Perfect Match (18 page)

I entered the office the blonde girl pointed and when I looked at the desk, there was standing, in all his glory… Matt.

“What the hell?!” I asked almost yelling.

“You know, Miss…” he looked through some papers and finally said “West… You usually start a conversation with “Hello, mister, I’m Emma West and I’m here for the secretary job”, but I think that’d be just too mainstream, isn’t it?”

“You’re a jerk!” I complained running a hand through my hair.

“Now that would be a really bad thing to say to your future boss, isn’t it, Miss West?” he said and he seemed just so amused by this.

“I’m sorry, sir,” I played along, glaring at him, and he started laughing. “I was told my boss would be a pain in the ass, I guess that’s just an understatement,” I told him crossing my arms over my chest.

“Would you like to sit there, Miss West?” Matt just ignored me. “I have this awesome Starbucks coffee.” he smirked. “We could actually do the entire Christian-Anastasia thing if you want to.”

“Don’t you think it would be inappropriate, sir, to ask me to sleep with you during the interview?”

He looked shocked and burst out laughing and he gave me the cup of coffee and I just relaxed on the leather chair in front of his mahogany desk.

“How have you thought of it?” I asked sipping on the coffee. “Dude, it’s so good! Thank you.”

“I’ll keep the money from your first salary, just so you know,” Matt told me laughing. “I don’t know, I got this promotion last week and I’ve been told I can get a secretary and I thought of you. But I knew you wouldn’t accept, because you’re too damn proud, woman, so I told you it was just an interview and played along. It was deathly funny to see you actually struggling for this.”

“Why are there other girls for the post?”

“How do you want me to know? The company said would help me find one. So… Anyway, you know you’re the one I want,” he said and my heart stopped. He actually realized how that sounded and looked away.

“So I’m getting the job, after all?”

“I have to think about it. The two blondes before you were hot, too. Told you, you should’ve unbuttoned your shirt,” he smirked and started laughing again.

“I would have done that if my boss was hot. But there again, there is no challenge for me,” I replied, sticking my tongue at him.

“Oh, I would totally kill you right now. But I’m stuck with you, Miss West.”

“You know, you never should combine business with pleasure,” I said taking a cookie from the plastic plate in front of him.

“When have I ever said it’s a pleasure to be around you?” he laughed and I glared at him. “You should seriously be nicer to your boss. And wear a shorter skirt. And unbutton this shirt, of course.”

“Never,” I told him and he laughed. “Hey, Matthew…” I whispered. “Thank you. Seriously. For doing this. We both know I’m gonna suck as a secretary.”

“Maybe we’ll both suck at our new jobs. We should go celebrate tonight, with Monica and Ben. And of course, Ems. I wouldn’t let you suffer and kill me in the process,” he said putting his hand on mine. “You’re my best friend, okay? You would’ve done it for me, too. Right?”

“Certainly, Matt,” I said smiling. His “you’re my best friend” words were echoing in my mind. Of course I was.

*

Clearly it was pretty difficult at first, because in the first week I did nothing else than bring Matt the coffee we actually bought together in the mornings at Starbucks, and deliver some documents from and to him. Oh, answering the phone… I hated that one! I always felt uncomfortable talking on the phone. I was like a teenager when I talked on the phone with an unknown person.

Matt usually made fun of me and called me every two hours, just to check I can answer the phone politely. And I did. Then I called him a “jerk” for making me going through that awkward moment of picking up the phone.

It wasn’t weird working with Matt. I knew most of the times what he wanted and he never was angry at me when I switched our coffee because I hated cinnamon, or when I mixed his documents for an important meeting. He was patient. And he promised me when we started working together that work won’t come between us.

We actually spent all the time together. Like…
All
the time! When I get up in the morning, he’s there, because we’re living together. In the same apartment, I mean. When I go to work, he’s there, because he’s my boss, and he usually drives me to work. I still don’t own a car, and I still can’t drive.

“We have to teach you to drive someday, Miss West,” Matt told me one day when we were driving to work. At work he always told me “Miss West”. I never called him “sir”, though. Only made fun of him.

And when I got back from work, of course, Matt was there, because just like I previously said, we live in the same apartment. And when we do go out with our friends, we go together, because we know the same people. It’s kind of weird and you would have thought that you’d just get bored of the same person, but there was always something to say to Matt, or something interesting to talk about.

When we were at home we used to play on his PlayStation. It took him a while to convince me to try it, because I hated the idea of spending time in front of the TV with a joystick in my hand. But he got me into it, so I got better and better and I used to beat the crap out of him at Call of Duty. Maybe he just lets me win, but… It’s still fun to make fun of him because he loses.

“I don’t lose, I like to think of myself that I just let you win, because I’m a gentleman and you’re a girl.”

“Sure,” I always say, laughing.

“Stop laughing. How could I ever kill you?” he looked at me and had a sweet smile on his beautiful face.

“If you were a vampire, would you kill me?” I asked, taking a step closer to him.

“Ems, if I were a vampire, Edward would be in great danger. I’d rip his head off, you know? And of course I wouldn’t kill you.”

“Even if I lived here, with you and my blood tasted so…” I took another step towards him and now I was standing face to face with him, our bodies almost touching. I could feel his cool breath on my cheek. “Desirable?”

He sighed and closed his eyes for a second and I held my breath.

“My last offer, I’d turn you into a vampire,” he said, taking a step back and smirking.

“Okay, I agree. Just do that! I would totally kill you if you didn’t turn me.”

“I’d be stronger than you, Ems,” he said, laughing. “But thanks for the try.”

I shook my head and a smiled appeared on my face when I remembered that day.

Then the phone rang. Nice one! That’s what I call synchronization! I took a deep breath and ran my hand through my hair.
They can’t see you, Emma!
I told myself. I shook my head and picked up the phone.

“Good morning, McAdams Enterprises, Matt Nicholls’ office. How can I help you?” Crap, I said it really fast again. I always say those ones like someone’s going to kill me in the next second.

“Hello, can I talk to Matt?”
an irritable voice asked.

“I’m sorry Mr. Nicholls is in a meeting,” I said, sweetly. God, he’d love to hear me calling him ‘Mr. Nicholls’. “Is this important, or do you wish to leave a message?”

“Of course this is important, and why would I leave a message to you? How can I know you’ll send it to him?”

“Because… somehow I’m his secretary and I’m supposed to give Mr. Nicholls every message he receives?” I want to kill someone.
Mr. Nicholls
most likely.

“I need to talk to Matt now. It’s an emergency.”

“Is it so urgent that I should bother Mr. Nicholls in a meeting?” I asked, half curious and half annoyed. I wouldn’t dare to bother Matt in a meeting. Not that he would be bothered, but I’m terrified of having to enter in the conference room and interrupt them and have all their eyes on me. Nothing can make me go in there.

“Of course it’s urgent. What kind of secretary are you? I will complain about you, you know.”

“Why would you? I’ve been nice!” I said, almost yelling. Stupid bitch!

“It doesn’t matter just get Matt on the phone. Now!”

“I won’t,” I told her shortly. Matt will kill me. God, he seriously will. What if she’s an important investor or something? Maybe rich people just act that way. And maybe he knows how to handle her.

“How dare you talk to me that way?”
She yelled in my ear.

“There is no need in yelling, Miss… What did you say your name was?”

“You’re so impertinent!”
she yelled back.
“I won’t be wasting any time with you anymore. Just tell Matt his girlfriend called
.” she said and hung up.

What?

*

I tried to concentrate on the rest of the paperwork I had on my desk, but I couldn’t. I hated when he did that. I really did. Why couldn’t he act like a normal person and give his hos his personal number? Poor things. Sometimes I actually felt bad for them.

“So concentrated on anything but work…” I heard his voice and lifted my head just to see him leaning on my desk with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. “But Miss West, that’s why I hired you?”

“No. You hired me to get rid of all your… surprisingly nice girlfriends,” I said with a harsh tone.

“Oh. That one…” He said and ran his hand through his messy hair.

“Yes, that one, Matthew,” I complained and rose to my feet and I was standing right in front of him, with my arm crossed across my chest as well.

He raised an eyebrow and suddenly I felt uncomfortable. Not because I was a few inches apart from him, because I did that all the time. I knew Matt for 4 years. We were…
friends
. But because we act this way at… work. It’s weird, but I wouldn’t like anyone to think he hired me because we have some romantic interest or something. We don’t.

I remembered that moment, a few years ago, just right after Morgan and I broke up, when Matt was dating clingy Stacy, when he asked me if we should date. I mean, that was one of his worst ideas!

Firstly, he was dating clingy Stacy at the time. Ugh, I hate that one. She was a stupid, loud, clingy blonde. Yes, I had met her after all. They dated for two and a half months, so he introduced her to us a few days before he broke up with her. Yeah, that’s Matt. He’d done that five times since then. All of them were blondes.

Secondly… I don’t… I was really sad, angry and disappointed when he told me he was dating and I hated him for a few days. Okay, I’d never hate Matt because he is this amazing person and you can’t stay mad at him. There was this time when I thought he’d forgot my birthday, because he disappeared that day and when he got home at afternoon he was talking like nothing was going on. I never wanted to speak to him again and told Monica I don’t even want to see him, but then I found out he arranged a surprise birthday party for me at his place, so… Anyway, so I was mad at him that day and when he asked me that I was caught off guard. Of course I said no and told him that we were friends and we work perfectly fine that way and he agreed instantly and said that we’d just ruin everything. But I felt disappointed he gave up that fast.

Somehow I wanted him to want this to work. I know there was a time when
I
wanted us to work. As a couple, not just like friends. You always hear the best relationships turn out after being friends. But he was definitely not boyfriend material. I was right when I told him that in that e-mail. I know I’m not either, I’ve only had three relationships in four years and they never lasted more than four months. Well, I wouldn’t count Morgan as another relationship, because we got together again two years ago, when we decided to go for a weekend in Las Vegas. Matt had a business trip that weekend so he couldn’t come, so I just got back with Morgan. Of course, Matt wasn’t pleased by it. He went all over again with “brainless”, “muscle-man” or calling him “Morgue”.

“My sweet, awesome Emma…” Matt started placing his hand gently on my back and smirking. “You know… time is money,” he finished his sentence taking a step backwards. “What were you thinking about, anyways?”

“You’d just love to know that one, huh?” I grinned at him, sitting on my chair and taking a deep breath. “Just give your hos your personal number, okay? I don’t enjoy being yelled at by stupid blondes,” I told him looking through the documents on my desk.

“Oh, c’mon, are you still on that, Ems?” he laughed, leaning on my desk. “Fine. But it’s funnier making you talk to them. I can’t wait to know what you told Sarah.”

“She has a name too… Nice. She didn’t say that when she yelled at me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said and ruffled my hair.

“Hey, you can’t do that
here
!” I complained. “Do you have the idea how many times I’ve been asked if I’m dating you?”

“And you said ‘yes’, didn’t you? I knew you wanted me, Ems… I guess I’m just irresistible…” he sighed.

“Oh, yes, they’re all talking about you, just how attractive you are and…”

“I knew it!”

“Matthew, I was joking,” I lied rolling my eyes. That was actually true, they all talked about Matt. Every time they saw him walking around with his hands in his pockets and looking at everyone in that way he always does, they go completely crazy. Like he’s a god or something. “Don’t you have
work
to do? Because some of us do,” I said, looking at the paperwork at my desk.

“I’m sorry, Ems,” he sighed. “I’ll buy dinner tonight in exchange. We could see a movie or something.”

“Don’t you have a girlfriend for that?” I teased him and he glared at me.

“Just start working, Miss West,” he said turning around and walking towards his office. “Oh, how you doin’, Sabrina?” he asked with a smirk.

Does he actually have to flirt with every person whose names begin with S? God! It’s like an M.O. That one’s seriously freaking me out. What if Matt’s a serial killer who looks like the hottest CEO in the world? Except… Christian Grey. But that one’s a psycho too. What’s with bosses anyway?

“Get back to work, Miss West!” I heard him before he shut his door.

I stuck my tongue out at him, even though he couldn’t see me anymore then I got back to work. Man, my boss really is a jerk.