I love my friend, but she goes gaga over hot men.

“That’s a perk from work,” I remind her. “We’re not him.”

Fly First is one of my clients. When I told them I’d be traveling for my birthday, they offered me a discounted membership.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind spending my vacation with that body.”

Madeline’s right, I guess. The guy is tall, with short brown hair and a broad frame, but the package doesn’t matter if the man has zero manners.

We walk by him as we march toward the train that’ll take us to our terminal. He’s searching for something inside his backpack, and I can’t see his face, but a whiff of his expensive fragrance is pleasant, if not familiar. I can’t remember where I’ve smelled it before.

“Well, the asshole has a fine ass,” Madeline says.

“I wish I could agree with you, but someone forgot my glasses.” I stare at Courtney.

“Hey, you’re going to be flying in first class. I don’t see why you’re complaining.”

“The plane boards in less than an hour,” Asshole shouts over the phone, just as the train taking us to the terminal arrives.

“Do you think he’s breaking up with his girlfriend?” Madeline asks expectantly.

And there she goes; my friend is already planning on hooking up with Mr. Annoyance. I pull her toward the next car. We’re not riding with the hot asshole.

“What do you mean you can’t come with me, Annalise?” Hot Asshole protests, exasperated. So much for avoiding him, he ended up in our car, “We had a deal.”

“If I didn’t have a boyfriend, I’d offer to come with him,” Courtney says with a sultry voice.

“Well then, Claire and I will have to fight for him.”

“Keep him.” I wave off their nonsense. “I’m on vacation. The last thing I want is to deal with someone like him.

Four

Miller

I take a deep breath as the frustration builds inside me. I want to shout, vent, and let everything out. I don’t mean to be an asshole, but today has been a fucking circus.

One of my prospective clients called at six in the morning, asking us to move the presentation to next week because the competition just sent them a proposal. To top off my bad luck, Devon’s superstar is on vacation.

Who the fuck authorizes vacations when we’re in the middle of landing new clients?

Thankfully, she promised to send over part of the presentation, but they’ll be drafts, and she won’t be available to work her magic until next week.

We’re trying to convince the client to switch the presentation to late next week. Predictably, Annalise, Devon’s surefire hookup just canceled on me too.