The Project

“What the hell are you wearing?”Devyn found himself asking as he took in the oversized grey hoodie with Eeyore plastered on the front, the light gray plaid pajama pants, and the matching Eeyore slippers that the small woman who had absolutely no idea what the hell she was doing was wearing, but then again, he knew that when he hired her.

When it became painfully obvious that his last assistant wasn’t going to work out, he had the H.R. department send him the files of everyone who was scheduled for an interview and looked over their resumés, the notes that the H.R. department made when they’d called their references and decided to go downstairs and have a look at the overqualified applicant that was hoping to join Carta Hotels. He’d been curious about the young woman who’d put the bare minimum on her resumé, just enough information to get her foot in the door, only to have her references give away more than she probably wanted them to.

Based on what they’d said, he’d been hoping that she would be able to quickly adapt to her new role, but so far, it wasn’t working out. She was organized, extremely focused, and goal-oriented, but unfortunately for him, it didn’t appear as though she had any of the qualities that made a good assistant. She couldn’t seem to focus on more than one thing at a time, never seemed to answer the phone in time, forgot to check his emails, became completely engrossed in whatever she was doing, and was completely oblivious to everything going on around her, and-

She kept showing up.

For that alone, he would give her another chance, Devyn thought as he carefully placed her on his desk before dropping down in his chair with a heavy sigh, beyond fucking exhausted. God, he needed a fucking break, but that wasn’t an option, not with everything that he still needed to do before he could sign those fucking papers. He was tempted, more than a little fucking tempted, to put this deal off until after his contract was renewed, but that wasn’t an option. Not with a deal this good and every member of the board desperate to gain control of Hillshire Hotels.

“Business casual for the career-minded woman,” Andi said with a firm nod, making his lips twitch even as he had to admit the real reason why he hadn’t fired her yet.

He liked her, probably more than he should. It also didn’t hurt that she was always early, worked hard, never bitched or complained when he asked her to do something, didn’t bother kissing his ass, and, of course, he hadn’t found her curled up in the fetal position underneath her desk yet.

“Open your eyes, Miss Dawson,” Devyn said, only to find himself sighing heavily when she said, “I’d really rather not do that.”

“And why is that?” Devyn asked as he forced himself to stand up, deciding to call it a night.

“Because I don’t think that I’m going to be able to afford the therapy bills,” came the sadly mumbled words that had his lips twitching.

“Let’s go,” Devyn said as he reached over and gently pulled her hands away from her ears, wondering if she had any idea just how fucking adorable she was.

“But I’ve gotta finish sorting through the files before tomorrow or my boss will beat me,” Andi said, opening her eyes as she gestured to the stack of files that he decided to grab in the morning on his way to the airport as he helped her off the desk.

“I’ll take care of it in the morning,” Devyn said, heading for the elevator only to pause by her desk to grab her backpack and hand it to her.

“Are you going back downstairs?” Andi asked, pulling the heavy backpack on as the elevator doors slid open.

“God, no,” Devyn said, gesturing for her to go ahead before he stepped into the elevator and leaned back against the wall as he closed his eyes because the last thing that he wanted to do was deal with more bullshit tonight. He-

“Why haven’t you fired me yet?” came the curious question that had him opening his eyes to find Andi blinking up at him.

“Do you want me to fire you?” Devyn asked, watching as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she took her time thinking it over.

Finally, she released the cutest fucking sigh that he’d ever heard as she said, “Probably not,” with a shrug that had his eyes narrowing on her when they finally reached the lobby.

“Probably not?” he asked as they made their way to the doors and waited for security to buzz them out.

Nodding, Andi said, “I like to keep my options open,” as they headed outside and-

“Where the hell are you going?” Devyn found himself asking when she walked past the walkway that would have taken her to the employee parking garage and headed towards the street.

“Walking home,” Andi said with a shrug as she headed across the street.

“Where’s your car?” Devyn asked as he gave up any hope of getting any work done tonight and quickly made his way across the street.

“I don’t have one?” she said, blinking up at him as he caught up with her only to ask, “What are you doing?”

“Walking you home. Are you going to tell me why you don’t have a car?” Devyn asked, sighing heavily as he glanced around them, noting everything from the men hanging out on the corner smoking to the dark alleyways, and found himself wondering what the hell she was thinking walking by herself this late at night.

“Don’t need one,” Andi said, shrugging it off as she continued making her way down the poorly lit street.

“Why is that?” Devyn found himself asking as he reached over and pulled the heavy backpack off her shoulders.

“Because I can’t justify the cost,” Andi said with a wistful sigh that had his eyes narrowing on her.

“And…”

“I failed my driver’s test five times,” she admitted with a rueful smile that had his lips twitching.

“Five times?” he asked as they headed down a side street towards the long line of apartment complexes that lined the street.

“I like to be thorough,” Andi said with a solemn nod.

“I can see that,” Devyn murmured as she gestured to the large apartment complex in front of them.

“This is me,” she said, reaching for her bag only to sigh when he headed for the front door, giving her no other choice but to let him walk her to her door.

“Let me ask you something,” Devyn said as he glanced down at the door, noting that the deadbolt had been thrown to keep the door open, the stripped screws holding the keypad to the wall, and the spot on the wall where the security camera should be, and had to remind himself that she wasn’t his responsibility.

Looking up at him, she said, “I would really rather not relive the disturbing things that I overheard tonight.”

Nodding, Devyn murmured, “Fair enough. Then, why don’t we talk about the reason why you were in my office at ten-thirty at night in your pajamas?”

“You mean besides hiding under your desk?” Andi asked, blinking up at him.

“Besides that,” he said, sighing heavily as he reached over and opened the door, gesturing for her to go inside.

“I don’t think that it would be in my best interest to answer that question,” Andi said as she ducked beneath his arm and headed inside.

“Fair enough,” Devyn murmured as he followed her inside, pausing long enough to release the deadbolt so the door locked behind them before he followed her down the long hallway lined with notices covering everything from late fees to the weird smell in the laundry room.

“You didn’t have to walk me home,” Andi said as she came to a stop in front of a door with an Eeyore sticker above the peephole.

“Yes, I did,” Devyn said, handing her bag to her before he leaned back against the wall and found himself wondering about something as he considered her, only to decide that it didn’t matter.

“Then, thank you for walking me home and for not answering the really disturbing questions that will haunt me for the rest of my life,” she said with a solemn nod that had his eyes narrowing on her.

“You’re welcome,” Devyn said dryly as he gestured for her to go inside.

With another nod and an absently murmured, “Goodnight,” she let herself into her apartment and closed the door behind her while he stood there waiting until he heard the deadbolt lock. Once he knew that she was safe, he headed back the way that he came, making sure that the front door locked behind him. As he made his way back to his car, Devyn checked his email, double-checked his flight time in the morning, looked over his schedule for the week, the back-to-back meetings that he had lined up with Hillshire Hotels, noting that he would be back before Friday, giving him plenty of time to go over everything again before the meeting.

By the time he reached his car, Devyn managed to answer the emails waiting for his attention, deleted the text messages from Janet hoping to entice him into doing something incredibly fucking stupid, resigned himself to making sure that Andi had a ride Monday morning so that she wouldn’t have to walk to work, and-

Realized too late that he wasn’t alone.