Wanting It All: A Naked Men Novel by Christi Barth

Author:Christi Barth [Barth, Christi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2016-08-08T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Knox stood in the open space smack dab in the middle of the office. The leasing agent had been flummoxed by his request to knock out an entire row of cubicles and put nothing in their place. And he sure hadn’t been about to explain the sort of testing they planned to do in it. Things like today.

When he’d opened the box containing the experimental hoverboard, it’d been tempting to take it home and show the guys. But playing with it wouldn’t be enough. No, he needed to test it here, in front of like-minded nerds who would appreciate the science behind it every bit as much as the flat-out coolness of it.

“Here, boss.” Clark, a short man who wore his pocket protector with the same sartorial swagger as Knox wore his double-pointed black and white silk pocket square, handed over a bike helmet. “You should wear this.”

“No.”

Rose sneered at Clark over the rims of the orange cats-eye glasses Knox knew for a fact to be fake. She did it about ten times a day that Knox saw, which meant the actual stats were probably way higher. Guess she saw Clark as competition. Which was weird, since Davies Enterprises wasn’t a corporate-ladder type of place.

Or maybe he hadn’t made that clear? That it was all about throwing ideas into a communal pot, not hoarding your own to rocket to the top. Because one person might have a game-changing idea. But it was damn certain it’d take a whole handful of other people to see it to fruition. Translating imagination and vision took teamwork. Being brilliant didn’t exempt you from playing well with others. Was that supposed to be in his mission statement? Did he need to come up with a mission statement?

Damn it, Madison’s touchy-feely business approach was like mold spreading across his ingrained habits. She’d infected him with second thoughts. Knox never indulged in second thoughts. It was a matter of principle. Somebody with his brainpower simply shouldn’t require a second go-around to make a decision.

“It’s a hoverboard, Clark, not a jet pack.” Rose crouched to waggle her fingers just above the carpet. “Meant to glide mere inches above the ground. Even you couldn’t get a concussion riding it.”

Clark’s face fell. Shit. Did Rose’s constant jibes actually bother the guy? Did he have a morale problem on his hands? Knox outsourced all his HR to an off-site company. The last thing he wanted was to worry about interpersonal dynamics at the office.

This was supposed to be a place of pure science. No fantasy league betting on chess matches, no rounds at the Irish pub around the corner with the gang. It was a temple to thinking, discovery, engineering, and code.

And, of course, the place that filled his bank account. His retirement account. His mother’s bank account, her travel fund, and the secret Swiss account—because the Swiss were more classic than the sketchy offshore Caribbean accounts—that gave him the peace of mind to sleep at night.

All those things made it Knox’s happy place.

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