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“Can you call the sheriff for me, ba–Bridget?” I wanted to call her baby, but after the way I had just outlined the sexual harassment rules of the company, I didn’t want to break them myself.
Bridget nodded and went to her desk.
“I won’t press charges if they can escort him to the plane and ensure he gets on it,” I added, keeping my eyes on Jimenez. He wasn’t getting up, which was the smartest thing he probably did all day.
I settled my hands on my hips and took a breath. Fuck. I was supposed to be in and out of Hunter Valley. Not only was the project behind, but now there was no project manager.
It looked like I was staying in town for a while and surprisingly, I wasn’t bothered by the idea. In fact, it was Bridget, on the phone with the sheriff, who had me looking forward to staying.
7
BRIDGET
* * *
Friday 6:18 pm
* * *
I screamed.
In the middle of Kincaids, the bar’s outdoor patio loaded with people.
Not because I saw a mouse or a spider, but I just realized I’d sent a sex quiz to the guy who signed my paychecks, the same guy who I’d been lusting after for the past eight hours. It was more frightening than the scariest horror film ever made.
Worse than leaving MIT ashamed and broken. Worse than… anything that had ever happened to me, and there had been a lot.
Everyone on the deck stopped talking and stared, and I couldn’t be any more embarrassed if I tried. I stared at my email’s Sent folder, the recipient’s name crystal clear.
Maverick James.
Not Mallory Mornay.
The little paperclip and Sex Quiz file name confirmed the worst.
I looked up at Mallory, freaking out.
“Oh my God.”
Mallory snagged my phone while I wondered if it was possible to actually die from mortification.
“I just sent a sex quiz to Maverick James.”
“Is everything okay?” Payton asked when she came over.
The other women clustered around me and Mallory in a full circle, blocking out the entire bar. “Did you see a rat or something?” Nora wondered, glancing down at the floor.
I pleaded with my eyes to Mallory not to tell them what happened. I couldn’t bear it if all of them knew.
Being best friends since forever, she winked, then offered the group an eye roll and a toss of her blonde hair. “A sale on her favorite calculator ended yesterday,” Mallory said, waving a hand in the air. “You know how Bridge is about her electronics.”
If I was thinking clearly, I’d take time wondering why they bought into that lie so easily and went back to the high-top table where they’d been settled.
I hadn’t seen Maverick for hours. Not since he’d walked beside Hunter, the sheriff–yes, he’d been named after the town–as he escorted Jason to the patrol car. Maverick had gotten into his own car and followed out of the lot. I didn’t know if he’d gone to the station or gone to the job site as planned. Or both.
What Maverick had done had been exhilarating. Not only had my douchey boss been fired and kicked out of the state, he’d been called out because he hadn’t done any work and because he was a creep. I didn’t usually like confrontation, but this one had made me… hot.
He’d been like a cowboy in a white hat in a gun fight or a knight saving a maiden from a dragon.
