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She grabbed a cup of coffee from the break room on her way to her corner office Her space was small, but she treasured the ith the view of don Myrtle Beach It was a big upgrade to her starter cubicle in the cube-farh the emails that had accumulated since yesterday, her boss, Hank, walked in and sank down in the chair in front of her desk

"How’s it going, kid?"

She s Hank was in his forties and saw everyone around hiray hair and if she squinted just right, he reminded her of Richard Gere He had more than a few admirers in the office, both reed with her assess, no proble her a rueful s, "Well, I’ot half of your crew in Alabama this week, and Nikki is out with heruot a local install that just cah and it’s VIP"

Mia rolled her eyes "First of all, Nikki just had a baby; how is that a ‘lady proble about so for the city, it should only require a couple of technicians, tops"

"You know the Oceanix Resort?" Mia nodded even though it wasn’t really a question Most locals could never afford to stay there but everyone still knew the Oceanix Resort It was high-end luxury She would never voluntarily admit it to her coworkers, but she suspected that Hank knew shetheir entire system with ours and the Myrtle Beach location is to be the first install If things go well, the other nine locations will be next The catch is they want to start on Monday, which means that the preliminary work needs to be laid out this week Since you’d normally send Nikki on a local job, that only leaves you, kid This needs to go off without a hitch so we can’t send some wet-behind-the-ears newbie and besides, those are your people, aren’t they?"

Indeed they had been at one tirow up as the only child of Jefferson and Madeline Gentry without rubbing elboith soed elite Her parents hat you would call "old money" If there had ever been a poor Gentry in the family tree, it was too far back to be found She had bowed to parental pressure and attended an Ivy League college, which was probably why Hank suspected that she was froraduated, she had started to pull away frorown up with The pressure to fit in had long ago gotten old and she was eager to experience life without a constant safety net under her

Of course, her parents had been less than thrilled with her choices She would have thought her coree would have tipped them off, but apparently they just assue to study a hobby When she ated childhood home in a posh oceanfront section of Garden City Beach, they had been quite vocal in their disapproval She had struck a compromise with them and had moved into a condominium that her father owned in nearby Surfside Beach She wanted to hate it, but truthfully she loved her two-bedroo and even though she ell paid at Danvers, it would have been out of her price range

She rarely saw any of her childhood friends now Most of them just didn’t understand her anymore As was often the case, they had all ood friend and coworker, Nikki, as currently on odmother of her first child Indeed, life was different, but better now Her parents ht never understand her, but she hoped in some tiny way, they respected her need to ers, jerking her from her trip down memory lane and back to the present Daain? Oh, yeah, her people, hmmm, how to answer that "I don’t know about that I’rinned, obviously amused with her efforts to sidestep his question "Have you ever been inside the Oceanix Resort?"

Well shit, he had her there and he knew it "Era few tiood Sunday brunch"

"Whew, I can only iine howfor an answer, he continued on "So, at least you’re familiar with it Bullshit aside, Merimon asked that we send you"

Mia’s heart stuttered Oh my God, Gray Merimon knew she existed? Maybe that threesome idea wasn’t all in her head "Wow, okay If Gray asked for erie, Hank busted her bubble

"Gray? No, the other one, Nick He handled the contract and requested the team leader He evenpulled out from under you It wasn’t that she didn’t find Nick attractive; he was delish His fiancée, Beth, was hot as well, but she was pregnant It see to have a fantasy about someone knocked up Oh, well, it was probably for the best She would just continue to admire her idol froet everything started Who do I need to ask for?"

Hank pulled some paperwork that he had rolled in his shirt pocket and handed it over to her "Seth Jackson is your contact He also indicated that you can speak with soed for a call and he left her office with a curse

Mia spent the next hour answering e with her iPad and a notebook to jot down some quick notes She stopped off at the restroom to survey her reflection before she left She had dressed a bit casually for a custo black skinny pants, with her high-heeled pink pu pink-and-white striped top Her wavy, brown hair was styled in the usual intentionally messy look, and her makeup consisted of pink blusher and a sheer lipstick Yeah, it would have to do She seldoes anyway

Chapter Three

God, he needed a drink This day had been nothing but a pain in the ass so far He had spent the past hour dealing with a custo ring The cleaning staff had gotten defensive and plainly pissed off over the accusations and the custo with it from both sides, the custoolf and re; it was at hos repaired She hadn’t even bothered to apologize It was as if the whole thing had been an inconvenience to her Seth intended to ensure that they had no vacancies in the future to accommodate them He would not subject hiain

Margie wasn’t at her desk so he assuone on to lunch She didn’t like to deviate fro her wait to eat could daet everyone in the vicinity killed He had just sat down at his desk when he noticed the light on in the attached co the caot back up and went toward the office with the intention of pulling her out He caie-like almost backed her ass up into his crotch When she continued to shiht he had possibly died and gone to heaven He settled back against the doorframe to enjoy the show When she flipped around, he saw her na with the words Danvers International and Mia Gentry below it Well, fuck Couldn’t Jason Danvers employ someone homely for once? Sadly, the dance reen eyes looked up at him in question "So you’re from Danvers?" Brilliant, Seth, way to state the obvious Follow it up by asking her sign

Her full pouty lips settled into a mischievous sie, then would you be Mr Jackson?"