Page 11 of More than Fiction (Misty Springs #1)

Corbin

“Hey, boss man. Come look at the local talent,” Andi yelled from the large common area outside my office.

I stood and stretched, rubbing my strained eyeballs. I felt behind—and the fact that I was hundreds of miles away from the main office made me feel restless. I walked out to find her scrolling on her phone with her elbows on the table next to a pizza box.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, pulling a slice out and slapping it on a paper plate. “And did you confirm my flight back to JFK this evening?”

I just needed to take a look at the space and get a brief lay of the land for now. I’d return to Misty Springs in a week or two to dig into things further and connect with the New York office transfers, Susan, and Ned. For now, I was itching to get out of this town.

“Just look. And yes.” She turned her phone to me.

“Who is Andy Knoterboy?” I asked, reading a Tinder profile of a 25-year-old tanned, shirtless man with blonde curly hair and aviator sunglasses. “And why are you checking him out on Tinder? I thought you found men repulsive .”

“Andy Knoterboy is me. Get it? Not-a-boy.”

I stared at her with a confused look as I took a bite of the greasy pizza.

“Glad you asked. So, if you’re a woman seeking women, you only see a small sampling of what’s out there. Not that I’m trying to turn anyone, but I like seeing the whole pool, not just the shallow end. So, I created two profiles, one for Andi and one for Andy. You know what I’m saying? ”

“No. I literally have no idea what you are saying. I rarely do.” I grabbed another pizza slice, piled it on my plate, and turned back to my office, sucking my greasy finger into my mouth. I would have to run a few extra miles to burn this lunch off.

Andi skipped to my side, following me like she didn’t recognize that my leaving was the end of this conversation.

“What I’m saying is…” She uninvitingly plopped down in the chair across from my desk and continued to prattle on. “I just click here. And I can scout all the single females in the area from the comfort of my phone.”

She slid her phone across the desk to me, and I glanced down at a smiling 23-year-old blonde named Rachel, who was ten miles away.

“You sound like a stalker. A lying stalker,” I said, turning my focus back to my increasingly growing to-do list.

She pulled her phone back and continued, ignoring my comment.

“This is one of many eligible women in a 20-mile radius who are looking for love, hookups, dirty DMs, or just good, clean fun with a man. I created alter-Andi to see all the women in the area and increase my sample size. But here, you can tread these waters for a bit. Jump on in, the water’s fine. ”

“Yeah, I’m not doing that.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “And stop with the pool analogies. I have to finish these projections. Can you please just go… elsewhere?”

“Oh, come on! It’ll be fun!”

She was like a gnat that hovered in your vision—no matter how many times you swat at it, you just can’t get it to leave.

“So, I’ll pretend I’m you, looking for a nice woman to spend time with. Not her, not her, nope, not her.”

An irritated breath shot out of me before I tore into another slice of pizza.

I didn’t need an app to find a woman. I was just about to tell Andi to stop wasting her—and my—time when she suddenly shot out of her chair.

“This is her! Sophia!” She looked at me as if I was supposed to know who she was talking about.

I chewed on my pizza, knowing I didn’t need to comment—Andi would keep going on her own.

“Coffee shop, Sophia? The one whose delicious drink I stole? ”

“Oh, great. You can ask her what flavor of drink you stole and catfish her simultaneously,” I deadpanned while trying to get back to work for the hundredth time. “Are we done with this now?”

Apparently, we weren’t because she was still talking and pacing in front of my desk.

“The one I gave my card to? The one I want to hire? Aren’t you even a little bit curious about her?” She asked, sliding her phone across the desk once more.

I groaned, but my curiosity got the better of me. I looked down at the profile, barely ready for what I was about to see.

I froze mid-chew.

A jolt of recognition surged through me, and my pulse quickened, and I leaned closer, as if doing so would change the reality of what I was looking at.

The woman who clashed with me on the airplane and then invaded my dreams.

1C. Sophia.

I hastily swallowed before I began scrolling through the photos—again and again, unable to look away.

There was no denying she’d caught my eye the moment I saw her—but my fight with Buzz had left me in a fog, too distracted to really take her in.

Now that I could look at her, I mean truly look at her, I was captivated. Unable to look away.

She wasn’t just beautiful—she held the kind of beauty that stole the air from your lungs. As I let out a quiet, shaky breath, I realized she almost stole mine.

In one picture, she stood behind a bar, her face lit with a smile so wide it tugged one out of me without even trying.

In the next, she was gazing out a window, thoughtful. Her eyes were a calm, ocean-blue—and I couldn’t help but wonder what was circling behind those waves.

Another showed her with friends, laughing—casual, effortless. But all I saw was her. The warmth in her smile, the way she lit up the frame.

“Well?” Andi’s voice snapped me out of my daze. I had forgotten she was still standing there, watching me.

I cleared my throat. "You think hiring someone based on their dating profile is a good idea? "

I slid the phone back across the desk, locking my composure back into place.

Andi rolled her eyes dramatically, letting out an exaggerated huff.

“I don’t want to hire her because of this.

I want to hire her because I think she’d be a good fit.

Her observations on Monica’s books were spot on.

Plus, she seems to have a great personality, which is seriously lacking around here. I think you’d like her.”

“What makes you think that?” My tone came out sharper than intended. Catching myself, I added with a smirk, “Since when have I liked anyone?”

She grinned, shaking her head. “Fair point. I just have a good feeling about her, that’s all.”

I leaned back in my chair, trying to appear nonchalant. “Well, we can’t hire someone based on your feelings . Despite being exiled here, we have protocols and a human resources department to go through.”

My brief encounter with Sophia had been enough of a distraction. The last thing I needed was her walking through those doors every day. I didn't plan on being here much, but I wasn’t taking any risks, not with the vote for CEO so near on the horizon.

Andi waved off my comment like it was inconsequential, her confidence as solid as ever. “We’ll see.”

My jaw tightened as I once again focused on my laptop. I knew precisely how Andi operated—once she locked in on something, it was only a matter of time before she made it happen.

But that wouldn’t be the case here, I’d see to that. Plenty of other candidates would be in the mix—it didn’t need to be her .

Eventually, Andi took the hint that our conversation was over and walked out without saying another word.

I attempted to refocus, but the words on the screen might as well have been hieroglyphics for how little I was absorbing. My mind was nowhere near where I needed it to be.

My thoughts kept drifting off to 1C— Sophia .

Our encounter on the plane and the texts I probably shouldn’t have but definitely did read.

Why would she be on Tinder if she had a boyfriend?

And White and Nerdy by Weird Al? Who was this woman?