Page 19 of Shifted Desire

His cold tone splashes away the flare of desire.

Oh, right, he’s a dick to me now. That’ll help keep me from thinking wildly inappropriate things about him.

I stand, smoothing my skirt down. “I wanted to make sure I got here on time.”

He inhales deeply, his eyes narrowing. For a second I think he’s going to be an ass about some phantom scent I’m putting off that only he can smell, but his eyes land on the bagged tupperware beside me. “What is that smell?”

“Pancakes and coffee. I had a hunch that you might be the type to skip breakfast because you’re too busy, so I brought something for you.”

“That’s unnecessary…”

I shrug, undeterred. “I can toss them if the smell bothers you.”

“No.” His reply is so fast I almost laugh.

“Okay.” I smile brightly and give him an expectant look. “Should I wait out here until you call me back, or do you want me to come now?”

A muscle in his jaw ticks. “You can come now.”

A shiver runs down my spine at the command and his unintentionally sexy words.

No. Bad Samantha. You can’t get distracted. You need to nail this interview.

I can’t be messy, inappropriately horny, bitchy Samantha right now. It’s time to be Jenny.

Who the hell is Jenny?

I’m glad you asked.

Jenny is a bland, pleasant human woman who spends her time outside of work going to pilates classes and being a dog mom to a clingy rescue chihuahua. She loves spreadsheets and sorting out work calendars, and doing paperwork. She doesn’t have a flirtatious bone in her body, and she definitely doesn’t think about her boss sexually. She doesn’t think about anyone sexually.

Jenny is my work alter-ego I’ve crafted over the years when I learned I’d get nowhere with my natural personality. I both hate her and wish I were actually like her, because people respond a lot better to Jenny than to the real me.

She’s firmly in place by the time I step into Nathan’s office.

“Wow, this is a nice space,” I say, looking out at the view the large windows afford of the city skyline.

Nathan frowns. “I guess.”

He gestures for me to sit in a chair facing his desk, and takes a seat on the other side, looking relieved to put some distance between us.

Before I sit, I place the container with the pancakes and the travel mug on his desk, then pull my resume out of the folder in my purse and set that down as well.

I take a seat, crossing my legs primly and refusing to think about how Nathan looks hot in that leather desk chair.

He scans my resume in silence, and I note with pleasure that he unconsciously picks up the mug and sips while he reads. I zone out a little to avoid staring at his throat as he swallows, so I flinch when he finally deigns to speak.

“You’re overqualified.”

Is that seriously the route he’s going to take to get out of this? It’s a struggle to keep my bland smile in place. “And that’s an issue?”

“Didn’t say that.” Nathan glances back down at the paper, then up at me. “You were at your last position for over five years. Why did you leave?”

“Because the owner was a creep who thought he could put his hands on me as a job perk, and when I got sick of it and told HR, they took his side and fired me.”

Crap. That was definitely not very Jenny-like.

“Are you serious?” Nathan’s words come out in an almost growl.