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that I don’t know what he wants from me? “Maybe he wanted to protect me from you. He thinks you’ll hurt me.”
    “Maybe he doesn’t want a rift forming between his girlfriend and her best friend. Maybe he thinks it’ll create problems between them both. I don’t know and I don’t care.”
    What could I say to that? I stammered as I looked at the table. “Why the hell did you come here?”
    “I might have an opening in my department for a talented graphic designer.” He winked at me.
    A job offering? That’s why he came all the way here? That made me deflate a little. I thought that there would be a more romantic reason.
    “Oh,” I said.
    “Oh? That’s it? I represent a multi-billion dollar company and that’s all you have to say?”
    Well, I was a little disappointed that I completely misread the reason why he drove all the way to the East Bay. He was oddly contained, as if he laughed inwardly from a private joke.
    Is he fucking with me?
    “I just thought that…” I blushed and didn’t finish the sentence under his intense stare. “It’s a bit strange to drive all the way here just to talk about a job. On a Saturday. You could have emailed me.”
    “There are a lot of Natalie Porters on LinkedIn,” he said gruffly. “And I’m impulsive.”
    It was strange that I felt so upset that he changed his mind about me. What is it about me that is so horrible? My mother would be able to tell me in a few seconds flat. I felt an incredible urge to look into his eyes and ask him. He would tell me, but did I want to hear the answer? At least there was a silver lining in all of this. Working for Pardini Worldwide would be an incredible opportunity for me. I couldn’t pass it up, no matter how weird William was.
    “Well, what’s the job?”
    “Ah-ah,” he tutted. “Not yet. I want to get to know you first.”
    Taken aback, I leaned into my chair. “Okay. What do you want to know?”
    “Do you get drunk often?”
    My mouth hung open. “That isn’t any of—” I stopped as he gave me a sharp look. “I don’t get drunk. That ended in my sophomore year of college. I’ll have a beer or a glass of wine occasionally.”
    He nodded approvingly. “How do you feel about cats?”
    “Cats? Um, they’re okay, I guess?”
    “Don’t answer a question with a question,” he barked.
    “They’re nice,” I said with a bit of an edge.
    “Tell me about a difficult person you interacted with.”
    You. I glared at him, and then realized I probably should look friendlier to my potential boss. “Well, there was this one guy at work who—”
    “—Never mind. I hate boring questions. What do you do on weekends?”
    Nothing. A stinging feeling dug into my brain. I was tired of being interrupted. “I hang out with my friends, I see movies, go shopping.”
    Will was looking more and more bored with my answers. “Why?”
    “Why what?” He’s starting to piss me off.
    “Why do you want this position?”
    I gave a frustrated laugh. “How am I supposed to answer that when I don’t even know what the job is?”
    Will glanced up coolly. “You’re supposed to kiss my ass and tell me how wonderful my company is.”
    “Do you want ass-kissers to work for you?”
    He raised an eyebrow. “No. Good point.”
    I sighed.
    “What would you do if your head of department screamed at you in the hallway?”
    “Probably nothing,” I murmured without thinking. Gathering from Will’s extremely shocked expression, I realized I said the wrong thing. “Well, uh—obviously, that’s a really unprofessional thing to—”
    “Wow, that says a lot about you,” he chuckled.
    Heat flushed my face. This was really unfair. He gave me no time to prepare. “You really blind-sided me with this interview. I don’t know what you expected. I don’t even know what the job is!” I slammed my fist on the table, making our glasses rattle.
    He coughed. “I guess that answers that for how easily you can be provoked.”
    I simmered as