Page 17 of Cocky Prince
Mira takes a sip of her lemonade. “Your eyebrows, really? I’m just saying, you should try. Does he push you away like the others?”
“Not exactly,” I say warily.
“Right. He doesn’t. You even said last night that it wasn’t him you were angry with, but some of the things you’ve had to put up with at Blue. From what I’ve seen, Adam has tried to be your friend. Granted, he pushes your buttons, which I think he does intentionally to get a rise out of you. He’s not a bad guy.”
“He harasses me.”
Mira’s face scrunches in disbelief.
“He argues with me nonstop,” I add.
“That’s not harassment,” she points out.
“It makes me want to throw a stapler at his head, so I consider it pretty darn harassing.”
Mira balls up her napkin and spins her legs over the metal picnic-style bench, which causes every male head to swivel in her direction. “I’m just saying, in addition to your background check on Blackwell, be…a little more open to a friendship with Adam. He’s a resource you’ve yet to tap.”
“Tap?” What exactly does she want me to do with him?
She rolls her eyes. “Poor choice of words. You know what I mean.”
I dab the corners of my mouth with my napkin and stand. “I’ll try. But I make no promises. If he bugs me enough to consider strangling his handsome neck, I will not be held accountable for murder.”
She chuckles. “You two. You should have gotten a room months ago.”
Get a room? Is she crazy? “I don’t care how good-looking Adam is; he drives me nuts. I’ll remind you when disaster strikes that this wasyoursuggestion.”
She grins. “This should be interesting.”
After parting ways with Mira in the Blue cafeteria, I head to my office, speed-walking past Adam’s door, just in case he’s out loitering. I said I would try. I didn’t say it would begin today.
I’m a few steps past his office when I hear my name called. My shoulders slump. I groan quietly and turn around.
“Do you have a moment?” Adam asks, his hands tucked into his suit pants, coat opened to a dress shirt stretched over an athletic chest and trim waist.
I am strong. I can do this.
Maybe Mira is right. Maybe now is the perfect time to start being more civil toward Adam. I plaster a smile on my face. “Sure, what’s up?”
Adam’s eyes widen marginally. Okay, so maybe that was a little too cheery compared to my normal demeanor around him.
“I thought you might want to know that I found an assistant. I hired her this morning. She’sideal.”
The glint in his eyes can’t be a good sign. I saw Adam last night. How the hell did he find and hire someone in a few hours? “She?”
“She.”
“How did you recruit her?”
“Let’s just say she’s a customer service professional. She’ll be perfect in hospitality.”
Civil, friendly, I remind myself. “Well, congratulations. I look forward to meeting her.” My civility has its limits. “But you know, you haven’t won the bet yet. We agreed on two weeks. If she’s still here after that, then we can talk.”
He grins, but his eyes narrow. “You can’t fire her, Hayden. That would nullify our deal.”
I turn and continue walking down the hall, saying over my shoulder, “Oh no, that’s your job.”
Chapter Seven
