“What is more important than making sure that your secretary keeps her dirty little hands off your precious son?” the man demanded, earning sighs of exasperation from both men and a muttered curse from his father.
“Zoe O’Shea,” Jared said, gesturing to the large man, “this is my son Jason, Jason, this is the nice young woman that I was trying to interview for the secretary job before you came in here acting like an ass.”
Jason folded his large arms over his chest as he glared down at her. “Will you be able to keep your hands off me?”
“I’m pretty sure I can manage that,” Zoe said, wondering if the man truly was insane.
“That’s really all I can ask,” he said with a heavy sigh, sounding completely serious.
“Don’t worry, Zoe. He only works for me during the summer and one weekend a month during the rest of the year,” Jared said, picking up the paper that Jason slammed on his desk moments earlier and rolled his eyes.
“And the rest of the time he spends shaping the minds of our youth,” Brad said dryly, earning a chuckle from Jared and a glare from Jason.
“You know that I’m going to show your mother this one,” Jared said, giving his son a stern look.
“Shit!” Jason said, reaching out and snatching the piece of paper away from his father. “I should have known you’d take her side!”
“Are you done interrupting my meeting with Miss O’Shea?”
Jason narrowed his eyes on her. “You’re taking the job, right?”
“I guess I-”
“Good,” Jason said, turning his attention back to his father. “Then fire the other one.”
“I can’t fire her. She needs to train Zoe,” Jared patiently pointed out, even though she couldn’t quite remember agreeing to take the job. She didn’t know how she felt about working with insane people. Then again, she did just spend the last three years working for a company run by soulless people.
“Have Mom do it.” He gestured lazily to the large Mickey Mouse wall clock. “It’s almost twelve o’clock and she’s not even here. You should fire her lazy ass.”
“She had a doctor’s appointment this morning, you jackass,” Jared snapped. “Now stop being such a baby. I’m not firing your wife.”
Zoe felt her eyebrows climb to her hairline. The man was trying to get his wife fired? The man was insane. Thankfully, Brad took pity on her and explained the situation before she tried to come up with an excuse to get the hell out of there.
“She’s seven months pregnant and he doesn’t want her working. So, every day he writes her up for sexual harassment or some other bullshit and we all laugh behind his back.”
Oh...
That was kind of sweet in a psychotic sort of way.
“She shouldn’t be working,” Jason said, glaring at his friend.
“She likes to keep busy,” Jared pointed out.
Zoe stood up. “Maybe I should step outside,” she said, feeling a little awkward.
“No, that’s-”
“Dad?” a woman called out from the other room, cutting him off. “Could I get a hand? I’m about to drop the plate of brownies I made!”
The word “brownies” was barely out of the woman’s mouth when Jared jumped up from his chair and rushed towards the door, the same time that Jason turned to leave. Jason was almost at the door when Jared grabbed him by the back of his shirt and yanked him back, causing him to stumble. Just before he crashed into her, Zoe found herself yanked back and out of the way. As soon as Jason was able to catch his footing, he was off and out the door.
“The most important rule you need to learn if you work here is never come between a Bradford and his food,” Brad said, sounding completely serious.
“Those are my brownies, you bastard!” she heard Jason yell.
Zoe swallowed. “I guess so,” she mumbled, allowing him to steer her out of the office, though part of her thought that maybe it would be safer to hide under the desk until the brownies were gone.
She received another shock when she walked back into the reception area. When she’d realized that Jason was married, she’d automatically assumed that he’d married a tall, voluptuous blonde to go along with his ego. What she hadn’t expected was the short, cute, chestnut-haired woman with glasses and one of the sweetest smiles she’d ever seen. If there was any doubt in her mind that this woman was Jason’s wife, the look of total adoration he was sending her squashed it. Jason placed a hand on the woman’s round stomach as he leaned down and gave her the sweetest kiss Zoe had ever seen.
