Dangerously Placed Read Free Page B

chat,’ Inge told us. ‘If you need me, Alex, I will be just over there.’
    Budi watched her go.
    â€˜I’ve no idea what makes her think those shoes work, do you?’ he sighed. ‘But I’m glad she brought you! You’re here for work experience, right?’
    â€˜Yeah.’ I felt kind of disappointed that he could tell straight away. ‘I guess I look too young to be an intern or anything.’
    â€˜Actually, it’s your outfit, sweetie.’ He pointed at my stomach and I looked down. To my dismay, I realised that, unlike everyone else, I wasn’t wearing a representation of real clothes at all. Instead, there was just my body shape – in full, curvy detail, I noted – and all of it except my hands and arms was shaded a monotonous dark grey.
    â€˜My face isn’t all grey too, is it?’ I asked Budi anxiously.
    â€˜Not at all. Those beautiful brown eyes match your hair just perfectly, and your skin is as soft and rosy as a peach. And getting rosier all the time!’ Budi laughed.
    Well, there was my answer to whether the suit could detect me blushing.
    â€˜Hey, don’t worry about it,’ Budi said. ‘A lot of girls here in Indonesia would pay thousands to have peachy skin like yours. Not us guys, of course. We prefer themanly look: a good tan, plenty of muscle, a pretty sarong …’
    I laughed. There was something infectious about Budi’s cheeky attitude.
    â€˜Well, I have a friend who’d pay a lot for a sarong as pretty as yours,’ I told him.
    Budi raised his eyebrows.
    â€˜Maybe you can introduce me sometime. I like a girl with good taste in sarongs!’ He glanced up, and I saw that Inge was heading back our way. ‘But we’d better get to work. If we have a bit of free time later, we can work on programming you something gorgeous to wear. First I’ll show you both around and explain how everything works, okay?’
    â€˜Both?’ I asked, confused.
    â€˜Alex, Budi, this is Dale McCarthy,’ came Inge’s voice behind me. ‘He’s our other work experience student.’
    I turned to see a tall, fair-haired figure with a grey body outline just like mine stepping out from behind my mentor. Well, not exactly like mine – the Virk Suits left nothing to the imagination and there was nothing feminine about the firm, muscled body facing me.
    â€˜Hi,’ said the newcomer, his deep blue eyes twinkling and his chiselled features softened by a warm smile. I felt Budi nudge me with his elbow.
    â€˜You’re going rosy again, my little peach,’ he murmured.

    â€˜So tell me,’ said Budi, ‘what do you know about Virk?’
    â€˜It was invented by Simulcorp’s CEO,’ I said, ‘and this is the only company in the world that uses it.’ I tried to look calm and professional, despite the fact that the water couch was lurching under my butt. It was important to take the lead, I felt. Dale was hot, but that didn’t mean I wanted him to be everyone’s favourite student from the start. If there really was the chance of an internship here, I was going to make sure they offered it to me.
    â€˜I believe it originated from an idea the CEO had when Simulcorp was trialling a home-based work system – is that right?’ Dale asked, leaning forward in anticipation of Budi’s answer.
    I glanced at Dale. You had to hand it to him – that mix of confidence and deference was pretty smooth. He caught me watching him and smiled.
    â€˜Yes, you’re both right,’ said Budi. ‘Ravi Chander was a Marketing executive, like me, when Simulcorp first tried out non-traditional work environments. Having people work from home in a standard internet-based system seemed like a good idea for Simulcorp: the employees provide their own workspace, there are no transport costs, work safety issues are practically nil – it’s a low-risk arrangement and