“But you’re only twenty-eight,” he said.
“If you’ve read my file, then why are you asking me asinine questions you already know the answers to?” I asked.
“Because I’m trying to get a read on you.”
“That what you call staring at my tits?” I asked.
He grinned at me as he took a sip of his drink. I had no idea what in the world had come over me. I was never this bold. This brash. I had been the object of ridicule and put underneath a microscope for years at this job, and never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought of talking to someone like this.
But it felt good.
It felt good to speak my mind. To let someone know exactly what I thought of them. I was tired of dealing with people’s crap. It was one of the reasons why I preferred the office I did. No windows so the world couldn’t see me, and no room for anyone to come in and sit down. If they needed me, I either had to go to them or they had to call me. It minimized the crap I had to deal with and it minimized the drama I had to be a part of with this company.
“No. I call that admiring the beauty that’s in front of me,” Preston said.
Beauty? Did this man just call me beautiful? I felt a warmth trickle up the back of my neck as I took a sip of my drink. Holy hell, this incredibly sexy man just told me he thought I was pretty. He was an asshole, so I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of melting at his feet like most women did.
But no man had ever called me a beauty before.
“I take it you’ve heard the rumors about Bernie and I,” I said.
“Since you brought it up, yes. Are they true?”
“Not one bit.”
“It is odd that you keep yourself secluded in that little office room. Especially since you were offered a very decent space to bide your time at the company,” Preston said.
“Reduces the bullshit I come into contact with at the company.”
I watched his eyes spark with fire and intrigue as his cheek ticked with a smirk.
“Bullshit, huh? You’re a feisty one.”
“Not known to be, but I guess you bring out the worst in me.”
“Or the best,” he said. “Which begs another question. Why did you brush me off today?”
“I wasn’t aware that I had,” I said.
“You left very quickly out of that meeting with the graphics department.”
“Because I had work to accomplish. Or so I thought. You never informed me of any other meetings for me to attend.”
“Because I didn’t have any other meetings,” he said.
“Nice to know you’re taking your job seriously.”
“Have I done something to make you think I’m not?” he asked.
“Besides the fact that you gutted and destroyed your last company? Only the fact that I’m pretty sure you stalked me to this bar.”
“Stalked you? You give yourself too much credit,” he said.
“Said the man who called me a beauty.”
“I like your style,” he said.
“And I hate yours.”