the direction my mind had gone.
‘Staring at me. You can’t tell me you don’t want me then sit staring at me longingly,’ he teased. How is he so comfortable talking about this, I wondered. He grinned at my obvious discomfort. ‘May I inquire as to what you were thinking?’ My face reddened, causing him to laugh. ‘Must’ve been something good. Were you thinking about me kissing you?’ he asked hopefully. Bingo! I frowned and shook my head and he pretended to look disappointed. I scrabbled about in my mind for a subject.
‘I was thinking about Edinburgh …’ I said. Oh really, Olivia Jones, and what about Edinburgh were you thinking? ‘There’s a conference there in a few months, networking, workshops, latest developments, that sort of thing. I thought you might like to go? You’ll be great at the networking, I’m not very good at it at all, and it’s about time we got out there.’ Really? A conference? Where had that come from?
‘You’d let me loose as the representative of Inspired?’ he smiled. ‘That is very trusting of you.’ There was a note of sarcasm to his teasing voice as he emphasised the word ‘trusting’.
‘I’m trying,’ I said quietly, and his face grew serious. He smiled and nodded.
‘Sounds great, I can show you all my old uni haunts.’
I shook my head.
‘No I’m not going. I never go to these things. One of the reasons I hired you was to go to these events for me. Use that abundance of charm you’ve got and win us some more clients.’
He looked disappointed. Maybe he thought he could sneak into my hotel room late at night and seduce me. A tingle ran down my spine and I felt a flush of heat through my lower body. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me, this was not helping me forget about him. How was I going to maintain a professional relationship if my body kept betraying me like this?
‘OK,’ he replied, shrugging his shoulders and returning his attention to his monitor, ‘if you’re sure you can trust me to represent you in your absence.’
I watched him for a moment. I couldn’t work out if he was irritated or amused by the conversation. I realised I was sending out mixed messages. What was I thinking? One minute I’m telling him I’m scared he’s plotting to sue me for sexual harassment so he can ruin my business and steal my customers, and the next I’m inviting him to go off to conferences to meet potential clients. Well if the former turned out to be true then the latter was just me handing my business to him on a plate.
Edinburgh. What was I thinking? Of all the things I could’ve said. I should have just said, ‘Yes, I think about you kissing me all the time,’ in a sarcastic tone of voice.
Chapter Eight
That evening I was wrapped up in my dressing gown, fluffy slipper boots, and a blanket. I opened up the laptop and did a search for some programming conferences. The idea had occurred to me after I’d mentioned Edinburgh. Part of my reason for hiring Steven was to network, despite my earlier reservations I knew deep down he wasn’t out to get me. While I still found it hard to believe that he would be attracted to me considering my age and appearance, I didn’t really believe he was trying to sabotage my business and steal my clients. The truth of the matter was that I found his presence distracting, he was very present in the room – even when he was quietly working away I was aware of him and I couldn’t concentrate. I would need a long-term solution of course, but perhaps sending him off to conferences would at least give me some respite in the office.
As I was searching, a Messenger window popped up. I haven’t used Messenger for a long time; I’d forgotten I was even logged in.
Chris Knight: Good Evening, Liv. How was your weekend?
Olivia Jones: It was wonderfully quiet. I completed the story mode of Lego Batman .
Chris Knight: *shakes head* You should get out more. Pretty girl like you should be going out and
‘Staring at me. You can’t tell me you don’t want me then sit staring at me longingly,’ he teased. How is he so comfortable talking about this, I wondered. He grinned at my obvious discomfort. ‘May I inquire as to what you were thinking?’ My face reddened, causing him to laugh. ‘Must’ve been something good. Were you thinking about me kissing you?’ he asked hopefully. Bingo! I frowned and shook my head and he pretended to look disappointed. I scrabbled about in my mind for a subject.
‘I was thinking about Edinburgh …’ I said. Oh really, Olivia Jones, and what about Edinburgh were you thinking? ‘There’s a conference there in a few months, networking, workshops, latest developments, that sort of thing. I thought you might like to go? You’ll be great at the networking, I’m not very good at it at all, and it’s about time we got out there.’ Really? A conference? Where had that come from?
‘You’d let me loose as the representative of Inspired?’ he smiled. ‘That is very trusting of you.’ There was a note of sarcasm to his teasing voice as he emphasised the word ‘trusting’.
‘I’m trying,’ I said quietly, and his face grew serious. He smiled and nodded.
‘Sounds great, I can show you all my old uni haunts.’
I shook my head.
‘No I’m not going. I never go to these things. One of the reasons I hired you was to go to these events for me. Use that abundance of charm you’ve got and win us some more clients.’
He looked disappointed. Maybe he thought he could sneak into my hotel room late at night and seduce me. A tingle ran down my spine and I felt a flush of heat through my lower body. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me, this was not helping me forget about him. How was I going to maintain a professional relationship if my body kept betraying me like this?
‘OK,’ he replied, shrugging his shoulders and returning his attention to his monitor, ‘if you’re sure you can trust me to represent you in your absence.’
I watched him for a moment. I couldn’t work out if he was irritated or amused by the conversation. I realised I was sending out mixed messages. What was I thinking? One minute I’m telling him I’m scared he’s plotting to sue me for sexual harassment so he can ruin my business and steal my customers, and the next I’m inviting him to go off to conferences to meet potential clients. Well if the former turned out to be true then the latter was just me handing my business to him on a plate.
Edinburgh. What was I thinking? Of all the things I could’ve said. I should have just said, ‘Yes, I think about you kissing me all the time,’ in a sarcastic tone of voice.
Chapter Eight
That evening I was wrapped up in my dressing gown, fluffy slipper boots, and a blanket. I opened up the laptop and did a search for some programming conferences. The idea had occurred to me after I’d mentioned Edinburgh. Part of my reason for hiring Steven was to network, despite my earlier reservations I knew deep down he wasn’t out to get me. While I still found it hard to believe that he would be attracted to me considering my age and appearance, I didn’t really believe he was trying to sabotage my business and steal my clients. The truth of the matter was that I found his presence distracting, he was very present in the room – even when he was quietly working away I was aware of him and I couldn’t concentrate. I would need a long-term solution of course, but perhaps sending him off to conferences would at least give me some respite in the office.
As I was searching, a Messenger window popped up. I haven’t used Messenger for a long time; I’d forgotten I was even logged in.
Chris Knight: Good Evening, Liv. How was your weekend?
Olivia Jones: It was wonderfully quiet. I completed the story mode of Lego Batman .
Chris Knight: *shakes head* You should get out more. Pretty girl like you should be going out and
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