1
ZOE
Two weeks ago…
When I entered the coffee shop, there was no one at the counter. Seeing no customers lined up was depressingly normal, but having no barista behind the counter, well, that was new. My employee, Mia, was sitting at a cafe table, knee-to-knee with a good-looking young man—your classic tall, dark, and handsome type.
While I could see how a man like that was far more interesting than manning the register, she did have a job to do, and I frowned. Their heads were angled together, completely oblivious of me.
Managing this place was part of my senior-year curriculum. As a hospitality major, I needed experience in every corner of the industry, not just at the kind of five-star hotel I wanted to work at after graduation. Miawas my only employee, and I tried to treat her with a firm but fair hand.
They’d never coveredthisin my food and beverage administration class. There hadn’t been a single lesson on what to do when a customer was eye-fucking your employee. My instinct was to march over and tell Mia to get back to work, but she’d seemed distracted lately. If she quit, I wasn’t sure I could find anyone willing to take a job in this forgotten corner of campus. While I hesitated, their conversation drifted over to me.
The guy was bragging about how rich his family was, and how he was looking to buy a bigger yacht because his only slept twenty. At many universities, that would be a joke, but not here. Most of the students at an elite private school like Langley were so damn wealthy that I was surprised he didn’t also have his own personal submarine.
“I’d love to see it sometime, Blaise.” Mia gave a little giggle that made my skin crawl. Did men really like it when grown women made such a foolish, girlish sound? And seriously, his name wasBlaise? Then again, a lot of the students from powerful families had weird old family names. I suppose it was a small price to pay for an enormous trust fund.
Still, Blaise sounded painfully pretentious, and I couldn’t imagine why Mia was so captivated. Rich, entitled assholes were as common as flies around here—even the really good-looking ones like him.
He leaned even closer, dark eyes intent on Mia, his voice dropping low but still perfectly audible. “When I get the new yacht, I’ll take you out on a moonlit cruise. Just you and me. And the captain and crew, of course.”
“Of course,” Mia echoed, her eyes wide. “I’d like that.”
“Maybe I’ll give the chef the night off, and I’ll make a meal for you. Would you like that?” he continued, and Mia nodded. “If you want, I’ll even take my shirt off, like that chef who does those cooking videos you like so much.”
Wait, what? How did he know that? It had sounded to me like they’d just met. But even as the color rose on Mia’s cheeks, Blaise continued on. “After dinner, we’ll go up on the deck. Just you and me, babe… and I’ll push you against the railing and lift your dress, and…” My jaw dropped as he detailed the filthy things he wanted to do to her. At the same time, his hand was under her skirt, moving purposefully up her thigh.
Thatspurred me into action. “Get the fuck away from my employee!”
They jolted apart, Blaise casually pulling his hand back as if he hadn’t just been feeling the barista up.
Mia’s mouth was open in shock, whether at my sudden appearance or at that creep’s actions.
I marched over and glared at Blaise. “She’s working, you asshole, and she doesn’t need you harassing her. Get the hell out of here and never come back.”
Something tugged at my sleeve, and I looked down at Mia’s flushed face. “Zoe, I?—”
“Go back behind the counter,” I said. “I’ll take care of this jerk.”
“No, it’s not. He wasn’t—” Her stuttering trailed off, but I didn’t blame her for being flustered. Women deserved to feel safe in their workplace. I hadn’t thought about how much time Mia worked alone down here, but I sure as hell would now. Despite our low sales numbers, maybe I could ask the department to let me hire someone else so she wouldn’t have to deal with crap like this alone.
Mia pushed her chair back and tilted her head up at me. “It’s not like that,” she said. “We were… it was just pretend.”
What?
“It was just a bit of role-playing,” Blaise added, his deep voice courteous and polite, which was very different than how it had sounded when he was moving in on my employee.
“This is my roommate, Diego,” Mia finally managed to say. And now I recognized the redness on her face for what it was. Embarrassment, not fear.
Then it finally sank in. She wasn’t being harassed—far from it. “You were flirting with your roommate on company time?”
“I’m sorry—” she began, but Blaise—or, rather Diego—cut in.
“It was all me,” he said gallantly. “I asked Mia if she could take a break, and then I blindsided her, pretending to be one of those arrogant, obscenely wealthy students who frequent Langley.”
“And you thinkthatis what stuck-up rich students sound like?”
He grinned, unbothered. “Perhaps it’s more what rich,hornystudents sound like. But again, that’s on me, not Mia.”
