Page 33 of Written By a Woman

“So,how did my cousin do during his interview?” Mary asked me at the beginning of the following week. I was in the break room with Jamie, getting our coffee when Mary waltzed right in and skipped any pleasantries.

“Wait,” I blinked at her, “Who is your cousin?”

“Leo,” Mary shrugged past us, grabbing a mug of her own and filling it up as she continued, “Leo Turner.”

“That man was your cousin?” I gasped, setting my coffee down so I could brace my hands on the edge of the countertop accordingly. I needed to properly display my shock.

“He currentlyismy cousin.” Mary replied with a smirk, “How did he do with the interview?”

“Mary. He’s so attractive.” I placed a palm on my chest to emphasize what his face did to my loins.

Mary grimaced in response, “No he’s not.”

“I’m going to need you to trust me on this one,” I nodded enthusiastically, “Your cousin is hot.”

“Really?” Jamie asked, her eyes widening in curiosity.

“No,” Mary snapped, a smirk on her lips as she shook her head, “He’s not.”

“Alright,” I waved my hand over in acough-it-upmotion, “Show us a picture—a good one.” Mary sighed in annoyance before pulling her phone out and scrolling a bit, and finally, we both huddled around her to see the social media account she had pulled up.

Dear god, the man was on a motorcycle.

“Oh,” Jamie sighed, narrowing her eyes and leaning in.

“What does that mean?” Mary asked, her dark eyes fixated on Jamie’s face.

“Well,” Jamie shrugged, “He isn’t hideous.”

Mary’s eyes widened at Jamie’s words, making her look closer at her cousin’s picture and zoom in, “…Is it the hair?” Mary asked, curiosity genuinely coating her question.

“And face,” Jamie and I both replied at the same time, making Jamie giggle.

“The accent isn’t horrible to listen to either,” I shrugged, “Though I prefer my partners to be a little…sturdier.”

“Sturdier?” Mary asked, frowning at the picture of her cousin, and pocketing the device, making Jamie’s pink lips frown a little in disappointment.

“Yeah, or like…bigger?” I shrugged, “While men like your cousin are very nice to look at, when it comes down to it, I prefer to be tossed around a little.”

Mary snickered while Jamie’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“Anyways!” I retrieved my mug from the countertop, lifting it in farewell as I stepped backward towards the exit of the break room, “It’s a real bummer because I don’t think Nikhil is going to hire—”

I smacked into someone behind me, a low grunt making my heart skip a beat as I struggled to regain my footing right as my coffee mug tipped towards me and spilled its contents right down the front of my dress.

“Frick!” I gasped from the pain of the hot coffee seeping through the clothing and burning my skin, while also turning around to an open-mouthed and wide-eyed Zaid.

“I apologize,” Zaid immediately spoke, “Are you—”

“I’m fine!” I waved him off, embarrassment burning my cheeks as I set the mug back down on the counter and tugged the material of my dress away from my red skin, because fuck me for changing things up and wearing a dress to work for the first time in months. I had a feeling that if I wore my tried-and-true jeans and sweatshirt combo, this wouldn’t have happened.

Additionally, would it really be so hard for Zaid to make some type of noise when he walked? Or for him to enter a room at a time when I wasn’t inappropriately running my mouth?

“Are you burned?” Zaid asked, stepping further into the break room, ripping paper towels off of the roll to hand to me.

I glanced over at Mary and Jamie, who both stood there with their mugs in hand and staring wide-eyed at the spectacle before them. I grabbed the handful of paper towels from Zaid, hopelessly dabbing away at my cream-colored dress. I found myself jutting my bottom lip out in disappointment because this one was one of my favorites, and the stain was probably going to stick around.

“I’m so sorry about that,” I glanced up from my dabbing to see Zaid raking his hand through his hair in stress, his eyes on my chest. He was staring at the coffee stain, but my body reacted as if he was taking his fill.