Page 10 of Tell Me What you Think

"Perfect. I can't wait to get started. I mean, not that it's been bad with Ricard—" Olga gets flustered again and feels the flush crawl up her neck to her face in under a second. "He's a great boss, and he's been really kind." She fans herself with her hand, and Marina's eyebrow goes up.

"I know he has," Marina says with a smile, and Olga realizes that in less than two weeks, her life is going to become a living hell.

Chapter 5

Olga has been back at her desk for an hour, and in all that time she's barely gotten anything done, because she can't stop thinking—still half unable to believe it—about what happened in Marina's office.

She tilts her head and looks toward the door of Ricard's office, which in a few days will no longer belong to that gray-haired older man but to a breathtaking woman who makes Olga's heart race just by looking at her.

A notification pings in her internal email and pulls her back to the screen. She'd messaged Silvia a little while ago asking if she had time for a coffee, and her friend has just replied.

"Meet you at the coffee machine in the hallway in ten minutes."

Olga sighs—somewhere between relieved and frustrated—and practically watches the seconds tick by until the agreed time comes and she gets up to find Silvia.

She spots her from a distance. Silvia is already standing in front of the machine, just bending to grab her cup when Olga arrives.

"I need to talk to you."

"Okay, but let me get this first before it overflows," she answers, focused on the machine.

It's only a moment, but it feels like a full minute to Olga before Silvia grabs her cup and straightens up.

"What's going on?"

The executive assistant nods toward a corner by the elevator landing. It's empty right now, but she can see anyone coming from any direction, and she needs to stay in control so no one overhears them.

"Ricard's position is going to Marina, and she asked me to stay on as her assistant."

Silvia, wincing because she's burned herself on the first sip, stares at her like she's just said she won the lottery and lost the ticket at the same time.

"What do you mean, she asked you? Marina? Your Marina?"

"She's not my Marina," Olga hisses under her breath, glancing around nervously, "but yes, her. She basically said she likes how I work and wants me to stay on with her, but that if I'd rather do something else, she'd understand. Isn't that sweet?" Olga lets it all out in one rush, barely pausing for air. "And I said yes."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"Of course it's a bad thing, Jesus. I had a plan, remember? I even had the email drafted and ready to send to Human Resources, and the second Marina opened her mouth and asked me to stay, I forgot everything and said yes like I was desperate to work with her."

Silvia blows on her coffee before taking another sip.

"Let me get this straight," she starts, unable to hold back a smile Olga doesn't like one bit. "You've been looking for a way to get away from this woman, and the moment she gives you the option to say no, you say yes?"

The executive assistant bites her lip and drops her gaze to the floor, embarrassed by her own behavior.

"Yes. Exactly that."

"But why?" Silvia asks, trying to understand.

Olga opens her mouth and closes it again, because she can't find any answer that sounds good—or at least, any that doesn't make her seem even more of an idiot than she already feels.

"I couldn't say no," she finally admits, lowering her voice so much that Silvia has to step closer and lean in to hear her. "I know you don't get it, but she was right there in front of me, looking at me with those eyes, and those lashes, and that crooked smile that—"

"Honestly, the way you're describing it, I can picture it. She looked at you, your body did what it does, and after that you couldn't think straight," Silvia summarizes.

She can be so blunt when she talks like that, but Olga can't help laughing—and she can't come up with a more accurate description either.

"God, Olga, you are so screwed."