Bargaining with the Boss (Honeybrook Love, Inc. 2)

"Ugh, I pity you." Natalie said, trying to catch the girl's attention.

"I have no idea why. I get to spend every day looking at him." Eliza sighed. "Do you think it's weird to get involved with your brother-in-law? I've heard of twins marrying twins, so it's not like it's illegal."

"It would just make for some truly awkward Christmases if it didn't work out. Besides, trust me when I tell you Brooks Adams is not the marrying type."

"I don't have to be either." Eliza tilted her head to the side and her cascade of dark hair fell into the bushel of flowers. "I can see why his last secretary had trouble typing. I might have trouble remembering to breathe."

"I think you're missing the point." Natalie snapped. Seriously, she had to find a way to break through to this girl for both their sakes. Maybe if she made a special office training video "Things to avoid when working for Mr. Adams." She could come up with some nifty little catch phrase like: "If you look him in the eye, you'll know your heart is sure to die."

Okay, she'd work on that part. But it had promise.

Natalie pushed the other woman's flowers out of her bouquet. "Eliza, dear, you're drooling. You might want to take care of that."

Though Eliza rolled her eyes, she wiped her mouth in a subtle just-in-case motion. "Oh, don't be like that. I won't get in the way of the two of you."

"The two of who?"

"You know, you and Brooks."

"Me and—?" She spluttered. It was too ridiculous to bother finishing the sentence. Pairing herself up with Brooks Adams was the equivalent of matching Big Bird with Marilyn Manson. One had never fully reached adulthood while the other clearly had some deep issues to work through. And the image of them together?

She nearly chuckled just picturing it.

Eliza toyed with a petal on one of the roses. "Well, you got all red when you saw him--"

"From rage." And agitation. And annoyance. And frustration. And every other possible variation on that theme.

"What about the way he looks at you, though? All dark and sexy like? Like he's going to eat you for dinner." Eliza licked her upper lip as if to emphasize her point.

Why was she even bothering with this? The point of training Eliza—other than ensuring she wasn't as piss poor as the other secretaries in the building--was to make sure she, Eliza, didn't fall into this trap. Natalie was taken care of. She was so far away from that trap that it was practically on another plane—No, another solar system.

Natalie cleared her throat and started again, "I really have no idea what you're talking about, but I promise you Brooks Adams has no interest in me and even if he did, I would never ever in a million years consider being with someone like him."

"Why not?'

"It doesn't matter. Hey, don't you have spreadsheets to organize? While you're at it, take these flowers with you. They're giving me a headache."

Eliza tilted her thin lips to the side, and then said, "What do you mean it doesn't matter?"

"I mean that I'm not dating. And aside from that, I'm not interested in Brooks. You just have to learn to feel the same way." She took a deep breath, and then her stomach turned in on itself as she swallowed a nose-full of rose stink. Whatever resulted in this, she had to get rid of the goddamned things. And fast.

"Okay, so, you're adamant that he's not a guy to date. Why? The newspaper stuff?"

"Eliza, those spreadsheets--"

She waved it off. "Humor me. You said I need to put things in perspective." She shrugged. "Perspective-ize for me."

"He's...I don't know. He’s arrogant. And conceited. And he's one of those corporate guys, the kind that expect you to be arm candy and to pay attention to which of their colleagues kids just got married and who is actually screwing who. I'm a little too blunt for the glitterati, and based on what your sister has to say—."

"Okay, I get it. But...are you sure it outweighs the sexiness?" Eliza waggled her eyebrows.

Natalie grinned and handed her a fresh stack of papers. "I'm positive. Maybe in high school or college it's cute to have a guy who'd only into sex and parties, but at my age—"

"Don't you mean my age?" Eliza smiled.

"Just get to work, okay?"

"Okay, okay. I'm jut saying, he’s a guy who runs one of the fastest-growing matchmaking companies. It’s not like he could be that down on commitment. Plus, it sounds like you've put some serious thought into this...for me, of course." Eliza winked and Natalie had half a mind to shove another stack of paperwork at her.