Free The Geek Gets The Girl by Michele Hauf

more amazing campaign idea. And now Rachel realized it had all been a lie. He had been using her in the most horrible, underhanded way. He was going to shut down the office?
    She grabbed the roses then shoved them back at him. Hard. The man toppled backward, tripped over a shoebox, and caught himself against the wall. “Rachel?”
    He had the audacity to look shocked! “How dare you?”
    He looked at the crushed bouquet. “You don’t like red? I’m sorry—”
    “You’re the bloody bigwig!”
    “Oh.” He tossed the roses to the couch, where they landed on top of the shoes. A symbol of her disastrous love life, those untied shoes and crushed roses. “I don’t understand how you found out. There must be a mole in the home office?”
    “Seriously? You intended to keep it a secret? Who are you? No.” She thrust up a palm to stop his explanation. “I know who you are.  The CEO of Haute Heels. Or are you the IT guy from downstairs? Clever disguise. Do you even wear glasses?”
    He pushed up the glasses on his nose but remained silent. Smart man.
    “I can’t believe I let you use me like you did.”
    “Rachel, I had no intention of using you. Do you think I did?”
    “What do you call sleeping with the office manager? Because I’m really interested in those sneaky tactics. I don’t understand how fucking me was going to make closing the office—oh. Wait. Did you think to get me on your side, let me down gently? Sleep with the girl and send her off with a smile?”
    “Rachel, please. What happened between you and me was not what I’d intended. The sex just happened. It has nothing to do with Haute Heels and my being here to assess the office.”
    “Undercover! As some nerdy IT guy.”
    “You mean geek.”
    “You ass!”
    He silently put up his palms to placate her. With a tilt of his head and a suppressed wince, he said, “I came here today with the intention of telling you all. When you mistook me for IT that first day, I thought to go with it. The Operations Director and I had agreed to keep this visit low-key. I didn’t want to upset any of the employees. Thought it would make my looking around easier and no one would have reason to be nervous around me or—”
    “Or maybe the office manager would just fall into bed with you? I can’t believe you. I can’t believe myself. I’m smarter than this!”
    Rachel pressed her knuckles to her forehead. What a way to go. Fucked by the boss, and then kicked to the curb. And she had been so close to perfecting the ad campaign for tomorrow’s meeting. Her creative mojo was top form. Things had been looking up since Zac’s arrival.
    Or she had just been too blind to the truth. That the man standing before her intended to fire the employees and send them packing. Oh, how she had failed this office. She didn’t even deserve the paper sign on the door.
    “Rachel, there’s no way to make this better. I considered breaking it off between us and stepping back but—”
    “You don’t think lying to me is grounds for breaking things off?” She checked her volume, flashing a glance through the window. No one was looking toward the office. But she knew better. This old building had been solidly built, but the cubicle gophers could hear a high-pitched dog whistle if given the right impetus.
    In a quiet but firm tone, she said. “We are through. I don’t ever want to see you again. In fact, I’ll make things easy for you. I know you’re going to shut down the office. You don’t have to worry about firing me because I quit.” 
    She grabbed the coffee on her desk and looked about for her purse. There it sat, on the couch next to the shoes and roses. Remnants of an affair she’d had just as much a hand in encouraging as Zac.
    Heaving in a big inhale, Rachel suddenly had a switch in temperament. No. This wasn’t the way to do it. She had obligations to Haute Heels. Granted, they were ones she’d taken on in the wake of the former manager’s departure—she