Page 25 of Demo
She stilled, but I urged her to keep swaying with me, my cheek pressed to the top of her head, her breath against my neck. “What?” she asked.
“I can think of about ten reasons why they should hire you, but I want you to tell me why you think you should get the gig.”
A minute passed before she answered. “Well, I have excellent grades in my classes—”
“Mmhmm.”
“I have great references from my professors …”
“Oh yeah?”
“And …”
I stopped swaying and pulled back just enough to look into her eyes. “But why should theyreallyhire you?” I asked.
Her eyes seemed to settle on something just past me, then she brought them back to mine. “Because I’m fucking awesome.”
A grin started to stretch across my face.
“I’m relentless, nosy, have common sense AND street smarts. I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, and they will simply find no one else like me.”
Cradling her face in my hand, I felt an odd sense of pride. “There she is,” I said, and she returned my giddy smile. “Now,” I took her shoulders and turned her toward the office, before grabbing her briefcase from the truck and handing it to her, “go kick some ass!” and I swatted her behind, causing her to yelp.
Yep, definitely leaving some boundaries behind.
She gave me a look of disbelief, shook her head, then turned forward, straightened her shoulders, and walked into the building.
About an hour later, Lyzbeth exited the building, talking to a guy who looked at least a decade older than us. He was dressed in clean jeans and a button-down shirt and had a camera slung around his shoulder. They were talking excitedly and seemed to be getting along. They stopped at the end of the walkway and shook hands before he turned and walked in the other direction, and she headed to where I had just stood up after killing time sitting at a nearby bench.
She walked casually as she made her way out of view of the office windows, and I followed, and as soon as we were a safe distance away, she turned around squealing, dropped her briefcase and leaped into my arms.
“I nailed it!” she practically screamed, and I spun her around.
“I knew you would!” I answered.Good lord, why was I so happy?
After she was done squeezing the life out of me, she pulled back and looked down at me. “Uh, sorry, about that,” she stammered as I took a hint and slowly lowered her back to the ground, my body awakening as hers slid against mine all the way down.
She tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear and looked down at the pavement, then back up at me. “Thank you, Knox. Not just for the ride, but for showing up—really showing up for me today.”
I couldn’t take the embarrassment she was trying to hide. “Hey,” I said. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“Yeah,” she said, not taking her eyes off mine. “Friends.”
“So … as friends, how about a celebratory dinner? My treat, for kicking ass in there.”
Lizzie looked elated and then instantly deflated. “Shit. I can’t. I really want to. But I have other plans.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling like an asshole for assuming she would be available on the spot.
“It’s a family thing,” she clarified, and when I looked back up at her, she was wringing her hands like she was earlier. Biting the inside of her cheek, she gave pause before asking, “Why don’t you come with me?”
Shocked by her invitation, I removed my ball cap, ran my hand through my hair and replaced it, looking down at my work clothes. “I’m not dressed to impress right now,” I said.
Lyzbeth shook her head. “It’s just dinner at my sister’s with my mom. We try to do it at least once a week. We just order in. It’s very casual.”
“You sure?” I asked, still perplexed by the invite, but also not wanting to part ways with her.
She eyed me for a minute, before answering, “Yeah, I’m sure.”
