“What is this?” he barked at me.
I didn’t bother to reply because it was a sandwich with the wrong mustard, not the end of civilization as we know it.
Today, the question is coming at me while he’s holding the typed minutes of yesterday’s staff meeting in his hands.
I look up at where he’s standing in front of my desk.
Good looking is a subjective term except when it comes to Graham Locke. Everyone thinks he’s firecracker hot. He’s handsome in that I-didn’t-bother-trying way some men are. Maybe it’s his blue eyes and dark brown hair. I have no idea if his custom-tailored suits add to the allure, but I do know that if I didn’t know him, I’d rate him a twelve out of ten.
When he opens his mouth, and his rudeness shines through, he drops a couple of notches on my attraction meter.
I clear my throat and speak the truth, “Those are the minutes from yesterday’s meeting, sir.”
Wrong answer.
I see that immediately in the way he tosses his ‘what the fuck?’ look in my direction. It’s a combination of a scowl and a shake of his head.
“I don’t need to reread the mundane details of what everyone did last weekend.” He throws the papers on my desk with a flick of his wrist. “I heard it once and didn’t care enough to remember any of it, including your date on Friday night.”
Well boo.
I paste a sweet smile on my face and look up at him. “All of that was part of the meeting.”
“All of that is frivolous and unnecessary,” he counters. “Rewrite the minutes without any of that included.”
I thought the details of my date were compelling. My co-workers seemed to think so too. It was a second date, so they’re invested in what’s happening between Kyle, my kind of almost-boyfriend, and me.
“I’ll work on that now,” I say, going for another overly forced smile.
“Complete it within the hour.”
I’m up for the challenge, so I put the pedal to the metal, or in my case, my fingers to the keyboard, and get to work cutting out the best parts of yesterday’s meeting so that I can hand the boring document over to the worst boss in New York City.
Chapter Two
Trina
Three Weeks Later
“Are you saying I’ll never get to meet Kyle?” My neighbor, Aurora Salik, shakes her head. “I was looking forward to checking out his ass.”
I bark out a laugh. “His ass? Why?”
“Did you not say that he had an ass that was so tight you could bounce quarters off of it?”
Still chuckling, I take a seat next to her small dining room table. “Kyle’s ass wasn’t worth talking about.”
“Oh,” she draws the word out slowly. “I bet you were talking about your boss’s ass when you said that.”
It’s likely, but I won’t admit it.
“Back to my breakup with Kyle,” I say to shift the subject away from Mr. Locke’s spectacular ass. “He wasn’t impressed that I didn’t know how to play chess.”
“Wow. You lost a keeper, didn’t you?”
I smile.
This feels good.
I’ve known Aurora for a little more than a year. She was already living in this apartment with her boyfriend, Eldon, when I moved in down the hall.
They both welcomed me with open arms.
Since then, we’ve become friends.
“I’m not crying over it,” I confess.
When Kyle told me last week that he wanted to date someone with the same interests as him, I hightailed it out of the restaurant before the server brought the check. I figured that Kyle owed me one last dinner and a drink since I sat through his retelling of every aspect of the history lesson he taught his class of eighth-graders that day.
I’m all for diving into the past, but not on a fifth date.
If Kyle hadn’t pulled the plug on our blossoming relationship that night, I would have done it myself.
“Good.” Aurora pats my hand before she takes a long drink from the mug in front of her.
She works at a café, so her coffee-making skills are next level. When she texted me fifteen minutes ago to say that she made me a cup, I knocked on her apartment door seconds later.
My gaze wanders to a framed picture on the wall behind her. It’s a shot that was taken on a beach in Maryland last year on Aurora’s twenty-first birthday. Her brown hair is blowing in the breeze. One of her hands is trying to control it while the other is on her boyfriend’s shoulder as he gazes into her eyes.
“How’s Eldon?”
“Handsome as ever.” She beams. “What is it about a man in a uniform?”
I’ve seen Eldon Breckton in his NYPD uniform more than once. It’s a good look for him.
“Eldon can set you up with someone from work,” she offers with a glint in her eye. “Maybe a double date?”
I know better than to agree to go on a blind date. I’ve tried that in the past, and it’s never worked out for me. I’d love to find the man I’m destined to spend my life with, but I’m only twenty-four, so I can pace myself.