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He was looking deep into s… and that scent, thatmy head swim…

“It’s also a little sad,” he finished up, which jolted me out of my reverie

“What is?” I asked, taken aback

“That a wo for an idiot like Klaus The situation should be reversed – and if it were, I would hope you’d fire his ass”

I grinned “In a New York second”

He leaned in a little bit My grin faded as ain

“I see so e future Soo out there and kick so…”

He paused, and the barest hint of a smile played at the corner of his mouth

“…beautiful, if it’s not inappropriate to say that again…”

My heart skipped three beats this time

He leaned in closer

“It’s too bad you’re such a doofus” And with that, he broke into a huge grin

I snapped up straight, totally jerked out of the spell “What?! I am not!”

And then, because I didn’t really knohat he meant, I asked, “…what exactly do you mean by ‘doofus’?”

“Soence – which isn’t your problem – or a deficit of self-esteem, sells herself short and puts up with crap she shouldn’t Only doofuses work for douchebags,” he said, with an expression like I hate to break it to you, kid, but the truth hurts

Okay, by that definition, I actually am kind of a doofus, but I wasn’t about to admit that to him

I crossed my arms “I have to pay rent, I have to eat, and if the only way to do that is to work for an asshole, sorry, Mr Bigshot ‘Gonna Buy The Co a roof overto be that way forever It’s only temporary Haven’t you ever had to put up with crap, ever, or is your life so charmed that you never had to overcome any setbacks?”

He laughed as he headed towards Klaus’s office “Alright, alright… so you’re just a little doofus Co up soery”

13

Connor spent another hour intently exa file after file He asked for the companies by na for

I didn’t do ner office chair, his rock ‘n roll boots propped up on Klaus’s desk, and read and read and read