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She shook her head, an indulgent smile spreading across her face. “Oh, you know, scared shitless, if I’m being honest.”
Evan barked out a laugh. He liked Madeline, and why not? She was smart, efficient, young, beautiful, and one of the few people I couldn't intimidate, unfortunately. Although, sometimes I was a little put off by how close she and Evan seemed to be. But he knew I cared about her as an employee and a person, even if I could only show it in The Daniel Way. I had worked with Madeline for the past five years and already extended her an invitation to join me when I started my own design company.
They chatted for a few more minutes as I pretended not to be bored and impatient before we walked into my office.
I wanted to get into why Evan was even here, but it wasn’t very long before Madeline walked in with the temporary assistant. He was young, probably mid-twenties, wearing dark blue jeans and a light blue button-down shirt. He had thick black-framed glasses and his hair seemed carefully styled. There was no dress code for anyone at the company. Everyone was trusted to dress themselves for the job they needed to get done.
“Mr. Reed, this is Philip,” Madeline said, introducing us officially. I had already read his HR file and was confident he would be completely competent in his temporary role.
“Philip! Nice to meet you,” Evan greeted him warmly, offering a friendly handshake. Philip seemed taken aback at first, but took it in stride. It was like he passed his first test of the job: Dealing with Evan and his interruptions.
“Philip, I’m Daniel Reed. It’s nice to meet you and I look forward to working with you.” I offered him a firm handshake.
“Thank you, Mr. Reed. Let me know if there is anything you need.”
“I will, definitely. Thank you, Philip. Madeline will lead your training this week and we have a few meetings set on the calendar already. When you're done the basics, let's get together to go over a few things.”
He nodded his head before he left with Madeline.
I turned to Evan.
“Not that I’m not delighted by your company this morning, but is there any particular reason why you’re even here? I’m pretty busy with… brainstorming.”
I hadn’t been able to think of a single thing that I could possibly use as a distraction from the shitstorm, and I was quickly running out of time.
“Let me guess. You’ve got nothing,” Evan said, dropping on the sofa and propping his feet up on the low table.
“I would be making more progress if you weren’t here, bothering me.” I sat at my desk, trying to look stern and professional. I could never get away with that when it came to Evan.
He barked out a laugh.
“No, you wouldn’t,” he said, shaking his head, still laughing. “But lucky for you, I’m here to save you.”
“Save me how?”
“Amy Palmer,” he said with as much drama as he could infuse into his voice. I stared at him blankly, waiting for him to get to the damn point.
He glared at me.
“Don't think I didn't notice you two getting all cozy last night, so don't give me that innocent look.”
“Seriously,” I said impatiently. “Are you here for gossip or to help out?”
“Chill out, will you?” he said, dragging the chair on the other side of my desk to sit beside me. “Gimme some space,” he pushed me lightly to the side and started typing something on his laptop.
“It seems like you had no problems feeling her up, but you couldn’t even find out any real information about her? I’m not even a little surprised,” he said as he searched through a list of search results.
I put a hand to my forehead.
“I am sure you'll tell me what this is about whenever you're ready.”
He clicked on a link with a practiced flourish.
“Look,” he called my attention, looking a little too smug. “It's her website.”
“Cliff’s notes, please.” I reclined even further in my chair. For some reason, I was working extra hard, feigning disinterest. I couldn’t give Evan the satisfaction of knowing that I couldn’t stop thinking about Amy since last night. Or that I heard that low, breathy moan in my mind as I jerked off in the shower when I got home.
It was clear he picked up on something. Did he see us? I hadn’t exactly been discreet.
