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Alex levelled a severe look at me.
“I’m not fucking around, mate. After seeing you two in action tonight, and from what both you and Ethan have told me in the past, it’s pretty bloody obvious to me. You know what they say—” He shrugged. “—there’s a thin line between love and hate.”
I opened my mouth to reply to the contrary, but he continued speaking. “Let’s look at the facts. One, Olivia is gorgeous. Even you can’t deny it; you’d have to be blind not to see it. That face and that body?” He whistled, fanning himself dramatically. “Two, your best mate and his girlfriend both think she’s the best thing since sliced bread. Three, I like her, and we all know I’m an amazing judge of character.” He winked.
“Be that as it may, you’re barking up the wrong tree, mate,” I said wearily. “I don’t feel anything but dislike for her. We…don’t see eye to eye.”
“So you won’t mind if I take her out?” He cut me a sly look as he lifted his pint to his lips.
I threw up my hands in exasperation.
“Be my guest. Good luck.”
Alex couldn’t have been more wrong. Yeah, Payne was pretty to look at, but looks could be deceiving, as I knew all too fucking well. I rubbed the back of my neck, and my chest tightened as I remembered how angry she’d made me almost right from the beginning.
I looked down at the new girl as she stared up at me with huge blue eyes fringed with long lashes, a shy smile on her face. As I followed her to the conference room, my gaze was drawn to the sexy sway of her hips, and her tight little body had my dick stirring in my suit trousers.
The initial attraction lasted all of five minutes, until Ethan forced me into babysitting Payne—as if I didn’t have enough shit to do already. After he railroaded over my objections, I had no other choice but to comply, so I reluctantly showed her to my desk to get started.
“Have a look through the details of the project and familiarise yourself with it; the files are here.” I navigated to the relevant folder on my computer, pointing out the files she’d need.
“Thanks,” she said in a soft, sweet voice, turning to beam at me. Fuck, her smile was lethal. Already irritated with the fact that I’d been forced into working with her, I didn’t let myself return her smile. Her brow creased in a puzzled frown, and she dropped her gaze to the desk.
“My meeting should last around two hours. When I get back, we’ll go through everything.”
I came back from my meeting to see my client’s brand-new social media account open on the screen, looking almost unrecognisable. The account I’d been in the middle of setting up, that I’d spent hours working on. To make matters worse, not only had Payne started making changes without consulting me, she’d had the audacity to call the client and talk them through the changes, again, without my knowledge. I stood next to my desk, fists clenched, watching her twirl a strand of honey-blonde hair around her finger, laughing with my client on the phone.
As soon as she finished on the phone, I dragged her into the conference room.
“What the actual fuck do you think you’re playing at?” I hissed. “This is my project, my client. You can’t waltz in on your first day and start making changes without even fucking discussing it with me.”
Her eyes flashed pure fire. “I saw a few areas where I could make improvements, so I used my initiative. The client was happy with my suggestions.” She stared at me with a challenge in her eyes, her jaw set stubbornly.
We argued back and forth, neither of us backing down. Our discussion became so heated that Ethan came storming in and had the nerve to suggest I should be giving Payne some leeway because she was new.
Fuck. That.
We spent the entire week clashing over that bloody furniture project. When we finally signed it off, I’d never been so glad to see the back of a client in my life. Every suggestion I made, Payne hated. Every suggestion she made was wrong. I knew my client better than she did.
Shaking off the unwanted memory and taking a large pull of my beer, I slumped back in my seat, letting the ever-increasing level of conversation wash over me. I raised my eyes to Alex’s and attempted to drag the subject away from Payne.
“Reckon you’ll beat Gloucester tomorrow?”
Alex gave me a brief nod before scanning the room. “We’ll win it, no problem.” He stared over my shoulder, distracted, and I followed the line of his gaze to a curvy blonde eyeing him up. Noticing him looking, she tilted her head in an invitation, one brow raised.
Surprise, surprise.
He was up and out of his seat in a few seconds, not bothering to spare us a second glance.
“See you boys later. Nice talking to you.”
“See ya.”
My phone rang loudly, and I swiped it from the table without looking at the screen.
“What?” I inwardly cursed my abrupt tone.
“Um, is everything okay?” Avery’s hesitant voice came through the phone.
