Parker stopped laughing but the grin didn’t leave his face. “This makes so much more sense now. No wonder you’re in a shitty mood. You’re scared that your intern is going to show you up. You’re worried she is actually better at this than you.” “Fuck off,” Liam snarled. “Don’t you have work to do?” Parker got to his feet slowly, his face still split with a mile-wide grin. The smug bastard. Liam wanted to wipe that stupid smile off his face and it didn’t even matter that Parker was his best friend. The bastard was supposed to help him, not make fun of him. “I’ll go, but don’t think I won’t tell the others. This is fucking hilarious.” “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Get out of my office and do some goddamned work.” Parker opened the door but turned back to Liam. “Drinks tonight?” he asked. “I’ve got tickets to that new club.” “Sure,” Liam replied even though it was the last thing he felt like doing. He would have readily agreed if Parker had suggested a quiet drink in a dark bar somew
Liam was already walking and she had to jog to catch up with his long-legged stride. “Break room,” he said, showing her the large open-plan kitchen area with several tables and chairs. “There’s a Nespresso machine and Carter keeps fresh fruit in the fridge and gourmet cookies in the cupboard. If you bring your own lunch, make sure you label it and maybe padlock it too because some of the staff think that anything in the fridge is a free-for-all.” He smiled while he said it and she felt her heart flutter and her cheeks redden under the perfection of it. “There’s a really good cafe downstairs,” he went on, “if you’re not into making your own coffee or if you just need to get out of the office for a while. We’re pretty relaxed with breaks, as long as you’re getting your work done. If you need to take your laptop out to the cafe and work, that’s fine too, just let us know where you are.” She nodded but she was afraid she looked like some weird bobble-head doll. She couldn’t help it.
The quick introduction they’d had in the morning meeting had been too brief for anyone to get a good read on her and he wanted his friends and business partners to get to know her…for business purposes, of course, not for any other reason, not because he needed them to like her in case something actually developed between them because that would definitely not be happening. No way. He couldn’t afford to get tangled up with her, not when he had Jonathon looking over his shoulder waiting for him to slip up so he could move in and steal his mother away from him…whoa. He didn’t really think that, did he? “A moment, Liam?” Jack said as they turned to leave his office. Liam looked between Jack and Mia before replying. “Of course,” he replied. Turning to Mia he said, “Would you mind going down to the cafe downstairs and getting us both coffees?” Mia nodded. “Sure, um, how do you have it?” “Just a flat white for me,” Liam said. “And Jack?” Liam looked at Jack, surprised. Had she t
Liam spent the rest of the day in his office with the door closed. He’d shown Mia around the offices and then set her up in her cubicle and told her to familiarize herself with the entirety of The Playbook. They were an online magazine, but not all of their content was free. He didn’t think Mia had paid for a subscription, so he gave her the access she needed and told her to go through all of it and as many of the archives as possible. It would keep her busy until he decided just what he was going to do with an intern and it gave him some breathing room. He’d never realized just how hard it was to concentrate when you were preoccupied with trying not to touch or smell the person you were working with. He, himself, had barely gotten any work done. He didn’t know what the hell to do with Darius Carathurs. From the press photos he’d seen of the guy, he was a typical AFL footballer with a lot of tattoos and a style that could be called athletic at best, or sloppy if Liam was being hones
Her fair skin paled even more. She was striking to look at; tall with long dark hair. She reminded him of the actress who played Wonder Woman…both of them. “He’s one of the owners?” Liam nodded. “So am I,” he said with a smile. “Liam Thompson.” “Shit,” she said, looking at his outstretched hand for a moment before taking it and shaking. “Is this going to be a problem?” she asked, letting his hand go and looking over to the sullen, closed door of Jack’s apartment. “If Carter approved you, then I’m sure it will be fine. You might just need to give Jack a wide berth for a couple of days until he gets used to it.” “Is he always like that?” “Like what?” She made a swirling motion with her hands indicating the place where Jack had stood yelling at her. “Like that?” Liam laughed. “Not always, but he doesn’t like surprises.” “Good to know,” she said, turning back to Liam. “My name’s Dianna,” she said. “Prince?” Liam asked with a smirk. Dianna rolled her eyes. “Fletcher,”
Showered and feeling marginally better, Mia gathered up all her underwear. All the new ones she’d bought that afternoon, plus all her ones from the laundry basket and she shoved them in her laundry bag. She would never ever again forget to make sure she had clean underwear for a workday. Every moment of going commando under her skirt had been torture and she was just waiting for someone to say something or notice and it was half the reason she’d been so on edge all day. The other half belonged to Liam Thompson, her boss, and the man she currently had love/hate feelings for. She hated the way he’d been so dismissive of her and her abilities, but she couldn’t forget the way he made her body feel. No one had ever turned her on so much and he managed to do it with just a look. He smiled at her and she was putty in his hands and she hated herself for it. Peyton was constantly scolding her for playing the dumb girl around hot guys but Mia didn’t do it on purpose. She really did get dumb aro
“Yo Minnie Mouse!” Frankie said when he answered the phone. “How is my little sister on this fine evening?” Mia rolled her eyes. “Fine.” “What do you need, princess? I’m just getting ready to go out.” Mia huffed out a breath. “I need a favor,” she said. “Can I meet you at the pub? I’m just headed to Ma’s to drop my washing off, can I meet you after?” “Sure. See you soon.”“Minnie Mouse!” Frankie cried as he walked into the pub and saw her sitting in their regular booth. It wasn’t one of the fancy gastropubs that were popping up all over the place. It was an old place that had been the regular haunt of the Carrs through the generations. Frankie waved to a few of the regulars sitting at the bar and called to Rachel behind the bar. “I’ll have a Carlton Dry.” She nodded and Frankie made his way over to where Mia waited nervously nursing a Raspberry Vodka Cruiser. “So what’s up?” He asked, sliding into the seat opposite her. “I need a favor,” she said. “It’s for work.” Fr
“They’re here,” Taylor, one of the editorial assistants, said, sticking her head in Liam’s office. “Carter wants you in the conference room.” Liam nodded and pushed up from his desk. He felt like shit. He’d barely slept and the very last thing he wanted was to deal with Carter and this stupid competition. Mia was at her desk as he stormed out of his office. “Come on,” he said to her over his shoulder. “Carter wants us.” Mia scrambled after him but he didn’t shorten his stride. It was better if she stayed behind him. He couldn’t smell her shampoo or body lotion or perfume or whatever it was that triggered those sensory memories and tied him all up in knots. Carter was standing at the head of the conference table and two men stood on either side of it, staring each other down. One of them he recognized—Darius Fucking Carathurs in all his tattooed footballer glory—and the other one looked familiar, but Liam couldn’t place him. Carter looked like the fucking cat who swallowed the