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The Design(12)

By:R. S. Grey


I smiled, proud of myself for standing up against him.

“Yes sir,” Beatrice spoke through the intercom before Grayson removed his finger from the button, silencing his office once again.

“Go find Kate in HR. She’ll give you a new employee packet.”

“Thank you, Grayson,” I said with a bright smile.

I couldn’t believe it. I was hired. What my actual position would be? I couldn’t tell. At that point, I was just glad I wouldn’t be forced to answer phones for nine hours a day.

I gathered my things and checked to make sure nothing had fallen out of my pad folio onto his floor. He stayed behind his desk as I walked toward the door, skipping over the customary handshake. I yearned for him to say something, to go back to describing his feelings about me. I knew that once I left his office, I’d never hear him speak of it again. I’d probably convince myself that I’d made the whole thing up in a week’s time.

“And Cameron,” he spoke, forcing me to pause as my hand hit the doorknob. I turned my head to look back at him, hope brimming through every pore. “It’s not Grayson. It’s Mr. Cole. I’m not your friend while you’re here.”

I bristled at his reprimand. There he was. The formal prick. He wanted to put me in my place, but I knew his secret now. You can’t just turn attraction off like a light switch. I may have had skinned knees and smudged makeup, but I was the same girl I’d been for the last twenty-two years, which meant—deep down—Grayson was still attracted to me. A small smirk unfolded across my lips as I realized the power that knowledge gave me.

“And what about when I’m not here?” I asked, tilting my head to the side and staring into his blue eyes with more confidence than I’d felt all morning.

He studied me for a moment, unmoving, then he pressed his finger back onto his phone’s intercom button. “Beatrice, please escort Ms. Heart out of my office and then get Mitch back on the line.”

I laughed at his obvious choice to ignore my question and then turned and saw myself out of his office. No need for the escort. Beatrice gave me a knowing glance as I passed by her desk, and I smiled.

As I rode the elevator down to the first floor, I thought of the deal I’d made with myself. I had a very clear outline: concentrate on work, save up, and then fly away to Paris forever. But… maybe, there was room for an amendment to the plan? The end goal would remain the same, but what did it matter if I had a little fun before I left?

After all, I’d just landed my dream job, so it looked like I was onto the newest item on my to-do list:

Grayson Cole.





Chapter Four





I left Cole Designs and took a cab directly to Brooklyn’s condo. No passing go. No collecting two hundred dollars. She opened the door for me and stared wide-eyed at my disheveled ensemble before ushering me inside.

“You look like crap-ola,” she said, swinging the door open wide. Sisters can get away with saying things like that. Anyone else would have gotten a swift kick to the face.

“I need alcohol. All the alcohol.”

Brooklyn laughed and eyed me suspiciously as she pulled down two mugs from a cabinet. “Let’s start with coffee. It’s not even noon yet.”

Could it really still be that early? So much had already happened.

“Okay, but it better be mostly amaretto.”

I watched Brooklyn move around her kitchen, admiring her long blonde hair piled up on top of her head in a loose bun. She was usually out and about by this hour, either at the studio, recording an album, or driving around town for meetings. I must have caught her on a slow day because she was still in her pajamas. (Which, by the way, had little crunchy tacos dancing down the pants. The matching shirt said “Jalapeño business”. Ha. My sister is witty.)

“Remember when you and your sweet piece of man candy first met?” I asked.

“His name is Jason,” she warned over her shoulder. “But sure, what’s up?”

“Yeah, Jason, that’s what I said. Anyway, I had a morning that kind of tops everything that ever happened between the two of you.”

“Wow,” she laughed. “That’s saying a lot, but y’know whatever.”

“No, seriously, you guys are so yesterday,” I joked.

Brooklyn narrowed her eyes playfully. “Well. Not really. I mean all of the magazines are still reporting about our—”

“Yeah, we get it. Two pop stars fell in love while riding horses and eating cow pies. Boooring. You guys are like a Lifetime movie where the moral is ‘be attractive’.”

“You have two seconds to get to the point or I’m kicking you out of my condo,” she threatened while pointing toward the door.