First days suck.
My first day at high school, college, and uni all left me hyperventilating and wishing I enjoyed recreational drugs. I already know I’m going to talk too much and probably scare off my new co-workers. Reid said that Mel is cool, but hell, I’m not.
At least I can walk now. My second session with Jason was tough, but I didn’t suffer quite as badly, plus I had the weekend to recover.
I’m dressed in black skinny jeans, a cream and dark grey striped casual shirt, with the sleeves rolled up. My hair is tied up in a neat ponytail. Although they’re apparently casual there, I don’t think I’ll make a good impression if I turn up wearing my worn denim shorts and a band tee.
I’ll see what everyone else is wearing before I dress down.
Mum and Dad made a fuss over breakfast, as though I’d actually landed a job. Who knows, it might lead to something, like me selling a series for seven figures and buying a house by the beach. That would be ace.
I park my sunshine yellow Beetle into a space, and my shoulders instantly relax when I see Reid’s car. He’s here. At least I know someone, and he will hopefully be the buffer stopping me from talking shit for eight hours.
He’s only here on Mondays and Fridays, though. That’s probably a good thing. I need to do this alone. I’m glad to have a familiar face on day one but after that, I have to put on my big girl pants… and not just during my time of the month.
I grab my bag and bottle of water that flew into the footwell when I had to break sharply to miss a dickhead in a shiny BMW.
You’ve got this. Go in there, don’t be a twat, and rock it.
The office is a single story building, with old wooden window frames and a chipped, red door. It looks quaint and inviting.
When I get inside, I look around in wonder. The first thing I notice is the smell of paperbacks. Then, I notice the bookshelves. It’s like a library, and I love it. I walk deeper into the room, noting the weird layout. The offices are around the edges, with what looks like a communal space in the middle. No one was on the reception desk when I walked in, but Reid did say she doesn’t start until eight. It’s currently only fifteen minutes to.
Yeah, I’m early for my first day.
Mel throws her arms up and walks out of her glass-fronted office. “Mila, welcome.”
“Hi, how are you? I’m so excited and so ready for this. Thanks for taking a chance on me. I love this office, all the books and the smell of —”
“Mila.” Reid steps out of his office and cuts me of.
Sweet Jesus, what took him so long? I was about to tell her that books smell like paper, for fuck’s sake. As if she doesn’t know what she’s been binding for the last eight years.
My eyes widen as I look at him for help. I don’t want to screw this up. I’m getting real experience in the publishing industry. I can’t have Mel thinking that I’m a bumbling twat. She’s going to report back to my lecturer.
Reid presses his lips together, stifling a laugh. Glad my pain is amusing him.
He looks damn good in dark jeans and a T-shirt that’s just tight enough to show his cut physique. His hair is perfect, and his eyes are smiling. I want to run my hands over his chest.
“Well, let me show you around, Mila,” Mel says, her eyes flitting from me to Reid. “Actually, Reid, you could give Mila the tour and then show her to my office after.”
“Whatever you say,” he replies, raising his brow at her.
Are they having a fight over which one has to show the new girl around? Maybe they should have flipped a coin or drawn straws.
Mel leaves us, laughing under her breath.
“What was that about?” I ask.
“Nothing. Let me show you where the bathrooms are, and then I’ll make you a coffee. There aren’t too many rooms, so you won’t get lost.”
“Ooh, is it instant coffee?” We start to walk in the opposite direction, passing the entrance door. “Do you gag every time you drink it? Tell me it’s like a supermarket own brand, too. Can I watch you take a sip?”
“Let me know when you’re finished. Toilets are there,” he says pointing to the two doors next to us. We continue down a little corridor. “Storerooms to our left.”
“Talk to me about coffee, Reid.”
“Do you say that in bed?”
“If you want.”
Word. Vomit.
Fuck’s sake, that made it sound like I was offering him sex.
Mayday. Mila going down. Not that down, either.
Reid stops walking.
“Okay, I totally know how that sounded, and I promise I’m not propositioning you in the workplace… on my first day. Shall I go home?”
My face is burning hot. Am I on fire?
“Amazing,” he mutters. “You’re not going anywhere. Shall we get you that coffee now or will that just make things worse?”
“I’m not speaking until I’m spoken to from now on.”
“Sure, you’re not. In here.” He opens a door, and I walk into the kitchen. There’s a big coffee machine sitting on the dark wooden worktop.
“Oh.”
“I can make you shitty instant if you’d prefer.”
“I wouldn’t.”
His smirk is too gorgeous to irritate me. “No? You don’t want to get the full effect of working in an office?”
“Give me the good stuff.”
“Sit down, Mila.”
I do as I’m told, but only because I really want him to make me a nice latte.
“Do you know what I’ll be doing?”
“Proofreading and blurb writing, I think. Next week, you’re mine, and we’re going through a fresh manuscript.”
I’m his. I bite my lip as my hormones race.
Stop it.
“What about the week after?”
“You’ll be doing a little cover design and some release campaigns.”
Excitement bubbles in my stomach. “That all sounds so cool.”
“You know, Mel sometimes outsources proofreaders.”
“Does she?”
“She has one who freelances. Debbie is damn good at what she does, too.”
“But…?”
He smiles over his shoulder. “But she’s accepted a job with Penguin Random House.”
“You have an opening here?”
He turns back and continues to make the coffee. “Yep. You’re good at proofing, Mila.”
“I could be the next Debbie.”
“You could never be anyone other than you.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“I think so,” he replies, placing my coffee in front of me. As he bends down, I catch the scent of his subtle aftershave. I want to press my face against his skin and inhale. He smells so bloody good, and I have got to get a hold of myself.
“Thanks.” For more than the coffee. “I guess I should get to Mel’s office. I don’t want to piss her off within the first five minutes.”
“She’s going to love you. Come on, I’ll show you the way.”
I actually saw which office she came out of, plus they’re all glass-fronted, but I don’t say anything because I want to walk with him.
Mel stands when she sees us walking back into the room—me, clutching my coffee like it’s about to run off. She waves me in, and I turn to Reid.
“You’ll be fine,” he says before I can freak out.
“Okay.”
“Lunch.”
“What?” I mumble.
“Midday.”
“You’re being weird.”
“See you then.” With a smile, he turns and heads back into his office, which is almost opposite Mel’s. Kind of like where our houses are.
“Reid show you around?”
“I’ll no longer get lost. God, there are so many books. How do you resist sitting and reading all day?”
She laughs. “Sometimes I don’t. Take a seat. You can ask me anything you like as we go, but shall we dive straight into this proofread?”
“Hell yes!”
“I don’t print them like Reid.”
“No one does.”
“He’s unique.”
I sit down next to her and blow my coffee. “He sure is.”
“Very good at what he does and ridiculously handsome.” I side eye her, and she laughs. “Oh, come on. You’ve noticed.”
“I mean, I have eyes and everything. Plus, he likes books.”
“Preach. My ex-husband never read. I don’t know how the marriage lasted so many years. My next husband will love books. I’ve stated that on my dating profile.”
My smile widens. I already love this woman. “Online?”
“Tinder.”
“Ouch.”
That gets a laugh. “You have no idea.”
She tilts the screen towards me.
I take a breath and turn to the manuscript in front of me. This is being published, and I’m helping with that process.