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“Always a pleasure flirting with you, Talia,” I call after her, exiting the elevator to head for my own office, nearest the doors.
“It’snotflirting!” she yells angrily down the hall, entering Gia’s office without a knock.
“Whatisn’t flirting?” I hear Gia’s voice ask dubiously before Talia slams the door shut.
I chuckle to myself as I enter my office, leaving my own door open a crack, and head for the enormous stack of papers Gia’s left on my desk this morning. She runs the overall management, the event scheduling, the planning, the organizing, the promoting—though Talia does most of the marketing, as well as some of the employee’s grunt work, it seems.
I got stuck with the numbers.
“They’re what you’re good at, obviously,” Gia told me the day we sat down for another meeting to discuss our business plan and logistics. She pretty much steers the rudder of this ship, and she’s proven to be surprisingly good at it, and surprisingly right about me and numbers. “You didn’t scam, launder, and gamble for nothing. You know how numbers work. And my guess is you’ll do even better running alegalbusiness.”
I hate when she’s right.
I don’t know if it’s because I’m in a mood today, or simply avoiding the truth of wanting to make up with my brother, but once I sit down and begin rifling through the spreadsheets of last month’s income and projections for this month, I come up with an idea of how I’m going to amuse myself this week. Pulling out my phone, I call Gia.
She answers on the first ring. “What did I tell you about calling me from your office? You’reliterallyten feet away.”
“Can you send Talia to my office? I need her help with something.”
From the other end, I can hear Talia’s voice in the background. She must have heard my request. “Tell him no.”
“Talia, go to Kay’s office,” Gia argues.
“I’mbusy.”
“Oh my god, Talia, you two need to figure out how to get along,” Gia says, and I smile to myself. Our work dynamic has been an interesting one here at Midnights, never a dull moment. Somehow, it’s much more riveting than my past work, even if the risk of it still calls to me.
I hear an exasperated sigh and the sound of a door opening.
“She’s coming. Benice, Kayden.”
“No promises.” I hang up just as an aggressive knock sounds at my door. “You don’t have to knock,” I call.
The door pushes open and a very sour Talia walks in. “What do you need? I have a schedule full of content creation for our social media, and plenty of other,better, things to do than come in here to stare at your face.”
“And what if I called you here to stare at yours?” I rest my chin on my fist, already feeling more at ease.
Boredom begone.
Talia’s expression says quite the opposite. Her dark, jaw-length hair only makes her expression more intense. It’s a pleasurable thing to be under her scrutiny. “And this is why I keep begging for a HR department. Some of us actually work hard to make this place run, you know.”
“I know. That’s exactly why I called you here.” Rising from my seat, I make my way around my desk and sit on its edge, crossing my arms to mimic her posture. “I could use a second eye, and since yours is so…perceptive, I thought you would be the person for the job.”
“No, I’m not going to look over your disgusting nudes and help you choose the best ones to woo your next hussy.” She gives me a quick, sarcastic grin, there and gone, as quick as her wit can be.
“So you admit you think my nudes are charming.”
“Doubtful,” she says dryly, but I notice the barest hint of a blush rise in her cheeks.
“Maybe someday you’ll find out.”
“I’d rather not.” Talia drops her arms and turns toward the door. “If you didn’t call me here foractualbusiness, I’m leaving.”
I catch up to her and place a hand on the doorframe, putting us within touching proximity. This close, I can smell the perfume on her skin, something sweet and subtle, like vanilla and cinnamon. It makes my head spin.
“I need your help looking over some of the money accounts. You were a receptionist, right? You’re good with numbers.”
“Receptionists don’t deal with numbers, we answer phone calls,” Talia says.
