Her Secret Santa - Miley Maine Page 0,11

and also find out the threshold where people would not spend any more for that value. It was a slippery slope, but I was supposed to be pretty good at this shit. Why was my mind drawing a blank?

Could it be Tony…?

Damn. It was. I knew it was. I was so attracted to him. Me and a million other women of course, but there was a particular thing that seemed to shine in him when he was speaking with me. I felt awakened suddenly. That didn’t make much sense to me. I was dealing in the realm of feelings and feelings rarely made much sense to me. That’s why I always dealt in the world of logic.

Having gushy feelings for any guy was not what I needed right now. I had to focus on doing well in this job and making a name for myself right from the get-go. I had to work hard. I had to stand out. I wasn’t going to stand out as the intern who ended up in the boss’s bed.

Was he even that attracted to me? It was tough to say. I could see Tony being that confident and borderline flirty with just about anyone. But what if he actually felt something different for me…?

“What are you thinking about?”

The voice of Barb Stanning interrupted my thoughts. She was sitting at the cubicle beside mine. Barb was a sweetheart. She’d been with the company for about six years and she seemed to love what she did. She was fun and outgoing, a regular life of the party type, even though she didn’t look to be the gregarious one. She looked more like a pretty librarian than a marketing executive. But she was flirty and teased everyone about everything. She was so bubbly and zany that it worked for her. I was glad that she seemed to like me and so far, she’d taken me under her wing and was happy to answer any question that I might have.

She was about average height with large breasts that she was not afraid to show off in her low-cut sweaters, thick glasses, and her hair tied back in a ponytail. She had kind, but sexy eyes and the way she worked her mouth when she spoke almost looked like she was kissing an invisible frog to turn it into a prince or something.

I was snapped out of my daydream by her voice. “No, I wasn’t thinking about anything except for this.”

She laughed. “Bullshit. You were thinking about him.”

I pretended to have no idea. “Him?”

“Tony.”

“The boss? The head honcho?” I asked. If Barb knew me at all, she would have known I was lying by my use of the word head honcho.

“Yeah, that Tony. You want him, don’t you?”

I stared at her in disbelief. How in the hell did she know this? Could she read my mind?

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“It’s ok. Every single female intern gets the same look in their eyes when they first start. They have to get him out of their system. I hate to break the news to you, but he rarely dates his employees, and he is basically a confirmed bachelor.”

“You mean he is a player or something?”

She shook her head. “No, he isn’t anything that smarmy. He just doesn’t seem to be the marrying type. I don’t think he will ever settle down. I’ve seen him date three different women for long-term relationships. We are talking a year, two years… hell, he even dated Kimberly for three years, but then she left him because he wouldn’t commit. At least, that is what I heard, but you know the rumor mill and gossip machine of places like this. With social media that sort of stuff has become so much worse.”

“What is his fear of commitment?”

“I heard a rumor that he was in love once and either got dumped or the girl died, and he never really recovered from it. But again, I don’t know for sure. I’m just warning you not to get your hopes up about dating him and if he does ask you out, do not assume that things are ever going to be permanent with the two of you.”

“Did you ever date him?” I asked.

She laughed. “No, I’m not quite up to his standards,” she said.

“You are very attractive,” I replied. “What do you mean?”

“Yeah, physically he might be down, but I’m too much of a smart ass. At least that is what I tell myself. I might be