Page 3 of Mark my Words

“How dare—“

Isobel laughed, shooting him an unimpressed look. “She’s right.”

“Thank you.” I smiled over at Isobel. At least she didn’t let the jerks in this office walk all over her.

“Fine. I’ll send Sam down with a hard copy,” he sighed.

“Great.” I nodded. Not meaning it at all. Hard copy meant that I had to interact with Sam. And he’d probably want to work with me in person. Ick.

“Thank you, Ad. Now, why did you come down here to begin with?” Isobel asked after we all agreed.

“Does she have to sit there in the corner and stare at me?” he asked, glancing at where I was seated.

Widening my eyes, I sat forward, resting my chin on my hands, batting my eyelashes. He gave me a weird look and focused on Isobel.

“Kris...” she warned as she pointed at my computer.

“I don’t have to. It’s enjoyable for me to make you uncomfortable.“ Making sure to maintain eye contact, I smiled innocently. He blinked and looked away—chicken shit.

“Go get some coffee or something. Please?” Is requested, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

“My mug is full.” I shrugged and held it up for her to see. I knew hers was also full because I wasn’t a total amateur.

“Kristine. Go get me some coffee. Either at the café downstairs or the one down the street, your decision.” Fuck. She was dismissing me.

“Fine,” I sighed. Most of the time, she didn’t mind if I sat quietly in the corner while she met with other staff, but apparently, Isobel needed privacy with the king of the dicks.

Gathering my bag and laptop, I stepped out and made a show of closing the door. I could hear lowered voices as I walked away but knew she’d bust me if I eavesdropped. I didn’t like being out of the loop. Everyone in the office was aware of my reputation. I was always listening. I knew the dirt on everyone. The weird fetishes of some authors, the dirty secrets people whispered in their office when they thought no one could hear. I knew it all.

“Where are you going?”

God, not again. We had a few unpaid interns who were still undergraduates who worked around the office during the school year. They were usually scouted from some of the top English lit programs locally, or in Carson’s case, they were related to an executive.

“Coffee. Nothing that should interest you. Don’t you have some copies to make?” I rolled my eyes at the tall, good-looking jackass who enjoyed asking me pointless questions all day.

“Oh, come on, Kristi, you secretly love having me around.” My lip curled up at all the white teeth on display as he smiled at me.

“Nope.”

“Why are you so grouchy today?” He started following me down the hallway, not even breaking his pace when I glared at him over my shoulder.

Most of the guys in the office were the same. Tall, attractive, mildly intelligent, over-educated, and thought the world adored them.

“Go away.” Shoo...

“I can come with you,” he offered as he tried to keep up with my brisk walk.

“Those copies aren’t gonna make themselves. The whole office will shut down without you, Carse,” I teased in a faux pleasant voice. He really couldn’t take a hint.

“Ha-ha. We both know this office is mostly paperless. You’re one of the only copy editors who still insists on marking up a physical copy.” He looked so proud that he knew that. It only showed how creepy he was for watching me. We all had a preferred method of how we worked.

“And that’s why they keep me around. Because I catch things that the tablet jockeys miss.”

“And because you know how to wear the hell out of a pencil skirt.”

I stopped in my tracks, turning to face him as my bag hit the floor with a dull thunk. “Listen here, you little—“

“Kris! There you are. Adrian sent me to find you.” Sam gripped my elbow and tugged me back from where I’d stepped toward Carson. He bent down and grabbed my bag, thrusting it into my arms.

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