From the second he’d met her, he’d known there was something different about Greta.
He’d been unwinding over a couple of beers at his local bar and this gorgeous woman had sat down next to him. It was Greta, captivating and totally unaware of how every guy in the room was sneaking glances at her.
Andrew had struck up a conversation and been surprised at how easy she was to talk to. It had been fun. She laughed at his jokes and asked questions about his stories. It was a few hours totally outside the usual stress of his life and he’d treasured every second of it.
But then, by coincidence, this woman, who was exactly his type, turned out to be his new PA. Andrew did not believe in coincidences.
Attitude was failing. The numbers were down. Everyone in the office knew the score and no amount of hard work or amazing writing or eye-catching design was going to change the fact that teenagers didn’t buy paper magazines anymore.
They were simply locked in a dying industry and no-one was making any attempt to change.
Andrew’s hand drew into a fist, thinking about all the years that he’d been working here, all the people whose jobs relied on keeping this magazine running. He had a plan to bring Attitude into the modern era, no matter what Huang thought. It was sneaky and underhanded. Some people would probably be hurt when they found out, but he really believed that he was doing the right thing.
Soon he was going to confront Huang with what he’d done. But first he needed more evidence.
Andrew sighed heavily. The plan was taking too long and having Greta as his PA wasn’t helping. She was incredibly distracting. He wished that he’d invited her along to today’s business lunch. Having her there might have made up for how mind-numbingly dull it had been.
In front of him was the stack of forms that Betty had printed off for him. They all needed to be signed before the end of the day.
“Greta!” he called out. This was another job that could be handed off to her. Andrew had always rebelled against the idea that he needed a PA. He’d thought that it would get annoying to have someone constantly monitoring him. Greta wasn’t like that at all, she was discreet and professional...and incredibly tempting.
If only there wasn’t that constant thought in the back of his mind. That constant nagging doubt that whispered at him. Why would Huang hire a PA for him now, if not to spy on him?
Greta came in, her dark hair swaying as she moved.
“Could you hand these out? I need to get signatures from all the Feature writers. And Henry’s too.”
She reached to take the papers from him but seemed to stumble as she did. The papers flew up in the air as Greta tumbled down to the floor, knocking into his desk as she fell. His phone slid away too, caught in the accident.
Andrew, already on edge after months of sneaking around, followed after his phone, slipping out of his chair and to his knees with a burst of energy.
SMACK!
His head banged into Greta’s and she yelped in pain
“Shit, I’m sorry,” he said quickly, kneeling on the floor by the side of his desk.
Greta already had his phone in her hand and he took it from her. She gave him a rather sad smile, no doubt trying to pretend that her head wasn’t hurting. Andrew cursed himself. He’d been jumpy and assuming the worst of people for weeks now and the cost of it were the small bruises they were both going to get on their foreheads.
This close he could see the flecks of green in her brown eyes. Andrew clutched on to his phone, suppressing the wild urge to reach out to her, to touch her, to kiss her. It was completely inappropriate but having Greta in front of him like this was making him forget all the reasons why this was a bad idea. He was just as captivated as he’d been from the first second he’d seen her. More captivated even, because he knew now what it was like to have Greta in his life.
“It’s fine,” she said, not moving away.
Her eyes darted down to his lips, the tip of her tongue peeking out to wet her bottom lip.
His heart soared. It wasn’t just him feeling the pull between them, feeling this tension between them that seemed to be building higher and higher.
Greta leaned forward and Andrew had no idea what she was about to do but his gut clenched in anticipation.
Chapter Seven
Chesney was lookingat her with such naked hunger and she could feel an answering stirring inside herself. In that second she was so drawn to him that it seemed like the most obvious, the most natural thing, if she simply leaned forward and kissed him.
But, as she moved, she felt the weight of Chesney's phone in her pocket. She'd just successfully swapped his phone for the dead one; the only reason the two of them were kneeling on the floor was because she'd arranged this trick on him.
The man didn't even know her real name. She shrunk back, all her mounting excitement dying in an instant.
Kissing Chesney now would be crossing a moral line that Gracie wasn't willing to ever cross. She grimaced, disgusted at herself.