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“You thought I was in my office...even though your desk is just outside the door.”
Gracie blushed. To Chesney or anyone else watching it would have looked like she was embarrassed about doing something silly.
“Well, it’s my first day. I’ve been meeting everyone and. I thought maybe you’d arrived while I was away from my desk.”
Chesney made a disgruntled noise that Gracie internally struggled not to label as ‘cute.’ She absolutely refused to think of someone she was investigating that way. Especially after just overhearing him say that he believed his boss was on to him.
Chesney sat down behind his desk, the light catching at his brown hair so that in places it looked gold. That too, Gracie thought fiercely, was not cute.
This man was probably sabotaging the magazine and nothing he could do would make her forget that. The band-aid at the top of his forehead was a stark reminder that he'd been out late last night, no doubt involved in this nefarious scheme.
“Would you join me for a few minutes, Greta? I was hoping we could talk.”
“Uh, sure.”
Gracie sat down in one of the uncomfortable chairs in front of his desk. This was the chair that she’d wanted to put a mic underneath. The irony of being this close to her goal and still failing to bug Chesney’s office was not lost on her.
“So…” he ran a hand through his hair, “What a coincidence that we ran into each other the night before you started working here! Ha!”
It was very obvious to Gracie that Chesney no longer believed their first meeting was an accident.
“Well, it is my local bar.”
“Oh? Really? Because I haven’t seen you there before.”
“I’ve been away. I just got back from a cruise.”
“A cruise? Who did you go with?”
Gracie smirked. Now that was an odd question, not where did she go on the cruise, not how long was the cruise.
“Family.”
“So you got off a cruise and walked into this job?”
“It wasn’t exactly that easy.”
“So, when did Huang hire you?”
“It was all pretty fast. I got back last week and had an interview with him straight away. Is there a problem with me working here? Because Mr. Huang was really impressed with my resume.”
Chesney hesitated. “Listen, Greta, I don’t really have anything for you to do. I’ve been working here for years and I’ve never needed a PA before.”
That sounded like it could be true, but Gracie was pretty certain that he was actually just suspicious of her and wanted to keep her at arm's distance. Of course, the fact that he was suspicious at all just went to show that there was something going on here. No truly innocent person would worry there was anything suspicious about a newly hired PA.
“Oh, well, maybe once you get used to having me...I can help out in all sorts of ways.”
Did that sound like an innuendo?
“I’m pretty useful. I can do all sorts of things to make your work more efficient.”
Chesney raised an eyebrow. Gracie groaned internally. If it hadn't sounded like an innuendo to begin with, then it definitely did that time.
“Like, uh, picking up dry cleaning, getting your lunch, getting people on the phone for you, scheduling meetings.”
There, Gracie thought with pride. None of those things sounded remotely naughty. Except, now she thought about it: had any of what she'd said actually sounded like an innuendo. There was just something about talking to Chesney that made her feel off-balance, like she wasn't quite in control of the situation.
Chesney sighed, “Ok, let’s see how this works out. I do actually have some photocopying that needs to be done.”
