The All-Star Antes Up by Nancy Herkness

Author:Nancy Herkness
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781503935464
Published: 2016-05-31T04:00:00+00:00

It struck him again that she viewed him differently than others did. “You deal with some selfish, demanding people as clients,” he said. “How do you keep from getting cynical?”

“My clients can be challenging, but they’re also appreciative of my efforts. I like working in a residential building instead of a hotel because I get to know them, their likes and dislikes, which makes it easier to do a good job. I’ve grown fond of many of our residents.”

He felt a strange twinge of jealousy at the warmth in her voice. Since he never used the building’s concierge services, he knew he wasn’t included in that group. “What about your boss?”

“Orin’s a necessary evil. Our shifts don’t overlap much, so he doesn’t bother me.” Her full lips twisted and her shoulders went rigid. “All right, so coming to work for him might have been a choice I regret. But the Pinnacle, well, the name says it all. If I want to start my own concierge agency, it adds major credibility to my résumé.”

So she had her own ambitions. He wasn’t surprised. But Spindle bothered her more than she wanted to admit. “There must be other buildings as high-end as the Pinnacle where the boss isn’t such a scumba—er, jerk. He tried to make you look bad in front of me and Trevor.”

She finished chewing her oyster before meeting his eyes. He could see her making the same decision he had: to be truthful. “I don’t know why he dislikes me so much. I’ve never done anything to provoke that.”

“I’m guessing the clients like you better than him and he knows it. Which takes us right back to what we were talking about earlier.”

“He could get rid of me if he would stop trying to ruin my chances of getting another position.” She went still. “You’re too easy to talk to.”

A flicker of gratification banished his jealousy. He sat back in the chair and wished he hadn’t when pain wrapped around his rib cage. He swiped the champagne glass off the table and finished the remainder. “So you’re looking for a new job?”

Her slim shoulders lifted and fell on a sigh. “I have a shot at head concierge for a new luxury condominium uptown, but I need Orin’s reference.”

“What about a recommendation from someone else?”

“There are some colleagues who would help me out, but it wouldn’t carry the same weight, especially when Orin is running a smear campaign right now.”

Now he understood the tension in her shoulders. “What’s he smearing you about?”

She looked away. “Just general incompetence. The worst part is that he’s sabotaging things that I’ve set up for clients.” When she met his eyes again, hers were lit with indignation. “Making me look bad is one thing, but deliberately making our residents unhappy is something no concierge should do.”

Despite her sincerity, he could tell she was trying to deflect him from the smear campaign. Spindle must be using the newspaper photo Miranda had mentioned to stir up trouble for her.

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