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Now I most certainly did. Not only did I know how sexy he was, but also how cold and unpleasant he could be. That was not a combination I was interested in having anything to do with. Who wanted a man who didn’t give a person a chance to prove themselves before he went all caveman on them? Definitely not me. I didn’t want to believe the rumors that most of the women flinging themselves at his feet were only doing it to sink their claws into his millions and set themselves up for trophy wife glory throughout at least the next few years, then settle into alimony and the reality show circuit. But now that I’d had a chance to talk to Quentin, I could absolutely see why that would be the only reason any woman would put that much effort into trying to land him.
As long as he didn’t talk, he could be nice to be in a room with.
I closed my eyes and shook my head, filling my lungs with a deep breath to try to calm myself down. I had to do my best not to let him get to me on my first day. This was not how I wanted to spend the first four hours of my time working at what amounted to my dream job. Before that run-in, I was so excited, and I was determined to keep feeling excited. I wasn’t going to let him take that away from me. Constant contact with him wasn’t necessary for me to do my job. I was more than capable of whipping their social media into shape and helping them storm into visibility with only the bare minimum of interactions with Quentin. And that’s exactly what I intended to do.
Minnie was waiting for me across the complex in the coffee room of a smaller building. She was leaned against the counter, staring out a window as she stirred something in a mug that smelled like strong peppermint tea.
“Hi,” I said as I walked in and headed directly for the coffee maker.
“Well, by the look on your face I can only guess you already met Quentin,” she said.
I slammed the top of the single-cup maker down onto the pod a bit too hard and shoved a mug into place as I nodded.
“Yes, I did.” I glanced over at her and sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be acting like this.”
“Don’t apologize. From personal experience, you probably should be acting like this. There’s a reason that man doesn’t have a personal assistant. Or a secretary. He is my firstborn, and I love him with all my heart, but he has a stubborn streak in him, and I don’t know if he ever learned how to play nicely with others. At least not consistently. He can be a good guy. Really. So, what did he do?” she asked.
I took a long sip of coffee and shook my head, plastering on a smile.
“You know what? Nothing. I’m just overreacting,” I said.
“Somehow I doubt that. You don’t have to pretend,” Minnie said.
“No. Seriously. I just got myself worked up because I wanted to impress him so much, and I let it get to me. Now, you said you wanted me to meet some people,” I said.
“Absolutely. Let’s go.”
She spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon showing me around the complex and introducing me to the team working there. I knew the complex was expansive and far more complicated than just the family, but I was surprised by just how many people there were working behind the scenes. It was perfect for putting together galleries of pictures and posting content about the team and what went on at the complex when there wasn’t a race happening.
Of course, as soon as I thought about that, my thoughts went right back to being in the office with Quentin that morning and getting chided for suggesting taking pictures. It was as if he was expecting me to throw open the personnel files and scan them into Twitter. Just thinking about it got me worked up again, and I had to talk myself down. Focusing on taking pictures of the building and the staff at work helped to bring my focus back to what I was doing. After lunch, Minnie had work she needed to do, so she set me loose on the complex by myself.
As much as I liked her and enjoying spending time with her, it was nice just being left with my own mind and being able to go where I wanted to go and get a feel of the place on my own. Hopefully I would be working there for a good while, and I wanted to be able to get myself around comfortably. It also let me snap pictures and take notes without feeling like I needed to explain each one to Minnie. I was sipping a cool drink to ward off the intensity of the heat when I looped back around to the test track deep in the complex. Minnie had already given me a quick glimpse of the track and of the bikes lined up, gleaming at the front of the building, but I wanted to do a bit more exploring.
