Oh Stupid Heart by Liza O'Connor Page A

to his
briefing notes. “But it says it’s easy.”
    Ian shook his head as
he walked around and placed his hands on the shoulders of the pretty, female actress.
“What do you think, Janice?”
    “I’ve been working
ten to twelve hours a day on this problem for a week. If you think it’s so damn
easy, come down here and do it yourself.”
    The other actors
nodded. One added. “Except you don’t know how, do you?”
    Ian finally stopped
fondling the girl and walked back and forth behind them. “These are things you
normally don’t hear. But they are being spoken. Your employee will think it to
your face, and say it behind your back. However, most people need their job, so
if you’re their boss, you’ll never hear it.”
    “Carrie, what else do
you hear within this group?”
    “James has given up
on Brian and withdrawn from the project. He’s probably convinced it’s not
solvable.”
    “Do we cut him
loose?”
    “Not yet. First, I’d
want to understand what the problems are. He could be correct that our current
solution won’t work.”
    James threw his hands
up to heaven. “Yes, thank you!”
    Ian grinned. “Carrie,
do you want to follow up?”
    Carrie focused on her
employees. “James, do you have another possible solution?”
    He smiled and nodded.
    “Let’s stop there.
Charles, take Brian’s place. You’ve just learned after a very long week and no
progress, your team thinks you have the wrong solution. James believes he has a
better solution. Take it from there.”
    Ian sat down beside
Carrie and draped his arm around her chair, tickling her arm. She leaned
forward and took some notes to escape physical contact with him. The man was a
brilliant instructor, but his affection towards the females bordered on sexual
harassment. Or would, except everyone, but her, seemed most happy to receive
his attention.
    Carrie didn’t want
his affections and wished he’d stop, but she endured it because the stuff she
was learning would benefit her for life, and she worried he would toss her from
the class if she flat out told him to back off.
    She finally
understood Trent’s predicament. She considered sharing their torment-in-common
when she called him tonight, but feared he’d demand her return if he knew the
instructor harassed her. No, just as he had tried to keep Coco’s sexual attacks
a secret from her, she’d hide this from him. To know would only torture Trent. God
knows, she worried about Coco constantly.
    The actor returned
with a tray containing every meal on her list.
    She groaned then
mouthed thank you.
    “Let’s take a five
minute bathroom break.” Ian leaned over, so his delicious sandalwood scent enveloped
her.
    “Problem?”
    She wished he’d stop
speaking softly in her ear, because his breath tickled her neck every time.
    “I wasn’t clear with
my list. I only meant for one of those to be obtained. I provided a list so
finding something might be easier.”
    “Take the one you
want and we’ll put the others in the refrigerator.”
    She took half a
sandwich and placed the other half on one of the other plates. Ian snared it
and took a bite.
    “I avoid saturated
fats and simple carbs myself.”
    Given his thin,
sinewy body, she believed him.
    “Do you exercise?” he
asked.
    “Not at a gym. I walk
about a mile to and from the trains daily. Otherwise, I work all the time.”
    When she’d finished a
quarter of her sandwich, she pushed the remainder aside.
    He eyed it. “Are you
done?”
    “Yes.”
    To her shock, he
picked up her sandwich and ate it. He chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’d never do that
unless it belongs to a person I’d be willing to kiss.”

Chapter 9
    Mortified by Ian’s
declaration he’d be willing to kiss her, she dropped her head so her hair
covered her face. She suspected her cheeks glowed fire red, given the heat they
radiated. She read over her notes, desperately searching for something to
change the topic with.
    “What if the
employees are wrong about