Chapter 0149
“Oh,” said the woman.
“You’re beautiful, don’t misunderstand,” Logan said quickly.
“But not beautiful enough?”
“It’s not like that. That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?” The woman’s voice sharpened.
What the hell is wrong with you? Logan chastised himself. He was fumbling his words worse than a teenager on his first date.
He was a smooth, charming, charismatic CEO. Why was he consistently dropping the ball so hard?
“Oh, I see what’s happening here,” his date said. He couldn’t remember her name. There had been too many over the past few weeks. Hazel would know. Why hadn’t she drilled him more before this date? She’d already been putting in extra hours for this new purpose. What would one more hour be on top of it?
Yes. He’d insist in tomorrow’s meeting that Hazel sit with him for a mock date to more properly prepare
him for –
“You already have feelings for someone else,” his date said.
What?! “No, that’s ridiculous,” Logan replied.
“How dare you waste my time like this?” the woman said, her voice becoming shrill. “I never should have agreed to this date. I don’t care how rich you are.”
She threw her napkin on the table and pushed back her chair.
“Wait!” Logan said, starting to rise as she did.
She lifted her glass of champagne and tossed it right in his face.
“Whoever she is, she’ll never be as good as me.” The woman dropped her glass on the table, grabbed her purse, and then walked away.
Logan sat right back down. The champagne dripped down his nose. Those at nearby tables were turning to stare. He glared back until they got the message to mind their own business.
Then we reached for his own napkin- only, it wasn’t on the table. After a quick glance, he spotted it on the ground. As he leaned to grab it, another fresh napkin appeared right in front of his face.
A helpful patron? Someone with actual sympathy instead of mockery in their heart?
“Thank you,” Logan said. Dabbing his face, he glanced up and stilled.
Hazel was standing there.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
She looked to the side slightly, as if embarrassed. “I thought if I could witness one of the dates, I could more accurately correct the problems.”
+25 BONUS
Chapter 0149
“The problems are that you didn’t prepare me enough for this,” Logan snapped. Something uncomfortable churned in his stomach. It felt like humiliation, not a feeling Logan was overtly familiar with. “She was a brunette in the pictures you showed me.”
“Blonde must be a recent change,” Hazel said.
“I expect you to be on top of this, Hazel.”
Hazel’s face scrunched up a little. The wrinkle in her nose was kind of cute, despite everything. So was the dusting of red across Hazel’s cheeks.
“I am
your assistant, Logan. Not your love coach. You can’t just dump all of your emotional stress on me, alongside all of the planning and everything else.”
“You are my assistant,” Logan agreed. He hated how cute she remained, even when she was arguing with him. That fueled his frustration here. He shouldn’t think his assistant was cute! They were keeping this professional! “I pay you well enough. You should serve me as expected.”
“This wasn’t in my job description.”
“A good assistant would be flexible. You are a good assistant, aren’t you? Or are you just like the rest?”
That shut her up fast.
She pressed her mouth into a hard line and glared at Logan.
He hated to admit this, even to himself, but arguing with Hazel was so much more exciting and enjoyable than anything that had happened tonight with his date
Logan’s lip twitched, an almost smile.
Yet when he felt it, when he realized what was happening, it was like being hit without another glass of cold champagne.
He realized… The dates weren’t failing because of Hazel’s poor planning.
They were failing because the date wasn’t Hazel herself.