Hating Him Wanting Him : A Contemporary Romance Collection

by Summer Brooks

“Mrs. Agnes, you brought us some genius brains,” she smiled, giving the woman a hug and then shaking my hand. “Good to see you again, Mia. When I heard you got the position, I was so excited for you. No lies, hands down the best. Thank you, Mrs. Agnes, I can take it from here.”

  “Good luck Mia,” Mrs. Agnes whispered, turning to head back to the elevator.

  Immediately I followed behind Sharon, the Innovation Tech manager. She pointed at an empty desk with a new computer and several office supplies piled on it. “This is your desk. Decorate any way you want. There are but two rules on this floor. Number one, if your lunch consists of nasty stuff like eggs, tuna, or any fish in general, you cannot bring it up here. We don’t all want to experience your baked salmon.”

  I smirked, setting my bag down on the desk. “Got it.”

  She tapped her fingers to her lips. “So, today is the day to get your bearings. I am going to have some people from different divisions come over and show you the process. Whatever you do, just let the big word count authors worry about it. You are got this down here?nonsense. People like to count us as a snack, but my Keto brain did not agree with that last night when we had Chicken Alfredo.”

  I laughed, seeing her laugh, trying to get better at the whole social cue thing. “So, I’ll set up all my user stuff and passwords like I did when I was an intern.”

  She nodded. “Yes, and then go through what the other people tell you, come up with your own best practices, and then come in tomorrow ready to kick some serious innovation butt. Anything you need, let me know.”

  Nodding, I watched her walk away, her mind already focused somewhere else. I sat in front of the computer and cracked my knuckles. Alright Mia, first day of your new life. Get it right.

  And off I went, going through every tutorial in the system. That was all before the other employees started hopping in, showing me the system from their point of view. That was good info too, just didn’t see myself going Hulk because I screwed up a piece. I was in it for the long haul. At four, Sharon tapped on my desk. “You can head out now, be ready for tomorrow. I heard you did fantastic. Excited to have you on the team.”

  “Thank you, I’m glad to be here,” I replied, grabbing my bag.

  She really didn’t have to tell me twice. While, I didn’t have much interest in eating with the swamp thing, aka my mother, I also really loved the wind in my face as one of my mother’s cars drove me through the city and out into the suburbs. I had promised to do dinner on the terrace with her after my first day. And while that was not sounding very good at all with my upset stomach, it was that or have one of her servants come find me. So, I went peacefully.

  I had forgotten how beautiful it was outside of the city. I was really glad I grew up in the beautiful brick mansion on the hill. We headed through the gate and up to the doors, the butler opening the door before I even got halfway. I smiled and hurried faster, throwing my arms around his waist. “I missed you. It hasn’t been the same.”

  He laughed, that same feeling I had when I was only tall enough to lay my head on his belly. “Never gonna be the same without you here Miss Mia. Though, you’ve grown a bit.”

  I took in a deep breath and looked around. It was just as it had always been, overly decorated, strange clear floors that had a mural of fish painted beneath it. It was beautiful, sure, but not really my adult style.

  The butler leaned into me. “Your mother is out on the terrace, eating a salad, trying to be patient enough as she waits for you.”

  I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for the lead. She tends to stick to shadowy corners.”

  We both laughed as I walked through the house and out to the terrace. I stood in the doorway, waiting for her to turn around. When she did, she smiled big and then scanned my body from head to toe, curling her nose. “Good God, Mia. How are you ever supposed to catch a man in a skirt for the Amish? Show a little skin, I promise it’s legal.”

  And there she was, the same old woman who destroyed her love life, and now wanted to vicariously live through mine. Problem was, I didn’t have one, nor did I want to talk about it at all. I could already tell this was going to be a long dinner.

  6

  Evan

  “Broooooooooo,” Connor yelled out, leaning his head back in the swiveling chair in front of my desk. His hands slapped down on the arms. “This girl was freaking wild. I should have seriously carbed up for a night with her. Like she ran me ragged, and you know me. I like it multiple times. But her…phew.”

  I laughed lightly, my leg crossed over my knee, my pencil flipping around in between my fingers. “Yeah I looked over and you two were stumbling out the front doors. Her body was like halfway down your throat at that point.”

  He smiled. “She was definitely a wild one. How about you? You seemed to be talking up a storm with the girl…what was her name?”

  “Mia,” I replied, immediately looking down.

  Connor narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, trying to get my eye attention. “Did you just get embarrassed?”

  “No!” I yelled out in defiance, furling my forehead. “Not a chance. No, she was a really cool chick, for real. But she was not the kind of girl you could take home for one night.”

  Connor licked his dry lips. “So, let me get this straight. You sat there even an hour after I had left, talking to a girl that you had no intention of sleeping with, and now you’re reping her to me? Did you fall and erase your mind before you came to work today?”

  I sighed and gave him a deadpan look. “All I meant was that she would have gotten attached, and I didn’t really want that headache. I sent her back out into the universe to be found by someone ready for that kind of relationship.”

  Connor rolled his eyes. “So, you’re saying you chickened out. Right. Got it.”

  I threw a pad of sticky notes at him. “That’s not what I said. Don’t do that to me.”

  Connor put up his hands like he was surrendering. “You’re right, I just have a hard time recognizing you without four half-naked girls pulling your scrawny sophomore ass back into the frat house. That was the night you had a porn experience.”

  We both laughed and I shook my head. “No, that was the night I COULD have had one. Instead my young ass drank too much trying to impress the guys, threw up on one of them, and then passed out in the other’s huge fake tits. All I remember was their streaks and me finally being able to sleep.”

  Connor and I stared off into space for a moment, both of us replaying moments of the old days in our heads. Finally, Connor slapped his hands on the desk. “So, did you pick a client?”

  I blinked wildly and nodded, handing the file over to him. “I did. But look at the requirement sheet on the back.”

  He flipped through, stopping and reading. “Uh, is this for real? You have to be there and there have to be submission mockups for this by the end of the week?”

  Rubbing my freshly-shaved chin, I shook my head. “Yeah. And to be honest, I don’t know if that is even possible. Either he has serious robots in his factory that do everything or he thinks humans work much faster than they actually do.”

  Connor dropped the file back down. “I say monsters. He is smart, very smart. They probably look like people so no one has to know.”

  “I would take tiny little toaster robots at this point if it would give me some sort of idea,” I replied. “I could go down to the labs and start getting going but it’s been years.”

  He put his hands up again. “Don’t look at me. I am not the face of innovation. I am the face of processes and keeping my people whipped into shape.”

  My lips puckered and I looked out the window. “I know. But damn if I don’t feel like I’ve already screwed this over.”

  Connor grabbed the file again and started reading through the client’s issue and what they want to fix it. Then his mouth dropped open. “Hold up, you’re going to sell the patent to them?”

  I nodded proudly. “Look at the number he offered.”r />
  Connor flipped the page and looked like he was about to die. “That is more money then you’ve made in the time of this company. You will pretty much turn into someone richer than most of the one percent in this country. Like Maui beach houses, private jets, girls with huge tits kind of money.”

  Narrowing my eyes, I snatched the file from him. “Not hiring prostitutes.”

  “Pffft,” Connor laughed. “With that kind of money, you wouldn’t have to. They just kind of materialize in your general vicinity. But hey, wait. I think I have an idea for your problem.”

  “If it has to do with prostitution that is not going to work,” I replied.

  Connor shook his head. “No man. You have an entire department, comprised of the brightest minds in technology. Have a damn competition. Have them all compete and you can pick the best ones, send them to the lab and then send them over. Seriously, you could totally get this done.”

  I ran my tongue over my teeth. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. But what would I offer them?”

  Connor shrugged. “The normal stuff that motivates people. Give the winner a raise, and a bonus. And dangle the whole trip to Cali thing in front of them. They get more money and they get to work with the big wigs at the actual location. That’s the kind of stuff dreams are made of for these techies. They’ll be the star of the show and you won’t even notice the missing money.”

  I stood up and walked over to the window, thinking about his idea. Finally, I turned around and nodded with a smile. “That is genius. This is why I pay you the big bucks. I’ll get the department head on the phone right away. Genius dude. Genius.”

  Connor looked at his watch. “Yeah. I know. This genius is going to go to an early lunch and eat something greasy because my hangover is a bitch. You doing anything tonight?”

  I laughed. “No. I’m going to get some sleep, and prepare for all of this. It’s gonna be good though. Real good. I can feel it.”

  He stood up and walked toward the door. “I can get that chick’s number for you if you want?”

  Rolling my eyes, I picked up the phone to call Sharon. “Go. I think I can handle my own love life.”

  Connor chuckled and put up his hands. “Alright, alright. Just making sure I’m looking out for my man.”

  Giving him a stare, he laughed out of my office. I shook my head and went to work, setting everything up with R&D, my mood suddenly improving. While I did not want to go to California for who knew how long, it was going to be huge for the company.

  By the end of the day, everything was set up perfectly. The teams would be notified the next morning, they would be on hold on all other projects, and I would just sit and wait for the genius to roll in. I grabbed my stuff and called down to the front to have them bring a car around. “Your father sent the helicopter. It’s on the roof.”

  I groaned. I hated that thing. “Thanks.”

  Heading upstairs I was greeted by one of the pilots and shown into the back where I set my stuff down and buckled up. The chopper flew quickly over the city and beyond the landscape of the suburbs. Curving to the right it headed over to my parents’ mansion at the edge of the lake. It looked even bigger than I remembered, but it had been months since I visited. My mother had requested my presence for dinner and I couldn’t tell her no.

  When the helicopter landed, they ushered me into a golf cart that drove me up to the house. My things were stowed at the front door like usual and I meandered into the dining room where they were waiting for me. My mom smiled and hurried over, hugging me tightly. “Sweetie. You look so good! How are you?”

  I smiled, kissing her on the cheek. “I’m good, thank you.”

  Taking my seat across from my father, I almost skipped the greeting. Besides, he was going to give me the same grunt he always did. He was already reading some files and not paying attention as it was. But I caved, remembering my mother’s obsession with manners. “Hey dad.”

  He glanced up and took his glasses off. I thought for sure he was going to give me some actual attention for once. Silly me. “How are things going with the clients?”

  “No,” my mother interrupted before I could respond. “No business at the table.”

  I chuckled and put my napkin in my lap as the staff brought out the food. My mother took a sip of her wine and leaned back. “So, Evan, tell us. Are you seeing anyone? Planning on any wedding in the future?”

  I groaned and shook my head. My father smirked and looked over his glass. “I bet you’d rather talk about clients.”

  Sneering I sipped my drink. “I’d rather talk about colonoscopies.”

  7

  Mia

  I took the last bite of my bagel as the cab pulled up in front of the building. Wiping my hands on the napkin and tossing it in my bag, I handed the driver the money and popped open my umbrella before stepping out. It was raining like wild, the wind blowing the streams in a sideways direction. It was not what I had in mind for my workday, but what was I going to do? I had to go in, and Lily had squashed the idea of a rain suit so there I was, my feet soaked in my shoes, and the wind pushing me sideways all the way to the door.

  One of the security peeps opened up the door, reaching out and giving me a hand into the lobby. I stumbled inside, my umbrella pretty much upside down at that point. The guard took it from me with a smile. “I’ll see if I can fix it for you Ms. Mia.”

  I shook off. “Thank you. You’re the best.”

  As I took a step forward in my wedges, I slipped on the marble floors. He reached out and grabbed my arm, keeping me upright. “Seriously, I owe you.”

  He laughed. “Not having a busted head on my shift is thanks enough.”

  Carefully I shuffled over to the elevator and climbed in, pressing the button and stepping back for the other people to enter. I waited patiently as we moved up the floors, stopping about every three floors for someone to get on or off. I needed to start calculating elevator time into my morning routine if I wanted to make sure I was never late. To me being on time was late enough. I hated walking in when everyone else was already there, just like it would be when the doors slid open.

  As they did, I walked through, stopping and looking out at the pit. There was no one sitting at their desks. I was starting to wonder if my clocks were wrong when they all started piling out of the conference room down the hall. Panic flew over me thinking I had missed a scheduled meeting, but it wasn’t even my time to get in yet. I stood there smiling at everyone as they passed, inching my way down until Sharon came out of the conference room.

  Sharon smiled. “Mia. Sorry you missed that. No biggie, it wasn’t planned. For some strike of holiness everyone was early today.”

  I nodded, feeling a little better. “So, what’s going on?”

  Sharon handed me a packet. “A new contest. Or, a contest - we’ve never had one before. All other work is on hold for the rest of the week unless you finish the project before that. These are individual ideas. The company overview is in the folder and the specs for the project. It has to be non-copywrite material and the first part of it is a write up. A blueprint of your idea to solve the client’s problem.”

  “Okay,” I replied, skimming through the first page. “And the blueprint is due…”

  “As fast as you can possibly give it to me,” she chuckled. “I promise this kind of swing in work never happens around here. For some reason this came down the pipeline last night and I was instructed to move into it asap. This is what we need for the company. And our jobs are to make it a success.”

  “Okay, is this a mandatory assignment?” I asked.

  Sharon nodded, handing her assistant the piles of paper she had. “It sure is. Everyone turns something in. But look at it this way, if you win, you get a raise, a bonus, and you get to go to California to personally install the program and technology with their teams. And the CEO, he is required to go as well.”

  I furrowed my brow. “The client is going to decide from a write-up?”

  Sharon lau
ghed. “Oh, no, no. I guess I skipped right over that part. Seriously, I think I need three assistants to keep track of everything. No, a handful of proposals will be chosen by the client and those people will go to our labs and create a mockup of it. It’s for the client to physically see but will also give you a chance to work out physical issues. This project is in high gear and on a very rushed timeline.”

  My eyes were big. “I’d say. Okay, I’ll get to my desk and start working on it. I actually have an idea, already. When I was in college this was very similar to a mock project we had to draw up for my minimalist technology class.”

  Sharon grinned and patted me on the back. “I knew you’d be on it. You were on top of everything that we’ve handed you in the past.”

  Great, pressure.

  I think I showed it on my face because Sharon stopped and turned to me. “I want you to know we put you in this position because we know how good you are. It wasn’t even a question. In fact, several different departments argued over who would get you. But that doesn’t mean I expect you to be perfect. I don’t expect that you will know everything from day one. Just do your best, turn in something and then we can go back to normal.”

  I smiled at her and nodded as she gleefully headed into her office. They might not expect me to be perfect but I expected me to be perfect. I had only worked on my future since I was old enough to know what a future was. And I knew if I didn’t shine from the beginning I would get lost in the shuffle. After that others would outshine me. Others would find roots where I would just sway. The company was far too large for that.

  Sitting down at my desk I brought up the creation program on my computer and began to play around with the ideas in my head. Flipping through the file I pulled out the key information, imagined and pictured ideas in my head, and twisted the roots of the project into itself. If I could design the project above the scope, then I would know I hit every turn along the way. I always felt that putting ten different systems and processes into your company was silly. Why not have one process that fully encompassed everything from opening the doors in the morning to shutting the client’s door on delivery.