Flawless Desire

JULIET

Caleb Sterling must keep an extra shirt in his office.

That’s the stupid thought my brain hitches on while I’m fumbling to scoot myself into a chair.

Not that my potential boss just kissed the life out of me. Not that he’d leaned in and basically propositioned me in a public ladies’ room. Not that I enjoyed every last second of it.

Oh sure, those things are in my head, but they’re bouncing around like pinballs. I can’t quite process them. Heat, starting in my core, has crept up my neck, and is now threatening to engulf my entire face. My cheeks sizzle. And all the introductions basically go flying over my head.

All I can do is stare at him. The chiseled profile. The commanding presence.

And all Caleb Sterling can do is scroll through his phone, ignoring me all over again.

“So. Miss Nichols,” the HR man, a bald guy whose name I can’t remember, says, glancing over my resume. “Tell us about yourself.”

I try to pull myself together. There’s way too much at stake to screw this up over some kiss.

Even if it was spectacular.

“Well, I’ve worked a few administrative assistant positions recently,” I begin, “A financial magazine, a bookkeeper, I also assisted a small business owner—”

“Those aren’t strategic moves.” Caleb interrupts, finally looking up and fixing me with a piercing stare.

“I… Excuse me?”

“Your jobs. You’ve bounced around a lot.” Caleb says, almost sneering. “I would have thought someone like you would show more forethought. Planning. Calculating your optimal move.”

Someone like me?

I frown at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he’s talking about. I know my credentials aren’t impressive. I landed my dream job at a nonprofit in Chicago after college, but I had to move back when my mom got sick, and I needed to be there to take care of her. Dad split years ago, and it’s just the two of us. After that, I worked a series of admin and secretarial jobs, performing great—until there was an emergency, or I needed time to take mom to a doctor’s appointment. It’s tough climbing the career ladder when you can get a call at any moment that mom’s wandering the neighborhood again in her bathrobe, confused about how to get home.

But Caleb Sterling doesn’t know any of that—and I hope he wouldn’t be sneering at me if he did. Then I realize: He thinks I bumped into him today on purpose!

I have to stifle a snort of laughter, it’s so ridiculous. Does he really think I tracked him down to his morning coffee shop, engineered our meeting, and then, what, tempted him into kissing me?

Or maybe people do that to him all the time.

Maybe he kisses strange women every other Tuesday. I wouldn’t be surprised. Still, I don’t like him implying I’m some manipulative hustler, so I straighten up in my seat.

“Calculating isn’t a word I’d use to describe myself—as you’ve already said my resume shows. Maybe if I were, I would have been able to find more impressive credentials for you. But I think hard work and dedication should count for something. Don’t you?” I add, challenging him.

Caleb narrows his eyes. “It depends on what you’re dedicated to.”

“Well, what are you dedicated to?” I can’t stop myself asking. After all, he was the one who jostled me. Kissed me. “Expensive watches and fine Italian suits?”

I see Victoria gasp at my question, but Caleb seems amused.

“This expensive watch was handcrafted by my grandfather. It’s the foundation for this company,” he replies. “And as for my fine Italian suits… They feel rather nice against the skin. Don’t they?”

The glint in his eye as he gazes at me sitting in his shirt is the first sign he even remembers our bathroom encounter.

“I suppose.” I give a careless shrug. “I don’t usually get to enjoy them. Us mere mortals shop at the GAP.”

Caleb’s lips twitch, like he’s trying not to smile. My confidence grows.

‘He likes tenacity,’ I was told. ‘Don’t be afraid to talk back. It’s the only way to make him respect you.’

Since my resume sure isn’t doing the trick, it’s all I’ve got.