Her Best Match (The Best Girls 1)

“What’s wrong with your desk?”

“You’re right. I’ll just go back to my desk.”

She picked up her computer and headed back down the hall with Gherring in tow.

“What did Henri have to say today?”

Anne stopped in midstride.

“I know that’s your computer, not the office computer. And I’ve learned you talk to him in the afternoon.”

“I… I’m…”

“It’s not like I can stop you. Obviously, I’ve tried to warn you, and you won’t listen.” He started walking ahead of her. “You don’t have to lie to me. If you like him that much, I’ll leave you alone.” He tried to go into his office and shut the door, but Anne shoved her way in behind him.

“You don’t want me to lie to you? Here’s the truth! I don’t know how much I like Henri—I haven’t gotten to spend enough time with him to know. But the little time I have spent with him, he made me feel special and he treated me with respect. I don’t understand why you care so much whether I talk to Henri. You know, you aren’t my father! Or my big brother!”

“I don’t want to be your father or your big brother either!”

“What you want is to control me. And you can. You can be my boss about everything but my personal life!” She pivoted on one foot and stalked from the room, shutting the door behind her.

The rest of the afternoon passed with Gherring secluded in his office and Anne hard at work on the presentation. Jared emailed the bulk of his presentation information to her by three o’clock, but Jeff arrived at her desk with a file in hand at four fifty-five.

“Hey, there’s a lot of stuff I need to go over with you. What say we talk about it over dinner?”

Anne cringed inwardly, but managed to keep a civil voice. “I’m really too busy with work to do dinner. And anyway, aren’t you dating someone?”

“We’ve gone out a few times, but we aren’t exclusive.”

“I’m sort of dating someone.”

“You mean that French guy, Henri? The one you went to the gala with?”

Anne nodded.

“He’s in France, isn’t he? Surely you’re not exclusive with him when he’s across the Atlantic Ocean!”

“I really don’t think that’s any of your business.”

“I say, when the cat’s away… I can just scratch that itch for you. It doesn’t have to be anything serious.”

With a leer on his face, he leaned in close. “You know, you’re so hot—I bet you’re a real tiger in the sack.”

Anne’s mouth fell open and she struggled to breathe. She leaned back as far as possible, but he invaded her space. “I have a really good friend in my pocket who’d just love to meet you.”

“I… You…” Anne’s eyes filled with tears. She was mortified. How had she let him get this close? She didn’t even know what to say.

“Jeff,” said Gherring’s voice from his office door.

He quickly straightened up and threw Mr. Gherring a professional smile. “Mr. Gherring, Anne and I were just working out some details about the presentation.”

Gherring walked over to stand between Jeff and Anne’s desk. Though Jeff was over six feet tall, Gherring still looked downward at him. “I heard you ‘working out details.’”

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “I’m sorry… She’s been giving me signals—”

Anne sprang up from her desk. “I have not been giving you signals! Except for maybe a great big stop sign! And I’d like to say if your ‘friend’ ever comes out of your pocket when I’m around, I’ll cut his head off with a meat cleaver!”

Jeff’s face was as white as a sheet. “Look, I didn’t mean anything. I just misread you, okay?”