“Anything else?” I asked her as I read over HR’s message before tossing the sticky note in the trash. I had no interest in whatever changes they were making to orientation. As long as they made sure my new employees knew what the hell they were doing, I didn’t care how they trained them.
“Oh, yes. Brittany wants you to meet the new marketing interns,” Molly replied as she looked up from her tablet.
An annoyed sigh broke from me as I leaned back in my seat. The last thing that I wanted to do was entertain some bouncy college interns. Brittany was in charge of dealing with them, so I didn’t know why I had to meet them.
“When?” I muttered. I was going to make this little meet and greet as fast and painless as possible. I wasn’t feeling very inspiring, certainly not up to a pep talk which I was certain was the reason Brittany wanted the interns to meet me. I didn’t feel like some hotshot billionaire right now. I felt like a soon-to-be failure.
Molly gave me a sheepish look. “Probably any minute now,” she replied.
That meant that they were on the way to my office. I didn’t want them to come inside because they would take a seat and stay for way longer than they were welcome. It was best if I met them out in the hallway. That way, I could excuse myself and go anywhere else.
“I’ll meet them halfway,” I told her as I stood up from my desk. I walked past her, pulling open my door the rest of the way and stepping out into the hallway. I didn’t even get to make another step before I suddenly ran smack into a dark-haired woman and hot coffee coated the front of my shirt.
Chapter 3
Madison
The only thing that I could do was stare at Tyler Ashland in pure horror as the remains of my coffee dripped down the front of his shirt. I couldn’t believe I had just spilled coffee on the billionaire boss of the company that I was interning for.
“I… I’m so sorry,” I said, stumbling over my words as I tried to get over my shock. I didn’t expect him to be coming out of his office at the same time that I was going in. It was a complete accident, but he looked pissed off like I spilled coffee on him on purpose. “I can go grab you some napkins.”
Tyler waved me away like I was some pestering fly. He looked down at his soaked shirt with a scowl, shaking his head. “There’s no room in this company for clumsiness and incompetence. I’m already up to my eyes in work,” Tyler ranted as he shrugged off his suit jacket, trying to save it from the coffee stains.
Sara remained quiet from beside me as she stifled a laugh at my mistake. Her eyes spoke her desire, though, as she trailed them up Tyler’s well-built body. Even through his button-down, it was obvious that he had the perfect balance of lean muscle.
“Molly, grab some napkins from the breakroom,” Brittany told a young blonde that came out of Tyler’s office with wide eyes.
Molly nodded and darted off down the hallway.
“I don’t know who you are, but it’s customary to not run into people when they’re trying to go somewhere,” Tyler told me. His voice was sharp with agitation, and I felt like a little kid being scolded by an annoyed parent.
“It’s her first day, Mr. Ashland. Her name is Madison, and she’s one of the marketing interns,” Brittany said, jumping to my defense. She shot me a gentle smile. “She’s one of the best and brightest in her class.”
Tyler’s agitated expression didn’t waver from the introduction. “Let’s hope you can teach her how to function,” he muttered. “I need to go change my shirt.”
I watched Tyler brush past me to storm down the hallway. My eyes remained wide in shock during the entire time. I couldn’t believe how rude he was! I had a feeling that he would be strict like a lot of bosses were, but I didn’t expect him to be a complete dick. He acted like I threw coffee on him on purpose, like I was trying to establish dominance and mark all over his territory.
Brittany placed her hand on my shoulder in a comforting manner.
“Sorry about that. He’s been… under a lot of stress lately,” she told me.
“That’s understandable. No one likes having coffee spilled on them,” Sara commented with a hint of a smile on her glossy lips.
Was it wrong that I wanted to punch her in the face at that moment? I was so embarrassed, and it didn’t help that Sara found all of this hilarious. I nearly cost myself my internship right then and there. Maybe it was even still in jeopardy. Thankfully, Brittany was the opposite of Tyler and had a heart and soul. If someone cut Tyler open, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was full of coal.