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Ma’am?
He blamed the aneurysm.
If looks could kill, then her stone-faced expression would have murdered him, resurrected him, and then killed him again. “Did you just call mema’am?”
“No. No, definitely not. I said man. Like ‘hey, man.’ Why would I say ma’am? You’re clearly not, I mean, you’re way hotter… not that I would ogle you. We’re coworkers and that probably goes against, like, corporate, something… Uh, do you think we could start over?”
Her frown didn’t budge. Tough crowd.
“No way, this is too entertaining.” She slid her hands into her pockets, looking effortlessly cool as she did so. “So, you’re Mitch.”
“If I say yes, does that mean I’m fired?”
Her lips twitched into the tiniest hint of a smile.Point to Langford.
* * *
SOPHIE
Expectations were like assholes. Everybody had them, and if you didn’t look after yourself, things got real messy, real fast. Sophie hadn’t known what to expect of her new coworker, but high cheekbones and dark brown bedhead were not it.
Nor was the playful smile. That would have to stopright now. Whoever this Mitch was— details from Rufus had been infuriatingly scarce, which probably meant he’d barely looked at this guy’s resume;yay for her— he radiated “let’s be friends” energy. Which. No.
Unlike that asshole Campbell on last night’s episode of “beautiful people locked in a house together,” she didn’t need allies.
This was strictly a clock in, clock out scenario. Sophie wasn’t here to make friends, and if she was, it wouldn’t be with the human equivalent of an overgrown Labradoodle.
Especially when that was exactly her type.
It was time to let the pup know who was in charge.
She waved at Meg’s empty desk. “That’s yours. You’re allowed personal items but no food. Only fake plants allowed. Real ones attract bugs, and it’s a nightmare for the older boxes. Once you log in, you’ll have an email with links to the training courses. Orientation and HSE will take you the rest of the day, so I won’t run through the mailbox until tomorrow.”
There. That should be enough. Nothing but the facts. Now she could hopefully get through the next nine hours in peace.
If things got really bad, she could disappear into the Archives, the main storage room which was crammed with even more boxes and could only be accessed by her keycard. And Mitch’s, she supposed.
Mitch shuffled to the desk and placed his backpack on the floor. “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks for asking. I can already tell we’re going to get along great. I’m Mitch Langford, by the way. Since you didn’t ask, I’ll assume you knew that already. And you’re Sophie.” Sliding his hands into his pockets, he nodded at her. “I hope you don’t mind me calling you that, since you didn’t introduce yourself.”
Okay… the puppy had a bark. And dammit if that didn’t make him more attractive. She’d always been a sucker for people who stood up for themselves.
Properly admonished, Sophie rounded the desks, holding her hand out. She was woman enough to acknowledge her faults. “You’re right. It’s nice to meet you, Mitch. I’m Sophie Anderson. Looks like we’ll be working together.”
Mitch’s hand, when he slipped it into hers, was as soft as his smile. Sharing a confined space every day was going to really test her. “I’m looking forward to it.” He said it so earnestly, she had to fight to ignore the responding flourish in her chest.
“Anderson, huh? Like the mayor?”
Her smile slipped away. It had taken him less than five minutes to bring her mother up. Would there ever be a day when Sophie wasn’t seen as a tool to get some perceived perk by proxy? All traces of goodwill he might have earned were DOA now.
Sophie picked up the paperwork Rufus had left on his desk and shoved the folder at Mitch. “This is a checklist of the tasks you need to complete this week. You’ll need to change your temporary password and do the online courses before you can get access to the inbox. That,” she said, dipping her chin at the proffered list, “has all the instructions you need.”
Sophie hoped her clipped tone delivered theso don’t ask mefor her.
Come tomorrow, she’d make sure he was familiar with the way she worked. All he had to do was learn it and keep to himself. The sooner Mitch understood that, the better. Everything about him, from the paisley shirt to the puppy dog eyes and playful demeanor screamed “like me,” but Sophie knew better. Liking people ended in disappointment.
Mitch Langford wouldn’t be any different.
“Direct. Okay, I like that.”
