My time at Heaven Sent was kicking into high gear, now that I was into my second week of the job. No more introductions. It was time to get some work done. I was at my desk, silently cursing the mountains of paperwork that I’d managed to accumulate in such a short time. I was normally quite the neat-freak, and the disarray was bothering me.
“Hey Natalie!” Paulina stood at my door, poking her head into my office. I’d met her briefly the day before; she was the PR manager, my counterpoint. A petite bundle of Vietnamese energy, she was exactly how I’d pictured Heaven Sent employees: gorgeous. “What’s up? How’s week two?”
I sighed. “Good, but I can’t find the report Cathy gave me last week. I know I put it right here,” I said, motioning to the top of my desk. “I can’t believe I lost it.”
“Oh, relax, I’m sure it will turn up. Hey, I was thinking about going across the street for lunch, would you want to come?” she asked with a big smile.
I was about to invent an excuse when my subconscious hissed at me. She’s trying to be nice, Reese, don’t be a bitch. Of course, my subconscious was right. So what if I’m normally more inclined to take lunch at my desk each day? The West Coast was all about re-inventing yourself, right? And at a new job, I needed every ally I could get.
I pasted on a smile. “Sounds great. Noon?”
“Perfect!” she squealed. “I’ll swing by on my way to the elevator!”
Cathy and I had a check-in scheduled for that morning, so after an unfruitful thirty minutes of searching for that damned report, I made my way down the hallway toward her office. As luck would have it, Brad was in there with her, working on her computer. He was leaning over her shoulder as he used her mouse, and both of them looked rather excited by whatever was on the screen. He really was rather attractive, his striped button down rolled up to the elbows, and his khaki pants just tight enough so I couldn’t help but take in the outline of his backside. I paused there for a moment, enjoying the view until I grew perplexed by how close they were. I mean, they were thisclose. That was weird, right?
“This is so great, Brad. God, I love technology,” Cathy said, and it was obvious they hadn’t noticed me standing in the doorway.
“Ahem,” I said, clearing my throat.
Cathy and Brad whipped their eyes over, but barely budged.
“Natalie, come in. Brad was just showing me the most wonderful thing. We’re going to be able to save thousands of dollars by hosting our demo site internally before the launch.”
I sat down in one of the leather chairs on the opposite side of her desk and leaned in to see her screen. “Really? That is awesome. Good thinking, Brad.”
He stood up from behind Cathy and shrugged. “We aim to please,” he shrugged before checking something on his iPhone. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, duty calls. I believe Kent has managed to lock himself out of the online database.”
“Isn’t that the second time this week?” Cathy asked.
“Third,” he smiled. “Ladies.” He nodded to us both, and as he passed me, he winked.
And suddenly my stomach was all flutters, roses, and lollipops.
Fuck.
“So Natalie, now that you’re more settled in,” Cathy started as I desperately tried to refocus, “I wanted to talk to you about taking over the audience development project.”
I pulled out my pad of paper and started to take notes. As she spoke, I got more and more excited; the project sounded huge, and had a lot of potential to influence the direction of Heaven Sent.
“Now, one last thing you should know—” she paused and considered her words before continuing. “Paulina was the project lead on this before we hired you, but she is overloaded and Marketing really should be taking the lead on this work anyway, so you’ll be taking over for her. She can give you all the notes on the project up to this point, but I really want you to be the one carrying it
“Hey Natalie!” Paulina stood at my door, poking her head into my office. I’d met her briefly the day before; she was the PR manager, my counterpoint. A petite bundle of Vietnamese energy, she was exactly how I’d pictured Heaven Sent employees: gorgeous. “What’s up? How’s week two?”
I sighed. “Good, but I can’t find the report Cathy gave me last week. I know I put it right here,” I said, motioning to the top of my desk. “I can’t believe I lost it.”
“Oh, relax, I’m sure it will turn up. Hey, I was thinking about going across the street for lunch, would you want to come?” she asked with a big smile.
I was about to invent an excuse when my subconscious hissed at me. She’s trying to be nice, Reese, don’t be a bitch. Of course, my subconscious was right. So what if I’m normally more inclined to take lunch at my desk each day? The West Coast was all about re-inventing yourself, right? And at a new job, I needed every ally I could get.
I pasted on a smile. “Sounds great. Noon?”
“Perfect!” she squealed. “I’ll swing by on my way to the elevator!”
Cathy and I had a check-in scheduled for that morning, so after an unfruitful thirty minutes of searching for that damned report, I made my way down the hallway toward her office. As luck would have it, Brad was in there with her, working on her computer. He was leaning over her shoulder as he used her mouse, and both of them looked rather excited by whatever was on the screen. He really was rather attractive, his striped button down rolled up to the elbows, and his khaki pants just tight enough so I couldn’t help but take in the outline of his backside. I paused there for a moment, enjoying the view until I grew perplexed by how close they were. I mean, they were thisclose. That was weird, right?
“This is so great, Brad. God, I love technology,” Cathy said, and it was obvious they hadn’t noticed me standing in the doorway.
“Ahem,” I said, clearing my throat.
Cathy and Brad whipped their eyes over, but barely budged.
“Natalie, come in. Brad was just showing me the most wonderful thing. We’re going to be able to save thousands of dollars by hosting our demo site internally before the launch.”
I sat down in one of the leather chairs on the opposite side of her desk and leaned in to see her screen. “Really? That is awesome. Good thinking, Brad.”
He stood up from behind Cathy and shrugged. “We aim to please,” he shrugged before checking something on his iPhone. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, duty calls. I believe Kent has managed to lock himself out of the online database.”
“Isn’t that the second time this week?” Cathy asked.
“Third,” he smiled. “Ladies.” He nodded to us both, and as he passed me, he winked.
And suddenly my stomach was all flutters, roses, and lollipops.
Fuck.
“So Natalie, now that you’re more settled in,” Cathy started as I desperately tried to refocus, “I wanted to talk to you about taking over the audience development project.”
I pulled out my pad of paper and started to take notes. As she spoke, I got more and more excited; the project sounded huge, and had a lot of potential to influence the direction of Heaven Sent.
“Now, one last thing you should know—” she paused and considered her words before continuing. “Paulina was the project lead on this before we hired you, but she is overloaded and Marketing really should be taking the lead on this work anyway, so you’ll be taking over for her. She can give you all the notes on the project up to this point, but I really want you to be the one carrying it
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