Not Quite Perfect (Oakland Hills Book 3) by Gretchen Galway Read Free Book Online Page B

pens from inside the bag. A glance at his phone told him it was 8:03 a.m., a typical start time for him. He let out the breath he’d been holding, telling himself it was funny, not terrifying, that he had a crush on a woman who wore a torn Beavis and Butthead T-shirt to the office.
    The two women in the office with him didn’t say a word for thirty minutes. He was lost in his own work, transcribing his notes from the day before, when Rita knocked on the hard edge of the cubicle to get his attention.
    “Will you be needing me for anything? I have a meeting at nine, so if you wanted to talk to me, now would be a good time,” she said.
    He really did have to justify crashing into her office like he had. “I’d love a quick demo of the software you use. Not the off-the-shelf packages, but…” He trailed off. He wasn’t convinced that all the specialized equipment Fite had was worth the fortune the company had poured into it. He knew how tempting shiny new software, computers, and toys could be—especially to fashion designers who made a living chasing trends and looking cool.
    Rita’s face tensed, as if she’d had to defend the expenses before. “I’ll want to give you a proper demonstration.” She looked at her watch. “Is ten fifteen all right? I just got called into a meeting. It’s with the Men’s team, and they’re already upset with—well, they’re always upset, honestly, but we have to get some revisions in the afternoon FedEx shipment to New York, and it really can’t wait—”
    Zack held up a reassuring hand. “You don’t have to take time out of your day for me. I’ll just watch”—he hesitated, as if not sure of her name—“April. While she’s working. That way I’m not slowing anybody down.”
    Rita shook her head. “April hasn’t learned FreePeat yet. That’s the software you’re talking about, I think, because it’s so expensive.” She ran nervous fingers through her fair hair. “Right?”
    Zack glanced at April, who had her back to him. The monitor over her head was filled with black and pink stripes. “I think that was the name,” he said. “That’s not what she’s using right now?”
    “No, that’s just Illustrator. For screen prints, we can use either.” Rita looked at her watch again. “Look, maybe I can reschedule that meeting with the Men’s team. They’re probably just going to ask for a color change, and I can rush that over lunch—”
    “Don’t skip your lunch just for me,” he said. “You already came in early. I’m really not here to cause trouble. I try to blend in. Impossible, I know, but don’t change your schedule for me. I’ll adapt. Is ten thirty a good time?”
    “Yes, but are you sure?”
    “Absolutely,” he said.
    Rita nodded, smiling tightly, and retrieved a tablet from her own cubicle before running for the door. “Be right back! April can show you what she’s working on if you’re interested.”
    When she was gone, April rotated halfway in her chair and met his gaze over her shoulder. A handful of her curly hair was swept up in a round ponytail at the back of her head that looked like a yarn pom-pom on a winter hat. Her gray eyes were rimmed with cobalt-blue eyeliner that was the same color as her skin-tight jeans. “Are you interested?”
    His hands began to sweat. Hell, yes, but why?
    He stood up and came over. “Do they usually hire freelancers who don’t know how to use the software?”
    She rotated away from him and grabbed the mouse. “I know how to use the software. See?”
    “Not the specialized software, though. Is it that rare?”
    “You’d have to ask Rita,” she said. The window on her screen closed, opened, closed. Another graphic appeared, this one with the Fite logo in earth tones. It zoomed across the screen, F-I-T-E, and then disappeared. Her fingers tapped on the mouse.
    She was nervous.
    Why?
    He’d allowed his resurrected sex drive to distract him from learning something important. Big mistake. In