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The interview of a lifetime.
I gawked at a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over jaw-dropping views of the city. This conference room seemed more like a VIP lounge than an average room in an office building.
Well, it was what I imagined a VIP lounge would be like, seeing as how I’d never actually been admitted into one of those magical places before. The designer furniture, the soft jazz playing over the speakers, and the snack bar loaded down with delectable treats were anything but ordinary.
I sat at a solid oak table in a plush chair comfy enough to curl up and take a nap in. And that’s exactly what I would have wanted to do, if it wasn’t for the fact that I was about to fight tooth and nail to win my dream job.
Sorry, Kai. As they say, all’s fair in love and war. I might not have known much about love, but I could recognize a war brewing when I saw one, and Kai was the enemy. A dreamy enemy with perfect skin and the best laugh I’d ever heard in my life. But still the enemy.
And this enemy was already chatting up Mr. Peters.
The big man himself picked up a tray of donuts and brought them to the conference table, offering Kai the first pick.
No fair playing favorites!
My mouth watered. He wasn’t offering just any old donuts. Blue Pacific had sprung for the good stuff—the finest pastries in the city. I’m talking Granny O’s handcrafted, melt-in-your-mouth, deep-fried pieces of heaven itself.
Only Granny O’s knew how to fill a donut just right. Only Granny O’s had perfected the recipe for a top glaze that was just the right amount sticky and just the right amount flaky.
I sat on my hands to still their twitching and clamped my mouth shut to keep from licking my chops in front of the boss.
Don’t judge.
I do my best work while buzzing on a sugar high. And thanks to Dimples McGhee over there, I’d missed my morning dose. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have said it was deliberate sabotage. But I’d cut him a break now that sweet salvation was almost within reach.
“Take one,” Mr. Peters said to Kai.
“No thank you, sir.” Kai’s eyes cut to me. “Anyone starting their day with that much sugar is just asking for trouble.”
I rolled my eyes at his obvious dig.
Mr. Peters brows rose. “A man of self-discipline. I’ve always liked that about you, Kai.”
Great! I knew Kai had history with this company, but I hadn’t known what kind of history until then. Now I knew it was good history. How was I supposed to compete with that? I had to find my angle—some way to spin my newness as an asset rather than a potential liability.
Kai’s robust laughter pulled me out of my internal strategy planning session. I couldn’t help but look over at him. That smile. Those teeth. That dimple. Why couldn’t I be annoyed at him? I so wanted to be annoyed!
Mr. Peters joined in and that’s when I panicked. While I’d been off daydreaming in la la land, they’d been chumming around and laughing at hilarious jokes. This was as good of a time to insert myself into this joint interview as ever, so I belted out a hearty laugh of my own.
“Hahaha!”
Okay, so it may have been a bit too loud and a smidgen too stiff. But it got the job done. I brightened my face with the world’s most phony smile, punctuating it with one final hahaha. The second laugh track was a little bit lackluster, but it was okay for a laugh that was supposedly winding down.
It worked.
Mr. Peters’ full attention was finally on me!
Score one for the home team.
“Umm, you weren’t there,” Mr. Peters said.
“I’m sorry?” I said through cheeks that were beginning to ache from my too-wide smile.
“Kai and I were referring to an incident at a company picnic five years ago, and you weren’t there.”
“Oh.” My cheeks were boiling hot. Good thing I look amazing in red, because those suckers weren’t going to be returning to their normal color for at least a week. “Well, it sounded like a hoot.”
An unnaturally long silence followed.
