Page 9 of Let's Talk About Love

She peeled the note off her badge, clocking in as she read it:

I had to step out—be right back! Please show Takumi how to clock in and make a copy of the handbook. THANK YOU!

“Who the hell is Takumi?” She folded the Post-it note in half before tossing it in the trash. Takumi Shibue had a temporary badge on the wall already, but it didn’t have a picture yet.

Back downstairs, she stood behind the information desk waiting for the handbook to finish printing when she felt thatitchbetween her shoulder blades when someone stared too long. She tried to take a sly peek to see who it was and…Jesus.

(Sweet God in heaven, have mercy on her soul.)

Her Cutie Code™ blasted straight past the Red zone. If it were a pressure gauge, the glass would have cracked right down the middle.

He was gorgeous—and that was not a word Alice threw around lightly. Not just“Hi, I’m the new boy next door”gorgeous, but the kind of gorgeous that would make you slap your mama. The kind of gorgeous you’d stab your best friend of twenty years in the back, set her house on fire, and drive off into the sunset with her husband for.Have sex in the break room at work even though you know there are security cameras in theregorgeous.

As if she’d actually do any of those things.

She always laughed at characters who lost every last drop of their common sense on TV and in movies when someone too attractive for words crossed their path. If this guy was on a show, he’d be considered the kind of gorgeous that would cause midseason plot twists and act-two spinouts, leaving the viewer on the edge of their seat because their beloved characters were goners after looking into those dark brown eyes.

And he stared at her.

(Too much cute.)

(A veritable cutie-induced overload.)

There was a place for cute and every cute in its place. Whoever he was hadn’t just exceeded her scale. He had broken it.

Cutie Code: Black—the Next Generation.

It had to either be him or the heart attack had been replaced by a disorienting fever virus. This was how it happened in the movies: some poor soul (Alice) was doing great, having a perfectly normal (and punctual!) day. And then, in some innocuous way, they’d have contact with Patient Zero (him) and boom—uncontrollable sweating, fever, chills, hemorrhaging, and then… death.

This wouldn’t kill her (possibly), but she had an idea what it was.

Attraction: The Final Frontier.

The Fatal-est Attraction.

Death Becomes Attraction.

“Do you really need all those copies?” Cara asked.

Alice snapped out of her internal loop. “What?” She looked down. “Crap!” Her finger must have slipped. Instead of one copy she had set it to eleven. She pushed the Cancel button over and over, as if that would make the machine get the message faster.

Cara chuckled. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Peachy.” Alice rubbed a hand over her face. “Hey, is that guy over there waiting for someone to help him or something?”

“Yeah. You. That’s the new employee, Takumi.”

“That’s Takumi?” she hush-whispered.

“Yes,” Cara said slowly. “He’s the one Essie wants you to intro.”

“Him?” She cleared her throat. “You’re sure?”

“He’s the only new hire. You’re the only assistant. I’m sure,” she deadpanned. “Do you know him?”

“Nope. Never seen him before in my life.”

“Right.” She laughed. “Here he comes. If you need help, you know where to find me.”