Stubborn Hearts (Timid Souls #1)
Page 3
In some ways, she reminded me of my mother. She had a certain matronly quality to her, but it was obvious that she had a stern side to her and could whip people into shape if need be. But she’d do it with a sweet smile on her face so you could never hate her.
“I’m happy to be here,” I replied, taking in her office.
There was a large plant in one corner and paintings of various types of flowers adorning her walls. They looked to be water colors but I knew next to nothing about art so I really wasn’t sure. She noticed my appraisal and said with pride, “My niece has taken up art. Flowers are her favorite thing to paint. For an eleven-year-old girl, though, that’s hardly surprising.” She chuckled to herself, her love for her niece pouring out through her words.
I already knew that I was going to love working with this woman.
“An eleven-year-old did those?” I asked in shock. She nodded and I shook my head. “I can barely manage stick figures, even when I was eleven.”
She chuckled again and started to steer me out of the office. “Let me show you around and introduce you to some people.”
So, she took me around the main floor and introduced me to some of the individuals that I’d be working closely with. She informed me that she worked directly under the campaign manager and basically oversaw all the employees and the goings-on of everyday life on the main floor, making sure that everything ran smoothly. Whereas the campaign manager dealt more with Mr. Masterson himself, developing platforms and policies that were essentially, the foundation of the whole campaign.
Simon was the guy I talked to when I first walked in. He was the genius graphics artist in the office and handled all of the signs, marketing, and any other form of advertisements for the campaign. He certainly had a big job that I didn’t envy. When Annette had introduced us, he’d actually apologized for being a little curt with me and had looked almost sheepish about it. He seemed like a nice guy with a good sense of humor, so I figured that we could become friends.
Jackie was a girl a couple of years younger than me who was doing an undergraduate internship and was in charge of all the social media pages and forums of the campaign. She had to keep everything online updated for the campaign around the clock. Another non-stop job that I wouldn’t have wanted. It only took me about a minute and a half of talking to the girl to realize that she either had her phone or iPad in her hands at all times, and sometimes both.
Annette then took me back down the hall where her office was. “That’s Sharon’s office,” she said, indicating the one right beside hers. “She’s the public relations manager. Any public statements, interviews, speeches and such made on the part of the campaign go through her. Mr. Masterson’s office is on the other side of hers, at the end. And the campaign manager, David, has the office across from his.”
My heart stopped at that name.
Surely, it couldn’t be him.
I scolded myself. Don’t be ridiculous. David is a common name. It could be anybody. Besides, he said he worked at City Hall.
Still, I couldn’t prevent my mind from thinking about the man with the dark-framed glasses who I’d developed some weird infatuation with over the last few months. Because we had a mutual friend—Kevin—we had actually ran into each other again back in December at a graduation party for Kevin’s roommate.
The encounter had been no less intense than our first one, and I was not about to dredge up the details of it again.
I’d done enough of that in bed most nights since then. For some stupid reason, his face kept popping up in my head and his voice wouldn’t stop ringing in my ears.
It’s just hormones. That’s all it is.
Nothing to be concerned about.
That’s what I was repeating to myself over and over, up to the point when Annette said, “Ah, there he is now,” and I turned to meet the man who was, in a sense, my boss.
And my world came crashing down before my very eyes.
Those black glasses framed a certain set of gray eyes that I knew all too well.
My first thought was that he had known I was interviewing for this job and had purposely made it a condition that I would be his personal assistant as a sick form of torture. But when I really took in his expression, I realized that he was just as surprised to see me as I was him.
David Edelman was my new boss.
No freaking way.
Claire, zero. Universe…well…game, set, match.
##
Chapter Three
David
What the hell was she doing here?
Did my mind somehow conjure her into the office? Because even I could admit that she had frequently been on my mind lately. Much more than she should have been and much more than I had any right to¸ considering how I’d treated her up to that point.
But what the hell was she doing here talking to Annette? Dressed in business casual clothes. Looking like she worked here.
Realization hit me.
No.
The new intern was supposed to start today.
It can’t be.
She looked like a deer in headlights—panicked and stupefied—as she stood, frozen to her spot in the middle of the hallway, staring at me with her mouth ajar. It would have been comical if this were any other situation. A very small part of me sparked with excitement at the prospect of working with her, but the other part groaned in frustration for one simple reason.
I couldn’t stand this woman.
And I was pretty sure that she hated me.
Not that I blamed her. But I knew one thing: there was no possible way that we could work together.
How in the hell did this happen?
Annette was glancing between us with a curious expression on her face, but Claire thrusted her hand out to me before the older woman could comment on our strange behavior.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Claire.”
Okay, so she was going to act like we didn’t know each other. I was fine with that. It was probably best anyway because I really didn’t need everyone in the office to think that we had some sort of relationship going. And it probably wasn’t wise to divulge how I’d basically felt up an employee and invited her into my bed. True, she hadn’t been my employee at the time but it still happened.
I took her hand, determined to ignore how soft it felt in mine. “Pleasure is all mine, Claire.”
I could tell by the flash of irritation in her eyes that she didn’t appreciate the reminder of the first night we met, using the same words that I’d first spoken to her.
I wasn’t going to lie. I enjoyed pissing this woman off. It was entertaining and fun for some reason. Maybe I liked seeing her cheeks flush with anger. Or perhaps I liked the way her lips thinned when she was annoyed.
Either way, a warm feeling started to spread through my chest and I knew immediately that it wasn’t a good sign.
I could admit that I thought Claire was sexy. It was a hard thing to miss, in fact. I had wanted her the second I’d seen her back in that bar in October. But she also drove me crazy. She was stubborn, argumentative, and way too sassy for my taste.
Working with this woman was not going to be easy, I knew. Hypertension and hard-ons were the words that came to mind when I thought of being around her all the time, both of which could kill me if they went ignored.
“I was just showing Claire around,” Annette said, her eyes continuing to flit between the two of us.
“Claire, why don’t you come into my office so we can go over some of your duties?” I asked, waving my arm in the direction of my office. “I wasn’t at your interview, so it’s probably best if you and I are on the same page.”
In more ways than one.
We probably needed to hammer out a few things before the situation delved into stranger territory.
Claire looked hesitant but she eventually nodded her head. “Of course.” She turned back to Annette and said, “Thank you for introducing me to everyone. I look forward to working with you.”
Now, there’s an image…
What the hell is wrong with you? She’s your employee now, remember? That means completely off-limits.
Claire turned back to me and reluctantly followed me into my office after Annette left. I closed the door behind her, unable to get a word out before she whipped around and pinned me with her infuriated expression.
“What the hell are you doing here? You told me you worked at City Hall,” she hissed, attempting to keep her voice down, though I could tell she wanted to scream her head off at me.
Just like the first time I met her, I was amused by her anger, something I knew she detested about me. “I did work at City Hall. Clay and I worked there together. Then, when he announced his candidacy for mayor, he brought me on as his campaign manager.”
I could practically see the wheels turning in her head, considering my words. I also didn’t miss the very brief glance she made down the length of my body and I couldn’t help but be satisfied. She tried like hell to hide it, but I could tell that she was attracted to me, that I affected her on some level.
But she also loathed me.
The conflict between those two emotions was clear in her eyes.
Well, the feeling was mutual. But I also couldn’t deny that I liked needling her. And God knows that I found her attractive. It might be fun to see if I could change her opinion of me. I was dying to know if she was as feisty in everyday life as she was when she argued with me. And particularly, if that feistiness manifested itself in the bedroom, as well.
Stop it.
Off. Limits.
“I’ll quit,” she blurted out all of a sudden but her words lacked conviction. She didn’t want to quit. In fact, her eyes looked almost desperate for a different option. “I’ll go tell Annette that my class schedule changed or something and my hours just won’t work for this job.”
She started for the door and I put my arm out, barring her exit. She looked up at me in surprise which was quickly transforming into ire at not being allowed to do what she wanted.
Yeah, I get it. You’re independent. You’re strong-willed. No man tells you what to do.
But you’d be surprised at how much you might like that, sweetheart.
“You’re not going to quit,” I stated, putting my hand up to stop whatever she was about say when she immediately opened her mouth. “You need this internship for your degree, right?”
She paused and then slowly nodded. “Alright, then. You’ll do your internship here and we’ll both be professional. The fact that I think you’re a spoiled brat doesn’t have to enter into our work relationship.” She sucked in a breath and was no doubt about to unleash a furious tirade on me when I put my hand up again and laughed. “I’m sorry, that was the last time. I’ll play nice.”
“Well, if I’d known that I was going to be working for an arrogant prick, I never would have taken this job,” she retorted. The woman had balls, I’d give her that. She attempted a sweet smile but it was more scary than comforting. “Sorry, last time.”
I rolled my eyes and walked around my desk, gesturing for her to sit in a chair across from it. “How about we get started then? I’ve got a lot to do.”
I spent the next half hour going over her basic responsibilities with her since I wasn’t able to be present at her interview. How I hadn’t even asked Annette the name of the person she’d hired who would eventually be my assistant, I had no clue. She was attentive and took notes, surprisingly keeping her sarcasm to a minimum as she absorbed all of the information.
And I was desperately trying not to stare at her long legs in that gray dress. The way she had them crossed made the material ride up and expose more of her thigh, making my fingers itch with want to lift it up a little bit higher until I found out what type of underwear she had on. Lace, silk, cotton. Thong, cheeky or bikini cut. Or maybe she had an aversion to underwear altogether.
Geez, I needed to get laid.
Daydreaming about my employee’s underwear was a one-way ticket to a sexual harassment lawsuit. Though I had a feeling that Claire would be more of the solve-the-situation-with-the-spiky-end-of-her-heel type.
And I would deserve it.
When we finished, she got up and turned for the door which afforded me the glorious view of her tight ass. “So, we’re agreed then, Claire,” I said, making her turn back around to me. “You stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours. At least until May.”
At which point she would become my assistant and then we really wouldn’t be able to stay out of each other’s way.
We’ll deal with that later.
She nodded, an expression on her face that I couldn’t read. “Until May,” she said and walked out the door, closing it behind her.
I leaned back in my chair and sighed deeply, still trying to accept the turn of events. The first woman who’d ever truly called me out on my shit rather than gawk at my smile, the one who I actually enjoyed arguing with, and the one I hadn’t been able to get out my head since October, was now my employee.
I thought situations like this only happened in sitcoms.
I thought back to all of mine and Claire’s encounters and cringed. I knew I’d been a complete dick to her that first night and she had in no way deserved it. It just so happened that that particular night had fallen on the same day that my father and I had gotten into the biggest fight we’d ever been in.
And we hadn’t spoken to each other since.
It wasn’t as complicated a situation as one might think. He owned a successful chemical manufacturing company that he’s always wanted me to take over, being his only son. I’ve got an older sister, but Lauren doesn’t want anything more to do with it than I do. He’s never truly accepted that I have absolutely no interest in that field, that politics was where I was happy, and he wouldn’t let it go. He was always quick to insult my career choices, criticize the life I lead, and had never once said that he was proud of me. At least not to my face.
I had no idea why he thought that constantly arguing with me would eventually cause me to see the light and change my mind. If anything, it’s only driven us further apart. My mom didn’t want to get in the middle of it either because there was really no talking to my dad when his mind was made up about something.
And the night of that group date where I first met Claire was the day that it had all came to a head and my father and I had almost come to blows. I was so pissed off that I had almost called Kevin to cancel. But at the last minute, I’d decided that alcohol sounded good and a steamy night with a hot chick might just be what I needed to forget about being a disappointment to my father.
What I’d gotten instead was a boner that hadn’t gone down for a full hour after she’d stroked it with her sex-kitten voice and an image of her ass walking away from me in that tight dress that still played the lead role in my masturbation fantasies.
But at least I had forgotten about my father.
And then there was the second time, when we ran into each other at that graduation party.
I walked through the front doors of the bar, desperate to get out of the frigid night air. I hated cold weather, especially when it came at the end of one of the longest days of my life. I needed a drink and soon.
I spotted Kevin in the crowd, standing with some of our friends around a group of people sitting at a table that included Thomas, our friend who had just graduated from med school. I was only two years older than him, but I had blown through college as quickly as I possibly could have, taking the maximum number of credit hours each semester, even during the summer, and not taking a single break. So, I had entered the work force sooner than most of my friends.
Not that I had any regrets, though.
I greeted Kevin with a slap on the back and shook Thomas’ hand. “Congratulations, man. Now you can join the rest of us poor working shmucks.”
He laughed and everyone took a shot in his honor. Unless my eyes deceived me, Thomas already looked three sheets to the wind and probably wouldn’t last another two hours. It took me back to our college days when all of us guys had lived in the same dorm. Shockingly enough, most of our group had stayed in the D.C. area and we all remained good friends.
Kevin’s girlfriend, Staci, popped up at his side, complaining about the line outside the women’s restroom. And I’d be honest, I was immediately looking for her friend. The one they tried to set me up with two months ago. Claire. Why I was looking for her, I didn’t know. It seemed apparent that we had established a mutual dislike for each other that night, so I wasn’t sure why I was even bothering.
Maybe because I had thought about her long after she’d walked away that night.
And numerous times since then.
Staci’s eyes met mine across the table and she smiled. “Hey, David.”
“Hi, Staci. Nice to see you again.” I poured myself a glass of beer from the pitcher that was sitting on the table, trying to figure out how I was going to broach the subject of her friend. Maybe try to get her number out of her.
Dude, why do you even care?
It’s not like you’re interested in dating her, right?
No, I wasn’t.
Pretty sure I wasn’t.
While I was arguing with myself, the very person that my thoughts were consumed by approached the table with a hug for Staci and Thomas and a smile for everyone else.
Until she saw me.
And then that smile fell off her face so fast you’d think she had just been punched in the gut.
Claire Stevens.
A gorgeous, frustrating woman if I ever saw one. And was she ever a vision tonight. In a v-neck red sweater dress and knee-high black boots, there was only one word that came to mind as I took in her svelte form: vixen. It was written all over her, making her that much more tempting, that much more appealing. There wasn’t anything sweet about her image, nothing angelic. She might as well have had “seductress” stamped across her forehead because that’s exactly what she looked like.