Beg Me (Mess with Me 1)

Mya squeals. “Milo? What the hell? You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Now you can see me? Oh that’s good. I figured I must be invisible considering that you rushed right past my open door and couldn’t see it.”

“I was in a hurry,” she protests.

“You were being weird. Which we agreed not to do.”

Her face falls. “You’re right. That was weird and rude. I guess I just don’t have a lot of experience with this kind of thing.”

“Believe it or not, neither do I. Things are awkward, I get it but our plan will work if we both commit to it. If we work together, I know we can come up with some kick ass campaigns that are sure to wow the Lavin

team.”

“Sounds good to me.” She sets her coffee on the edge of the table just as Anya walks in carrying another vase of flowers.

The sight of that obnoxious bouquet causes an unexpected pang in the center of my chest. Before Mya can move, I jump up and take the flowers from Anya, putting them on the worktable in the corner.

“Meet me at my place after work. I’ll text you the address,” I whisper so Anya doesn’t overhear. “We can work on our campaigns.” My eyes go to the flowers in the corner again. “And have a bonfire.”

Then before she can overthink it, I lift her chin and plant a soft kiss on her lips. Anya gives me a thumbs up before she backs out of the room.

“You shouldn’t have done that. Anya is the biggest gossip in the office. They’ll all be talking about us before lunch.”

She says it as if that should frighten me but truthfully I don’t care if the whole office is gossiping about us. Whatever they’re saying isn’t going to come anywhere near the actual truth.

“Let them talk.”

14

By the time the end of the day rolls around, my eyes are burning from staring at my computer screen. I’ve been working on my design ideas for the Lavin campaign all day but so far nothing I’ve come up with is good enough.

My eyes stray to the clock in the upper right corner of my monitor. Milo is expecting me to come over tonight to work on our campaigns together. In theory that sounds like a good idea but then when you break it down, I have to remember that he is still my competition. Our ideas are going to go head-to-head and Mr. Lavin can only pick one of them. So why should I give up my ideas to him ahead of time? We’ve built a temporary trust between us but I’m still not ready to put all my eggs in that basket. It’s better if I develop my ideas independently so there can be no misunderstandings later.

Mr. Lavin is going to love what I come up with. And I don’t want anyone else trying to take credit for my ideas.

James pokes his head in from the hall. “How are things going?”

“Great. The research we did before the meeting has been useful. I’ve come up with several possible directions we could take for a bridal campaign.”

“Fantastic. I haven’t heard anything else yet but once Mr. Lavin is ready to move on this, I’d like to be able to accommodate his schedule.”

Which is a subtle warning to get it together in case the client asks for a meeting out of the blue. No pressure or anything.

My phone blares the raunchy lyrics to Big Sean’s I Don’t Give a Fuck About You and we both pause in shock. I grab my bag and stick my hand inside hoping and praying that for once I’ll find my phone quickly amidst all the junk in there.

I Don’t Give a Fuck About YOU. The volume is even louder now that I’m holding my bag open.

James coughs slightly. “Right, I’ll check back in with you later. I have a meeting.” He’s trying to talk over the sound of the music but it’s nearly impossible.

“No problem, boss. I’ll put together a draft campaign for you to review by the end of the week.”

I Don’t Give a Fuck… my face flames as I continue to rummage through my bag… About YOU.

James is still smiling when he walks away.

My office door is wide open and one of the interns from Kevin’s department scampers away when I look up. Damn Ariana and her crazy ringtones. Every time I leave my phone around her, she programs in whatever song captures her current feelings. I guess she was feeling nihilistic last time. By the time I find my phone the ringtone has finally stopped.

Ari: Drop whatever you’re doing. I’m off work early and in the mood for margaritas.