Page 12 of Help Wanted

“You’re not sorry. You’re stupid and stubborn and”—she let her shoulders fall—“damn it! I can’t think of the other word I want to use, but it starts with an S for emphasis.”

“Look, I know you thought she was great, but I wasn’t convinced she was going to be a good fit. And since it’s my company and I’m the one who has to work with this person, my opinion is the only one that matters.”

She looked him over, studying him, reading his mind in that way that she did.

“Stop it,” he said, holding up his hands as if to block her powers.

“Stop what?”

“Stop looking at me.”

“Why? Are you going to tell Mom on me?”

Maybe. “No. I have work to do. Let me know when more applications come in.” He tried to sound both busy and firm.

“Before I go to the trouble of screening any other potential employees, maybe you could tell me what it was about Kelsey you didn’t like.” She raised her brow at him.

“For starters, her name wasn’t even Kelsey, it was Kenley.”

“Okay, that was my fault, not hers. What else?”

“I just didn’t get a good vibe.” The vibe was more than good. Too damn good.

“I’m sorry, we’re hiring someone based on vibes?” she asked, eyes wide. “Do you have some kind of device I should use to measure a person’s vibes?”

“I’m going to be working closely with this person. They’re going to be like an appendage. It has to be a good fit, and this wasn’t.”

“You were able to tell it wasn’t going to work out in the ten minutes she was in your office?”

“What do you want me to say?” He raised his shoulders. He didn’t want a constant reminder of how his life might have been different if he’d had the balls to ask out Courtney Bishop. And he surely didn’t want to go back to feeling like the nerdy kid in awe of the princess. She’d even been a cheerleader. He could practically smell it on her. Eau de Too Good for You.

“I’d like you to say I can hire her. She’d be so easy to train, and she could start right away.”

“It’s not about you.”

“Fine. Give me the application and I’ll file it.” She held out her hand, and he shoved the papers toward her.

“Hmm. It is Kenley,” she noted as she headed for the door. Then she stopped and turned around. “Didn’t she kind of look like that girl you had a thing for in high school?”

Shit. He let out a sigh and shrugged.

“Maybe a little.” Way wrong thing to say. He should have pretended he didn’t know what she was talking about. That always worked. Why had he fallen for her trap? Her eyes flared and she stepped closer, tapping the folder.

“So you’re not going to hire her because she reminds you of the girl who rejected you ten years ago?”

“You wouldn’t understand, and I don’t want to talk about it. It doesn’t matter, because I’m not hiring her.” As forceful as he’d made it sound, Sidney flopped back down on his sofa and scowled at him.

“Listen up, little brother. You’re being an asshole, and I’m pretty sure it’s illegal in some way. Discrimination or something.”

“You can’t discriminate against someone because you don’t like them.”

“Why didn’t you like her? Was she nasty to you? Pick on you?”

“No.”

She twisted her mouth to the side, which was her common expression when she was trying to figure him out.

“I hope you don’t expect me to leave until you’ve explained yourself, because it’s not going to happen.” He knew her well enough to know she really wouldn’t leave until he told her the truth. Plus, he wasn’t sure if she could physically get herself to her feet. She was enormous.