Bad Teacher

“I just don’t think we’d be a good fit. Nothing personal,” he says, slamming his lips together like he wants to say more but won’t allow himself to.

God … and to think this interview started out so well. Who’d have thought he’d suddenly make a U-turn. Not me. Must be something on his mind.

I take a deep breath and grab my bag. “All right.” I get up and hold out my hand, shaking his with pride even though I feel defeated. “I’m sorry I couldn’t persuade you. Thank you for your time.”

“I’m sure you’ll find the perfect internship,” he says, holding my hand a little longer than I’d anticipated.

Before I leave, I turn and look at him again. He’s still staring at his laptop, but when his eyes finally meet mine, I feel like there’s more to this story than he’s letting on. They betray something in him … A weakness I can’t put my finger on.

And it played a part in this conversation.

“You’ll regret this,” I muse, giving him the cutest smile I can muster.

But right as I walk out the door, his voice rings in my ears. “I know I will.”

Chapter 3

TJ

Minutes later, Beau, one of my employees, barges right into my office. “What just happened?” He closes the door and folds his arm.

“What?” I shrug.

“That girl.” He cocks his head. “You let her walk out of here?”

“Yeah?” I don’t really know what else to say.

I can hardly explain it.

Like … hey, I liked her application, but I can’t accept it because she sent me her dirty panties?

That’s some conversation starter, all right.

After sleeping with a potential intern, sniffing her panties is the second stupidest thing to do, and it’s totally not acceptable when it comes to hiring people. I can’t mix work with my private life. It’s just not okay.

I frown, sighing out loud.

“Why? You were excited about her coming here to apply all day long. And now you suddenly back down?”

“It’s none of your business,” I reply. “Were you snooping on me?”

“Honey,” he says, snorting. “Do you see that glass over there?” He points at the two windows near the edge of the door. “I can see you from my desk, you know.”

“Oh, right, I forgot. You read lips like a pro.” I roll my eyes. Like he ever lets me forget. He’s always up in my business, listening to conversations and butting in where he shouldn’t be. That’s Beau. But at least he always has the best insight into things, and I really can’t do without his advice.

He’s like my personal psyche or something. Except he’s just an employee doing his work. And trying to do other people’s work for them.

“What are you hiding?” he asks.

“Nothing,” I say, closing my eyes. “Look, I just need some time to think about it, okay?”

“Damn right, you do,” he says, snapping his fingers. “Boy, what’s wrong with you? She sounded perfect for the job.”

He sits down in the chair in front of me and grabs one of my pencils, twirling it around in his fingers. “You know that, and you know you need someone too.”

“I got you, Beau. What else could I need?” I muse jokingly.

He sticks the pencil into the automatic sharpener and starts toying with it. “You know as damn well as I do that I’m too busy to be your assistant.”

“I could give you a bigger salary,” I say.

“TJ …” He raises his brow. “Don’t go there now. We already talked about this.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I lean back in my chair. “You’re way too good to be working under my rule.”

He sniggers. “Exactly. Plus, my strength lies in design. Not marketing.” He points the half-shaved-down pencil at me and says, “And that’s exactly what her forte is.”

“I can’t hire her, all right?”

“Why not? What’s wrong with her?”

“Uh …” Now that I think about it, I can’t really name anything.

Except for the fact that …

“She never even talked about our company and what we do. I don’t think she knows. She hardly seemed like she did her research.”

“So? Who cares. I’ve seen her resumé.”

“You’re snooping in my laptop too, now?” I raise a brow.

“No, pfft,” he says, blowing off some steam. “Of course not, silly. You just looked at it while you were in the cafeteria, and I happened to walk by at the time.”

“Right …” I smash my lips together and roll my eyes again.

“The point is,” he says, placing his hand on the table, “she has the drive. She wants to learn and succeed. Someone like that is invaluable. With her kind of passion and fire, can’t you imagine all the things she could do for this company? Bring it new life. Maybe even give you that spark you need too.” He winks.

“Spark? What are you talking about?”

“You know as well as I do you’ve been in a slump lately. It’s all because of that—”