“Same,” London said, her gaze assessing and a touch amused. She looked over at Samiah. “A certain project looks to be complete.”

“Maybe,” Samiah said after clearing her throat. Daniel had no idea what that was about.

She motioned to Taylor. “The two of you have something in common. Daniel here is a military brat. Both his parents served. In fact, he was in the Marines for…” Her forehead furrowed. “How long?”

“Four years,” he provided.

“Marines?” Taylor’s brow arched. “You guys are scary. Don’t think this will be your normal PT.” Her mouth curled up in a grin. “I’m a lot harder than your average drill sergeant.” She clapped her hands together. “Okay, people. Are we ready to get this started?”

“No,” London said.

Samiah burst out laughing as she took London by the arm. “Remember, this is just a test run. She’s going to take it easy on us.”

Less than five minutes into their workout, it became apparent that Samiah was mistaken and he had been correct. When it came to a kick-ass PT session, Taylor Powell held her own against any of his past drill sergeants.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

No. No. No. That’s not going to work.”

Samiah massaged her right temple with the blunt end of her electronic pencil and cursed herself for laughing off Taylor’s suggestion that she start diffusing essential oils to help relieve work-related stress. She’d trade her favorite pair of Malone Souliers pumps for a few drops of lavender and eucalyptus right now.

She glanced at the time on her computer and realized this impromptu brainstorming session had been going on for an hour already, which meant she would have to tack another hour onto her workday to get the rest of her work done. If someone could guarantee that she could get French roast coffee in prison, she would happily murder each and every one of the people sitting in her office. How could such brilliant minds be so bad at coming up with original ideas?

“Guys, look. I’ll admit that Huston-Tillotson University came to us with a unique problem, but it shouldn’t be this hard to formulate a workable solution that won’t require them to triple their tuition cost.” Samiah held up both hands. “You all know how much I hate clichés, but seriously, it’s time to start thinking outside the box.”

“Well, they did say they were willing to throttle their bandwidth during peak hours,” Amy said.

“Yes, which gives us a starting point when it comes to devising a system that will meet all of their needs without breaking the bank.” She swiveled to her monitor and logged into the online collaboration software used for strategy discussions.