Page 90 of One Bad Idea

I refused to give Jaden the satisfaction.

Instead, I responded with a little surprise of my own.

It was a flyer that I'd spotted at the grocery store. It advertised a cooking class for beginners – kids in particular. The illustration showed a cartoon child in a chef's hat, proudly holding a sandwich that was nearly as tall as him.

It was silly, really, but not any sillier than the coaster.

Late that Friday night, I placed the flyer directly to the left of Jaden's computer, similar to where he'd placed the coaster for me.

I felt myself smile.Two could play at this game.

I wasn't even sure what game we were playing, but as I soon learned, it was far from over.

Chapter 34

We did this for several weeks. Every other Monday, I'd come into work and find something completely ridiculous – and vaguely insulting – on my desk. There was that flyer for an anger management class, a sandwich recipe book, and this latest surprise, a Scooby Doo Christmas ornament.

As far as the ornament, I had no idea where Jaden had gotten it. Christmas was still months away, so it was impossible to believe that the thing had been an impulse purchase, made at the store while picking up something else.

No. This was premeditated.

Standing at my desk, I gazed down at the thing and felt an annoying smile tug at my lips. I knew exactly why he'd selected this particular item to torment me.

On the day we'd met, when I'd been rampaging through his house in search of my friend, he'd made a bunch of sarcastic comments referencing Scooby Doo's gang of amateur sleuths.

He'd called me Velma. Of all the characters, she was probably the smartest, but not terribly attractive. At the time, the description had onlyhalf-fit, because on that first fateful day, I'd been stupidandunkempt.

But Velma? She was almost never stupid.

Still, the comparison wasn't flattering, at least in the looks department.

And why did this matter?

It didn't.Or at least that's what I kept telling myself.

It's not I like cared whether Jaden considered me attractive. By now, he surely realized that I was no idiot, and really, that was the most important thing, right?

All modesty aside, I'd proven myself to be a perfectly competent assistant. I had a way of anticipating what he wanted and giving it to him long before he thought to ask.

As far as jobs went, this was the best one I'd ever had. There were only two problems. Thefirstproblem was that everyone avoided me like the plague, and thesecondproblem was Jaden himself.

The first problem, I could deal with – and hopefully solve at some point. After all, I knew exactly why people were avoiding me.

It was because of Darla.

Although she didn't work for the company full-time, she was in the building way too often. Whenever I thought I was making a new friend, I'd eventually spot that person talking to Darla in some quiet corridor. And then, all too soon, they'd be giving me the cold shoulder just like everyone else.

I could only imagine what she was telling them.

But this, even as oppressive as it was, wasn't the thing that kept me awake in the deepest parts of the night. It was that second problem – my complicated feelings for my boss.

He drove me crazy in every possible way. He was blunt, sarcastic, and a total jackass. Unfortunately, he was also smart, insightful, and the most intriguing person I'd ever met.

Plus, he had an unexpected thoughtful streak that made it nearly impossible for me to truly hate him. There was the time he'd sent me home – with pay – because he'd overheard me coughing up a lung in my office. There was the time he'd given me a ride home when I'd accidentally locked my keys in the truck. And of course, there was that time he'd returned my cell phone rather than leaving it sitting on my office desk.

Unfortunately, he wasalsothe guy who'd sabotaged my friend's job prospects and seemed to take a particular delight in driving me insane.

He was a mess of crazy contradictions, which in turn, was makingmea little crazy myself. Even after a couple of months, I still didn't know what to make of him.