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Leah
She knew it was casual Friday, but come on. He looked like he was going to the beach, not working. And those shoes? Leah sniffed and turned away to look at her computer. She swore he worked at Old Navy on the weekends. Or the mall. Or—
“Early as usual,” Shane said, tweaking her bun.
She slapped at his hand. “Being on time isn’t early. It’s called—”
“Punctual? On the dot?” He grinned. “Prompt?”
“It’s not—prompt isn’t a synonym for on time.”
He sat at the desk across from her, tossing his messenger bag on the ground and crossing one leg over the other. “Wanna bet? We could look it up. Use your Googler thing.”
“It’s—my what? Google? God, I swear you didn’t even graduate high school.”
Shane flashed a grin. “Valedictorian. Not too bad in college either—for a slacker.”
Her cheeks went red. She had called him a slacker. Yesterday, in the break room. But he was a slacker. He waited until the last minute to get his work done and acted like he wasn’t required to put any effort into it at all.
Some people were here for the experience. It seemed like he was just here for the—what? The contacts? The girls? Because there were a few ladies who worked in publicity that he flirted with all the time.
But she was here because books were her passion.
Their boss peeked her head out of her office and beckoned. “Morning report.”
She brought her laptop and a notebook, plus the printed manuscript and carried it inside. Shane sat in the chair next to her, his printed manuscript on his lap. And what were those? Sticky notes? For real?
He flipped the manuscript over and gave her a mock glare. “No copying.”
Her mouth snapped open to argue, but their boss sat down as well and started the meeting. Kara Mason was one of the most well-known literary agents in New York. Getting an internship with her was a dream come true. Leah could only assume she’d hired Shane for the comedic relief.
“What were your thoughts on the book?” Kara asked both of them.
Leah looked at her notes, all typed up and bulleted and color-coordinated. “I think we could have a stronger character arc. And the scene where the hero and heroine fight about the dog. I think it needs something…more.” She struggled to put it into words. It needed more angst, more feeling.
“And more sex,” Shane said.
To her surprise, Kara grinned. “Yeah?”
Shane nodded, not even glancing at his notes. “Sexual tension. It would really help in that dog scene. And then they can make up—maybe in the shower, because the scene in bed feels a little vanilla.”
Leah’s cheeks burned for the second time that day—all because of Shane Court. It was ten times worse when he glanced at her with a wink. A wink! What was that? Did he think she was a little kid? Or was he seriously playing at flirting. Because Leah and Shane Court were as different as cats and—well, dogs.
“I agree,” Kara said. “And a few of the existing scenes are feeling a little…stale. Put down some suggestions before we send this back to the author.”
She made a note and listened as Kara continued, talking about other books she wanted to pitch to editors, and the pile of growing submissions they had from unpublished authors that Shane and her still needed to finish.
And of course, she took notes the entire time while Shane just sat there and let her do all the work. He was a slacker! A huge one.
When the meeting was over, Leah went straight for her desk and spread the manuscript out. She glanced up at Shane when he sat down. “What do you want to work on first?”
He leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. “I’ll take the manuscript.”
“But—” She frowned. She wanted to work on the manuscript.
“Problem?”
“We’re both supposed to be making notes on this.”
He kept his eyes closed, but shrugged. “So make notes.”
Her mouth dropped open. They were supposed to be doing this together, weren’t they? Otherwise their opinions might not match and then Kara would have to wade through twice as many notes on the same thing.
“Damn it,” she muttered under her breath.
He was the one who’d come up with the idea for more sex. No, sexier sex. God, he was just one big horn ball. She glanced over and watched him a moment, eyes traveling from his head to his toes.
So, he was attractive. In a laidback, carefree kind of way. He made it look easy. Life. Looks. Everything.
“See anything you like?” Shane asked.
She jerked her gaze away. “I was just—just waiting. To—to see if you were going to help or not.”
“Uh-huh.”
Fuck. She pressed her hand to her cheek, trying to cool it down. Why the hell couldn’t Kara have hired another female intern? Or an old man even? Someone she wasn’t constantly embarrassed by. It was like Shane’s personal mission to make her as uncomfortable as possible. And he was doing a good job.
“Relax,” Shane said, laughter in his voice. “It’ll get done.”
“Sure.”
“What? You don’t believe me?”
“I don’t believe you know how to work,” she mumbled.
She jumped in her seat when she heard his voice right behind her. She spun in her chair and found him standing at the edge of her cubicle. “And I don’t believe you know how to have fun.”
“I’m at work—fun isn’t a priority.”
“So you do know how to fun? Or was that just an excuse?”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Not an excuse. I do know how to have fun, okay?”’
“Wanna bet?”
“What?”
He folded his arms. “Do you want to bet?” He lowered his voice with a smirk. “Or are you afraid?”