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  attic but goes in anyway, armed with only her ear-piercing

  screams and a wooden spoon or something. Facing Paul's

  office felt that stupid to me. I knew what they wanted to

  talk about, and I knew I didn't want to discuss it.

  I liked working for Paul, even if I was "only" an executive assistant. It wasn't, frankly, al I intended to be. Not

  forever. But for now. Moving into another position,

  working for another person didn't appeal to me even

  though I knew it should, but I didn't want to work for

  Vivian Darcy. I didn't like her, and I didn't think she liked

  me, which made her sudden interest al the more

  disturbing.

  Despite al that, at 11:00 a.m. exactly I pushed away from

  Despite al that, at 11:00 a.m. exactly I pushed away from

  my desk and knocked on Paul's door. They were laughing,

  their heads bent together, when I knocked, and they both

  looked up. Paul put distance between them at once,

  pushing back in his roling chair. Vivian didn't move. Her

  mug rested with familiarity on the edge of Paul's desk.

  I hadn't brought him coffee but he stil sipped from a venti

  Starbucks cup, so I figured he was al right. I took the

  chair in front of the desk but kept it back far enough that

  my knees didn't come close to the wood. I crossed my

  legs, watching her, not him, and she gave me a level stare

  in return.

  "So. Paige." Vivian's smile didn't warm me any more than

  it ever had, though I thought she'd put more effort into it.

  She tucked a short blond curl behind her ear with French-

  tipped fingers and didn't say anything else.

  I smiled, too.

  Paul cleared his throat after a few seconds and leaned his

  elbows on the desk. "Paige, Vivian's been working with

  the marketing department to create some entry-level

  positions. The idea is to get expansion going on, starting

  from the ground up. They're looking to hire in-house,

  from the ground up. They're looking to hire in-house,

  people they feel wil be an asset to the department."

  "And you feel I'd be an asset to your department?" I

  watched her face carefuly as she answered.

  Her gaze flicked so briefly toward Paul and back to me I

  was supposed to miss it. She might not even have known

  she looked at him first, that's how fast it was. But I didn't

  miss it.

  "Oh, yes," Vivian said. "Absolutely. Paul's spoken so winningly of you."

  Seriously, what the fuck? Aside from the fact I was pretty

  sure she hadn't used it correctly, who ever says

  "winningly"? Except, of course, a woman who's trying to

  find something flattering to say to a woman she doesn't

  realy like.

  And then I understood it.

  Paul and Vivian were fucking. They were very good about

  hiding it, more discreet than a lot of interoffice couples I'd

  come across. But there it was, the truth slapped down on

  the desk between al of us like a gauntlet. They were

  lovers and her dislike for me had nothing to do with

  lovers and her dislike for me had nothing to do with

  anything as simple as my clothes or education. It was al

  about my blond hair and blue eyes and the size of my tits

  and ass. She thought I had her on the run.

  "I haven't seen the jobs posted on the board," I said

  without bursting into sudden laughter.

  Vivian looked at her gigantic mug but resisted drinking

  from it. "They're not going up for open applications until

  after we've interviewed the people we have already

  prescreened. We'd realy like you to consider an

  interview."

  I didn't know much about how human resources works, or

  the hoops anyone's required to jump through in the name

  of being politicaly correct, but that didn't sound quite right

  to me. At any rate, I nodded as though it made perfect

  sense. Paul smiled and looked back and forth between us.

  I couldn't look at him. Not because I'd figured out Vivian

  thought he and I might be having a fling but because I was

  convinced they had. And it wasn't any swinging of my

  moral compass toward judgment, either, but more about

  the fact I didn't want to believe he had such bad taste.

  "Can I ask you why you prescreened me? Aside from

  Paul's recommendation." I knew my smile for him had to

  be a sliver in her skin, but I didn't care. "I don't have any

  background in marketing. I have a business-school degree

  from Harrisburg Area Community Colege."

  "There's a certain amount of on-the-job training we're

  expecting to provide."

  I'd spent enough time around people who couldn't stand

  silence to understand how powerful it can be. I nodded

  instead of speaking, even to murmur what could be

  construed as consent. Vivian looked at Paul, but he and I

  had already established our lack of need for speech to

  communicate.

  She cleared her throat to draw his attention and then

  drank, at last, from her mug. "Paul has spoken so highly of

  you, Paige, and your background can only help you. This

  is a great opportunity."

  "Could you explain why?"

  Her lips parted, and she drank again instead of answering

  me right away. When she put the mug down on Paul's

  desk the sloshing from inside had lessened considerably.

  She looked at him again with her brow furrowed. Clearly,

  the fact I wasn't jumping up and down for joy to leave

  behind my dreary life as a secretary for the bright, shiny

  world of junior whatever-thefuck confused her.

  "You'd be salaried, not hourly," she said. "And of course, there'd be more responsibility."

  I kept my eyes on Paul. "I have plenty of responsibility."

  We al laughed, though she didn't sound amused. She

  drank again and her mug rattled with the unmistakable

  sound of emptiness. She put the cup down with a final-

  sounding thud.

  "This would be different," she said flatly.

  The men I knew were more often insensitive rather than

  purposefuly cruel, obtuse rather than inattentive. Paul was

  more in tune than most and, smile fading, he turned to her.

  I wondered if he'd only just now figured out her real

  reasons for wanting me out of his office.

  The silence went on long enough to make it officialy

  awkward. Then Vivian stood. "Excuse me a minute."

  awkward. Then Vivian stood. "Excuse me a minute."

  I was surprised she'd lasted as long as she had. My

  kidneys would have been floating. Neither of us said

  anything as she went into Paul's bathroom and closed the

  door firmly behind her.

  He turned to stare at me. "Paige."

  "Let me just get something straight, Paul. This isn't even an

  interview for the new position. I'm interviewing for an

  interview for a job I've been preselected for, right?" I leaned forward and caught his gaze with mine.

  Paul hesitated, then nodded. "Yes."

  Back straight, chin lifted, I sat back in my chair and

  recrossed my legs. From the bathroom I heard the sound

  of running water. I kept my expression neutral,