“You’re lucky you’re good at what you do, or you’d have been out on your ass a long timeago.”
“Aw. I choose to see that as a compliment, so, thanks,honey.”
Vance leaned into the office and nodded at me. “It’s time. Better take your PMS medicine, or it could getugly.”
“Fuck off, both of you,” I said as theylaughed.
“Oh, stop sulking, Quinn,” Vance said. “Do what she says, and things’ll be back to normal in notime.”
She?I started to ask who he meant, but a voice from the hallway spoke first. “That’s great advice in most situations,” a woman said. “You must bemarried.”
Vance turned around. “Miss Keller. I’m sorry—you snuck up onme.”
I raised my eyebrows. Keller? I’d heard the name before but hadn’t been aware of any recent hires. I tried to see through thedoorway.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get to debrief upstairs,” she said. “I meant to arrive a few minutes earlier but ran into an issue on the wayhere.”
“No problem at all,” Vance said. “Come and meet some of your team before the meetingstarts.”
I blinked.Team? Vance turned sideways for a pretty, petite, freckle-nosed woman with a mocha latte in one hand and a back issue ofModern Mansticking out of her bag. When our gazes met, her perfect posture faltered as she stopped short, and a wave of silky auburn hair fell over one eye. We each inhaled a sharpbreath.
I stood face to face with the coffee shopsniper.
I’d been a bit harsh on her, yes—but not enough to warrant her taking it this far. “Did you follow me here?” Iasked.
She pushed her hair out of her face. “Didyoufollowmehere?”
“You two know each other?” Vance cutin.
Locked in a staredown with her, I didn’t dare flinch. Or notice that her eyes were distractingly pale green. Or that her plump lips glistened with a fresh coat of gloss. Or that her coffee-stained, stuffy button-down had somehow morphed into a low-cut top that displayed cleavage she was trying—and failing—to cover with herblazer.
Fuck. There was a reason I’d chatted her up at the pick-up counter—she was hot, sizzling even, her hair a rich burgundy in the sunlight coming through my officewindows.
I really needed my dick to stay out of this, at least until I’d gotten mybearings.
“We met downstairs,” she said, not looking away from me. She tilted her head. “In fact, we practically shared acoffee.”
“Great,” Vance said. “Sebastian, meet George Keller. She’ll be working alongside you the next eightweeks.”
George Keller. It’d sounded familiar because it was a name Vance had thrown out last week along with the possibility of hiring a consultant. I slowly shifted my gaze from George to Vance, who had this thumbnail between his teeth. “You left out an important piece of information about George Keller,” Isaid.
“Well—”
George looked at Vance as well. “You didn’t tell him I was awoman?”
I snorted. “With a name like George,he’shardly toblame.”
“It’sGeorgina,” she snapped, then smoothed her hands over her skirt and shook her head. “I mean, in my personal life,” she added coolly. “At the office, George is fine. Or Miss Keller willdo.”
“I’m not calling you Miss Keller like you’re my grade-school teacher.” I turned to Vance. “Why didn’t you tellme?”
“There, uh, hasn’t been a goodtime.”
“Bullshit.”
“Just theideaof bringing someone in made you cranky. I knew you wouldn’t understand why I chose her until you saw Georgina’s trackrecord.”
I took a lungful of air and looked back at George. Georgina. Miss Keller. Whatever-the-fuck. “I can’t do this withher.”
