Page 11 of If You Could Only Believe
I was already shaking my head at the crazy man. “Are you insane?” I asked, my brain clearly not recognizing that his man was head of HR. So much for being a freakin’ genius. “You can’t…can’t...” I was struggling. “…work…do my work!” His lip quirked, and I glowered at him.“Quit doing that!”
He struggled to keep the smile off his face. “Yeah, sorry,” he mumbled, not sorry at all. “I forgot I’m not allowed to smile at you.”
I stood up and pointed a finger at him. I was so going to lose my job. “And quit laughing at me, Mr. Buchanan.” Just because I understood why people laughed at me and treated me like I was stupid didn’t mean I had to stand for it.
Then he did something that stopped me cold.
He grabbed my finger and yanked on it until my hand was trapped against his chest. “I’m not laughing, nor will Ieverlaugh at you, Sophia,” he said, sounding sincere. But all I could focus on was my hand in his up against his hard chest.
Holy shit! I think I’m going to have a heart attack.
I pulled at my hand, but he wouldn’t let go.He. Would. Not. Let. My. Hand. Go.
I looked up into his perfect face. “Please let go of my hand,” I all but whined. “You’re making me nervous.”How could he not see that?
Michael instantly dropped my hand and apologized. “I’m sorry, Sophia,” he said. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” He let out a breath. “But you are going to shut down your computer and attend the party with me. That’s not negotiable.”
Attend the party with him?
“Wh…what do you mean attend the partywith you?”
He smiled again, and I swear to God, I almost slapped him. But then figured I ought to slap myself and snap the hell out of it. “Well, since you’re here, I’m assuming you don’t have a date to accompany you, so you’ll go with me and hang out with my family.”
Hang out with his family?
WHAT. THE. HELL?
I leaned into him. “Do you do drugs? Is that it?”
Michael threw his head back and let out a genuine, from the belly laugh. It sounded beautiful. “Jesus Christ, Sophia, you’re killing me here, baby.”
Baby?!
Mary, Jesus and Joseph!
This wasnothappening.
Before I could respond, Michael stepped around me and logged me off my computer. Without my consent or agreement, he reached over to the cubicle hook that held my purse and light sweater. He held my sweater up, and I mutely pushed my arms through the sleeves and allowed him to dress me. Michael handed me my purse next and I couldn’t help how aggressively I yanked it out of his hands.
He laughed again, and I hated that I was going to get fired for slapping the boss.
Chapter 6
Michael~
Ten minutes in Sophia’s company and I knew exactly why Katrina Roth didn’t like her. Sophia Martella spoke her mind, and I imagined that when she did it around Katrina, she brought Katrina’s ugliness to light.
After I overheard her conversation with-who I now know to be-Rachel Hill, I had pulled up their personal files when I had gotten back to my desk. Katrina was easy to find, as she was the only Katrina at the supervisory level in the company, but Rachel was a little harder to find.
Both their files showed them as exemplary employees, so there was nothing there. And then, next, I had pulled up Sophia’s file, and she had been easy to find, as she was the only Sophia employed with BI.
Everything was in there, from her genius IQ to her performance appraisals. I thought that it was ridiculous that her file cited her with a genius IQ, but her appraisals were mediocre, at best. The more I read, the more I realized that Ms. Roth was sabotaging Sophia and holding her back.
If Sophia’s IQ was really as high as documented, she should be at a supervisory level right below any of us. And while Rachel was right to call her quirky, they were wrong about everything else.
Sophia Martella wasn’t ugly, plain or fat. She was refreshing, pretty and had curves that had my dick twitching in my slacks.
She had a pile of coffee-colored tresses piled high on her head with wisps of wayward strands flying all over the place. She had naturally expressive brows that weren’t drawn on to look ridiculously identical.
