The Hang Up (First Impressions) Read Online Free

of pens beside it. Jason gave her a silent nod of thanks, then grabbed a pen and a notebook with a red cover. He flipped it open, not entirely sure what to write in it.
    “Why don’t we start with a little get-to-know-you session?” Holly suggested, smiling at everyone around the table. “Jason, since you’re the newest member of the team, we’d love to hear about how you ended up joining Urban Trax.”
    “Absolutely.” He smoothed the lapels of the blazer his sister had insisted he wear. It felt stiff and much too hot, but now that he’d seen how everyone else was outfitted, he was glad he’d worn it. Beside him, the director of marketing gave him an encouraging nod.
    “Right, so, for the past ten years, I’ve operated a tour company called Adrenaline Rush,” Jason said. “We offer everything from bungee jumping to whitewater kayaking to more sedate tours like snowshoeing and zip-lining.”
    “Mr. Sanders started the company himself,” the marketing director boasted, and Jason made a mental note to give the guy a raise. Pete? Pete Marshall, that was it. He was still talking, so Jason shut up and let Pete sing his praises. “Mr. Sanders took his company from being a small start-up with three employees to a franchise with more than six hundred employees and twelve branches in eight Western states.”
    “It’s a big part of why the company hired him,” added Rex Rutherford, the accounting director at the other end of the table. “As we’ve shared before, the Urban Trax stock has been in a bit of a free fall over the last two years. Our hope is that Mr. Sanders can help breathe new life into the company.”
    The COO—Darrin Johnson, was it?—gave a curt nod. “We’re confident he can do it.”
    “Damn straight,” Jason said, before it occurred to him he probably shouldn’t kick off his very first meeting with a curse word. No one seemed offended, but they were all looking at him like he was some sort of strange bird that had flown into the room and they weren’t certain whether he planned to perch happily on a branch or shit all over the table.
    Also, he probably shouldn’t be thinking words like “shit” in a board meeting.
    He looked back at Miriam, hoping maybe she could rescue him from himself. She offered a smile that left him wondering what it might feel like to run his hands up her naked body, and he tried to remember what the hell he’d been talking about.
    “So, Mr. Sanders,” she began, but Jason cut her off.
    “Any chance you folks could just call me Jason?” he asked. “You say ‘Mr. Sanders’ and I’m looking around the room for my dad, thinking he’s going to bust my ass for losing a tent stake or crashing the snowmobile or something. Please, just call me Jason.” He smiled around the table to let everyone know he wasn’t really pissed.
    Everyone looked a little confused.
    Well, everyone except Miriam, who smiled back and began rolling a pen between her palms in a way that made him wonder what else she could do with those hands.
    “Jason.” She held his gaze with hers as she rolled the pen back and forth with agonizing slowness. “Have you had a chance to look over some of the concepts First Impressions was developing with the Urban Trax executive team prior to your arrival?”
    “I did,” he said, nodding a little as he held her gaze.
    “And?”
    Jason cleared his throat and wondered if he should speak his mind or play it cool on his first day.
    They hired you for your mind, dumbass. Might as well give it to them.
    “To be honest,” he said, “they kind of sucked.”
    Miriam stared at him. “I beg your pardon?”
    “Not the work itself,” he said, and kicked himself a little for being a dickhead right out of the gate. For God’s sake, he could have done this with a bit more polish.
    But it needed to be said, and he might as well be the one to say it.
    “Look, it’s clear First Impressions does phenomenal work,” he said. “I’m not questioning