There were times in the past when, yes, it was easier to stand very still behind a plant than admit that my name is actually Genevieve Starlight. My mother felt a deep connection to the stars on the night that I was born, and therefore gifted me with the world’s most embarrassing name. Maybe someone without clothes from the 1970s could have pulled it off. Not me.

Honestly, I’m way past that. In fact, I’ve progressed to corporate…what? Espionage? Sabotage? Dwelling on it too deeply makes me a little ill, so I won’t. I won’t take it that far, anyway. I won’t need to. It all became clear the moment Connor sent me the hiring paperwork. It’s not about making Bliss Resort look bad—just average. He’s got a team of people at Global optimizing every new social media trend as it happens, so he can make whoever the competing client is look like a million dollars.

What I need to focus on is that the signing bonus from Connor was just enough to rent a moving company to take my stuff to a Ruby Bay storage unit at the last minute, get myself here, and make some credit card payments.

So no, I’m not that girl anymore.

But the Bliss Resort has a towering ficus that’s perfect to lurk behind while I plan my next move. I’ll only be here for a moment so I can catch my breath and compose myself into the grown-woman version of me. The version of me who swore on the drive to Ruby Bay that not only am I going to work for Roman Bliss, I’m also going to show him exactly what he’s been missing out on.

I do have one critique for him already, and it has to do with parking instructions. The man is already throwing out stumbling blocks, but I will not be stumbled.

All the hiring materials tell you is where to park—in the employee lot behind the main resort building—but they’re not particularly clear about where its offices are. From behind the ficus I can see one sign with an arrow—OFFICES—but I’m not sure where it goes, or whether I’m supposed to walk right past the front desk, or anything else.

Be professional. That’s the first rule of this job, and it’s especially the first rule for today. For professionalism is the key to attractiveness. A guy like Roman Bliss is only going to be into me if I can get on his level—which, as I recall from school, was a million miles above everyone else. And I knew I’d never get there unless I reshaped myself into someone new.