Chapter 2

“I haven’t met him yet,” Tobie continued, “but from what I’ve read in his file and the buzz in HR, he’s pretty smart. Should keep you on your toes.”

“I’d like to see him try,” I said with a smirk.

“Just be gentle with him, okay?”

I smiled enigmatically and kept drinking my coffee.

* * * *

I was humming a song to myself, when all of a sudden someone said “Boo!” causing me to jump and knock over my chair. Righting it, I turned to glare at the interloper, Carly.

“You’re such a pain!” I placed my hands on my hips and mock-frowned at her. She just laughed.

“You love me anyway, I know.” She turned to the young man standing beside her, who was trying not to laugh at me.

“Lee Pearce, intern, meet John DeWitt, mentor. His bark is worse than his bite, I assure you. Don’t talk to him before he’s had his morning coffee, and be prepared to help him find files on the server. Other than that, he’s a decent human being.”

I stuck my tongue out at her, then focused on Lee.

“Nice to meet you, Lee.” We shook hands briefly. “Everything Carly said is true, and I only bark if I haven’t had my coffee yet. Regarding the files, I’m just too brilliant to think on such a pedantic level.”

Lee laughed, as I’d intended. “Good to know,” he said.

He had intelligent eyes the color of warm steel, soot-black hair and sharp cheekbones—ridiculously handsome. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t place him. All the same, he was way too young for me, probably no more than twenty-two. That would keep my libido in check, at least. I preferred older, more experienced men.

“Be good. And Lee, welcome to the circus.” With a smile and wave, Carly left.

“You’re sitting next to me, so put your stuff down while I get some things together.”

“Will do.”

As I grabbed a checklist and two files from my desk, I heard Lee chuckling. I moved to stand near him and he looked up at me.

“Sorry,” he said, quickly putting away his cell phone.

“No, it’s okay. Funny text?”

“Yeah. My brother, Wei, just sent me a picture of a baby lifting weights and a caption of ‘you can do it.’ Such a nerd.”

“You’re close?”

“Yeah, as close as two brothers can be. Our parents are really protective of us and worry that we live in the big city without them. They forget we’re grown men and can handle our own lives. So, to calm their nerves—and ours—Wei and I decided to share living space after I graduated. A sort of united front.”

I gestured for Lee to walk with me. “Where do you guys live?”

“We share a duplex in Midtown. Wei lives downstairs and I took the top level. He’s older than me by twelve years, and sometimes a little too serious, though he’s a riot when he lets himself relax. He takes after our dad, a tall, blond, gray-eyed construction worker. I take after my mom, who is second generation Chinese and medium height. Dad swept her off her feet in a whirlwind romance. My maternal grandparents never recovered.”

I laughed. “I bet.”

We reached our destination and I knocked on Tobie’s door.

“Come in,” I heard on the other side.

Opening the door, I ushered Lee into the room. Tobie stood behind his desk with a welcoming smile.

“Tobie, this is Lee Pearce. Lee, Tobie Mendez, VP of Acquisitions.” They shook hands.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Mendez.”

“Please, not so formal. Call me Tobie.”

“Okay, Tobie. Thanks. It’s great to have this opportunity.”

“We’re happy to have you here. Please sit down.”

Lee took one chair, and I, the other. Tobie sat and leaned back as he addressed Lee.

“You’ll find that we work long hours in this department. Your grade point average was the highest in your class, which is impressive. However, since this is the real world, that only takes you so far. What you did in college only scratches the surface of what I’ll expect from you—what EnerGen requiresof you. I’ve been where you are. Work hard, and maybe you’ll get hired on, and then the sky’s the limit. We’re a very diverse organization, very liberal thinkers. All that matters with this company is that you get results. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.” Tobie leaned forward and grabbed a packet from his desk.

“John is a junior analyst for this department. He was also an intern, so I thought it would be good to have him as your mentor. Here’s some information for you to go over in your spare time. John will work with you on some assignments and help you settle in. My door is always open to you—well, when I’m here, anyway. I travel a lot with Malcolm Jones, Senior VP for Acquisitions. You’ll meet him at some point.”

“I appreciate this, Tobie.” Lee took the packet and stood.