Page 21 of Mr. Not Quite Perfect

I could tell from the expression on Alice’s face that she had no idea what I was talking about. “Let’s just say it didn’t end well. It was a one-night-stand disaster.”

“Oh,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Uh-oh, then.”

“Why are you saying ‘uh-oh’?”

“Well, if you had a one-night-stand disaster, then it seems unlikely that your working relationship will be amazing.”

“I know. But I’m just going to pretend it never happened. I’m going to be very professional and polite, and I’m not going to tell him he’s a bastard or a jerk-off or should sit on a dildo.”

“Sit on a dildo?” she said, laughing.

“I don’t know. It just came to me. Anyway, the point is, I’m not going to be rude to him. I’m going to be polite, and—”

“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” The HR lady was staring directly at me. “I know you might be excited about your placement and who your mentors are. But I haven’t finished with the discussion.”

I pressed my lips together. I could see Alice’s lips were trembling, but she didn’t say anything. We both looked toward the front of the room.

“Thank you. Now, as I was saying…”

The door opened again, and Travis walked in. His eyes were directly on my face. I turned away from him quickly. Did he know he was going to be my mentor? That I was going to be his assistant? Had he made this decision and asked for me? Or had it been some random twist of fate? The gods didn’t like me; they wanted to punish me for being so easy.

I bit down on my lower lip. That was highly unlikely that the gods would care about my one little one-night stand. I mean, some people sold their bodies for money. Some people stole things and murdered people, and they weren’t punished. Would I really be punished for one night?

“Hi. Sorry to interrupt, everyone. But, Molly Malone, are you in the room?” Travis said. I tried not to glare at him as if he didn’t know I was in the room.

“I’m here,” I said, sticking my hand up.

He turned to look at me. “Very nice to meet you, Molly. I actually have a business meeting in about thirty minutes, and I’m going to need you to take notes. So I would like you to leave this meeting early. Is that going to be okay, Janine?” He looked over at the HR lady.

“Of course, Mr. Covington. Anything you want, Mr. Covington. I was just wrapping things up.”

“Great. Thanks, Janine. Molly, grab your stuff and come with me, please.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, feeling like I should salute but knowing that would draw even more attention. I looked over at Alice and touched her shoulder. “Well, I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Good luck.”

“Thanks.” I looked around the table at the other new hires, who were all looking at me with varying degrees of envy and jealousy on their faces. “So good to see everyone. And looking forward to our meeting on Friday, where we discuss how the first week went.” I gave everyone a little smile and a wave. Some people nodded, but no one wished me good luck or seemed like they were terribly upset that I was leaving the room.

“And thank you for the great information, Janine,” I said to the HR lady with a huge smile. “I’m so getting myself some mutual funds this week or when I get my next paycheck.” I bit down on my lower lip as she looked at me with almost-open hostility.

I could tell that she didn’t like me and was probably wondering how in the hell I got the job and how in the hell I’d gotten the position of being Travis Covington’s assistant when I was so clearly not qualified.

“Come on now, Ms. Malone. We don’t have all day,” Travis snapped at me.

I tried not to roll my eyes and walked behind him. “Yes, sir. No, sir. Anything you say, sir.”

He turned to look back at me with one eyebrow raised. “Are you being… insubordinate?” he said, frowning, though I could see the mirth in his eyes.

“No, sir. I would never think such a thing, sir. I’m very grateful for this position, sir. I hope to learn a lot from you.”

“Oh. I’m sure you do,” he said, a wicked little smile on his face as we left the room. He closed the door behind him and stopped and stared at me. “Are you going to play these games all week, Molly?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mr. Covington.”

“Uh-huh,” he said with a nod. “You don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“No, sir. Should we get to the meeting, sir? Am I taking notes, or—”

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