Page 3 of From That Moment
“Ha-ha. I’ve never once heard aBrady Bunchjoke in my life. Gasp. You were the first person to ever make one. Ever.”
“Prior.”
“No. Let’s get this out. I don’t know why you don’t like me. Maybe you don’t like anyone. That’s your prerogative. We’re going to be working together for the next six months, and yes, you’re going to be checking my work. Thank God. I’m going to make some mistakes. Hopefully, not ones that break the whole damn system, but I’m going to make mistakes. I’m going to need help getting the bugs out. And that’s your job.”
“And you don’t mind the fact that I’m going to be the one scrutinizing your work?”
“Paris. You’re good at what you do.”
“And how do you know that?”
“Because Hazel and the other girls constantly say that you’re brilliant and tell me about what you do. I just didn’t think you workedhere. I never asked.”
She blinked at me. “The girls said that?”
“Of course. You are all smart, talented women.” I purposely didn’t saybeautifulbecause we were at work, but Paris was fucking hot.
Long, dark hair and a slender body with curves in all the right places. I had taken note before, of course, and I was kicking myself that I had noticed in the way I had.
Today, she even wore glasses, big square ones that were in fashion these days, and that only made her look hotter.
In fact, she had worn these glasses before, and I’d had a fantasy of her bent over my desk as I…okay, enough of that.
We were working together now, and I had Allison, my girlfriend.Sonot the images I should have in my mind.
“I need your help here, Paris.”
“So you say. But you were in here with Benji when he was talking how he usually does.” She blew her bangs from her face, kind of fogging up her glasses a bit as she did, and I held back a smile.
She was so damn cute. I shouldn’t be thinking that at all. Only, it was the friend part of my brain that did so. And I had to keep that thought from my mind because it would be rude as fuck to say something like that about a coworker. I needed to change the way I thought about Paris.
I could do it. At least for six months. Right?
“I thought that Benji was a jerk, and I was going to call him out on it, but then you walked in.?
“So you say,” she said. And once again, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“It’s the truth, Paris. You don’t have to believe me, but hopefully, you’ll see it eventually. I’m not the asshole you think I am.” I paused. “I know…language.”
She turned away from me, letting out a long breath. “They call me the Shark. You heard that?”
“I did. I thought it was a good thing in our line of work. I don’t think it is from your tone or his.”
“They call me Shark because I smell blood in the water when it comes to mistakes, and they like making fun of my period.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, my hands fisting at my sides. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Oh, they haven’t said it out loud to me, but I heard one of the guys whispering about it once. So, I’m going to assume that’s what he meant.”
“Fucking assholes. Why do you put up with it?”
“You’re serious? I put up with it because I love what I do, I make damn good money, it has a fantastic health insurance plan, and…as I said,I’m damn good at my job. I’d have to deal with this no matter where I went. So, they can all be leery of me and just watch me do my best work, or I can whine about it to the boss constantly and never get anywhere.”
“Jesus,” I grumbled. “You don’t have to worry about that from me. I’m not one of those guys.”
“I guess we’ll have to see, won’t we?” she asked, lifting her chin. “Because you’re only here for six months. I’ve been here for a long damn time. This is where I want to stay. So don’t fuck this up for me. And yes, language. See what you made me do? I’ve become Paris in the streets, rather than Paris at work.”
The fact that my mind went to Paris and thesheetswas something I’d have to deal with.