Free Hysterical Blondeness by Suzanne Macpherson Page A

arm for her.
    “Brett.” She walked beside him, giddy with herself.
    “Now, you just let me handle the advertising department on this one. I’ll get the whole thing set up. All you have to do is gather up those ties. I’m sure Ken in the men’s department won’t have any trouble with letting you steal his floor stock.”
    “Okay, but I’m perfectly capable of taking care of those details.” Patricia was a little surprised at Brett’s takeover.
    “Don’t you worry about all that. And we mighthave to get you an assistant. How have you managed to fill all these orders by yourself?”
    What was she, a delicate little flower of womanhood? “We do take on extra help during the holidays, Brett.”
    “Let’s just put one on early this year to give you a hand. I predict this promotion could be very big.”
    “Thank you, I hope it will. We should talk about reorders.”
    “Sweetheart, I’ll have it all packaged up and sent over to your office. You know, a girl as pretty as you should be working on the sales floor, not cooped up in a little office in the basement.”
    “It’s close to shipping.” Patricia must be wine-affected for letting Brett call her sweetheart. But wasn’t that what she’d always wanted?
    “Where would you like to work?”
    Quick, who makes the most commission? she thought. It had to be either furniture or jewelry. The highest-ticket items in the store. Or maybe handbags. Those suckers were high-cost. Then again, Paulie might feel weird about her working there.
    “Fine jewelry,” she blurted out. “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, after all.”
    Brett gave her a strange, sharp look. Not the reaction she was looking for. Then he suddenly got all cozy with her as they reached the executive elevator. “I’ll look into that,” he murmured.
    Patricia was a little confused, even without her glass of Chardonnay. She’d just brought this big promotion idea to him, and now he was talking about transferring her to another department? Gee, she kind of liked hiding out in her little catalogue office away from the madding crowd.
    What now? She stayed quiet as she felt his hand on her back, guiding her into the elevator. She had a strange flash of him being the kind of guy who liked to “guide” a woman in bed. She hated that hand-on-the-back-of-your-head feeling.
    In the elevator she noticed he was staring at her. He pushed B for basement. She must get a ride home out of the deal.
    “You’re hair is quite unusual. You must be one of those real blondes.” He was staring at her.
    “As real as they come,” she said.
    “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”
    Oh man, Paul was making chicken cacciatore. Her third-favorite meal. A departure from meatloaf Monday.
    “You’re very pretty, you know?” Brett moved closer to her.
    She wondered if he was going to kiss her. He bent in closer. She could smell his Eu Sauvage cologne. A shiver of mind-tingling proportions ran over her body. She leaned back against the wall and tilted her face up in his direction. A kiss on the lips by Brett Nordquist? Wow.
    The elevator door opened on B. Damn fast elevators. When the doors opened all the way, there stood Paul. Brett straightened up. He gave Paul a very guy-thing look.
    Paul turned a very interesting shade of red. It was hard to see under his recently acquired tan from his last buying trip to Italy, but Patricia knew it was there.
    “Miss Stillwell, just the person I was looking for.” Paul reached into the elevator and grabbed her by the arm. “We really must talk about that red Prada bag in the Christmas catalogue. We’re having some problems with distribution.” He dragged her out of the elevator.
    She turned briefly and waved to Brett. “Thankyou again,” she said. Paul reached in the elevator and punched seven, the executive offices. “Thanks, Brett, I’ll take her from here.”
    The doors whooshed closed in front of Brett’s surprised face.
    “Geez, Paulie, boss interruptus