Free The Bass by Moira Callahan Page A

that
person. He was as technologically hip as the next person, sometimes more so,
but technology could only take a deal to a certain point. A good solid hand
shake, eye contact, and truly listening to the other person was what had made
him into the successful individual he was. At least according to an interview he’d
given Forbes magazine three years prior.
    Cat set the files on his desk in the clear space to the right of his blotter.
Stepping back, she waited while he finished his call. “Problems?” she asked.
    “The usual bullshit,” he muttered. “What’s first today?” he asked.
    “Files for you to go over prior to starting the staff reviews. You have
about forty minutes before the first one.” Cateline handed over his phone
messages written out on various colored sheets. The soft blue was non-urgent,
buttercream was semi-urgent, and the mellow pumpkin shade was the most urgent.
“Only two calls you’ll need to deal with prior to the first staff member coming
in. The others can wait until you have time.”
    He nodded while glancing through them. “Shit, yeah, this one I better
call back.” Simon reached for his phone while she collected his coffee mug.
    Leaving him to make the first call, she went to the executive breakroom
to start a fresh coffee pot. Simon was always in two hours before Cat got
there. But no one in their right mind ever drank the sludge he brewed. Anyone who
valued their stomach lining waited to swipe the good stuff until she was in and
had the pot going.
    After taking him a cup, she settled down to deal with the items on her
list for the day. Her own assistant wouldn’t be in until eleven. As a working
mom, Lori only did part-time hours to ensure she was there to see her son off
to school, do her own household chores, and then still get off with time to spare
to pick him up in the afternoon’s. Simon had been unsure about the set-up, but since
it was working out perfectly for, Cateline he couldn’t complain.
    Lori was a hard worker, and extremely efficient. If she could get over
the terror she felt whenever Simon was on a rampage, she’d be fine. Poor thing
still froze up despite Cat’s assurances that Simon was all hot air.
    “Hot air by the gallon,” she muttered under her breath with a smirk.
    Over the next two hours she answered almost all of the emails, and showed
staff into Simon’s office. From their expressions when they came out, she knew
who had been told what. If she hadn’t been the one to take notes last week when
Simon had prepped for these reviews, she’d still have known merely from their
expressions.
    Simon ran a tight ship. While he did not expect perfection, he did
expect quality work during the hours someone was in the office. As long as an
individual did his or her absolute best, yet still failed, he wouldn’t find any
fault. Sloppy or lazy workers, though, were his biggest pet peeves. He felt
that he gave one hundred and ten percent, the least everyone else could do was
the same in their own unique way.
    It was why there would be several jobs on the line, three outright
firings, and a half dozen promotions in between the regular pat on the backs,
and pay increases. The only review Cat didn’t know the outcome of was her own.
It was scheduled to be the last for the morning, and he’d had the file since
she’d pulled them all the week prior.
    The ringing phone tugged her mind from the worrying she couldn’t quite
control. “Ackerman Developments Limited, Mr. Ackerman’s office, Cateline
speaking. How might I assist you today?”
    “Fucking hell, you have that prim, and proper voice down to an art form.”
    Shivering at Shade’s voice coming over the line, Cat couldn’t stop the
grin that pulled at her lips. “You like that do you?” she inquired. Another
staff member walked in, and she checked her off the list before waving the
woman to a seat. “It’ll be five minutes, Gerry. Coffee’s fresh in the breakroom
if you’d like some.” The woman