Free The Geek Gets The Girl by Michele Hauf Page A

wasn’t even manager material. But she would not step down from what she had started.
    Rachel Parker was not a quitter.
    “Tomorrow,” she corrected.  “After the meeting with Les Grands Chaussures. I’ll deliver the campaign, and then it’s all yours. Sweep the blade. Ax everyone in the office and strip the walls down to the ugly, flocked paper.”
    “I’ll have you know my mother chose that wallpaper. I rather like it.”
    “Your mother?” Right. She’d known an eccentric French woman with a passion for comfort and shoes had founded the company. So Zac was her son? Mercy, this just got better and better.
    But not really.
    And she wasn’t in the mood to deal with the fallout of her stupid mistake.
    “Leave,” she stated firmly. “I have a lot of work to do before tomorrow.”
    She had just told her boss to take a hike. And he was standing there like a wrinkle-browed puppy dog that had been denied a treat. She would not crumble. She wouldn’t allow herself to retract a single hateful thought at the sight of his thick black brows and his pouty brown eyes.
    “Haute Heels needs Rachel Parker,” Zac said softly. “That’s why I’ve put in a requisition for your official promotion to office manager. I intend to keep the Paris branch open. This office was my mother’s brainchild. But the only way that dream can succeed is if you are heading operations. With an excellent staff to support you. We’ll be pushing funds through for more hires and updated equipment. I hope you’ll accept the promotion.”
    Rachel inhaled and breathed through her nose, seeking calm. A promotion? To the job she’d already been filling? Would he also give her the pay raise she deserved?
    Hell, what was she thinking? It was all tainted now. And she had had a hand in making it wrong. Inside, she was shaking, raging. But outside, she pulled on calm. “I don’t sleep my way to the top, Monsieur Cosgrove.”
    “You did not do that.”
    “Are you sure about that? Because I’ll never really know if I did or did not get that promotion because we shared a bed. And I can’t live with that. My resignation remains. I’ll take my marketing skills elsewhere. Somewhere they don’t use underhanded tactics to spy on their employees.”
    Zac bowed his headed and nodded. “Whoever is fortunate enough to gain your talents will be a very lucky company indeed. You will excel no matter where you go, Rachel. I wish you luck. It’s my fault we’re losing you. I’ll have to go back to corporate and tell them the truth.”
    “That you tricked me.”
    “It wasn’t intentional. Just a really stupid decision on my part. Rachel…” He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “All right.  Resignation accepted. Business discussion complete. But can we have the us discussion now?”
    “Are you—” The word crazy wouldn’t rattle off her tongue. But her heartbeats raced so quickly she wanted to push against her chest to still them. And it took all her courage not to let her voice shake when she said, “There is no us.”
    “For a few amazing days there was an us. Admit it. You were into me.”
    “I was into the geek beneath my desk who I mistakenly trusted was telling me the truth.”
    “Yeah, about that geek.” He rubbed a hand at the back of his neck. “That really was me about a decade ago. I started out in IT at Haute Heels. Never thought I’d follow in my mother’s footsteps as head of the company, that’s for sure. Being an executive is…well, it’s weird. It still doesn’t feel right to me some days. Hell, you mistaking me for the geek was refreshing. I admit, you made me want to be that guy again. The regular guy. The one no one makes demands of. Everyone always wants something from the CEO. And I’m expected to be some kind of ruthless raider. That’s not me. You, Rachel, demanded nothing but my presence, and a little computer magic.”
    Rachel swallowed. She would not succumb to the guy’s feel-good