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“Sorry about that.”
“No, no.” She shook her head, then straightened up and faced me head on. “It’s not your fault. I came in here looking for Lee, and when no one came up front, I made a choice to go searching.”
“And you are…?”
“I’m Joss Monroe. I have an interview with Lee Bridgewater at one.” Her gaze darted to the man at my side, who slapped his hand against my shoulder.
“I’m Van, and I have an interview with Lee at one, too.”
My eyelids fell closed, and once again, I dragged a hand down my face. “I’m Lee, and I really fuckin’ need someone in office to handle my shit.”
“I can help you with that,” Joss said, a hopeful smile gracing her lips. It fell slightly as she glanced at Van. “Would you like me to come back later?”
My first instinct was to yell No! Something told me that letting her walk out of my door wasn’t the right thing to do. But fuck. Van hadn’t been lying. I’d been relentlessly pursuing him for months, and now that he was here, I couldn’t let him slip from my grip.
“Just… give me a few minutes? I promise, it won’t be long.”
“Of course.” Joss nodded her head, then hooked a hand over her shoulder. “Should I wait out front?”
“Please. But don’t leave. I… I’m sorry, I haven’t been sleeping well.”
She bit her lip. Dragged her gaze back over to Van, looking him over before returning her attention to me. “No problem.”
When she turned and walked away, I had the overwhelming desire to chase after her. She couldn’t be much older than Kelly, and while she was far from the feisty little redhead who had my insides twisted in knots, I felt like I’d failed her too.
I tore my attention from Joss’s long brown hair and even longer legs and found Van smirking at me.
“You need help, man.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Scheduling two interviews for the exact same time? Who the hell does that?”
“Apparently, me.”
Van shook his head, then retook his seat. “You’re lucky I showed up early. Now, let’s get down to business.”
“Yeah? Where were we?”
“I was about to tell you what flavor of ice cream I wanted for my first day.”
Laughter rolled through me, rumbling through the room. Van laughed with me but was quick to get down to business. Turned out, my offer of salary was higher than he was expecting, and we hashed out an idea to keep Lockhart in my back pocket.
In case anything like that night came about again.
By the time I’d secured Van’s signature on an offer of employment, Joss was back at my office door.
“Hey. Hi. Sorry to interrupt.” She stepped in, handing over a coffee from the chain down the street before she turned to Van and gave him the cup in her other hand. “You said you haven’t been sleeping well, so I took it upon myself to grab you coffee.” She shoved her hands in her pockets, pulling out packets of sugar and creamer. “Just in case you need them. Sorry. I’ll just wait out there.”
She was gone before I could thank her.
“She’s a keeper,” Van said, his smirk disappearing only so he could take a sip from his cup. “Damn, that’s good.”
Popping the top off my cup, I stared down at the black brew. A breath huffed out of me, and I grabbed for the sugar and creamer. “You drink it black?”
“Hell no. She got me a latte.” He took another sip. “I’m telling you, she’s a keeper. You should hire her right now.”
“That’s what Kelly told me last night.” I took a sip of my coffee. “Said the same thing about you.”
