“Good. That’s settled.” The older man slapped his hands on the desk. “Now get to work. People are still talking about that stupid spring gala the Henderson Foundation threw. By Christmas, I want everyone to forget about the Henderson Foundation completely.”
“You got it,” Brady said, standing. Ellie followed his lead, jumping to her feet.
Mr. Gaines speared Ellie with a look. “I’m counting on you. Both of you. Don’t let me down.”
Trepidation settled in her stomach, but Ellie nodded, holding the man’s gaze. She wanted to ask why, on such little knowledge, the CEO would trust her with something this important, but she decided not to say anything which might make her seem even less worthy of the opportunity. At least, not until after they’d left the office.
When the door closed behind her, Ellie kept walking with Brady.
“Why?” she asked.
“Why what?”
She paused and Brady halted beside her. “Why me?”
“Because you came up with the concept.”
Tilting her head to the side, Ellie narrowed her eyes in disbelief. “Has everyone forgotten that I’m just an intern? Or that it’s my first day?”
Brady’s worried lips broke into a soft smile. “Maybe it’s good you didn’t bring that up in there. But no, I don’t think anyone forgot. You aren’t like our typical employees.”
“I will try my best to find a compliment in that statement. Now where would you like to meet to go over the basic plans for the gala? I’m guessing we need to organize and begin to delegate.”
Brady laughed, throwing his head back as though Ellie had said the funniest thing in the world. She glanced about the room, noticing several confused faces dotted among the desks.
“You really just dive in, don’t you?” he finally said, his blue eyes watching her closely. His mouth formed a satisfied smile. “Good. This is good. We need more of this kind of eagerness in the office. Just shoot Cassie a message and she can send the schedule over.”
Ellie rolled her eyes. “It might be easier if I hack the system and send the schedule to myself.”
“You can hack?” he asked, impressed.
She deadpanned. “No.”
Enlightenment dawned in his eyes. Did he not realize the receptionist was testy? “Trouble with the receptionist?”
Ellie lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “She just doesn’t like me.”
Brady cupped her shoulder, giving her a friendly squeeze. She felt like a small child being comforted by her uncle—except this guy was one of her bosses. And totally hot—but that was beside the point. He smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry; she’ll warm up to you. She’s probably just having an off day.”
She was definitely having an off day if her crying in the bathroom was any indication.
Brady began to walk away. “Keep working on that vision board,” he shot back over his shoulder. “I have a feeling we’ll need a little more material by the time we meet with Monica.”
Ellie nodded, but she had no idea who Monica was. Expelling a long sigh, she started toward the glass bridge.
Cassie was back at her desk and Ellie approached slowly. The poor girl’s eyes were red-rimmed and irritated. She looked like a sad model and even though she’d been nothing but snippy with Ellie all day, Ellie felt the desire to cheer her up.
“Hey,” she said. “Is everything all right?”
Cassie glanced up, her expression etched in stone. She looked back at her phone. “I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
Ellie waited another moment before clearing her throat. “Okay. Well, I need another calendar.”
“I gave you access already,” the secretary said without looking away from her computer screen.
“Right. The general calendar, I believe. But I need the meeting schedule for the gala planning committee.”
“That’s design,” Cassie said immediately. Ellie was impressed. For a secretary, this girl knew her stuff.
“Right,” Ellie said again. “But I’m on the project and Brady told me to ask you for it.”
Her head snapped up. “Brady Garrison?”
“Yes,” Ellie said, drawing the word out. “He’s head of design, right?”
Cassie cast her gaze to the ceiling in a dramatic eye roll. “And a complete catch. I can’t believe you’re working with him already. You’ve been here what, a day?”
“Um, yeah.”
Shaking her head, Cassie looked back at the computer, clicking and typing. “You know, he’s been single for a while now. And you’re cute. You should give it a try. How’d you land a position on his team?”
Ellie shrugged, ignoring the unprofessional comments. “I got lucky.”
Cassie scoffed. “For real.” Leaning closer, she snapped her gum and raised her eyebrows. “I heard he has to work with Monica Perry from the museum.”
“I guess,” Ellie said, feeling completely out of the loop. “He mentioned meeting with Monica.”
She pulled back, her mouth forming a perfect O. “So, you don’t know, then?”
Ellie did her very best not to screech, because then she might not learn what Cassie was referring to. But, really? Of course she didn’t know the office gossip. It was her first day.
“Well, I better fill you in so you don’t show up tomorrow unprepared.” Lowering her voice, she leaned forward. “Monica and Brady have dated off and on for the last three years. They were crazy serious at one point, but then Brady broke it off a few months ago and they haven't seen one another in person until the meeting this morning. I’m sure she totally blindsided him.”
“That was her? The woman in the red suit?” The one who wanted Santa in a top knot with a team of dogs.
Cassie nodded, grinning at her like they were best friends. Well, evidently the way to win her over was through gossip.
“So that’s why Brady wanted someone else to run the project,” Ellie said.
Cassie gasped. “Seriously? He asked for that? This is like, a major honor.”
Sudden disloyalty at discussing Brady so blatantly ran through Ellie. But why, she didn’t know. She didn’t even know Brady, so clearly she owed him nothing.
But he had been nice to her earlier. Even after she threw away his coffee.
“I’m beginning to wish I wasn’t on this project.”
“Are you kidding?” Cassie asked, disturbed. “This is major. You have a front row seat to the best drama in the office.”
Turning away, Ellie said, “I guess we’ll see.”
“Make sure to come back and tell me everything!” Cassie called, and Ellie waved her hand in response as she walked away from the front desk. The woman had certainly cheered up quick.
Perhaps being an intern was going to be a lot more work than Ellie had anticipated. If it boiled down to relationship management, she was out. She’d done enough of that with her parents and she was not interested in carrying the job into her workplace.
Crossing the glass bridge, she searched the design room for the hipster who had checked on her earlier. He was sitting at a large table, focusing on a tablet. The poor guy looked downtrodden, and she suddenly wished to know what was wrong.
Instead, she headed back toward her desk in the big room, trying to keep her day straight. She sat at the computer and pulled up the schedule Cassie had recently sent, scanning the meetings and responsibilities associated with the gala project. Oh, dear. She certainly had her work cut out for her. Simply attending all these meetings was going to be a full-time job.
Sitting back in her chair, a small smile grew on her lips. This was exactly why she was here: opportunity, growth, and learning. And she was jumping in head-first with all of those things coming at her in droves.
Scanning the list again, she sighed. She really, really could use a peppermint tea right about now.
Chapter Four
“You’ll never guess who I got saddled with on a work project,” Brady said, sliding into the bench seat at Patterson’s Sports Bar. Ben sat
across from him, his crystal blue eyes glued to the screen above Brady’s head.
“Hmm?” Ben asked.
“Monica.”
Ben’s attention snapped toward Brady. “You’re kidding me. I thought she worked at some fancy restaurant.”
“A museum. But yeah, Harver Allen Design is throwing their Christmas gala at the museum she works for and she’s gotten paired with us as the liaison. I have to work with her for the next three weeks on this project. If I survive.”
“You’ll survive. You just won’t be single by the end of it.”
Brady reached across the table and snagged a handful of fries from his friend’s plate, tossing them into his mouth.
“Get your own, man,” Ben said, his eyes never leaving the TV screen.
Brady ignored him, his mind wrapping around his dilemma. He didn’t have to be around Monica forever, just for a few weeks until the project was over. “I can do it. I can say no this time.”
Ben laughed. “Sure you can.”
Brady’s stomach hardened. He propped his elbows on the table and dropped his face in his hands. “What is it about her that makes me lose my mind? I don’t even get it. I just don’t know how to say no to her.”
“Those puppy dog eyes, maybe? Her irresistible smile?”
Brady peeked up over his hands. “Yes, definitely both of those.”
Ben’s nose screwed up in disgust. “I don’t see it. I was being sarcastic. I can picture the devil horns she hides under her hair, however.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I have to figure out something. I can’t work with her for three weeks. She’ll draw me back in. She always does.”
“Too bad you aren’t married,” Ben said, chuckling.
Brady glanced up. “That’s it. I’ll get married. Monica might be crazy, but she wouldn’t expect me to leave my wife for her.”
Ben lifted his eyebrow as though he expected Monica to do the exact opposite.
A waitress approached with a pad of paper and a pen. Her eyes were smudged with thick, black eyeliner and blue hair stuck out from a Santa hat slouched on her head. “What can I get you?”
“I’ll take a basket of buffalo wings and a basket of honey-barbecue wings.”
She wrote on her pad, tapped it with the edge of her pen, and then smiled down at Brady. “Anything else?”
“Just water.”
The waitress hesitated a moment before spinning away.
“But who could I marry?” he asked at once, his mind working around the problem. He’d meant it as a joke, but now the idea was percolating and beginning to carry merit. But who? There were loads of women he knew, but none of them he’d want to spend the rest of his life with.
“You aren’t serious,” Ben said, his eyebrows drawing down in concern. “That’s really drastic.”
Brady shook his head. Ben didn’t realize the amount of effort it took simply to be around Monica, let alone reject her. She’d nearly depleted his bank account a few months ago planning a trip to Cabo. And that wasn’t taking into account the sheer amount of time she expected him to shop with her. “I can’t do it anymore. She drains me.”
“Yeah, she does. Your bank account. Your willpower. Your man-card.”
Brady speared his friend with a glare. “Exactly. So I should just find a wife and be done with it all.”
“She seems willing,” Ben said, nodding his head toward the waitress.
Brady turned to find the woman eyeing him, a suggestive smile on her lips. He shuddered. “No, thanks. Blue hair isn’t really my thing.”
Ben leaned in, resting his folded arms on the tabletop. “I know your problem, Brady. You need to be in a relationship so you can’t say yes to Monica, no matter what. But you don’t need a wife for that. You just need a girlfriend.”
He had a really valid point, but it still only made sense in theory. There was no way he would be able to get a girlfriend in under twenty-four hours. “Probably just as difficult to achieve.”
Ben lifted a finger, his cheeks rounding as his smile grew. “No, not a real girlfriend, a fake one.”
The room seemed to go still as Ben’s idea settled in Brady’s mind. It could actually work. He only needed to tell Monica he was dating someone else and she wouldn’t even try to get with him again. And if she did…well, Brady would have a concrete, valid reason to tell her no. “That’s brilliant.”
Ben sat back in the booth, his gaze drawing back to the screen behind Brady’s head. A satisfied smile played on his lips. “I know.”
Chuckling, Brady reached across the table and pilfered another handful of fries. He had to hand it to the man. The idea was flawless. Brady could invent any girl he wanted, give her a backstory, and be done with it.
His food arrived and he thanked the waitress before lifting his water glass for a toast.
“To keeping Monica off my back,” he said, tapping Ben’s glass with his own.
Ben chuckled, his eyes never leaving the TV screen. “Good luck, man. You’re gonna need it.”
After letting herself into her apartment, Ellie kicked off her shoes and closed her eyes, inhaling the delightful aroma of garam masala and lemon. Kayla must have cooked chicken tikka masala again and it smelled heavenly.
Blessed relief washed over her bare feet and Ellie leaned down to massage the heel of her foot. She’d been overzealous in her professional attire that day. She’d had no idea exactly how much walking she would be forced to do as an intern when she put on the gorgeous black heels. Of course, the coffee run was fine. But the second coffee run specifically for Brady’s drink was probably what did her in.
It had been worth it, though, just to see the look on his face when she’d handed him the to-go cup.
“Ellie, get in here and try this sauce,” Kayla called.
Dropping her bag on the sofa, Ellie turned into the small kitchen and leaned against the counter. Kayla stood at the stove, a wooden spoon resting in her hand. She blew softly on the spoonful of sauce she held and gave Ellie a quick once-over. “How’d it go?”
“Great. A little too great, maybe?”
Kayla’s black, frizzy hair was pulled up in a messy bun with a scarf rolled up and tied around it. Even in her messy housekeeping days when she wasn’t volunteering for Kids Afterschool—the program where Kayla and Ellie had originally met in elementary school—she was effortlessly cute. She passed the spoon over, lifting her eyebrows.
Ellie tasted the sauce and an explosion of spices and flavors met her tongue. “Yes,” she said, nodding, “this is amazing.”
Kayla’s face was a mixture of pride and delight as she accepted the spoon back and continued to stir. She moved to the side of the stove and lifted a linen towel to reveal perfect oblong naan and Ellie moaned. She turned toward the cabinets to pull down two plates and began setting the table.
Kayla filled a plate with naan. “So you’re telling me you didn’t trip at all?”
Ellie shook her head. “Not once. I did spray coffee all over the floor during a meeting, but that didn’t stop the head of design from choosing my concept for the Harver Allen Christmas Gala.”
Kayla looked impressed, plopping the last of the naan on the plate. “I don’t even know which question to ask first.”
“I’ll save you, then,” Ellie said, picking up the plate of naan and taking it to the table. She sat at her chair while Kayla plopped the pot of Indian food on the trivet and went back for the rice. “I was accidentally added to the wrong group chat, so when the head of design asked everyone to send their concepts for the Christmas gala, I sent one, too. I’d been bugged by this obnoxious drone during the meeting requesting a modern Christmas theme, so I challenged myself to figure something out that would appease the client and myself.”
“And they loved it.”
Ellie nodded, her eyes growing wide. “They loved it! So I met with the head of design and the CEO and now I’m on the project. The schedule is crazy for it, but I couldn’t ask for a better
opportunity.”
Spooning rice onto both plates, Kayla shook her head. “Don’t mess up the chance to show them how valuable you are.”
“No pressure,” Ellie said, lifting her plate closer to the pot while Kayla filled it. “And I have to work with the head of design and the liaison from the museum who apparently have a history.” She eyed her friend closely. “Speaking of history, did I see a yellow Volkswagen turning down our street when I got home?”
Kayla trained her face on her food.
“You know I’m not stupid, right?” Ellie said.
“Just because you don’t want to see your mom doesn’t mean I have to ignore your mom,” Kayla said defensively. “I’m not going to be rude to the woman.”
Ellie groaned, dropping her forearm to rest on the table. “What did she want?”
Kayla’s gaze flicked to a paper on the counter. “To drop off your grandmother’s fruitcake recipe. She would love it if you could bring it to the family Christmas party.”
“I’m not going to the family Christmas party,” Ellie bit back with more edge than Kayla deserved. “It’s the same night as the gala. But even if I wasn’t working, I wouldn’t go. I don’t even know most of those people.” She dropped her fork and brought her fingers up to rub her eyes. “I’ve just started this brand-new position and things are going really well, and I am going to be swamped all month. I don’t have time to deal with my mom’s drama—let alone make a flipping fruitcake.”
“Then don’t.”
Silence fell over them as neither woman ate their dinner. Ellie sucked in a breath, looking her best friend in the eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t expect you to turn my mom away. You’re too good of a person for that anyway.”
“Well, duh,” Kayla said, taking a bite of her naan.
“I’ve seen the woman once a year, if I was lucky, for most of my life. She can’t expect me to just drop everything now and build a relationship from scratch. She lost her chance of that when she turned me into a marriage counselor between her and my dad.” Ellie scoffed. “And they were never even married. Now can we hurry up and eat? We’ve got a lot to do tonight.”
His Stand-In Holiday Girlfriend (Christmas in the City Book 1) Page 3
