Page 10 of Shape Of My Heart
She stirred a little and he poked her arm again, trying towakeher.
“Girl, woman.” She looked young, like early-twenties young, so he wasn’t sure which was best. He also couldn’t remember her name. “PA person.” He shook her armagain.
Still nothing, justthatstir.
He looked at her and thought she would be right at home in one of them family films likeThe Wizard of Ozor sitcoms likeThe Brady Bunch. He smiled as the perfect name for her cametohim.
“Hey Kansas, wake up.” He almost laughed when her green eyes fluttered open. Her eyes widened as she looked at him, trying to work out who he was and whereshewas.
As realization hit her she jumped up and looked about her with that terrified expression she had earlier when the rat ran overherfoot.
“You have rats,” sheshrieked.
“Theylivehere.”
She glowered at him, looking at him as if he was crazy. “How can you say that? They’re rats. And they weren’t even pet ratseither.”
“Like I said, they live here. If you don’t like them you can leave.” He drew his brows together and glaredather.
“I don’t like it, and no I won’t leave. I’m here to work and if you don’t like it you can call the copsonme.”
He almost laughed again. She certainly had spunk. He kind oflikedthat.
“This is my house,” he reminded her. That stalled her a little, but didn’tstopher.
“I’m you’re PA. There’s a lot that needs to be done. Particularly in preparation for your public appearances, and your upcoming game. Don’t you want all of that organized so you can just worry about playing and training? Or whatever it is you do duringthistime?”
He thought about what she was saying and what Zelda said. They both had relevant points, but he decided he couldn’t be bothered to deal with this now. He didn’t know what he wanted and what he was going to do. Everything was a mess and he couldn’t make any rationaldecisions.
He’d have to think about what he was doing, but not now. He was already more sober than he usually was at this hour and he feared the impending guilt that would hit him full force if he remainedthisway.
Allegra and Cindy were upstairs waiting for him, and he just wanted to grab more beer and get backtothem.
“Mr.Mancini—”
He held his hand up, interrupting her. “If you must stay here, please don’t call me that. Mr. Mancini is my father. CallmeJosh.”
She held his gaze with those emerald eyes of hers and he found himself lost in herbeauty.
“Josh, the house is a mess. You need to have it cleaned, and call pest control. You can’t have rats running around like theylivehere.”
He smiled at her as a plan brewed in his mind. He wouldn’t get rid of her. No, that would cause too much trouble. He’d just drive her crazy, just like the last PA, and she’d leave on her own accord. Then he could let Zelda and the senior management know he could do everythinghimself.
“No, you can sortthatout.”
He watched her full lips tighten and her eyes widen again. Then he walked off to grab his drinks before she couldprotest.
* * *
What an absolute jerk!An absolute jerk. He didn’t even ask her if she was okay. What kind of person was soheartless?
Amy had fainted because he was so nasty he had disgusting rats in his house, and he was practically on the brink of throwing her out again. No decent persondidthat.
She took a moment to steady her fuzzy mind, and when she did she called pest control and asked them to come straight away. Thankfully they came within the hour and managed to catch the two rats. They also set traps for any others that might announcethemselves.
Mr. Mancini—Josh—didn’t come down the whole time the pest control men were here. He just stayed upstairs with those women doing only God knew what. Or, maybe God himself didn’t want to know. The whole thing made her feel extremelyuncomfortable.
She was still feeling unsteady from the incident earlier, but pushed aside her feelings and focused on working. Amy resumed her cleaning tasks in the office and managed to get it to a reasonable degree so she could get herself started on her actual work. She thought she’d tackle the other parts of the houselater.
