“You’re not intimidated by me.” She said it like she had discovered something unusual. Darius looked around the enormous kitchen.
“Should I be?” Vanessa answered, “Most people at Hartwell Global are.”
“Most people at Hartwell Global want something from you.” He folded his arms. “My direct deposit already cleared Friday.” Vanessa laughed.
This one came out before she could control it. Short, rough around the edges, almost rusty. Vanessa covered it quickly with a sip of wine. Darius smiled.
“I make decent coffee.” Vanessa raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“You’ve had enough wine.” Darius pointed toward the espresso machine. “If that machine actually works, I can make coffee.”
“You know how to use a La Marzocco?” Vanessa asked. Darius walked toward it. “I spent my afternoon rebuilding a control system worth four hundred thousand dollars.”
He examined the machine. “This thing makes beverages.” Vanessa sat on one of the stools. “People are intimidated by it.”
“People need better hobbies.” Darius opened the bean container. Vanessa laughed again.
He made two coffees. Vanessa accepted hers without asking how he took such liberties inside her house. Something had shifted between them without either person deciding it should. Two exhausted adults were sitting in a kitchen at an hour when titles became harder to maintain.
“How long have you worked for me?” Vanessa asked. Darius corrected her immediately. “For the company.”
Vanessa noticed. “How long?” Darius took a sip. “Three years.”
“I didn’t know your name until tonight.” There was no defensiveness in her admission. Darius nodded. “I assumed that.”
“That bothers me.” Darius looked toward her. Vanessa rotated the mug slowly between her hands. “There are four hundred seventy people in that building, and I know perhaps seventy names.”
“The executives.” Vanessa nodded. “The people who bring problems into meetings.”
She looked toward the binder. “Not necessarily the people who stop those problems before they reach meetings.” Darius said nothing. Vanessa studied him. “Evan told me you handled the entire cooling compliance recertification.”
“Most of it.” Vanessa corrected him. “All of it.”
Darius shrugged. “It needed doing.” Vanessa reached for the binder and opened several pages as though seeing them differently now. “How much do you make?”
He laughed softly. “That’s direct.” Vanessa looked almost embarrassed. “I’m asking as CEO.”
“That somehow makes it less normal.” Darius told her anyway. Vanessa’s face changed immediately.
“That is wrong.” Darius raised an eyebrow. “My paycheck clears.”
“You certified infrastructure protecting systems tied to eleven thousand employee records.” Vanessa closed the binder. “You rebuilt a failure today that could have become a major operational incident.”
“That’s my job.” Vanessa shook her head. “No.”
She stood. “Monday morning, HR.” Darius blinked. “For what?”
“Compensation review.” Vanessa’s executive voice returned. “Bring documentation of the work you actually perform.”