ct further, Tiffan

were jerky, ov

smirk, but her ridiculous high heel caught

g went

landing squarely on the front of Marcus T

stepped out

nt of absolute,

ked, a high-pitched

darling! I am

s wide with feigned horror,

fee dripping from his lapel,

t look a

e chips of ic

d, his voice da

dle

nd went back into his o

echoed lik

th and a bottle of seltzer wa

was standing by the window, his

ne," I sa

gging out of hi

get it

e stain on his shirt, my

feel the heat of his skin beneath

expensive scent of his cologne mixed wit

murmured, his voice losing some of its edge, a hi

r of something I couldn't q

lush creep

ry,

short, humo

more t

from me, his fin

ave

l ch

of my sight," without even looking at her a

to brew him another coffe

hands and babbling apologies, com

his suit," she whispered to

so protect

ow he didn't e

it was an

me, because I wa

wondering if we inha

ng from the earlier burn she'd inflicte

seemed to deepen wi

s negative feedback, simply rebooting her

ound as some sort of bizarre amusement,

as she watched me deliver the fresh coff

wasn't abst

e hostility beca

t contracts Marcus needed to si

into me in the narrow corridor

t a gent

a har

racts sc

sy," she sneered, not even both

leaned down, her voice a veno

ired of you

ust the h

des

burn on my h

rent from the

veneer of

s pure

d smarting where I'd scraped it

sh my tasks,

schedule wa

to endure, another reminder of the precariousness of my positio

Henderson had quietly given me after the