Next to me I felt Chris stiffen. “I’m sure I can handle it on my own, Gina.”
Gina’s eyes narrowed slightly but her expression stayed neutral. “Everything’s better with teamwork, Chris. With Julia’s knowledge of our homeless services and outcome data and your employment expertise, you’re going to be able to pull together a kick ass application. Besides, it’s a pretty complex application process with a very short timeline, so I’ll need you both on this. I’ll send y’all the information now. I’ll need something to review next Friday, or the following Monday first thing.”
“Next Friday?” I asked incredulously.
“I know it’s a big lift, especially with your other responsibilities, and I hate to ask you to put in extra hours, but in this case I think it’s worth it. Just let me know where you need my support. I’m glad to jump in wherever it’s helpful.”
She turned her chair to face her computer, effectively dismissing us.
“Thanks you two. Happy writing.”
Chris
Itrudged out of my boss’s office with a sigh. Of course she wanted me to work with Julia Montego. The woman had been a thorn in my side almost my entire life.
“Let’s grab a conference room and figure out a plan,” Julia said, not waiting for me to agree.
As she walked away I couldn’t help noticing how nice her ass looked in those light pink capris she was wearing. Julia had always been kind of a girly girl, favoring pastel colors and bright red lipstick that made her thick lips look very kissable.
Objectively speaking of course. She was the last woman I wanted to kiss. So not my type.
She looked good though. Her dark brown hair was long and curly, and she had these large brown eyes like those paintings of the kids with big eyes. It gave her an air of innocence that was misleading. I knew from firsthand experience that the woman was devious.
We dipped into one of the small conference rooms. It was a jumble of mismatched furniture and boxes of god only knows what that probably should be in storage somewhere. Julia sat down across from me, and I absolutely did not notice the way her full breasts pushed against her thin shirt.
She was lush and curvy, the exact opposite of me.
The hard truth, the one thing I’d never admit to anyone – not even my best friends in the world Marlee and April – was that I was physically attracted to Julia. I couldn’t say why. She wasn’t my type, not physically and not personality wise. Yet whenever we spent time together I vacillated between wanting to kiss or smack her.
Not literally. I’d never hit anyone, no matter how annoying they were. Well, other than in the bedroom, and only when they asked for a little spanking…
Damn it, now my wayward thoughts were fixated on the idea of me leaving nice pink handprints on Julia’s round ass. What was wrong with me? Working together, even for two weeks, was going to be torture.
Julia flipped her long hair back over her shoulder, then pinned me with a serious look that somehow managed to both turn me on and make me irritated.
“We’ll need to figure out how to divide up the work,” she said.
“We haven’t even seen the application materials yet,” I reminded her. “We don’t know what there is to divide up.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know. What’s your schedule like tomorrow?”
She dug a phone out of her pocket and tapped on the screen. “I have a meeting at eleven, but I could meet at nine if that works for you? That will give us time to review the materials tonight, then we can come to the meeting with our ideas.”
Given that it was already four o’clock, that meant we’d both be working late tonight. It wasn’t the first time, this was non-profit management after all, which meant that a forty hour work week was mostly just a pipe dream. But I had plans tonight. Plans I wasn’t going to break. Oh well, I could review the information after I got home from my monthly dinner with my friends.
“Fine. Where do you want to meet?”
I knew that Julia worked over at the Sunrise shelter facility. I worked at the employment center a few miles away.
“How about if we meet at the coffee shop that’s by the Starbucks over by Costco?”
I blinked at her convoluted response. “You want to meet at the Starbucks by Costco?” I confirmed.
“No.” She shook her head, sending a cascade of curls in her wake. “There’s a coffee shop on the same block as the Starbucks by Costco. Little family owned place. Very good coffee. I forget the name of it, but it’s somebody’s name, like Linda’s or Mary’s or something. They have a lot of plants in the window. You can’t miss it.”
I’d forgotten how weird this woman was.
“Fine but give me your phone number in case I can’t find it.”
