“Maybe I can help you too,” Sadie suggested.
I frowned. I did not need or want a personal assistant. I valued my alone time. Being in my office was about the only time I could get away from all my brothers. Still, it was best to keep an open mind. I prided myself on being open to crazy solutions to solve problems, as that tended to be where all the profit was.
Kaitlyn looked down her nose at Sadie. “What are your qualifications?”
“I can cook,” she said brightly, “and write. I studied American literature and history, so I might be able to write a nice special-interest piece for a newsletter for the Rural Trust.”
“I suppose it is nice to have someone do the softer skills and leave the heavy thinking to us scientists, right, Parker?” Kaitlyn laughed, kissed me on the cheek, and left.
“Seems like you two are perfect for each other,” Sadie remarked. Her grin was more a baring of teeth.
“She has a PhD in chemical engineering,” I said. “I have two PhDs though.”
“Well, aren't you clever.”
I gestured to the office next door to mine, separated from it only by a glass wall.
“This will be your office for the time being.”
She set her bag down at the desk with athunk. I could never understand why girls carried so much in their purses.
“It's just my lunch,” Sadie explained.
“We have healthy snacks in the breakrooms,” I said, leading her around the building. “The lower levels are all labs, while the upper floor contains offices. No food in the labs. Not that you’ll be in there.”
Sadie rifled through the basket of snacks. “Seaweed crackers?” she said in that Southern drawl. “Does anyone actually eat this?”
“They have antioxidants.”
“Wouldn't you rather have a biscuit?”
I frowned. “That's a lot of carbs. We eat healthy here at Svensson PharmaTech. We're a medical devices and pharmaceutical company. Wellness is our mission.”
“So you don’t eat biscuits?” Sadie asked, eyes wide.
“No. Never.”
She pouted slightly. “I bet you’d enjoy my biscuits.”
10
Sadie
Parker's words banged around in my skull, competing with the wine-and-sugar hangover.
I would never have chosen someone like you.
And here I had thought that maybe this big misunderstanding was going to be the beginning of our great love story, or at least my great loss-of-virginity story. I wasn't picky. It had all the makings of a great romantic comedy—there were the adorable, meddling younger brothers, the awkward meet-cute, my position as his personal assistant. Surely, even if I didn’t land a marriage proposal, I could at least lose my V-card at the end of all of this. But it seemed Parker was just as much of a douche as I had originally thought.
“Anything you'd like me to do first?” I asked Parker when we were back in his office.
He looked at me thoughtfully. “I've never had an assistant before. Surprise me. If I decide by the end of the week you haven’t brought any added value, you will be reassigned elsewhere.” He sat at his computer and began typing.
Guess I was dismissed. No hot office sex today! Not that I wanted anything to do with Parker. He and Kaitlyn could go develop robot babies for all I cared. Except I sort of did care. I hated to admit it, but the Parker I had met online I had actually sort of liked. Unfortunately, that Parker wasn’t real.Also, the real Parker clearly doesn't want someone like you.He wanted someone like Kaitlyn—smart with a STEM degree. She was tall, had perfect hair, and with her glasses and white lab coat, she looked like every guy’s dream of a sexy scientist.
Meanwhile, I still had fried chicken crumbs in my hair. I slumped down at my desk and took out my phone. Was it too early for lunch? Probably.
Sadie:Guess I’m not losing my virginity today.
