Graham Bradley isn’t impressed when a smart mouthed woman tries to tell him how to do his job. At least not until he realizes she is right! But it doesn’t take long to also realize he wants more than just pointers on how to make his paper more successful. The chemistry between them is off the charts in the best possible way.
Starting over will have to wait.
EXCERPT
Graham looked at Andi. “I could use help.”
“Obviously,” she said.
“So. When can you start?”
She leaned closer to him, tilting her head as she looked up curiously, as if she didn’t understand him. “Excuse me?”
“I’m probably going to regret this, but I’m offering you a job.”
She laughed. “I didn’t come in here looking for a job.”
“No, you came in here hell-bent on telling me how to do mine.”
“Somebody had to,” she practically sang.
“I need someone who knows her ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to putting a paper together. I’ve been looking at that layout for almost an hour and still couldn’t get it right. It took you ten minutes.”
“The flag is too big.”
“You also graciously corrected my grammatical errors,” he said, ignoring her criticism. “I need some backup, not just with editing and layout but writing as well. I can’t run this paper alone, not to the standard that I want.”
“You don’t know that I can write.”
“If you can edit like this, you can write.”
She lifted her shoulder and let it fall casually. “I’m just passing through town.”
“How far are you going to get without that cash you had hidden in your suitcase?” He grinned when the defiant look on her face fell. “I was at the diner to interview you about the break-in.”
“Oh, so you don’t normally go around harassing defenseless women?”
“Defenseless?” He laughed. “Hardly. It seems you need the money as much as I need the help.”
The fun of the game faded, as did her smirk. “I’m just passing through, Mr. Bradley.”
Graham stared her down for a moment before he shrugged. “Right. That’s okay. You probably couldn’t handle the stress anyway.”
Andi creased her brow. “What?”
“The demands of publishing a daily paper are pretty intense. It takes someone who can work well under pressure.”
“And you don’t think I can?”
He was playing her with his feigned innocence, but damned if she didn’t feel herself falling for his manipulation when he said, “I’m just saying it takes a special breed to survive in journalism.”
“A special breed?”
“You know, long hours, lousy pay—”
“Constant scrutiny by inept editors,” she added.
Graham nodded. “There is that.”
“I think I can handle the job.”
“Great, so you can start right now by cleaning up the rest of the layout.”
“I didn’t say I was taking the job,” Andi clarified. “I said I can handle it.”
“Of course you can,” he said in a patronizing tone.
She guessed that the fire in her eyes was enough to burn him alive, but he simply smiled in a way that made her want to do nothing more than prove him wrong.
“And I’m sure that if you weren’t in such a hurry to get wherever you are going,” he continued, “you’d have me and this paper turned around in no time.”
“I’m quite confident.”
“But you have places to be. Where are you headed again?”
“I didn’t say.”
He nodded dramatically. “Right. Well, I’m sure you have some great life you need to get back to—”
“I do,” she said, cutting him off. As she did, she wondered if he somehow knew she had nothing. Nowhere to go. No job waiting for her. No welcome party planned when she reached her destination. A destination that she hadn’t really figured out or planned for beyond California. She scoffed, more at her own situation than his words. “I’m sure you can find a preschooler with scissors and a bottle of glue who could use some candy money.”
He covered his heart with his hand. “Ouch.”
Pushing herself up from his desk, she slipped around the wing and headed for the exit before she did one more stupid thing with her life. “Good luck, Mr. Bradley.”
“Good luck to you, Miss…Andi.”
Marci lives in the Midwest with her husband, two teenaged kiddos, and numerous rescue pets. If she had an ounce of will power, Marci would embrace healthy living but until cupcakes and wine are no longer available at the local grocery store, she’ll put that ambition on hold and appease her guilt by reading self-help books and promising to join a gym “soon.”
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