Page 31 of All the Drama from New York

The last thing she wanted was for Ryan to be uncomfortable, and end up making his first day his last.

Half an hour later Ryan and Camille were standing side by side in the small kitchen just off the design studio drinking their coffees and eating their delicious almond croissants. The coffee beans had met with her approval, and he’d made a quick mental note to buy a bag of them from the coffee shop to restock the office machine.

Today he’d strip down the coffee machine, clean it thoroughly, and from tomorrow morning start making fresh brews here on site. He’d dazzle Camille with his barista skills. Make himself so indispensable his new boss would never want to let him go.

“Here is your keycard for the front door and also for the elevator. It is coded to both this floor and also my apartment downstairs,” said Camille, handing Ryan a small plastic card.

“We used to have a coded keypad, but some of the other tenants kept forgetting their codes and it became a nightmare having to go down and let people in.”

“Thank you,” said Ryan slipping the card into his jean’s pocket. He had a spare lanyard at home left over from an old job and would bring that with him to work tomorrow.

That’s if he lasted that long.

Camille was weirdly nervous around him. When she spoke to him, she barely looked his way. She flatly refused to meet his gaze.

Oh god is she having second thoughts about employing me? I want this job, but maybe she doesn’t need me after all.

She was a lot more nervous with him than she had been the other day when they’d first met. And definitely more than when her cousin had been with her. If she’d had a bad experience with another man at some point, he was going to have to tread very carefully, and do everything he could in order to gain her trust.

But she’s just given me the key to the studio and her apartment. I don’t understand what’s going on.

Camille sipped her coffee, then took a small bite of her almond pastry before setting it aside. Gripping the edge of the counter top his new boss let out a shaky breath.

It was natural for him to be nervous on his first day, but she was positively jumpy.

This doesn’t auger well for a close working relationship.

Ryan was still wondering if his employment would make it all the way to lunchtime, when Camille suddenly turned to him. When she let out yet another nervous sigh, Ryan braced himself for the worst. Any moment now she was going to tell him this had been a mistake, and she was going to have to let him go.

I knew I should have got Liam to buy that case of pity party beer.

“I’m sorry if I am behaving a little strange Ryan. I should have brought this up the moment you gave me your surname. Or at least before you started this morning.”

Ryan’s hand, which had been about to pick up his croissant, stilled in midair, then dropped to his side. “Brought what up?”

The question sounded as hollow as he felt. His hopes that this would be the first job where no one raised the subject of his moment of national humiliation began to quickly fade.

Camille silently chastised herself. He didn’t want her to mention the tv show. The look of pain on Ryan’s face was the same as the one he’d worn that night on the beach. When he hadn’t been chosen as the winning bachelor.

“I’m so sorry. I was only thinking of how awkward this was for me, when what I should really have done is kept my mouth shut. I promise, we won’t speak ofBachelors on the Beachever again,” she stammered.

But the damage was done. And no matter how much either of them might wish the subject ofBachelors on the Beachto go away, there was no stuffing it back into its box.

“I was kinda hoping since you’d arrived around the same time as I was on the show you might not have seen it. Or did you find out about it when you googled my name?”

This was one of those ripping off the band-aid moments that Bryce was always talking about. She could only hope that the pain wouldn’t last too long.

“Would you believe, the series premiered the night I arrived in New York? I watched every episode. You were the blond guy who they kept making Thor jokes about.” She reached out and patted him gently on the arm. “But you were much more than just a cute barista. I cried all over a fabulous platter of sushi when that stupid girl Kaylee didn’t choose you.”

He gave her a tight laugh in response. “I can’t believe you ruined perfectly good sushi over a fake reality dating show.”

Silence fell over the small kitchen space, broken only when Camille finally whispered, “It didn’t look fake to me. I really thought you were in love with her, and I was so sure you were going to win. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been.”

Ryan met her gaze. He hated that they were having this conversation on his very first day, but he also felt a sense of relief. At least this way, if anyone else brought up the subject ofBachelors on the Beach, he wouldn’t have to explain it all to Camille in front of some stranger. Painful as it was, this was the best place for them to have this discussion and hopefully move on from it.

“You must know that most of it was staged. A great deal of what you saw on screen was scripted, and rehearsed,” he said.

It was a flat out lie, but it was better than admitting to his new boss that Kaylee had torn his heart out in front of a live audience of millions. She’d played him for a fool, and he’d been utterly humiliated.

---