Saving Grace

Matthew

Deep breath…in…and out. I've been repeating this in my head for the last forty minutes as I head to the office. This is my first official day as CEO with my father having stepped down last Friday. He's an amazing man, hard yet fair and he's left me some very big shoes to fill. I run my hands down the front of my suit jacket as I draw in a deep breath.

“Everything okay sir?” James calls out from the front of the car.

“Just nerves. First day jitters I guess.” We both chuckle softly as he pulls in front of the sixteen story building. I stare out at the J & M Enterprise’s sign on the front of the building and let out a weighted sigh as James opens my door for me.

“Thank you, James.” He nods in response as I walk past him and make my way to the door. I feel everyone’s eyes on me as I make my way through the main lobby, stopping in front of the elevator and pressing the call button. I hear hushed voices and whispers from all around me and am flooded with a feeling of relief when the doors open. I quickly step inside and press the button for the sixteenth floor followed by the button to close the doors then I lean against the wall and take a deep breath to steady my nerves as the elevator quickly ascends. I hear the chime of the elevator just before the doors slide open and I step out, walking at a brisk pace through the reception area.

“Good morning, Mr. Jacobs! Can I get you anything?” The young blonde at the reception desk asks with a look on her face that tells me everything I need to know about her without asking a single question. This girl is average height with short blonde hair, brown eyes, great tits that are threatening to pop out of her shirt if she takes too deep of a breath and curves for days that are hugged tightly by her skintight blue dress. Unfortunately, her expression screams desperation and I'm sure it would be safe to assume that she comes with baggage that I simply don’t have time for. I give her a polite smile and look at the name plaque on her desk.

“No thank you, Ms. Monroe.” she bats her eyes and pouts her lips…yep…fucking desperate.

“Please, you can just call me Shirley.” I let out an annoyed sigh…time to put a stop to this before she thinks she stands a chance.

“Ms. Monroe, this is an office, not a dating service. I'll address you in a professional manner and expect you to address me the same.” The look of shock and disappointment on her face amuses me greatly, hell, probably more than it should if I'm being honest here. Without another word, I take the hall to the right and head to my office at the end. I close the door and then stand and admire the amazing work the interior decorators did over the weekend, turning my father's stuffy office into a work of art.

The only thing I kept from my father’s design was his large oak desk, but everything else is all me. Bookshelves, black leather chairs, a large black leather couch facing the floor to ceiling window that overlooks the city and a large glass and chrome coffee table in front of the couch. I had them switch my father’s old metal file cabinets for ones that match the desk and had all his family photos and portraits replaced with black and white nature photographs.

The walls were painted a light gray to help compliment the color scheme of the furniture which helped tie the whole room together nicely. I walk over to my desk and take a seat in the chair with the leather groaning under my weight as it adjusts. I decide to dive right in to checking emails and reports, but lose track of time. Just before noon, there's a knock on my door that pulls me out of the rabbit hole of work.

“Come in.” fuck, I hope it isn’t the damn receptionist. I let out a sigh of relief when Brett walks in.

“Hey, Matt. You ready to go get lunch?” I close my laptop and rise from the desk, stretching my arms over my head to relieve the stiffness in my back and shoulders.

“Hell, yes I am.” he lets out a soft chuckle as I approach him.

“So, I hear you were a dick to the receptionist.” I can’t hold back my laughter at how quickly word has spread.

“She was being unprofessional as fuck. Besides, I don’t need some desperate little office slut following me around like a lost puppy.” He nods and smiles at me.

“So, you don’t mind if I give her a go?” God, he's such a man-whore.

“Be my guest.” I respond in a dry tone.

“Sweet. Desperate bitches are the best. They don’t require much work to get in bed.” I laugh and slap him playfully on the shoulder.

“They're also the most likely to turn into stalkers.” He gives me a playful grin and shrugs his shoulders.

“Small sacrifice, brother!” We both make our way down the hall and into the reception area where Brett gives his best ‘fuck me’ eyes to Ms. Monroe while I rush into the elevator as soon as the doors open with Brett reluctantly following behind me.

“There's a diner a few blocks from here that we're going to. Zack's meeting us there so we can go over some of the expense reports that aren't adding up.” I nod as I unbutton my suit jacket and slide my hands into my pants pockets.

“Good. If we get this shit done at lunch, we might be able to get out of here on time tonight.” We both look at each other and laugh because we both know that's never going to happen. James is waiting for us in front of the building and we both climb into the back seat while James takes us to the diner. As we pull up, I look out the window at the quaint little diner snuggled in between a bank and another office building.

“I never knew this was here.” I say as we climb out.

“Yeah, Zack told me about this place. His cousin works here and he said it has great food and service.” As we reach the door I look back to Brett and nod.

“As long as they have coffee, I'll be happy.” We walk through the door and are immediately greeted by an elderly woman in a pink dress with a white apron.

“Good afternoon! Would you prefer a booth or table today?” Her sweet smile is contagious and has Brett and I smiling back at her.

“We're actually meeting with a coworker here. His name is Zack.” She nods and her smile gets even bigger.

“Of course! Follow me!” We follow closely behind her, weaving between tables until reaching the booth in the back of the restaurant where Zack is waiting for us.

“About time!” Zack quips as he smiles at the elderly woman.

“Can I get you gentlemen anything to drink?” Brett and I look at each other and offer our preference in unison.

“Coffee please” She chuckles at our response then shakes her head at us.

“Coming right up. Your server, Grace, will be by in a moment to take your order.” She quickly makes her way behind the counter to get two cups of coffee and is already setting them on the table before we're even completely seated.

“Thank you, ma’am.” I offer my appreciation with a smile and she returns it before walking away. “So, Zack, I hear there are some issues with some of the expense reports you received.” I watch as he shakes his head and runs his hand through his hair.

“It's a fucking mess, Matt. Over two hundred thousand unaccounted for.” I damn near choke on my coffee.

“You're fucking joking, right?” He lowers his gaze and shakes his head. A young woman walks up to our table and pulls all of our attention the moment she speaks.

“Hey, Zack! What can I get you boys to eat?” We all look over and I feel my heart skip a beat. She's a small, but stunning woman. She's maybe 5’2”, slender, small breasts, not much in the way of curves, but her bright red hair and large green eyes are breathtaking. I'm glad Zack speaks because I'm probably not far off from drooling at this point.

“Hey Gracey! This is Brett and Matt.” She smiles and I have to look away to break the trance I was in.

“It's a pleasure to meet you both.” I try to look at the menu, but I find that all I want to do is take another look at the woman standing beside me.

“I'll have the tuna melt on sourdough with fries.” Zack is the first to order.

“Cheeseburger medium well with fries for me.” Brett hums out as he hands her his and Zack’s menus.

“What would you recommend?” I ask her without looking away from my menu.

“I'm partial to the club sandwich.” I can tell from the tone of her voice that she's still smiling.

“Sounds good to me. Can I also get a water please?” I hand her my menu and she scurries off to get our order to the chef.

“She's your cousin?!” Brett asks in a hushed voice.

“Yeah. She's a real sweetheart.” Brett lets out a low whistle of approval.

“Let’s get down to business. I don’t want to be working on this shit all night.” At my words Zack reaches into his briefcase and pulls out three large files. We each take one and get to work, searching for discrepancies as we try to hunt down the more than two hundred thousand in missing funds. We're all so focused on the files that we hardly acknowledge when Grace brings our food out as we work to eat and peruse the files. It isn’t until Grace starts grabbing the empty plates and speaks up that we look away from our work.

“What has you boys working so hard during your lunch break?” We all glance over to her, but Zack is the only one to respond.

“Someone fucked up the expense reports for one of the companies we handle and it's a pretty big error. We need to get it fixed before we can submit them to the company.” I can tell by the look on her face that her wheels are turning.

“Let me go put these up and if you'd like I can take a look.” I'm pretty sure my look of confusion is painted across my face, but she simply smiles and walks away to put away the plates from our table.