the first day they started working together five years earlier,
they’d gotten along seamlessly.

“Hey.” Trevor’s deep voice flowed
silkily through the small confines of her office.

“Hey, yourself.” She replied,
keeping her eyes trained on the email she just opened. “What’s up?”

Samantha learned long ago she had
to be able to multitask or she would never get anything accomplished. With the
number of people who wandered in and out of her office throughout the day, if
she didn’t keep her focus, she’d be working double the amount of hours she did
already.

Thankfully, her team was
comfortable enough with her just to walk in at any time, and they even
tolerated her ability to perform multiple things at once.

“Rumor has it you’re on your way
to Dallas.” Trevor made himself comfortable in the chair directly across from
her.

She didn’t have her bags packed
just yet, but she didn’t have to think too hard to figure out who had started
that rumor. Glancing up from the monitor to assess his rugged facial features
looking for a clue as to where the conversation was heading, Samantha didn’t
see any contradiction in his expression from that in his voice. He sounded
happy.

“That’s the rumor, I suppose.”
That was another thing she liked about Trevor, he was straight forward and
right to the point.

“That’s a very interesting rumor.
If you’re nice, I just might give you a clue as to who is spreading that nasty
gossip. Have you accepted the position?”

Smiling at his attempt to
alleviate the tension she knew was coming off of her in waves, Sam stared at
Trevor. Looking at him now, still just as handsome as the day she met him, it
was hard to believe she and Trevor had actually attempted to date about five
years ago.

Thankfully, they’d learned right
away they were better friends than anything else. It worked out for the best
because a few months after they had gone out, he met Jennifer, the woman who
was now his wife. The couple dated for about a year before getting married,
with a son born fourteen months later. Samantha had even been invited to the
wedding.

“Not yet. I’m waiting to discuss
more with Logan McCoy this afternoon.” She said as she glanced down at her
watch. Thirty minutes and counting.

“Logan McCoy? Damn. He’s calling
you?” Trevor asked with a hint of admiration in his voice.

“That’s what James told me this
morning. Why?”

“No reason.” Trevor’s grin was
mischievous. “Will you be working directly for him?”

“I would assume so, but what
aren’t you telling me?” She didn’t know who else a VP in the support operations
department would report to, but she wasn’t going to mention that to Trevor.

“Honestly, nothing. I’ve heard
some things about him, but nothing that couldn’t be said to his face. The rumor
is he’s tough to work for.”

“What is it with you and rumors?
You’re worse than an old woman the way you go spouting off at the mouth the
minute you hear something interesting.” Samantha chided Trevor good naturedly.
“But, tough can be a good thing. I think the same thing has been said about me
before. Maybe even by you.”

And that was probably the
understatement of the year.

Trevor laughed in return and then
ran his hand through his short dark hair. “On a serious note, do you have any juicy
gossip for me?”

“I’m not sure you can say serious
and gossip in the same sentence. What, you don’t have enough to fuel the
National Enquirer for a decade?” His prominent blue eyes sparkled as he sat
with his elbows resting on his knees and his body leaning forward, closer to
her desk.

She could see he was eagerly
anticipating more information. Information she didn’t currently have. “I don’t
know anything right now but, I’ll be sure to tell you more as soon as I know.
Or, you could just stand at the door, hold a glass up to it and share all of
the news the minute I get it.”

“Well, this was terribly
disappointing, Ms. Kielty. I expected so much more out of you.” He replied with
a smile as he stood from the chair and turned toward the open door. “But, seriously,
the reason I came wasn’t to share all my insider trading information, I really
did come for a reason.” He laughed as he placed a hand on the door knob. “Good
luck, Sam. You won’t need it, but I’ll tell you anyway. I knew good things
would be coming your way soon. Let me know when you know something.”

“Thanks, Trev. Hey, can you shut
the door behind you?”

She watched as Trevor pulled the
door shut behind him, suddenly hoping he was in the running for her position.
He would make a terrific director and the whole office knew it. But, she didn’t
have time to think about that right now. She was nervous. More nervous than she
probably should have been, but there was no way to calm the rioting butterflies
taking flight in her stomach.

Grabbing the makeup compact out
of her desk drawer, Sam powdered her nose and applied a coat of gloss to her
lips. Just when she was putting the compact back in the drawer, her desk phone
rang. She glanced down at the caller ID and noticed it was coming from Logan
McCoy’s desk.

“Samantha Kielty.” She greeted as
professionally as she could muster.

“Ms. Kielty, this is Deanna, Mr.
McCoy’s admin. I’m calling to set up the video conference with Mr. McCoy.”

“Good afternoon, Deanna.” She
replied to the chipper voice as she leaned back in her chair. She noted the
time was fifty five after the hour. If anything, this girl was seriously
efficient.

“Ms. Kielty, could you please
provide me with your computer’s IP address?”

“Please call me Sam.” She
prompted and then dutifully read off the IP address for the video conference.

“Thank you, Sam. Mr. McCoy will
join the call momentarily.” The happier than should be allowed voice responded.

Samantha sat motionless, watching
her computer monitor as the information came up on the screen. The live picture
of herself in the bottom right hand corner gave her pause, and she fought back
the urge to smooth her hair. She didn’t know how long it would take for the
call to be set up, so she sat patiently, staring at herself on the computer
screen. She was relieved she hadn’t chosen to dress too casually that day.

Normally she wore jeans and a
t-shirt on Friday, but she had opted to put on the new outfit she purchased the
previous weekend, a form fitting emerald green collared shirt her mother said
made her eyes stand out, and a pair of very flattering jeans she found at
Buckle. Her jewelry was minimal as always, but she donned the new earrings her
mother suggested on their little shopping trip.

A moment later, Sam was staring
at the image of a man she presumed was Logan McCoy, and her breath hitched in
her throat.

She didn’t know what she
expected, but the man staring back at her was as far from it as he could have
been. Surely this wasn’t the real McCoy, Samantha thought, unable to hold back
the laugh. Wow, hopefully the cheesy didn’t come out in the interview.

“Good afternoon, Samantha.” The
deep baritone rang through her office as she stared back at the image.

The saying “too handsome for
words” was an understatement when it came to the man on the monitor. He was
devastatingly handsome with his short, dark hair and his penetrating hazel
eyes. His face was flawless, freshly shaven and intensely masculine. His nose
slightly crooked, and his cheekbones defined, giving him a rugged edge, not the
baby faced executive appearance she often thought of.

More bad boy than high paid
executive. Not a man she would expect as a president of anything.

Nope, she was expecting someone
with gray hair, a receding hairline and possibly a little extra weight.
Definitely not the sinfully attractive image reflected back at her from the
screen.

Sam realized she couldn’t sit
there and not say anything. Thankfully, her brain functioned well enough to
greet him back so she didn’t look like a total idiot. “Good afternoon.” 

At this point, she’d be lucky he
even still considered her after she sat mute and ogling his image for no
telling how long.

~~  ** 
~~  **  ~~  **  ~~

 “How are you?” Logan asked the
woman staring back from his screen. As many times as he had to do one of these
video conferences, he always found them to be a little too intimate. It
certainly wasn’t much different than sitting face to face with someone, but for
some reason, he felt as though he was on display.

Sitting in his office, the door
closed so he could have some privacy, Logan found himself taking in Samantha’s
appearance. Maybe Alex had gotten to him. He wasn’t interviewing her for a
date, so he wasn’t quite sure what it was about her that had him captivated.
Despite Alex’s repeated attempts to build her up, Logan hadn’t quite expected
her to be so… so… pretty.

The photo on file, the same one
they used for her access badge, didn’t do her any justice. Those pictures were
just a step above a driver’s license photo anyway.  And yes, maybe he expected
her to be a little attractive, especially with the way Alex had gone on and on
about her, but this woman, she wasn’t just pretty. He’d say she was more
exotically stunning.