Page 6 of Flirting with My Billionaire Enemy

Let’s meet in my office at 9 am. Breakfast will be provided.

I glance at the time. It’s almost midnight. I guess we work around the clock at Keith Enterprises. Well, we’ll have to if we’re going to get our project out in time. As infuriating as Kaison is, the last thing I want is for this job to be a temporary situation. The goal is to convince them to keep me on so I can work out bugs in the software and optimize it along the way. If I can’t deliver the product to them in time, they may go on to find another software developer.

But I’m not willing to completely give up my writing for my day job either. It’s been my dream for a long time to become a published author. I’ve been working on my manuscript for the past ten years, and I’ve queried dozens of agents. Some of them were nice enough to read it and give me feedback, and I’ve worked hard to get better and learn how to implement what they’ve suggested. But it’s a crazy competitive market.

I’m about to respond to him when Farah knocks on my open door. “You still up?” she asks.

I hadn’t even heard her come home from the club. I must have been too absorbed in my manuscript. “Yeah. I was just trying to get some writing in.”

She’s in a red dress that’s about to cut off her blood supply and impossibly tall heels that look like torture devices. “How’s that going?”

“Just swimmingly.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Let’s just put it this way. A two-year-old could probably come up with a better chapter than I can tonight.”

She laughs. “Does that have anything to do with how your first day of work went?”

I groan. “Don’t ask.”

She raises an eyebrow. “I thought that might be why you’re struggling to write.”

“You’ll never guess who my new boss is.”

She sits on the corner of my bed and kicks off her ridiculous shoes. Sometimes I wonder if she wears those heels so she can have a backup weapon to keep the creepers off her at the club.

“Who is it?” she asks.

“Kaison, the guy from the club.”

“No kidding! You never told me you were working for Keith Enterprises.”

I shrug. “I guess it never came up.”

“So spill.” She makes herself at home on my bed, tucking her legs behind her and rolling onto her side. I have no idea how she can lounge about in that torturous-looking dress, let alone breathe. “How did Kaison act when he saw you at work?”

“He didn’t even recognize me!”

“What?” Farah’s mouth falls open.

“I know I looked different last night after your makeover, but am I really that unrecognizable as my normal self in comparison?”

Farah shrugs. “I am a master at contouring.” She jabs a finger into the air like she’s proud of herself. “And the smoky eye. Let’s not forget that.”

“I assumed Kaison recognized me, too, so when he seemed clueless, it made me hate him even more.” I stand by my decision to dress sensibly at work, though. I don’t think Kaison would have taken me as seriously if I’d come to work with a full face of makeup with fitted clothes and my hair down and loose. He probably would have dismissed me as some brainless beauty.

“Why do you hate him so much? All he wants is to flirt with you a little.”

“The last thing I want is to be objectified in the workplace. I wish he’d never seen me at the club.” The majority of my college classes were filled with dudes, and I’m working in a field that is male dominated. It’s rough being a woman in the tech industry. So I learned early on to ditch the makeup around my colleagues.

“There’s nothing wrong with flirting with a beautiful woman at the club. Isn’t that the point?”

Farah’s not going to let it drop. “But I don’t want anyone flirting with me.” I could end up falling for someone who will eventually hurt me. I don’t like too much attention on myself. Unless I’m at the office and my boss is telling everyone how amazing my work is. That’s different.

“So tell me what else happened today.”

“Some guy named Toby put me in this horrible, tiny office. Kaison ended up giving me Toby’s much nicer office. I have this amazing view now. My new office is the second nicest on the entire floor. Only Kaison’s office is better, and he’s the boss.”

---