The Boss's Proposal Read Online Free Page A

More than twenty-five yearsbefore, Hal and his partners had bought the Victorian-era warehouse in Portland’s dilapidated waterfront area, keeping the top floor for themselves. In the time since, urban renewal had turned the Old Port section fashionable and the BRS building had become among the city’s most sought-after business addresses.
    Beyond the divider, the open expanse of the office spread out before her. And as always, the exhilaration hit, that sense that she could breathe deeper, stand taller. Good architecture could do that.
    Sunlight flooded in through the rows of enormous windows on either side. The ceiling soared fifteen feet overhead. In the center, long white tables topped with brushed aluminum lamps and sleek flat-panel displays provided workspace for the draftspeople and interns, the lower-level engineers and design architects. Offices and conference rooms lined the perimeter of the back half of the floor, their frosted glass walls making them look more like glowing cubes lit from within.
    She headed toward her office. Okay, so it was small and in a nook that had no window, but it did boast a door. And with Jeremy leaving, maybe she could trade up for his office. After all, she’d need the extra space if—
    â€œMax.”
    She turned to see Hal stepping out of his corner office, a lean, energetic man with a white brush cut and startlingly blue eyes. As always, he had dressed impeccably. Which didn’t hide his fatigue, Max saw.
    â€œMorning, Hal,” she said. “Welcome back.”
    â€œThanks. Stop by my office when you get settled—let’s say, in ten minutes. I want to go over the Portland General project.”
    This was it, Max thought, nerves tightening her stomach. For all that the situation seemed promising, she knew it was a long shot for someone of her age and experience to be named project manager. Except for the wunderkind, advancing in the profession of architecture was a notoriously slow process.
    But her experience went beyond the seven years she’d spent at BRS, she thought as she stashed her purse in her desk. One way or another, she’d been working in architecture since junior high, when her parents had added a wing to the family’s inn. It had fascinated Max, watching the project go from a few sketched lines to rooms she could walk through. She’d followed the architect everywhere, haunting him until he’d begun to allow her to work for him a few hours a week. As she’d become more skilled, she’d moved from simple tasks like copying blueprints to rendering his sketches in CAD programs, and eventually taking plans and change orders down to planning offices for approval.
    Getting into a top school had been easy; acing her classes had been even easier. As a freshman, she’d even scored a summer internship at a top firm. And maybe she’d pancaked there, but it hadn’t had anything to do with her work. She’d learned from the experience—God knew, she’d learned—focusingtwice as intensely, graduating a year early to go on to her master’s degree. She’d learned and vowed to never, ever make the same mistake again.
    And so here she was, potentially at the point where her career might be taking off. Max left her office, closing the door behind her. Under normal circumstances, one of the partners likely would assume command of the Portland General project. But these circumstances weren’t normal. Hal and Leo were swamped with important commissions already. Someone had to handle Jeremy’s other projects, several of which were in the final design stages and took priority over a mere proposal. BRS would eventually replace him, but hiring architects at that level took months. Getting someone on board by the proposal deadline was impossible.
    Hal would probably take over as project manager, just for appearances’ sake, Max figured as she walked. But he might just give her the post of lead