It’s ridiculous. I don’t get flustered, but this woman’s presence is like a live wire buzzing under my skin, and it’s scrambling every logical thought I’ve got.
I grip my pen tighter, forcing my focus back to the page in front of me. Ask a question.Anyquestion. But when I open my mouth, the words dry up, and all I can think about is how her voice tickles places in me that haven’t woken in years.
If I don’t dismiss her now, I’ll say something I can’t take back or worse, and everyone in this room will know exactly what I’m thinking.
I nod once. “Thank you, Ms. Jones. That’ll be all.”
She blinks. “I didn’t show you my portfolio.”
“You can leave it on the table. We’ll review it.”
She straightens. “With respect, the work reads better when I can walk you through the constraints, budgets, and sustainability targets I met?—”
“And with respect,” I interrupt, eyes still on the page, “out there, you won’t have time to narrate competence. It should be obvious on the paper.”
“Itisobvious if you’ll just look.”
My eyes lift, meeting hers. A challenge. Heat climbs my collar.
Mya slides the folio closer. “If you’re going to pass on me, pass on thework,not the assumption you made thirty seconds into meeting me.”
The room thins to the two of us. I hold the silence until it bends.
“Noted,” I say at last. “You’re dismissed.”
Mya sets her jaw. “Thank you for your time.”
She adjusts her blouse, and walks out with her head high.
As soon as she steps out, I turn to Dre.
“We can’t hire her.”
4
MYA
“We can’t hire her.”
Mr. Miller’s words echo into the corridor just as I step out of the boardroom.
My spine stiffens.Asshole.
“Worth, with all due respect, she has so much knowledge and skills she can bring to the table. And that project proposal of hers—” Andrée says.
“I don’t care. We can’t hire her.”
I rush down the hallway before I can hear anything more and collide with a man carrying a tablet.
“Hey! Watch it!”
“I’m so sorry!” I say, stumbling backward, cheeks burning.
Way to go, MJ. Not only did you bomb the interview, you’re now the girl who causes traffic jams in the hallway after arguing with the CEO in front of theentireboard. Who does that? Of course that’s what cost me the position.
I knew I shouldn’t have come. What was I thinking, applying to the biggest construction firm in North America with no experience?
And worse than all that? I ogled Worth Miller like I was under some kind of horny spell.