Bernard had been right: Fritz's notes were a mess. Squinting at the notebook that was filled with almost indecipherable scrawls that almost looked like they'd been writtten with a broken crayon, Mindy wondered what they meant. Most of what the smarty-pants chemist had put down seemed to be about what a genius he was, not about what a great product he'd invented. Mindy sighed. It was getting late and she wanted to get this job done so she could get out of Kutrate Kemicals and go home. The empty building gave her the creeps with no one in it.
Of course, the building gave her the creeps when all the creeps she worked with were in it too. She'd never met so many oddballs under one roof. And she'd thought journalism was filled with nutcases!Well, she'd fnish up, copy Fritz's notes and head for home. Maybe Tyler would be able to decipher them.
"I love to see a girl working hard."
Mindy almost jumped out of her skin when she saw her boss lurking in the doorway. "You almost gave me a heart attack! What are you doing here?"
Bernard Morton moved out of the dimly lit hallway into Mindy's office. To her horror, she saw that he was holding a bottle of red wine in one hand and a rose in the other. Oh, no...he's going to make a move on me. Sitting up straight, Mindy made her voice crisp and professional. "Really, Mr. Morton, you scared me. Why are you here?"
Bernard cocked an eyebrow at her. "All of the sudden I'm 'Mr. Morton'? Why so formal, Mindy?"
"I think employers and employees should keep their relationship somewhat formal," Mindy replied, her eyes darting toward the door as she tried to figure out how she could get around Bernard and into the hallway without having any physical contact with him. "Don't you?"
"I don't know. Depends on the employee. Now take Fritz--I have no desire to get to know him on a personal level. The guy is about as interesting as a pile of dust. But you, on the other hand, strike me as quite intriguing." Bernard set the bottle of wine down on Mindy's desk and gave her a look that could only be described as a leer.
In spite of herself, Mindy felt the tug of a slight attraction, a reaction that made her sick to her stomach. "I have work to do," she said, looking away from her boss and back at the notes she was trying to transcribe. "Remember? You wanted me to get this done before tomorrow morning."
"What would you say if I told you that the meeting's been cancelled?"
"Has it?"
"It sure has. Actually, there never was a meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning. I just wanted to get you in here so we could have some quiet time together."
"Are you serious?"
"As the stock market. Mindy, I like you. I think you're a fascinating young woman."
"You do?" Mindy felt herself panicking. She could feel sweat pouring off her body and figured that she had to be losing weight at about a pound a minute. Forget Fat Off. Losing weight had never been easier than it was at that moment. I could call it the Sweat Diet Mindy thought a touch hysterically.
"I do. I know it goes against company policy for us to be romantically involved but since it's my company, I think it's time we changed that policy."
"Romantically involved? I have a boyfriend!"
"Dump him," Bernard ordered.
"Just what are you asking me? Is this a marriage proposal?"
Bernard laughed. "Of course not! I'm asking you if you want to be my mistress, dummy!"
No comments:
Post a Comment