Page 20 of His Flash Mate
“Sorry.I assumed when you asked about Steele and Wulf Enterprises, and Steele recently posted a administrative position that made some noise.”
“Ah.Well, yeah, Steele’s work environment is good.Efficient.People collaborate.There’s no backstabbing.At least, not that I’ve witnessed yet.”
“Don’t worry…you’ll see it eventually.Every office has it,” Miranda said, toasting me and taking another shot.“Oh, this one was good.”
“That’s a Papa Smurf,” Uncle Jay called.
The man’s hearing was his human superpower in a club with above-conversation-level music thumping.
“Ten out of ten,” Miranda called back.
“Why do you think you’re disdained?”Konni asked, picking the conversation back up.
“Because all my coworkers think I’m there to bag the CEO.”
Miranda choked hard on her shot in progress, and like a good friend, I grinned at her and handed her a napkin.
“Why do they think that?”she rasped once she caught her breath.
“It seems to be the norm for most new hires.All new hire females are assumed to be social climbers unless they’re married, gay, or old enough to be the CEO’s mom.And all men are safe, apparently.Even the gay ones, since the CEO is straight.”
“So telling them you're transitioning didn’t help clear your name?”Miranda asked.
I couldn’t tell if she was being helpful or trying to out me.
“My gender shouldn’t matter.I shouldn’t have to clear my name at all.What happened to innocent until proven guilty?”
“For what it's worth, your gender doesn’t matter when you’re with the right people,” Konni said.
“I appreciate that.”I glanced down the bar as if someone had caught my eye.“I’ll be back.”
A strategic retreat to hide how much his comment had flustered me was necessary.He was getting under my skin in ways I couldn’t exactly pinpoint.
Maybe I just needed to get laid and let off some steam.It’d been a while.And I’d moved home and started two jobs, one right after another.I barely had enough time to sleep now.
That thought stopped me.When in the hell did I think I was going to find the time for a quickie?
Feeling more defeated, I focused on mixing drinks.Miranda was gone by the time I turned back to her, leaving behind her drained tower of shot glasses and Konni, who was still nursing his Shirley Temple and looking way too tempting.
“You take that end of the bar,” I said to Uncle Jay.
“How do you not look hungover?”I asked Miranda.
“I’m blessed with a more superior liver than yours.So how are your office witches today?”
“They’re not witches,” I said with a cautious glance around the Steele buildings’ cafe.“They’re just standoff-ish.And they’re the same for the most part.But I think that’ll change next week.I’m officially ready to take over some of the tasks they’ve had to double up on since the last person left.”
“That’s good.Not as good as having a shifter mate, but still good.”
I frowned at her.“What does that mean?”
“It means that I can earn another bag if you give me five minutes of your time for a shifter sales pitch, sponsored by your shifter admirer, with a sworn oath that I will only tell the truth and not glorify anything.”She leaned in.“Please say yes to five minutes.”
I rolled my eyes at her, knowing full well she wasn’t interested in selling me on a shifter as much as she wanted to earn another handbag.
“You have my blessing to proceed,” I said.
“First, shifter mates are amazing in bed.As in, twenty out of ten stars, knock-your-socks-off-and-make-you-forget-your-name kind of amazing.They will search out every erogenous zone you possess and use them to unmake you.And they want it all the time.”
