Samiah shut down her computer, locked her desk, and left the office. An hour later, she was showered and dressed in dark blue jeans, an off-the-shoulder mohair sweater, and boots. A half hour after that, she was sitting at a small round table, listening to the first set of the blues band that was playing at the club where she and Craig were supposed to have their date this past weekend.

Maybe it was time she accepted that plans changed. And sometimes they changed for the better.

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Claude Sanderson. Forty-eight. Divorced. Father of three. Still pissed over leaving his former business partner just before the software they created together hit big. Was a member of the initial WiMax rollout team.

Mia Palmer. Twenty-four. Mensa member. Top of her class at MIT. Clinically on the autism spectrum but does an excellent job of utilizing social tools. Played a key role in setting up Trendsetters’ security system. Definitely knows all the ways to bypass it. Doesn’t seem to have a sinister bone in her body.

Jake Gorge. Thirty. Cheated his way through college. A classic bullshitter who pretends to work. Probably scared as hell that he’ll one day get found out. Would likely sell out his own grandmother to get ahead if the opportunity arose. Definitely someone to keep an eye on.

As he stood against the glass-paneled wall, Daniel mentally cataloged the people around him. They had all been called to the Collaboration Room. Unlike a normal conference room, there was no long table surrounded by a dozen rolling desk chairs. Instead, the room was interspersed with numerous beanbags and gaming rockers that sat low to the floor. A cluster of rolling standing desks occupied one side and three state-of-the-art treadmill desks dominated the other. On his initial tour of the office, Owen explained that the setup fostered an atmosphere of synergy and engagement, but Daniel wasn’t sold on that yet.

The room was filled to capacity for the multidepartment meeting. It was only his fourth day on the job, and he still wasn’t sure why he’d been asked to attend or what was expected of him. But it did give him the opportunity to be a fly on the wall and observe several of his new coworkers.

From the corner of his eye he caught sight of luminous brown skin and shiny, chin-length hair approaching the room.

Samiah Brooks. Thirty. Undergraduate studies at Rice University. University of Texas for grad school. Made a name for herself when she found a bug in a new software program, saving the company’s reputation. Had rocketed up Trendsetters’ ladder of success in the three years since she was hired.

The very definition of gorgeous.