by Ava Storm
“Glad you found one you like. Let’s continue the tour.”
“Of course.” Her face became serious and professional again.
As we walked back into the main office space, the lights began to flicker on, one section at a time. I heard Mrs. Winthrop snapping up the switches, humming off tune the way she always did when she thought she was alone.
Relieved, I walked Paige over to her. “Mrs. Winthrop knows everything about the office. She’ll take you to IT, show you the ropes of the coffee maker, teach you how to fix the printer, things like that. When Will gets here at eight, he can show you how to pull the morning reports.”
“Great,” Paige said. “Other than the morning reports, is there anything else I do for you first thing in the morning?”
I had to work very hard to not let my brain wander to the myriad things she could do for me first thing in the morning. “No,” I said with unnecessary curtness. “Just the reports.”
13
Paige
I was both relieved and disappointed when Ford suddenly said he had a call he had to make and left me with Mrs. Winthrop. He closed his office door behind him without looking back.
“Don’t take it personally,” Mrs. Winthrop advised. “He’s under a lot of stress with the London deal. They all are. He’s a good boss.”
I smiled at her, thinking that they must refer to Griffin, Jameson, and the mysterious Kai. “Have you worked here long?”
“Since they opened this office five years ago.” Mrs. Winthrop laughed. “I’ll tell you, when they hired me, I thought the job wouldn’t last six months. One of them had on a clip-on tie, the others were in sneakers.
I calculated. Five years ago, Blip had just gone public. “Wasn’t it already a billion-dollar company then?”
“That’s what it was valued at, but I’ve seen ‘billion-dollar companies’ that weren’t worth their letterhead.” Mrs. Winthrop hung up her purse behind the reception desk and draped her coat over the back of her chair. “This place isn’t one of them though. Come on, I’ll show you how to work the coffee monster.”
I swung by my desk and grabbed a notepad and pen. Mrs. Winthrop smiled approvingly. “A note taker, good. The last one never bothered.”
“Did she have a good memory?”
“No. Dumb as a post.”
I couldn’t help the short bark of laughter that escaped. I covered her mouth and glanced over at Ford’s office.
“Don’t worry,” Mrs. Winthrop reassured me. “He’s not really on a call. It’s just what he says when he wants to stop talking to someone.”
“Noted. Literally.” I took more notes while Mrs. Winthrop showed me the coffee monster. It was complicated, but when she handed me the results, I decided it was also worth it. The coffee was rich, darkly roasted, and creamy. It reminded me of the coffee Shelly, Amanda, and I drank when we did a semester in Italy.
“Good, isn’t it?” Mrs. Winthrop said, watching my face.
“Unbelievable.”
I left the coffee on my desk while Mrs. Winthrop took me to the IT department for a laptop and login credentials.
“It’s a company laptop, so no porn,” Jason the IT guy warned me jokingly, “but you can take it home every night and basically treat it like it’s yours. Just don’t put any stickers on the back, okay? They’re a bitch to scrape off.”
“No stickers or porn,” I said. “Got it.”
“Make a note,” he pointed at my pad.
I obediently wrote it down. No stickers or porn.
When we got back to the office, Mrs. Winthrop introduced me to Will, a tall, attractive guy who looked a couple of years older than me. “I used to be the executive assistant,” he said. “So I’ll be the one training you.”
After that, the morning was a blur. Will explained that a typical day consisted of running sales reports, answering phones, scheduling and attending meetings, creating presentations, and meeting with Board members and business partners. I was also the team’s travel manager.
“Blip is economic with their travel budget,” Will said, a touch of disdain in his voice. “Ford is a real hardass about it, so make sure you review all travel requests that get submitted into the system. Make sure everyone is following company policies on the costs of hotels and car rentals. Make sure no one is trying to fly first class, that kind of thing. You’ll also manage all the travel reports on a quarterly basis.”
My head spun as I wrote it all down. Maybe this job would be a little more complicated than my last position after all. But I would figure it all out.
Later, as Ford was walking past, Will asked if I wanted to get lunch in the company cafeteria. “It’s hardly the Google cafeteria,” he said a little obnoxiously. “But it’s nice enough.”
I wondered if he knew Ford was crossing behind him. Crossing slowly behind him. Was it my imagination, or was he waiting to hear my answer?
“I’d love to,” I said, deliberately not looking at Ford. “But I made plans with someone already.”
When I did look up, Ford was halfway across the office. It must have been my imagination.
I ate lunch with Madelyn, but she had made two new friends already and the tables were designed for miniature people, so I went back up to the office after thirty minutes. The floor was largely deserted. Glad for the chance to review my notes, I settled into my desk chair and picked up the pad. It now had several pages covered front and back in my small, scratchy writing.
“You get an hour for lunch,” Ford said, startling me.
I turned to see him at the door to his office. He looked wary, like he still wasn’t sure it was a good idea for me to be there.
I offered him a friendly smile. “I know, but I didn’t need it.” God, he was still the best-looking man I’d ever seen, even with that frown on his face. Especially with the frown. I wondered if the tension that hummed between us when we were alone would ever go away. It had to. I’d make it go away. After all, we were both adults. How would I act if he was an adult I hadn’t had sex with? If he were just my boss, like Mr. Nelson from my old office.
“You look tired,” I said brightly. “I’ll bring you some coffee.”
Before he could respond, I leapt up to try my hand at the coffee monster for the first time.
“Your job isn’t to make me coffee,” he said, following me into the kitchenette. He spotted the pad in my hand. “Did you take notes on how to run the coffee maker?”
“Yes, I always take notes.” I skimmed over them and then laid the pad down. “And it’s a good thing I did, because this coffee is worth the trouble.”
While I flicked the switches and input the specifications on the touch screen, Ford read the first page. “Ford says he has a call when he wants to leave a conversation.”
“That’s what I hear,” I said.
“I’ll have to come up with a new excuse. No stickers or porn?”
“On the laptops. Company policy,” I said. I pressed the start button and stood back as the machine began to hiss and spit ominously.
“Did you really need to write down no porn to remember not to look up porn on the company laptops?” he asked.
“No, but Jason the IT guy seemed really emphatic about it, so I did.” I smiled in satisfaction as the cup filled with steaming, rich, fragrant coffee. “Here.”
I handed Ford the cup and retrieved my notepad.
He took a sip.
“Well?” I prompted when he didn’t say anything. “Don’t you feel better?”
“It’s good,” he admitted. “I’m not sure it’s as life changing as you seem to think, but I don’t feel worse off.”
“That’s a start,” I said, giving him my brightest smile. It was working. All I had to do was picture Mr. Nelson, and the electricity was grounded.
Ford took another sip, and his eyes locked on mine over the rim of the mug. His irises were as rich and dark as the coffee, and for a second, they burned just as hot. My smile slipped. Why was I always finding myself alone
with him?
“I, uh,” I fumbled for something to say. “I want to thank you for hiring me despite our, ah, our history.”
“I’d hardly call one night a history,” he said, his gaze holding mine.
“Not a history,” I amended, embarrassed. “But you know what I mean.”
“You came with excellent qualifications and recommendations,” he said. “My own personal recollections didn’t need to factor in one way or another. Though if they had, I can assure you that you wouldn’t need to apologize. They would have weighed in your favor.”
My cheeks burned hot and red. Why had I even brought this up? I’d had a plan, and that was to treat him like Mr. Nelson. I’d have never thanked Mr. Nelson for hiring me after we’d slept together, so what the hell was I doing bringing it up to Ford? I dared to look at him and was surprised to see a warm, dancing light in his eyes. For an instant, the office around us fell away and it was the two of us, gathered around the small table at the Cherington, our knees pressed together, a warm, golden haze surrounding us.
I swayed toward him; my embarrassment forgotten.
Then the ding of the elevator brought me back to my senses. I could tell from the way he blinked that he had come to his, too. I was relieved to have them back. He just looked annoyed. The space between us was awkward again instead of magnetic.
Mr. Nelson, I reminded myself. I took a deep breath and imagined it was the kindly older man standing in front of me instead of a darkly handsome billionaire that had fathered my child. “Anyway,” I said brightly, as though we’d been discussing last night’s Cubs game. “I’d better get back to work. Let me know if you need anything else.”
14
Ford
When I’d been alone with her into the kitchenette, I’d had to do something with my hands to keep from grabbing her. Now I clenched and unclenched them, trying not to regret that I hadn’t. She had to feel the same intense pull I felt every time we locked eyes. It couldn’t be one sided. But then she’d smiled so cheerfully and walked away, leaving me with that fucking coffee in my hands instead of what I really wanted.
I saw that cheerful smile all day and it grated on me for reasons I couldn’t explain. Even when I was in my office, I’d hear her laugh through the bustle of noise on the main floor and tense up. More than once, I had to fight the urge to go see what—or who—was so damn funny.
It had better not be that jerkoff Will Davis, who seemed to think training her required putting his hand on her shoulder. I’d overheard him asking her to lunch. I was going to have to find some way to let her know that any inter office dating was frowned upon, even if that wasn’t expressly the case.
My patience was worn thin by the time I left the office to meet my business partners at the Cherington. Luckily, Kai was already at the bar when I walked in, a glass of whiskey in front of him and a beer beside him. I drank half of it before I even sat down.
“Long day?” Kai asked without judgment.
“Is there any other kind when you have to deal with Glenn Doyle?” I muttered. It wasn’t Kai’s fault that the guy was an asshole, but it didn’t mean I wouldn’t take it out on him.
Kai raised one eyebrow and tilted his glass to his lips without taking the bait. He never did. Sometimes he was so calm it read like detachment or disinterest. He was our iceman. The one we sent in when the other side needed to think that Blip Inc. could take or leave their business. The one we sent out when someone needed to be destroyed. “I heard your new executive assistant started today,” he said.
“Did you?” I finished my beer.
“How’d it go?”
“Fine.” I signaled to Mitch that I’d take another.
“No complications?”
Kai’s face was perfectly sober, but I knew what he was doing. I was the volcano to Kai’s ice age. If Kai prodded hard enough, my temper would erupt, and Kai would likely get the information he wanted. Not this time though, I vowed grimly.
“None at all,” I said. That was true enough. Already, Paige herself was proving to be an asset. She’d had the morning reports on my desk as soon as Will showed her how it was done. She learned the phone system quickly. She’d already pulled the quarterly travel reports that were due next week and discovered several employees had never had their travel requests approved.
“Melanie Greenwell,” Kai said, shaking his head when I told him about it. “How did she get hired in the first place?”
“Griffin,” I said darkly. “We were in Germany when he did the interview.”
“That explains it.”
Griffin and Jameson came in then. I saw Jameson’s eyes flicker around the bar, likely looking for someone more interesting to talk to. Seeing no one, he followed Griffin over to us.
“Thanks for joining us, pal,” Kai said pleasantly.
“Sadly, Mitch is the prettiest girl in the room tonight,” Jameson said, not troubling to lower his voice.
Mitch the bartender pointed to himself, mock flattered. “I’m still not going home with you,” he warned, already mixing up a gin and tonic for Jameson while the first band of a Black and Tan settled for Griffin.
“Speaking of going home together,” Griffin said. “I’ve heard good things about your new executive assistant.”
“Shut up, Griffin.”
“All stuff I knew, of course,” Griffin continued. “Such as how hot she is. Her ass. Things like that.”
I shot Kai a look that said if he didn’t shut Griffin down, I was going to do it. We both preferred Kai’s diplomacy to my methods.
“Sounds like potential sexual harassment,” Kai said. “I’ll send an HR rep over in the morning to deal with it. Email me the names.”
“It was that dickhead Griffin in the big office,” Griffin said. “Tell them to fire him.”
Kai stared at him witheringly. Griffin isn’t the withering type, but he threw up his hands. “Fine. I’ll stop talking about her ass. But seriously, Ford, if you aren’t interested, someone is going to make a move.”
“No one’s going to make a fucking move,” I said. “Not if the dickhead in the big office knows what’s good for him.”
Jameson looked interested in the conversation for the first time. “Are you staking a claim?”
“This isn’t college, Jameson. We don’t stake claims.”
“I’d say he staked a claim the night he rented the penthouse,” Kai said. “So you two need to put the word out to your team that she’s off limits.”
“I think we’re going to need to hear him say it,” Griffin said, scratching his chin ponderously. “You know how Jameson is about brunettes and how I am about executive assistants in general.”
“You need to hear me say it?” I snapped, finally reaching the limit of my patience. “Okay, I’ll say it. If either of you two gets within shouting distance of her without my permission, I’ll fucking kill you. Paige Stafford is mine.”
15
Paige
I was starting to wonder if Will Davis was going to be a problem. I could handle the shoulder touching, the way he constantly leaned in over me, one hand resting on my back when he was showing me the program. Once he’d even put his hand over mine and helped me guide the mouse to the correct button on the screen. It was the office version of here, let me teach you how to hit that ball into the corner pocket, baby, and I’d perfected the shrug off countermove.
What I didn’t know how to handle was his talking. It seemed like he was always saying something critical just as Ford was walking by, and I cringed every time. I spent the rest of the week avoiding lunch with him, but I ran out of excuses by the following Tuesday.
“Come on, he can’t make you work through lunch again. It’s Taco Tuesday! Everyone goes. Office tradition.”
I chewed on my lip. If everyone went, that could actually be fun, and I could get this lunch obligation out of the way.
“Okay,” I said. “I just have to run this report over to Ford.”
Before Will could finish a
ssuring me that Ford could wait, I pushed back from my desk and started for his office. We hadn’t been alone together since my first day. He was always on the phone when I brought in the morning reports, and he only crossed through the office once in a while. Usually when Will was saying something snide about their employee travel system.
I knocked lightly and pushed his door open, expecting him to be on the phone again.
Ford looked up from his bank of monitors. A deep frown was drawing his eyebrows together, but I had stopped taking that look personally. “Quarterly compliance report,” I said, waving the file. “It’s not pretty.”
Will had explained that the baseline compliance rate was 88%. He’d kept it around 96%, he said smugly, but who knew how low Melanie had let it drop.
“Fifty-four percent compliant,” I said and laid it on Ford’s desk. “I’ll get it fixed this quarter.”
Ford blew out a short breath and muttered something that sounded like, “Fucking Griffin.”
“What?” I asked, wondering what Griffin had to do with this.
“Nothing.” Ford pulled the report into the stack of folders on his desk he needed to look at before the day was done. Then he looked past me, and his frown deepened even further.
“Just waiting on my lunch date,” Will called from the door.
I felt my cheeks flush. So much for my plan. And did he have to say it like that? Like it was just going to be the two of us?
“Taco Tuesday apparently,” I explained to Ford awkwardly.
“I’ll make a note,” he said, his eyes flickering back to mine. Was I imagining things, or was there a glint in them? Amusement. Annoyance. Jealousy. I could never tell with Ford. Since that first day in the break room, he’d been closed off. Part of me was relieved, but part of me wanted to see the real him again.
“Enjoy your lunch, Miss Stafford,” he said, and whatever emotion had been in his eyes was hidden again.
