“Why in the world do you look like a soggy dinner roll that’s been dunked into a soup and left at the bottom of the bowl?”

I stared up at the ceiling and counted mentally from one to ten so that I didn’t smack Theodora for that unnecessarily obvious, excessively insensitive comment. 

Theodora was a marketing associate and the witch was unfortunate to have been given as slave to.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked most almost everyone I’ve met and worked with in the company but the one person I didn’t and the same one who nursed some secret hatred for me, it would seem, had to be my direct supervisor.

Usually, nothing she said could get under my skin. Becoming unflappable had been a precious skill to learn quickly once one was put under Theodora’s command but today was not a great day and my composure was already in shreds. 

After a fifteen-minute wait for the next bus, a nasty encounter with some lewd stranger inside it who was eyeing my white blouse like a hungry rat, a mad dash up the front steps of the massive Hedenby building and a resulting contact with the ground after my heel twisted and catapulted me into mid-air, I was in no shape or form, mentally and physically, to put up with Theodora’s crappy attitude.

“You could say I’ve had a rough start to my morning,” I attempted in an even voice as I settled into my chair and slipped off my wet sling backs. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll be presentable again.”

“You don’t have ten minutes because the general meeting with the CEO is in five and I don’t want you wading in there, dripping all over the floor and making me look bad so stay here and get decent,” she scolded as she straightened her impeccable gray suit and skirt ensemble.

I hated her more for being so perfectly pressed, she looked fresh from under a steam iron.

Theodora was actually an attractive woman in her early thirties but her mean streak took away whatever softness she was capable of.

“I’ll stay in here if that’s better for everyone,” I said with a sigh.

I had actually wanted to attend the general meeting with the CEO. It was my first one since I started working in the company because Luke Hedenby had been in New York working out a deal in the last couple of months and had just returned to announce the partnership between his company and a major international airline. But as much as I’d like to be there, I didn’t really want to be called out for mistaking the meeting as a wet t-shirt contest.

“While you’re here, you might as well get some things done,” Theodora said, gesturing to a folder on top of her desk. “I need ten copies of that proposal by nine, all bound, labelled and circulated to the list I included with it. And make sure to remind me to give you some extra tasks later on the extra fifteen minutes you’ll be spending after your shift to make up for your tardiness this morning.”

I opened my mouth to say yes and tell her to go away or she’ll be late for her precious meeting but she held up a hand to stop me, her flinty gray eyes narrowing at me.

“I must say I’m really disappointed in your, Maxine. Your performance is at best meeting expectations and then you go ahead and add this to your improvement opportunities. We’ll have to talk about this when I have the time. For now, get to work and give it your hundred percent,” she finished with an indignant thrust of her chin before striding away.

Wow.

I was late for the first time ever and she was blowing my ear off.

And at best meeting expectations? I worked with the efficiency of a robot I could predict the second she would take her next breath. Puh-lease.

Just the icing on your incredibly awful cake, I thought morosely as I took out a pair of black ballet flats from my lower drawer where I stored some office emergency supply. I didn’t have a fresh set of clothes which meant I would have to endure the chill of my soaked outfit until it dried.

I pulled my hair out of the low bun I had twisted it into and let the damp waves hang over my shoulders. It made me colder but it was the only way to dry it out. Hopefully, it wouldn’t curl up so much that I’d need a rake to comb it back together later.

I sighed.

It wasn’t really my sodden condition that was pissing me off at the moment. Not even Theodora and she was high on the piss-off potency.

I was more pissed off at myself for not having the functioning brain cells to shove the man off me earlier and tell him to get lost. He was clearly running from a woman and most likely did something bad enough to send her into a nearly volcanic breakdown on the sidewalk. But the man had called me sweetheart, charmed me out of my favorite coat, caused what looked like irreparable damage to my umbrella, stole a kiss on my cheek and left me soaking in the rain and late for work. 

Sure, he’d thrust a fistful of fifty-dollar bills in my tote which, if I counted, probably totalled to more than what my actual stolen and damaged items cost but it wasn’t the price that had me groaning in frustration.

The fact that I lost my verbal and mental faculties and allowed him to take advantage of me, costing me a tardy mark and a meeting I’d really wanted to go to, were what had me nearly pulling at my hair.

I was usually a very level-headed girl. I knew what it took for an orphaned girl to finish college and get out of a backwater town to make it to the big world and I did it. I knew better than to let a possibly philandering, buck-naked man with a lot of money and charisma pull me right into a sticky situation.

Well, that’s over and mulling over it isn’t getting any work done, I told myself as I got up and took the report Theodora left on her desk. 

I fixed the polite smile on my face as I wandered out to the hallway, praying that everyone else had gone to the meeting and would spare me an uncomfortable interview when they saw what a mess I was.

I was just crossing another hall when I heard footsteps thudding down the carpeted floor in a quickening tempo.

I looked up and my eyes widened.

It was him!

Sure, he had clothes on now—sharp, well-tailed clothes now, actually—but the unruly hair and the sardonic expression were the same.

“You!”

He looked up from the cellphone he was reading from and halted in his sprint.

The piercing blue eyes—definitely him!—lit up with recognition and a broad smile broke over his face.

“Hello, again, sweetheart,” he greeted before glancing peevishly at his watch. “I’d love to chat and get to know you better—after all, you know me intimately already—but I’ve really got to run.”

I scoffed. “I bet the rest of downtown knows you intimately as well after you paraded through morning rush hour only dressed in my coat which did little to make you decent. Who are you running from this time? Another one-night-stand gone wrong? Please tell me she doesn’t work here!”

Whatever sort of verbal block I had earlier this morning was apparently gone because I was ranting at him like I had a Gatling gun attached to my mouth.

After regretting my actions, or inaction, this morning, this second encounter gave me a chance to reclaim my self-respect.

If he picked up any insult in my tirade, he didn’t seem to care because he just threw his head back laughing and clucked his tongue at me. “Now, now. Don’t get so hyped up about this morning. I’m usually not like that. I am sorry for practically forcing you out of that coat and leaving you out there in the rain. You had an umbrella. I didn’t think you’d get soaked.”

I gritted my teeth, more annoyed at his breezy manner about all of this. “It got trampled on after you knocked it out of my hand.”

His gaze drifted down to my chest and my cheeks burned.

I knew he could see through my white button-down shirt and make out the lacy patterns of my bra. He didn’t have to tell me he liked what he saw because his eyes darkened with interest.

My fists clenched. “This is not over, mister. I want—“

“I’ve really got to go, sweetheart,” he interrupted and started down the hall again. “I’ll find you again and make reparations. For now, avoid running into men until that shirt is dry!”

I let out an unladylike hiss as I watched him disappear around the corner.

The nerve!

I debated between chasing after him or getting to my task.

The most satisfying option would be to hunt him down and make him pay but he’d already cost me a strike against Theodora this morning. If I didn’t get this report done, she’d have my ass.

So I took a deep breath, tossed my hair over my shoulder and continued on my way to the photocopy room where they had a bigger machine that could duplex and bind reports together.

Half an hour later, I was making my way back when I heard the muffled announcement on the microphone out in the main hall where they were doing the meet and greet with the CEO. There was going to be a formal industry update that all employees would be required to attend in groups later in the day but the CEO was supposed to make an informal speech just about right now.

I glanced down at myself.

My shirt was mostly dry now except for a few spots but my hair was still a wild mess. Theodora would be horrified to see me out there but if I could sneak in behind one of the reception desks at the back of the crowd, no one would notice.

Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself and walked around the corner, stepping lightly so I wouldn’t draw any attention. I set the pile of reports down on the desk and looked up, scanning past the heads of the other employees who were eagerly listening to the speech.

At five-foot-three, I was shorter than a lot of other people so I stepped past the desk and stood on my toes, craning my neck until I got a good look at the person speaking on stage.

My stomach dropped, as if it suddenly discovered forty stories beneath it, and I gasped out loud in horror.

Shit!

It was him. Him-him. 

The man who practically mugged me out of my coat this morning and whose ear I’d practically lectured off half an hour ago was standing in the make-shift podium, smiling and speaking to his audience.

“—know that I’m grateful for all your hard work and determination.”

Then his eyes zeroed in on me, as if I had a giant target sign on my forehead. I absently backed up a step.

Uh-oh. Please don’t fire me in front of everyone. 

“Oh, hi!” he greeted with a crooked grin, waving at me enthusiastically. “See? Another hardworking staff. Off doing her duties even after a rough morning so some of us could have this time together. We really have some amazing people working for our team. I’m reassured to know that my company, our company, is in great hands.”

I was sufficiently mortified.

I stared at the floor, wondering if it would open up if I willed it hard it enough and swallow me whole because everyone turned around to look at the person he—apparently Luke Hedenby, CEO of Hedenby Holdings—was talking about.

I felt the urge to take off and run but I forced my spine up and gave everyone a smile instead.

They looked mildly confused, some amused, and just nodded and smiled back at me before turning back to the boss.

Oh, God. My boss. I just saw my boss in all his naked glory this morning. Then I bit his head off promptly after running into him, albeit clothed at last, a second time. 

At the sight of his knowing grin at me before he continued with his speech, it didn’t look like he was going to fire me. At least not right then and there. Especially not while he appeared to be thinking in the same moment how hilarious it was to watch a lowly employee realize, with great horror and dismay, that she’d run her mouth off with her boss, even if he did run off with her outer garments and dignity. 

I was safe for a little while—at least until he stopped being amused.

Tiptoeing back to the reception desk, I grabbed the reports and dashed back down the hall as fast as my feet could carry me. 

 ♪♪♪ Chapter Soundtrack: Help Me Close My Eyes by Those Dancing Days ♪♪♪

Help me close my eyes
I don't wanna see what this day was like
Help me close my eyes
I want to sleep without dreaming
Cause I need them to be true

[Chorus]
I want to hide but trees are falling down
I want to hide but mountains are melting
I want to hide but trees are faling down
Let me sleep without dreaming

Help me close my eyes
I'm scared to see what my dreams will be like
Help me close my eyes
I want to sleep without dreaming
Cause I'm scared to see them

[Chorus]
I want to hide but trees are falling down
I want to hide but mountains are melting
I want to hide but trees are falling down
Let me sleep without dreaming