“I hope you don’t mind me saying this Livi, but you don’t look like the community service type.”
“It’s Olivia,” I correct automatically, though I didn’t mind the nickname.
Growing up as an heiress to one of Seattle’s dynasty families, few people dared to give me a nickname. Even my own family used my full name.
Sam stared at me, waiting for my response, and I quickly replayed the last few seconds of our conversation trying to catch up. It wasn’t like me to lose focus, but something about this woman made it hard to think. Oh yeah, she wanted to know why I was doing community service.
“Someone cheated on me,” I finally said, deciding to keep the story high level. “I got a little upset and took it out on their car, so they called the cops.”
I didn’t mention that the cheater was a man I’d been bullied into getting engaged to, and that he cheated on me with my cousin. Or that my cousin was the person who called the cops on me, traitorous bitch. Our family had pressured her and my ex to drop the charges, but the cops wanted to make an example of me. Show the good people of Seattle that no one was above the law, even if they were from the wealthiest family in the city. At least my lawyer had gotten my sentence down to two hundred hours community service. I was so not a jail person.
Sam looked at me with something like respect.
“Better the car than the guy I guess,” she said wryly. “Or woman.”
“Could be either,” I rushed to tell her. “I like both.”
I wasn’t sure why I wanted to out myself as bisexual to this woman I’d just met, but it felt important.
Sam nodded. “Okay, well we need to find you some work boots. What size shoe do you wear?”
I winced a little. “Nine.”
My mother had always bemoaned that my feet were ‘too big for a lady’. As if I could help that I wasn’t a perfect size six foot like hers.
“Nine is probably like a seven and a half in men. Barney!”
She bellowed the last word so loudly it made me jump. A middle aged guy came jogging over, giving me a once-over before turning his attention back to Sam.
“Yes boss lady?”
“We need to borrow some shoes for our helper today. Size seven and a half maybe. See if anyone has an extra pair to loan us.”
“Jose always has extra clothes in his truck, lemme see if he has anything. He’s got smaller feet.”
“You want me to borrow someone else’s shoes?” I asked in horror. I never even borrowed shoes from friends.
“Or leave for the day, your choice. I can’t let you in the house wearing those, it’s an OSHA violation.”
It was gross, but I couldn’t afford to leave so I needed to suck it up. I needed a full eight hours today so I could finish my two hundred hours of community service within the five week period the judge had given me. I was missing a lot of work for this, and I knew the vultures at the office would be circling. They all thought I was just some dumb blonde nepo baby who didn’t know anything about running a corporation, despite my master’s in business administration and working at the company in some capacity since I was a kid. They’d take any chance to show the board that I wasn’t the right person to take over when my father retired.
“Fine.”
A few minutes later a short but stocky Hispanic man came over with a pair of brown work boots.
“Here you go, Sam.”
“Thanks Jose, I appreciate it.”
She handed the boots to me.
“Change your shoes and take off all your jewelry. We don’t want you getting caught on a machine or anything. When you’re done, meet me inside. Don’t dawdle,” she ordered.
It was kind of hot.
Without another word, she strode away from me. I couldn’t help but stare at how good her muscular ass looked in those worn jeans.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, but when I reached for it, Sam called over her shoulder, “And no cell phones!”
