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I was neck deep in an email that I needed to carefully craft when the phone on my desk buzzed.
“Yes?” I asked, masking my irritation from being interrupted.
“Mrs. Glass needs you in her office right away.” It was Peggy, Mrs. Glass’ secretary.
Shit. I popped up from my desk with my heart pounding. By the time I made it to my door I’d already considered nearly a dozen things I could’ve done wrong. Addie and Mark, my two interns, were standing outside my door when I opened it. Mark’s hand was raised in a fist like he had just been about to knock.
“Wait in my office,” I snapped. “I need to see Mrs. Glass. I’ll be back. And don’t touch anything.”
The interns exchanged a look as I rushed off, weaving through the offices.
When Mrs. Glass paged, you didn’t make her wait. She wasn’t as solidly grounded as my mother. She had touches of eccentric craziness and a tendency towards playing favorites, but there was no denying what she’d built here. Mrs. Glass was a formidable businesswoman, and I’d be damned if she wasn’t going to name me her successor when she retired.
I let myself into Mrs. Glass’ office and hung halfway in the door. It was better if I didn’t assume she wanted me to sit.
She looked up from the oversized folder she was studying—probably prints for the magazine or fabric samples. She kept her silver hair clipped almost short enough to be called a buzz cut. She was famous for never wearing the same clothes twice, and today she had on transparent, yellow-framed glasses, a flowing scarf-like dress with yellow and black patterns, and a necklace of black pearls. Personally, I was going to call this one the bumblebee—not a huge fan.
“You needed me?” I asked.
“Yes. I had to fire my HR guy this morning. You’ll be taking his interviews this afternoon.”
“Oh,” I said. “That’s no problem.”
Mrs. Glass was normally composed, but I thought I picked up on a little tightness in her manner. “Is everything okay, Mrs. Glass?”
She twitched at my question, almost as if it startled her. “It would be if my hus—” she pressed her thin lips together and gave an odd little shake of her head. “Yes, Elizabeth. Perfectly fine and nothing I can’t handle.” She lifted a waif-like wrist and checked it with a theatrical air that told me she already knew exactly what time it was. “The first interview should be in your office… right about now.”
I knew better than to sputter or ask more questions. I closed her door, then walked as quickly as my dignity would allow through the design floor, zig-zagging through large desks in the open plan office space. I heard deep laughter from my office before I opened the door, followed by Addie’s girlish, tinkling giggle.
I yanked the door open. A well-dressed man was sitting across from my desk with one ankle folded over his knee and his arms placed wide on the armrests of the chair. He looked like he owned the place, and Addie looked like she was in love. Even Mark, with all his gruff beardiness and aloof personality, was grinning at the man. I’d only been gone for two minutes at most. How the hell were they already so—
Oh, no.
The man turned, raising his eyebrows and smiling when he saw me. “I saw your name on the desk plate.” He leaned forward and picked it up, pointing to it as if I hadn’t noticed my own damn name plate yet. “You didn’t tell me you were such a big cheese. This is incredible.”
I didn’t open my mouth right away because I was afraid of what might come out. Maybe a shrill screech like a cat getting its tail yanked. Or maybe just a random bout of sobbing. Except as I took my chair and studied the man across from me, my stomach fluttered with somewhat pleasant heat. My heart was racing.
I inhaled through my nose. Calm. Don’t say something stupid. Don’t let your interns see how this man gets to you.
“Addie and Mark, would you please take these sketches and go run them to creative? Tell them the coat for the Fall collection doesn’t feel connected to nature. I want a new draft before I leave today.”
Addie fixed her big blue eyes on Travis before she left like she was hoping to steal a smile from him. He noticed her and gave a polite little smile. Somehow, he managed not to make it seem flirtatious, which was a miracle with the way she’d been looking at him.
But the moment the door closed and his eyes met mine, I saw how he’d been saving every ounce of flirtation in his frustratingly pleasant body for me.
His eyes twinkled and he grabbed the armrests of his chair, doing little hip thrusts to scoot it closer to my desk. I watched him, still not sure what I could even say in this situation.
