Grant leans back on his desk, crossing his legs at the ankle and his arms over his chest. If he’s trying to be intimidating, he’s failing miserably from the smile that lights up his face and those sexy eyes. “How are you liking it so far?” he asks me.
“It’s my first day.”
“And?” he prompts, grinning.
The view is nice, and your brother and I had a moment. “So far, so good. Gail has been amazing and getting me acclimated.”
“Good.” He nods. “I’m not near as needy as my brother, but we will work together from time to time. However, that goes both ways. If I can ever do anything for you…” His eyes sweep over my body, head to toe before his eyes collide with mine once more. “I’m your guy.”
“All right, Casanova, the tour must go on. You”—Gail points at him—“behave.” His deep throaty chuckle follows us out of his office and down the hall to the next. “This side of the hallway houses three conference rooms.” Gail motions to the right as we continue down the hall.
“This is Conrad’s office. He’s the CIO, the Chief Information Officer. He oversees all aspects of IT. He’s the one who set up all of your log-ins and passwords. He’s on the phone, so we’ll catch him later today. Conrad is the second to the youngest brother,” she explains as she peeks her head through the doorway and waves.
A few more steps and we reach the end of the hall. “This is Marshall’s office. He’s the youngest of the five and is our CMO. As Chief Marketing Officer, he handles marketing for all of our locations. He’s out meeting with a new vendor for marketing materials this morning. We’ll catch up with him later as well.”
“You know all of their schedules?” I ask her.
“Yes. But not because it’s my job. Only because I’m the one who’s been filling in for Sam. You will have access to each of their calendars, and they will often request for you to schedule or reschedule meetings for them. That’s the majority of the work you will do for everyone except for Royce. He’s constantly meeting with potential franchise owners and current owners as well. He will lean on you heavily.” She must see the apprehension in my eyes. “Don’t worry. It’s not near as overwhelming as it sounds. I’m always a phone call away, and so is Sam. In fact, I’ve set up a meeting with the three of us tomorrow. We’re having a virtual lunch since she’s on bed rest.”
“Tomorrow, lunch with Sam. Got it.” I nod, taking a mental note.
“It’s already on your calendar.” Gail grins.
“I have a calendar?”
She chuckles. “Definitely. Come on. Let’s go get you settled in.”
The next four hours fly by. I’ve already taken a few pages worth of notes and learned to operate the phone system. Thankfully, since it’s just me and the five brothers on this floor, there are only three lines that are inbound lines, with an additional six lines that are outgoing. Surely I can handle that.
“Are you about ready for a break?” Gail asks, standing and stretching. “Lunch is on us today. It should be here any minute. I ordered it yesterday.” As if her words summoned the delivery, the elevator pings, and the whooshing sound of the doors sliding open fill the silence of the floor.
“I have a delivery for Gail Hines,” a young woman says.
“That’s me.” Gail stands and signs the credit card slip and takes the three large bags from her. “This way.” She motions for me to follow her as she leads us down the hall to one of three conference rooms on this floor. This is the largest if I remember correctly from my earlier tour.
“That’s a lot of food for just the two of us,” I comment as she sets the bags on the large conference room table.
“That it is. It’s a good thing the boys are joining us.”
It’s hilarious that she refers to them as boys. From what I’ve seen, there isn’t anything boyish about them. The Riggins brothers are hot as hell. Speaking of the Riggins brothers, I hear a rumble of deep voices that grow louder as they get closer to the conference room. I busy myself pulling the boxed lunches from the bags. I’m nervous about being face-to-face with Royce again.
“They’re all the same. Just set them around the table and the boys will follow.”
Doing as she asks, I begin to place a box in front of each chair. My heart races as I think about me in a room with Royce and his hot-as-hell brothers. I’m not sure my lady bits can handle all that hotness in one room.
I should have googled them before today. Then I would have had time to process the fact that my bosses are all drop-dead gorgeous. All five of them. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. That would have also helped me with Royce. I would have recognized him, surely. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, right? There was so much to do in Seattle. Gail wanted me to start right away, and since I didn’t need to give notice, I packed up my things, broke the lease on my apartment, which cost me an arm and a leg, shipped my belongings, and got on a plane, all in a matter of days.