ISABELLE CAMPBELL
I managed to get through another day.
It’s not usual for me to celebrate a successful day at work, but now that I work for Colin Adams, I do it every day.
Back home, I remembered I needed to talk to my mother about Saturday—I'll have to help Colin. It never crossed my mind that this would be a date; quite the opposite, his words had been crystal clear with me. Besides, there’s no way he’d ever ask me out, not knowing him like I do.
“Mom, I need you to watch Hanna for a few hours on Saturday night. I’m going out with Colin to help him with a small meeting, just so you know.”
My mother broke into a big smile, then looked at me suspiciously, clearly itching to ask a thousand questions.
“So you’re saying you have a date, sweetheart?”
“Call it an obligation with my jerk of a boss—sorry, my sweet boss.”
My mother didn’t quite get it; she didn’t know how furious I was about being treated like trash by that man. I thought I could ignore him, but that’s nearly impossible. It’s easier to live with the devil himself than with him.
“Sounds like you two don’t get along.”
“If it were merely getting along, that’d be nice. The right word is unbearable, and now I see why no woman lasts a month working for that… oh, never mind.”
“Great love stories start like this.”
I glanced at my mother out of the corner of my eye, doubting her words. Who in their right mind would have an affair with Colin Adams? I don’t think even for money anyone would put up with that magnificent ogre…
See? There’s the problem. The man’s charming, smells nice, and his eyes cut right through you, but… he seems psychopathic—rough, rude, ill-mannered, and a dozen other things.
“I don’t want love, I want money!” I headed for the bathroom. “And if he needs a female companion, I’ll be the best one he could have—but only because of the paycheck at the end of the month. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“If you say so…” she smiled, still doubting my words.
I was determined, and if he wants to treat me like trash, that’s his problem. I just need to “survive” this job, that’s all…
Nothing more, nothing less.