Winning Her Rival's Heart

Chapter Two: Truce

Thanks to Jenn and Liliane Grouse for their editing suggestions, and thanks to LokYa2046 for pre-reading. Dedication is for my girl, Lil. 

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Chapter Two: Truce

"What. The. Hell?"

Justin looked towards the entrance of O'Reilly's to see what had attracted Jane Diego's attention. What he saw there made him pause with his beer halfway to his mouth. His tightly wound co-worker, Abby, was standing there uncertainly, wearing a pair of skin tight black jeans, a skin-tight red T-shirt, and a pair of three inch, red high heels. Her glasses were gone and her light brown hair fell in soft waves down to her shoulders instead of being tied back in its usual bun.

"What is she wearing?" Jane asked.

"She looks good," Justin heard himself say.

His gaze snagged on the breasts showcased by the tight T-shirt she wore. He felt his blood start to pump faster and his body heat up and tighten as he realized just how much of a body her gender-neutral suits had been hiding all these years. Admittedly, he'd always thought Abby was cute. Certainly he'd noticed she was attractive, but he'd missed the obvious. Abby Gillis was...hot. As in smoking hot. As in, so hot she was in danger of fogging up all the windows in the place. One look around O'Reilly's told Justin he wasn't the only man who'd noticed, either.

"What is she doing here?" Renee Williams asked.

After the conversation he'd had with Abby on Monday, Justin wasn't all that surprised to see her at O'Reilly's. She had clearly been upset to hear about the talk he'dhad with James Kale last week. Now she'd come out swinging, more determined than ever to improve her chances of being promoted. Even if her personality was as prickly as a cactus, Justin couldn't help but admire the way she never backed down from a challenge. It made him work harder, and he'd probably miss their rivalry when he won the promotion and moved to Sydney.

"She looks like she's here to get laid," Jane observed.

"I could help her with that," Chris Bradshaw said.

"I'll bet she's as cold in bed as she is in the office," Renee remarked cattily.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Chris agreed. "On second thought, I wouldn't touch her with a 10 foot pole."

If Abby fit in with the rest of the Melbourne team, Justin would have been really worried about his chances of being promoted to Creative Director. But the other employees at Kale & Wells didn't like her. Abby had made it clear to everyone that she didn't want to get to know the people she worked with. She'd rejected all of the social invitations extended to her when she'd started at the company, giving most people the impression that she thought she was above them.

It had been a bad, bad move.

Now it looked as if she was trying to rectify it. Unfortunately for her, everyone would probably see her presence here tonight for what it was – her desperation to move forward in the company rather than a genuine attempt to make amends and make friends.

"I'll bet she's here because she heard James was here last Friday night," Jane said.

"Who would she have heard that from?" Renee wondered.

"That would be me," Justin told them all.

"Nice one, D'Marco, now she's going to be here every Friday, looking for some one-on-one time with the boss."

"Maybe she's planning to try and seduce him?" Jane said, looking Abby's outfit over again.

Renee laughed loudly, causing Abby to crane her head in their direction. Normally, the employees of Kale & Wells hung out by the three pool tables in the other corner of the bar, but tonight they'd been beaten there by a buck's night in progress. They'd left the groom and his already merry men to it and settled into the next best spot – the tables next to the juke box in the farthest corner from the door.