Page 43 of Submit to Mr. Billionaire

She snorts. “No.”

“You got a promotion?”

She rolls her dark eyes. “Come on, get serious?”

“Jordan called you back?”

She waves her hand through the air. “Screw Jordan. He can call all he wants now. I’m not picking up. No!” She tosses her coat into the chair. “I got you an interview.” She smiles wide.

Shock washes over me. What does this mean? She got me an interview? An interview where? Where she works? For her brother?

In finance? Gross, I don’t want anything to do with finance. I’m a photographer for crying out loud.

“What?” is all I can get out.

“There was a sign posted in the break rooms at work today. I guess the guy who usually takes all the photos at work quit so they’re hiring a new one and I applied for you, took it straight up to Alec, and got you an interview.”

“A finance company has a photographer on staff?” I ask, confused.

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I mean it’s not going to be your dream job, but you’ll make good money every single week. It’s something that will help you save some money to open your own studio.”

I nod, wetting my lips. “Okay. So like what kind of photos would I be taking?”

“Pictures for employee badges, guest pass, and then Alec is starting a monthly newsletter. It’s going to have all the boring stuff but it’s also going to be like this mini paper. So you’ll be taking pictures for that. Just the goings on around the office daily, any special thing we have like office parties, employee of the month, company birthdays. You’ll also be in charge of keeping these photos on file and handing them out to any media that needs pictures for articles they’re writing. Alec wants the images pre approved before going out and being used and this is the best way to do that instead of letting some newspaper pick a random picture online.” She shrugs. “But you’re missing the best part. You’ll get to take pictures and you’ll be earning a decent income with benefits!”

I smile at her excitement. Really, it is the best thing I could ask for right now. “Thank you so much,” I tell her, pulling her in for a hug. “And hey, maybe I’ll get to start paying you back soon.”

She snorts as she pulls away. “You know I’m not keeping track of that stuff. The way I see it, if I was living alone, I’d be paying the same thing.”

“But you’re not living alone.”

“Even better. I have my best friend here with me.” She shoots me a smile.

I laugh and shake my head. “You know how much I hate having you support me.”

She takes my hand in hers, giving it a light squeeze. “I know, but it’s not forever. Just until you get your footing. Hell, if itwasn’t for having an all powerful brother, I might be in the same spot as you.”

We both laugh at her description of her brother.

“I’m starved. Let’s get dinner.” She springs up from the couch, looking down at me.

“You know I can’t afford that right now.”

“It’s on me.”

I groan.

She laughs. “Shut up. I’ll buy dinner tonight and you can buy me dinner when you get your first check.”

“You’re acting like I already have the job. I have an interview. What if I go in and completely bomb it?”

She playfully smacks my shoulder. “Shut up. You know you’re getting the job. If you don’t, Alec is going to have all sort of problems on his hands. Let’s go.”

Ash forces me to get off my butt. I pull on my coat and the two of us make our way out of the apartment and out into the windy streets of Chicago.

We walk quickly through the cold to our favorite corner bar. We walk in and are greeted by a whoosh of warm air. We both melt from the heat in the room, instantly thawing out from the city’s harsh winter.

We’re seated and handed our menus. We order a pitcher of our favorite beer to share and figure out what we want to eat while we wait.

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