Conviction (Club Destiny 1)

Aside from that, he was intimately familiar with the interworking of company gossip. The situation was a delicate one at best, but it wasn’t up to him to put it off any longer.

Tapping the mouse so his computer screen would come to life, Logan waited so he could review his schedule. Skimming through the back to back meetings, he noticed the conference call with Samantha was scheduled for one o’clock. That gave him half an hour to grab lunch and get back to his desk.

Some days he didn’t even have the chance to make it out of his office, much less down to the cafeteria on the first floor for food. There was generally a long list of issues he needed to address.

For example he had to hire someone to replace his current VP of project operations. At this point, Samantha was certainly the most qualified and the most highly recommended. He only hoped she would be strong enough to work through the obstacles that would arise from transferring into the larger branch.

Not only was being in a larger office different in the physical sense, it was much more distracting. There was a constant push and pull in one direction or another, making it difficult to focus on the most pressing items. On top of that, there were office politics to contend with that generally didn’t rear their ugly head as often in smaller offices.

Granted, for the most part, Logan had been lucky with his staff, they were courteous and professional, and over the course of the three years he’d been in the role, they’d learned to work well together. He’d be the first to admit, he wasn’t the easiest man to work with. He had high expectations and a short fuse.

Hopefully Samantha would fit in well.

Logan would find out all he needed to know when he had the opportunity to talk to her. After all, he was proficient at reading people. Most people at least. And after the call was complete, he needed to go to the board meeting to give them the news.

The timeline had been pushed as far as he could push it and now they were down to the wire. This project had to get underway, and since he was losing an employee he didn’t have much of a choice. The choice hadn’t been his to make, so when he’d been backed into a corner, Logan had reached out like he always did. Now, he had a potential candidate, who could quite frankly take this project to the next level. Now they needed to get down to business.

Overwhelmed with his thoughts, and not paying attention, Logan nearly collided with a group of people coming out of the cafeteria doors. Startled into the present, he stopped abruptly and took a second to reorient himself with his surroundings. Realizing he knew one of the men he had nearly run into, Logan took the opportunity to apologize.

“Sorry. I wasn’t… Hey Alex. Sorry man, I wasn’t paying any attention.”

“What’s up, Logan? Planning for the weekend already?” Alex McDermott stopped a foot away, grinning from ear to ear.

“No. Nothing that exciting. Actually, I have a meeting this afternoon with a candidate for the VP position to replace Jeff.”

“Oh yea? Who is it? Maybe I know him.” Alex asked as he leaned casually against the wall, crossing his arms across his broad chest.

Logan stared back at XTX’s director of security and smiled. It was only logical for the other man to assume his prospect was a man. After all, most of the executive positions at XTX were, in fact, held by men. It hadn’t been an intentional decision by anyone; it was just how the cards had been dealt.

“Not a ‘him’, actually. Her name is Samantha Kielty. She’s currently located in the San Antonio office.”

“Sam Kielty? I know her. We had an incident with one of her employees a few years ago. Great girl.” Alex smiled a knowing smile. “Great legs too.”

“Interesting feedback, Alex, but I’m pretty sure her legs aren’t going to get her the job.” Logan smirked back at the younger man.

Logan and Alex had been friends for years; the two of them had actually partied on weekends a few years back.

It wasn’t a secret that Alex had a profound hang-up for Xavier Thomas’s granddaughter, but the guy couldn’t seem to get past the age difference. So, Logan, good friend that he was, sat idly by for years, watching as Alex attempted to replace her repeatedly with different women. Unsuccessfully.

“Didn’t figure it would, but have you seen her yet?” Alex smirked.

Knowing Alex, Logan figured Samantha was probably easy on the eyes. The man might not discriminate in the number of women he chose to fill his spare time with, but he was rather particular about their physical appearance.

“Not yet. I have a vid-con this afternoon to talk to her about the position. Heard some excellent things about her though.”