Feeling rather offended by the way she and her work had just been casually dismissed, she felt compelled to argue. “Actually, sir, there is not a great deal of time for ‘lessons,' as you call them. Not when the board meeting is less than two weeks away.”
The old man made to leave the room. “Yes, well, that can’t be helped.”
“Can’t it? It seems to me, you have the power and the ability to postpone the announcement.”
Lawrence turned his gaze to her and Lacey fought a surge of nerves at the cold glare. “Young as you are, I’ll assume you are not overly experienced in the politics of the boardroom. Is that correct?”
Lacey gritted her teeth to keep from answering him with a sarcastic comment. She hated it when people threw her age and lack of experience in her face. She gave the old man a curt nod, and he folded his hands in front of himself in a show of exaggerated patience. “Well then, you’ll just have to take my word for it, won’t you?”
He turned to leave. “Mr. Newsom, your grandson needs more time.”
That stopped him in his tracks. He faced her with an enigmatic smile. “I told you the timeline, young lady, and I was promised results. I expect you to see through your end, or I will see to it that you’re no longer a consultant for Ackland. Am I making myself clear?”
Flushed with anger at the obvious threat, Lacey clenched her fists to maintain a calm demeanor. “I understand, Mr. Newsom. I just thought you should know that Alex is not like other clients I’ve worked with. He doesn’t suffer from the typical difficulties—”
“Well then don’t treat him like you would every other client. Use any means necessary. I don’t care what you do, just make sure he’s ready to take his position at the head of the board by the time the next meeting comes around. Is that clear?”
“Very.” Lacey watched Mr. Newsom walk out of the room as his words echoed in her ears. Use whatever means necessary.
Maybe it was time to think outside the box.
A plan was starting to formulate. She needed to get permission from her boss at Ackland before she went off course but for the first time since she arrived at Newsom Industries, she was starting to feel optimistic about her assignment.
Laptop tucked under one arm, she went off in search of an empty office that she could use while Alex was in whatever meeting his grandfather felt was so important it meant interrupting their session.
She stopped by Heather’s receptionist desk. “Do you know where I could work without disturbing anyone? Are there any offices free?”
The young girl led her down a different hallway, past another row of glass-walled offices. Most were filled with the typical sights—suit-clad strangers typing away at computers. But Lacey paused before one, her heart momentarily caught in her throat.
Alex was sitting at the desk and a woman—a young and incredibly attractive woman—was leaning toward him. Lacey stopped just long enough to take in the scene. The woman had long auburn hair and the features and build of a supermodel. Tall and slim, she had one hip perched against the side of the desk and a possessive hand on Alex’s arm.
Partly because she was afraid of being caught and partly because Heather called out to her, Lacey kept walking until the receptionist motioned for her to enter an empty office.
Lacey moved behind the desk and thanked Heather for her assistance as she set up her laptop.
Heather was about to walk out of the office when Lacey stopped her. “Hey, Heather, that woman who was here for a meeting with Alex—”
“Jessica Wingate?”
“Yes. Is she, uh—is she—”
Heather raised her eyebrows at Lacey’s awkward stuttering. “Is she Alex’s girlfriend?” she supplied.
Lacey let out a breath. “Yes. Is she?”
Heather rolled her eyes. “Who knows? The two of them are always off and on, it’s impossible to keep track.”
Lacey tried to return Heather’s smile despite the fiery green jealousy that was threatening to tear her from limb to limb.
He is not your boyfriend. He is not your boyfriend. Her new mantra didn’t help to ease the rage. Once Heather left she turned to deep breathing techniques. When that didn’t help, she pulled her cell from her handbag and dialed up the one person who could talk her down.
“Whoa. Easy tiger. I thought you said it was a one-night fling.” Lacey could hear the busy bar crowd in the background as Morgan talked.
“Now is not the time to play dumb, Morgan. Obviously, I like this guy, all right? Are you happy now that I’ve admitted it?”
“Yes, actually. So now what are you going to do about it?”
Lacey groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “There is nothing to do about it. Like him or not, it doesn’t change my circumstances. If anyone found out, I’d be fired.”
“So then, don’t let anyone find out.”
Lacey rolled her eyes at her friend’s nonchalant attitude. Like having a secret affair was an everyday occurrence for her.
“And it may not matter anyway because he might have a girlfriend who’s cozying up to him in his office as we speak.” Her mind rushed to their night together and an entirely new surge of anger had her spitting nails. “And if he had a girlfriend when we— ew. God, what a jerk.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “Wait, so are we back to not liking him now? I’m confused.”
“Me too,” Lacey wailed.
Alex seemed to appear out of thin air in the doorway, startling her so badly she nearly dropped her phone. “Morgan, I’ve gotta go. I’ll call you later.”
“You better tell me what happens with the Greek god or I’ll tear your—”
She hung up on her friend and turned a bright smile to the Greek god in question. “Hey, what’s up?”
He gave her an apologetic look. “I’ve got to, uh, run out for a quick bite with an old friend. Is it all right if we pick up where we left off tomorrow?”
Old friend? More like hot piece of ass, but yeah, sure, why not? We’re all just friends here.
She forced a smile and gestured toward her computer. “Go for it. I’ve got a lot of paperwork to catch up on anyway. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She wished she could smack the gorgeous grin from his perfect face.
“Thanks, Lace. I’ll see you later.”
Lacey eventually stopped fuming long enough to send off an email to her immediate supervisor outlining her untraditional ideas.
Her cell rang less than a minute later. “Don’t do it.”
“Hi, Rick.”
“Seriously, Lacey, I’ve seen this happen before. New hires are so eager to prove their worth that they discard the tried and true methods Ackland taught them and try to be all ... original.”
Rick made “original” sound like a dirty word.
“But Alex’s situation is different,” Lacey started.
“Who’s Alex?”
“Alex is Lawrence Newsom, the third. That’s what he prefers to be called.”
“Uh huh.”
Lacey could just imagine her boss on the other end, typing up an email while ordering at a restaurant and reading the newspaper. The man took multi-tasking to the extreme.
“He’s different, Rick. He’s not like the other clients I’ve worked with.”
“Yeah, sure, kid. They’re all special, right? Everyone feels this way about their first solo gig. Everyone wants to break new ground and go the extra mile—make a name for themselves with the bigwigs at Ackland.”
“That’s not what I’m—”
“But the truth is, kiddo—all of these jobs are the same. They’re high-level executives who have fragile egos. They need to have their hands held and to learn a few tricks so they’ll feel like they’ve accomplished something.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Ackland has been coaching executives for decades, the system has been proven time and again. You know that.”
Lacey shifted in her chair, chafing at her boss’s con
descending tone.
“Just stick to the script, Lacey. Go through the methods and techniques with him and give him all the encouragement he needs.”
“I will, but I think—”
He hung up before she could say what she thought. Rick had no more time for goodbyes than he did for hellos.
She started to see replies from her “teammates” in her inbox and soon found out that everyone on her team shared Rick’s opinion. Stick to the tried and true method that Ackland promoted.
Were they right? Was she just another overly enthusiastic newbie who wanted to make a name for herself? Possibly. And was Alex just another executive, albeit a young and hot executive, who just needed to have his hand held?
No.
Oh, who was she kidding? It wasn’t like she was objective when it came to Alex. And her colleagues at Ackland had far more experience than her; that was why she needed their permission, right? It was exactly at moments like this that she was supposed to defer to the senior members of her team.
But they’re wrong. They don’t know Alex like I do.
She had a flash of Alex and Jessica looking cozy as could be in his office. Oh yeah, you know him really well. So well you didn’t even know he had a girlfriend when you slept with him. Hell, you didn’t even know his full name when you slept with him.
Lacey’s groan sounded loud in the empty office. Even if her instincts were right this time and Alex was different, she couldn’t risk her job over it. Besides, she trusted Rick’s expertise far more than she trusted herself at this point. She gave a sigh and resigned herself to teaching the course as it was written, which meant typing up Alex’s individualized lesson plan for the following day—a variation of Ackland’s generic program.
Chapter Six
THE CONFERENCE ROOM looked like a battlefield by the time lunch rolled around the next day. Lacey and Alex squared off across the table. Alex wore a scowl of frustration and it was all Lacey could do to keep her patience.
“Let’s try it again.” She pushed the cue cards across the table but he made no move to pick them up.
“This is useless. We’ve gone over this a million times.”
Twenty-one times, but who was counting? Lacey drew in a deep breath and pretended to consult the binder that was open before her. He was right, they’d covered every lesson in the book to no avail. The problem was, he was technically correct. He’d said it himself the day before—he had learned to maintain eye contact, had overcome any urges to fidget through years of military service and had taken Lacey’s advice to modify the speech so it was clear and concise. But he still sucked.
Once he stood before the audience—or, in this case, Lacey—he seemed to become another man altogether. Gone was the mischievous, charming and confident young man she’d met at the airport. In his place was an uptight prick with no soul. It would have been fascinating to watch the total transformation if both of their jobs weren’t on the line.
“Let’s start from the beginning,” she said, flipping the binder to the first page with more eagerness than she felt. She resolutely ignored his loud sigh of exasperation.
“All right, let’s review who you will be addressing. It’s important to visualize your audience. Focus on what it is that they want to hear—what they need to hear.”
Alex rubbed his temples as he listened to her and Lacey couldn’t help but take pity. He looked tired and frustrated.
“I know who will be there,” he said. “The board. They’ll be there to judge every word out of my mouth and to see how I compare to my grandfather and father.”
Lacey’s heart ached at the look of defeat on his face when he spoke the blunt words. She wished she could deny it. She wished she could take away his frustration, but she couldn’t. She’d never met the board members, she had no idea what they wanted from Alex.
“Tell me about them,” she said, closing the binder and shifting her attention to Alex.
He seemed to relax a bit at her conversational tone. It seemed they both needed a break from lessons. He gave a half-shrug. “What do you want to know? They’re a bunch of old stiffs in suits.”
“Who are the key players? There have to be some who have more influence than others. Maybe some who have more ambition than the rest? Someone who is vying for your seat?”
“That would be Marcus Brandt. He’s the newest addition to the board and he’s made it clear that he wants to be president.”
Lacey blinked in surprise. She hadn’t realized Alex faced direct competition. “Does he stand a chance?”
Alex shifted in his seat. “If it were my father who was giving this speech as we’d all anticipated? Marcus wouldn’t stand a chance in hell. My father was the obvious choice to take over for my grandfather.”
“What do you think of this guy? Do you think he should be president?” she asked.
Alex looked surprised at the question. “I’ve never met the man so I can’t speak for his character. I do know that he has the experience for the job. He’s run companies before and has developed a reputation for being cutthroat. Doing whatever needs to be done to run a successful, profitable company.”
“Meaning ...”
Alex sighed. “Meaning massive layoffs.”
Lacey watched as he wiped a hand over his eyes. He looked exhausted. She couldn’t imagine how much pressure he felt to save the day—for his grandfather and for the employees who relied on him.
“Who else is competition for the position?”
Alex shrugged. “No one, as far as I know. Arthur Wingate is the most senior executive on the board but he was my father’s friend and ally. He’s always made it clear that he wasn’t interested in running for president.”
“Wingate?” she repeated. “As in Jessica Wingate?”
Alex seemed surprised that she knew the name. Clearly he too had forgotten that she was in the room when the other woman had arrived.
“Yeah, she’s Arthur’s daughter.” There was awkward silence as Lacey resisted the urge to grill Alex on his relationship with her.
“I see.”
His eyes met hers and he looked like he was going to say something. She didn’t want to hear it. Before he could speak, she hurried on. “So let’s start from the top, shall we?”
Alex surprised her by leaning across the table and covering one of her hands with his own. The feel of his skin was almost her undoing. A table sat between them, but the simple touch somehow felt more intimate than she could bear. She stared at their joined hands as though transfixed as a heavy silence fell over them.
“Lacey—”
“Don’t.” Lacey pulled her hand from beneath his with more vehemence than she’d intended and stood, putting more distance between them.
She turned her focus to gathering up the handouts and pens that were scattered across the table.
“I want you to understand. I want to explain.” His voice directly behind her came as a shock. She hadn’t heard him get out of his seat. Now he was so close, she could feel the heat of his body.
She whipped around. “There’s nothing to explain. We both made a mistake.” She saw his eyes follow her hands as she toyed with her ring. It was a nervous habit but she knew that he would read into it. He probably thought she was racked with guilt just like he seemed to be.
Well, she may have been a fool to sleep with him, but at least she wasn’t a cheat.
His jaw clenched, but he gave a short nod. “You’re right. We agreed to let the past stay in the past. My apologies for bringing it up.”
Alex’s voice was stiff and emotionless, and Lacey felt her heart plummet at his capitulation. She’d almost hoped he’d try a little harder. She wanted him to explain it all away. To tell her that this Jess meant nothing to him and that he only had eyes for her. But she’d told him not to, and he was respecting her wishes. Whether she liked it or not.
It was for the best. Finding a man was not a priority in her life. Creating a career for herself—that was the goal here. She had to pro
ve to everyone, including herself, that she could be responsible and committed.
Sleeping with a random stranger while stranded? That was the move of a young, flaky recent grad, not a professional. There was no more room for error. She needed to be a better person, a more responsible person. Passion and romance would just have to wait.
Dawn poked her head into the conference room and broke the tension. “Alex, your grandfather is looking for you. He’s in his office.”
Alex never took his eyes off Lacey. “I’ll be right there.”
Lacey met with Alex again shortly after lunch and had just as much success as they had that morning. They studiously avoided all personal conversation and repeated the same tedious exercises they had that morning. When he was called away again for a meeting with the account team, Lacey was relieved.
With no client to coach, she headed to her makeshift office and started in on the paperwork. Ackland was big on paperwork. Everything had to be documented, right down to the tiniest detail.
She was glad for the distraction when Morgan called. “So how’s the hottie job going?”
“Horribly.”
Morgan gasped. “Don’t tell me—you totally slept with him again, didn’t you?”
Lacey rolled her eyes. “No, I didn’t sleep with him. I told you; we’re keeping it strictly professional.”
Morgan let out a snort of disbelief. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
Great, even her best friend didn’t think she had what it took to be professional.
“I’m serious, Morgan. I’m only here to coach him. And I can’t even do that right.”
Morgan was silent for a moment on the other end. “Okay, what’s up? You sound like someone killed your cat.”
Lacey let out of huff of frustration as she explained the situation to Morgan. “I’ve tried every trick in the Ackland playbook, and it’s not working. He’s not getting any better. He’s not like every other case, but my bosses can’t see that because they’re not here.”
“Exactly. They are not there,” Morgan interjected. “How will they know if you go off book?”
The Morning After: Starting from Zero Box Set Page 36
