The Project

CHAPTER4

“What do you think?” Andi asked as she waited for Drew, her twin brother, best friend, and the man that she was counting on to tell her that she wasn’t making a mistake to say something.

Drew opened his mouth only to close it and rub his hands roughly down his face as he said, “Explain this to me again.”

“I’ve decided to accept a position as a personal assistant,” Andi said with a firm nod, knowing that he would see how perfect this job was for her as soon as he stopped looking at her as though she’d lost her damn mind.

“And why did you do this?” Drew asked, sighing heavily as he dropped his hands away.

“Because the opportunity presented itself,” she said, watching as pale green eyes narrowed on her as he considered her.

After a moment, he slowly nodded as he pointed out, “You’re not easily distracted.”

“Which makes me perfect for this job,” Andi said even as she couldn’t help but wonder why she’d never considered doing this before. It was a task-oriented job that allowed her to stay far away from the accounting department, gave her a ten percent discount at the employee cafeteria, and unlimited access to the supply closet. It was honestly the perfect job for her.

“Let’s try this another way,” Drew murmured, clearing his throat. “How many times did you have to answer the phone today?”

“None?” Andi said, wondering where he was going with this.

“And you don’t find that odd that the CEO of one of the largest hotel chains in the world didn’t receive a single phone call all day?” Drew asked with a pitying look.

“Maybe a little,” Andi murmured, reaching up to rub the bridge of her nose to hide her wince, reluctantly admitting to herself that she may have gotten a little distracted there for a bit with all her new duties and the aforementioned unlimited access to the supply closet to notice if the phone was ringing.

“And his emails?” Drew drawled.

“What about them?” she asked, realizing that her first day might not have been so great after all.

“How did you handle them?”

“By leaving them alone?” Andi said, really hoping that was the right answer, only to feel her shoulders slump in defeat when he only stared at her.

Swallowing hard, Andi mumbled, “I wasn’t supposed to do that, was I?”

Sighing heavily, Drew cupped her face in his hands and said, “You suck at this.”

Glaring, she shoved his hands away and snapped, “It was my first day,” wondering why he was being so difficult about this. For the past two years, he’d been telling her to quit her job and find one that didn’t leave her struggling to find the will to get out of bed in the morning. Now that she had, the big jerk that she was counting on to help her was being unsupportive, which really wasn’t going to work for her since she was counting on him to tell her that she wasn’t making a mistake by taking this job.

“There’s no way in hell that you’re going to be able to do this,” Drew said with a helpless gesture in her direction.

“Why not?” Andi asked, frowning in confusion because she really didn’t think the job was going to be that difficult once she got the hang of things.

“Because that freakishly large brain of yours will never let it happen,” he said, shrugging as he reached over and gave her a patronizing pat on the head.

“I can do this,” Andi bit out, slapping his hand away.

“You can’t even make coffee,” Drew pointed out, sighing heavily as he dropped down on her small couch and took in the stack of books that she’d helped herself to from the library covering the coffee table before shifting his attention to the small kitchen table where another stack of books awaited her attention and the stack by her bed.

“I made it today,” Andi said with a firm nod, watching as Drew reached over and plucked the book on administrative organization off the coffee table and turned the thick book over in his hands.

“And?” he asked, throwing her a questioning look as he tossed the book back on the coffee table to join the other books that she was really hoping would be enough to help her keep this job.

“He didn’t complain,” Andi told him, even as she thought about the panicked expression on Devyn’s face every time she brought him a fresh coffee.

“Why don’t you come work with me? I know that I could get you an interview,” Drew said with a sympathetic smile.

“I don’t want to work in accounting,” she reminded him.

“It wouldn’t be in accounting,” he promised her.

“Really? Then what exactly would I be doing at the fire department?” Andi asked, blinking innocently as she watched him open his mouth, close it, clear his throat, and mumbled, “Fair enough. What’s the plan?”

“To figure out the best way to get through this without ending up working in the accounting department again,” Andi said, knowing that she wouldn’t have a choice if she couldn’t do this. She also knew that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it happened, but…

She hated it.

She hated everything about working in the accounting department, from the depressing beige cubicle walls that never failed to depress her to the never-ending supply of spreadsheets, invoices, and receipts that found their way to her desk, all while she struggled with the soul-crushing boredom that threatened to swallow her whole. She liked numbers, they always came easy to her, but she wanted to try something new, something that didn’t require her to spend the rest of her life trapped in a cubicle doing something that she hated.

Not that she’d ever applied to work in the accounting department because she hadn’t, but every time she landed a job that she was excited about she somehow ended up working in the accounting department instead. But not this time. This time, she had a plan. She was going to learn the ins and outs of this job, figure out how to make coffee, and do everything within her power to make sure that her new boss never found out what she could do.

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