Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
For one, I want to get on my flight to Massachusetts and see my sister and family. It sucks I couldn’t take more time off this week to be there for her and help her get ready, but I’m treading on thin ice with my job already. I’ve only been with the company six months, so I’ve not earned any time off yet.
But, on top of that, I keep having these fantasies of heading back to Amalfi’s, blowing through the door and there he is. Still waiting for me. I don’t know his name, but he said his sister owned the place, and she is the chef who cock-blocked him, so surely I could somehow figure out who he is and find him.
Then what? I wouldn’t know what to do with all that if it appeared in front of me with a step-by-step instruction manual.
“Nat.” Jamie points toward the screen. “You ready? You have your forms, checklist, evaluation docs…”
“Yeah. Yeah…” I answer, fumbling in my laptop bag and tugging out a folder, spilling the pages all over the table in front of me. “I just have to—”
“Girl,” he says with a flick of his hair and a get-it-together tsk sound. “You are a hot mess. You know that?”
I’m a hot something, that’s for sure. “I know, I’m sorry. I… I lost my wallet again. I’m just a little out of sorts.”
He leans down, offering me a sympathetic grin, and picks up a few pieces of paper that fell to the floor. He hands them to me with a shake of his head.
“Thanks so much. You’re the best.”
Just then, the doorknob clicks, drawing my attention.
Showtime.
Our client today is actually a partner of the firm that hired us, so he’s done something fairly egregious. My undergrad degree in psychology and a minor in business management apparently give me the power to make those sorts of calls. I’ve quickly come to realize, it’s all just a money grab for the company I work for and a rubber stamp. I can’t really know if someone has assimilated any of the program we present. It’s impossible to see into someone’s mind and heart, especially after a single session, but that’s the business world for you.
More interested in the way things look than the way they are.
As the door swings open, I look down, trying not to let my deep abiding hatred for divorce lawyers get the best of me, and the first thing I see…
…are the shoes.
Black. So shiny, the lights in the ceiling ricochet back, making me blink.
Then, the cuffs of his pants.
Such a perfect break in the fabric, just like—
There’s a low sort of growling sound, and as I look up and make eye-contact, my ovaries spasm. I nearly double over, spewing out a hissing exhale as Jamie shoots me a WTF look.
“Sorry. Cramps,” I whisper-hiss as the magic man from last night pins me with his eyes, walking our way, then takes a seat directly in front of me, snapping his tongue against his ridiculously white but somewhat-imperfect but infinitely sexy teeth.
“Good morning,” Jamie manages as I regroup, pulling my jaw off the floor and blindly shuffling papers on the table in front of me.
All I do is stare while Jamie goes through the steps of the program. When he looks to me for my usual chirpy additions to his spiel, all I can do is smile and wonder why I didn’t go with the wool blazer this morning instead of the lavender silk blouse, which is doing nothing to hide the way my nipples are punching through the thin fabric.
Jamie’s voice sounds garbled like he’s talking underwater. “Natalie Filmore is here to evaluate and observe. She will be the one to write up your report for the HR department, giving them her recommendations.”
“That so?” Sexy night-before man’s voice is like a hurricane, whipping through and around me, making me wet and dizzy. “Natalie Filmore.”
“Yes.” Jamie sounds friendly, but professional. “I understand this is a difficult place to be, Mr. Saman. We’re here to help you. Anger in the workplace, as you know, can ruin a career—especially in your position. The state bar association will look favorably on you completing our training and receiving a positive report.”
Tor Saman. Nothing but a name on a form, barely registering inside my brain until now.
And now, it’s all I can think about.
“Prepared by Natalie.” He says my name in a way that feels intimate, and the way he runs his tongue over his bottom lip has me ready to lose consciousness. “I’ll make sure she has only positive things to say. In her…report.”
Oh, God…
The session is a fuzzy, smudgy blur. I keep crossing and re-crossing my legs, squeezing my thighs together, salivating and making these little sparrow-like chirping sounds whenever he looks at me.
Thank God, Jamie covers my short parts of the program while I’m having my psychiatric event. I sit glued to my chair at the conference table, staring at the blank screen on my open laptop and praying that when I wake up from this daydream, I’ll still be employed.