Page 20 of Right Where I Want You

“Speediness doesn’t impress me. I prefer men who take theirtime.”

I caught myself before I laughed—apparentlyIappreciated a woman who could land a good burn. “I take my time where itcounts.”

Was this the real Georgina, or was it an act? I hadn’t missed her discomfort during talk of happy hour—which was why I’d pushed her to accept the invitation. I wanted to know why I kept encountering two seemingly different sides to herpersonality.

She pulled a Ziploc bag as big as her head from the box, scooped out a handful of gummy bears, and popped them in her mouth. She wandered over to my desk and read my notepad upside down. “The first two—eye contact and couch sex—have nothing to do with chivalry,” she said, chewing. “The team can work with the others,though.”

“I never said it was a final draft, and anyway, I don’t usually open up my pieces forfeedback.”

“It’ll be a good practice for everyone, including you. In fact, let’s bring in digital. This would make for a good webisode in the QuickieSeries.”

I cocked my head. “We don’t have a QuickieSeries.”

“We could.” She unbuttoned her blazer and dropped onto the couch like she’d done it a hundred times. “Our unique visits are lagging around a million hits a month. It should be higher for a magazine with our circulation. Just off the top of my head, we could do short videos with tips on how to woo awoman.”

I glanced at my notes and crossed off the part about the couch. If George was going to take up residence on mine, then couches had to remainasexual.

“How to woo a woman?” I repeated. “Pretty sure it’s beendone.”

“Not in sixty seconds. Data shows people are more likely to watch a video that’s under aminute.”

Being the busy man that I was, I already knew that from personal experience. If I needed help getting laid—which I didnot—I might actually watch that. Maybe even for fun. Especially if it involved a hot chick. I reviewed the list from a woman’s point of view, envisioning top model Aliana Balik on the screen, reading in her Polishaccent. . .

“Open the car door for me, and I’ll race you to the backseat. Zero to sixty is nothing. I can have you raring to go in ten secondsflat.”

Ooph. I saw stars, little Aliana-faced stars. Yeah, I’d watch the hell out of that series, tentatively calledGone in Sixty Sex—or better,secs.Sixty Secs in theCity. . .

The sound of George rustling through her things again derailed my idea train. I wanted to discuss this with Peterson from web, but did I need to go through George now? It was her idea after all, but was scooping her worse than having to get permission? How would that look to myguys?

“What the hell do you have in there besides a family-size bag of gummy bears?” Iasked.

Georgina, elbow deep in a box, glanced up. “Office supplies, handbooks, data binders, that kind of stuff. I’m looking for mylaptop.”

My mouth fell open. “There’s enough stuff in there to lose acomputer?”

She ducked her head and continued rifling. “No, it’s just—sometimes I, like, have a hard time keeping track of things. Must be the George in me. He’s messy, like mostmen.”

I grimaced. “I wish you wouldn’t refer to yourself as aman.”

“I didn’t. I referred to the maninsideme.”

It was my turn to go red in the face. Had she seriously just said that? Was she so naïve that she didn’t catch the double entendre, or was she just trying to throw meoff?

She straightened up, laughing. “I’m sorry. Sometimes, I have a juvenile sense of humor. I’m not as buttoned up as you probablythink.”

“I didn’t say you were. I just prefer you to be Georgina instead ofGeorge.”

She visibly flinched at that but shut it down quickly with a clearly forced smile. “Wouldn’t the absence of breasts make it easier to work withme?”

I slammed my mouth shut. It reeked of a trick question. “Did you know who I was down in the coffeeshop?”

She didn’t respond right away. “Obviouslynot.”

“Why is thatobvious?”

“I would’ve saidsomething.”

“I don’t know that. You might’ve been spying for something to use against melater.”