And just like that, my plans for the day and quite probably the night went right down the toilet. Carson. I hadn’t gotten anything about the Schneider account from him, but I couldn’t say that without it becoming a he said/she said situation, which had the potential of causing a very unpleasant scene.

Carson had been here for years while I’d been here mere weeks. So far, I was successfully building a strong rapport with my team, and I didn’t want to jeopardize it by being perceived as a supervisor who blamed others when things went wrong, even in this case, where it was definitely Carson’s fault that I hadn’t been in the loop about the Schneider account.

I smacked my forehead, overly dramatic, and said, “Of course, I’ve been working with them. Sorry. My caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet. I’ve got meetings all day today. Would tomorrow morning be all right for me to catch you up on the account?”

Sophie visibly relaxed while Miguel looked a tad less grumpy. “It’s later than I would like, but sure, ten o’clock.”

“Don’t we have a conference call with Bravo Pianos at that time?” Booker asked me. I stared at him. I didn’t have a meeting on my calendar for Tuesday morning. What was he up to? He glanced back at Miguel. “You’d better make it midafternoon in case our meeting runs late. Mr. Bravo can be very exacting.”

If it weren’t totally inappropriate in the workplace, I might have kissed Booker on the mouth. We didn’t have a meeting; he was just trying to buy me more time. I nodded. “You’re right. Good plan.”

Miguel glanced between us. “Fine. Two then.”

“Looking forward to it,” I lied. The tension between Miguel and Sophie visibly eased. Crisis averted, for now.

I didn’t have to look at him to know that Carson was smirking. I would bet my favorite pair of Magalli boots that he’d been waiting for just this moment. What an asshat. At least now I had a heads-up and could find out what other projects he’d neglected to mention to me.

“I’m sure Annabelle’s been too busy wooing her brand-new client to think too much about pretzels,” Carson said. “Isn’t that right, Annabelle?”

He turned to me. His sandy hair flopped perfectly over his forehead, and I suspected a lot of product had been employed to make it seem so effortless. Had I really thought he was handsome when I’d first met him? Now I noticed that his face was too thin, his lips had a cruel twist, and his eyes held no warmth, just cold calculation.

“I’m sorry?” I asked. I had no idea what he was talking about.