by J. P. Comeau
She paused. “Our schedules are synced?”
I nodded, clasping my hands behind my back. “Yes, they are. That’s so if you make shifts in my schedule, or you need to shift your schedule, we both see it in real-time and can stay up-to-date on things. It’ll also help when you need to schedule some vacation time. All I ask is that you schedule out two weeks in advance. Other than that, just put it on the schedule, and I’ll keep track of how many vacation and medical leave days you have left.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Wow, that’s efficient. Thank you for that.”
I nodded curtly. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll give you the quick guided tour of the other seventeen levels below us. They each serve a function, and being my secretary means you’ll have to make yourself familiar with all of them to be just as efficient as the tech I’ve just shown you.”
“Lead the way, then, Mr. Cataline.”
I started for the elevator. “You’ll work closely with floors three through eight, but that’s because most of the office spaces are there. If you need to transfer a call, they’ll be on one of those levels.”
“That makes sense.”
I slipped inside the elevator, feeling her stand beside me. “And before I forget, once you open your laptop at your desk, you’ll find a numbered sheet of paper with some names on it. Those are the transfer numbers for those offices. There’s a column with their titles, names, office numbers, and extension numbers to transfer a call from your phone. Keep it somewhere safe until you have it memorized.”
Relief washed over her face. “Wonderful, that’ll make things a bit easier than simply punching in random numbers and hoping one sticks.”
The satisfaction that washed over her face at my words was the cutest thing I’d ever seen in my life, and I enjoyed the fact that she wore her emotions on her face. Her eyes were expressive, and she had no idea how to mute the way her face contorted with some of the things I said, which meant I would never have to try to decipher her like most women I’d come across.
I cleared my throat. “Now, the floor directly below us—”
“Shit,” Leslie hissed.
I blinked. “Something the matter?”
She quickly put her phone away. “No, my apologies.”
The elevator doors opened. “If I can’t depend on you to pay attention through a basic tour, then we are going to have issues with you going forward. I need someone who’s attentive, someone who’s punctual, and someone who understands that when you’re at work, you’re at work. Unless, of course, it’s an emergency.”
She quipped back quickly, too. And in front of some of my staff. “Well, how would you know if it’s an emergency if you don’t even bother asking what’s going on?”
I felt all eyes on me as the elevator doors closed behind us. I glared down at her and watched as she squared her shoulders, digging her heels into the mound she had just created for herself. I drew in a sobering breath, unsure of whether or not to be turned on. I’d never had someone mouth off at me like that, and while the abrasiveness was shocking, I enjoyed her spunk a lot.
However, people were watching. “Let me put it this way: unless there’s something on the phone you can share with the class, keep your phone out of your hands when you’re on company time. Understood?”
Then, she smirked. “How will you get in touch with me, though, if I’m always working and don’t have my phone?”
I heard a few people snicker off in the distance, and I didn’t like it. I took a step toward Leslie, looming over her as my shadow cloaked her body. I slid my hands into my pockets to keep from white-knuckling my own hands behind my back because, dammit, I wanted to wrap my hand around her throat and kiss that fucking sass right off her lips.
But, I controlled myself. “I won’t be made a fool of in my place of work, Leslie.”
She shrugged. “Then, don’t get pissy with me when I realize I have a bill to pay that I can’t, because that’s all that happened, Your Excellency.”
I felt my eye twitch. I didn’t like the idea of her struggling financially in any way, shape, or form.
I should up her base pay to help her out some. Or possibly get her some sort of advance.
After all, if she had this kind of kick and could throw this kind of energy into her work, she’d be worth the investment, plus some. So, with one more glare, I turned on my heels and beckoned for her to follow me.
“Keep up, Leslie. We have much to discuss before lunch.”
8
Leslie
The man was as insufferable as they came, but this job had offered me more money than I’d ever been given in my life. So, it wasn’t as if I could turn down the work. I was excited to sit down at my desk after the tour, though. I’d had enough of Trey chirping in my ear for one day like he was the baddest piece of ass around town.
But, the second my butt hit my seat, the phone started ringing.
“Better get familiar with things,” Trey warned.
And when he disappeared into his office, I drew in a deep breath before I slid the headset on.
“TC Public Relations Firm, how may I direct your call?” I asked when I answered.
I opened my laptop and quickly taped the piece of paper with everyone’s extensions right in front of my face. The phone calls weren’t too brutal, either. I mean, as long as they had the name or the title of who they were calling for, it was easy enough to find the extension. Hell, by the time lunch came around, I already had a fourth of the list memorized.
And when we hit a lull in the phone call traffic, I turned my attention to the calendar on my laptop.
“All right, let’s fill this bad boy in,” I whispered.
I started with plucking out the random Fridays coming up that Aurora had off school. She started second grade in about a month, and I had no idea where in the world the time had gone. Somehow, over the course of seven years, my daughter had grown into a smart, beautiful young girl who wanted to do nothing but laugh at cartoons, play games, and socialize with friends.
My eyes teared up as I jotted down every teacher workday from the beginning of the school year up through Christmas break. And after taking a few days off around Christmas and New Year’s, I noticed something.
Trey hadn’t come out of his office once.
In fact, he didn’t come out at all until it was time to dismiss me at two-thirty. He popped his head out of his office and whistled to get my attention, which was something we’d have to correct sooner rather than later. And when I looked up at him, he nodded his head toward the elevator before disappearing back into his office like he was some sort of mole-rat.
Still, I didn’t have time to lollygag or needlessly fool around with anything. Suri had a doctor’s appointment she needed to get to, so I needed to race home and retrieve her as quickly as possible. I packed up my laptop, promised myself I’d get an actual laptop bag, stuffed my work phone into my purse, and headed straight for my car before I raced home just in time to excuse Suri from her babysitting duties.
“Aurora’s napping right now,” she said as she darted for her car, “and I have something in the oven for dinner! Three-fifty for forty minutes and it’ll be done, okay? Make sure you eat something, girl!”
I waved at her as I stood at my front door. “I owe you a huge one!”
“Just buy me a nice steak dinner once you’re rolling in the money, girl!”
I giggled as I waved her off, then I slipped inside. Aurora’s soft snores echoed from the couch as I locked the door and crept up to my bedroom. I wanted to slip out of these clothes, splash some water in my face, and get my new laptop and cell phone set up.
But, the second I turned my phone on, a flood of messages started coming through.
From Trey.
“God, what does he want already?” I asked with a groan.
I checked my messages to make sure it wasn’t an emergency, and when I saw the list of things that could obviously wait until I got out of my work clothes, I set my phone
back down. But, as I started undressing, I heard an oddly-piercing ringtone screech out in the middle of the room.
Dammit, the man’s calling me now? Seriously?
So, my half-naked ass thought it was a good idea to pick up the phone.
“Yes, Mr. Cataline?”
His curt tone of voice filtered through the cell phone. “You forgot to sync your schedule with mine. I have notifications that you made changes, but you didn’t hit the ‘sync’ button.”
I slid myself into some pajama pants. “Give me a few minutes, and I’ll open it up and do just that.”
“Did you get any of my emails, by the way?”
I blinked. “Emails?”
He sighed. “You have a work email. Did you not find the notebook I left for you in the top-right slot of your desk?”
I sat on the edge of my bed with my pajama pants dangling around my knees. “I was pretty much thrown into phone calls the second I sat down at my desk, and you want to know if I had enough time to rummage around and find stuff you hid for me like an Easter egg hunt?”
He fell silent before his tone grew harsh again. “If this isn’t a job you can handle—”
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t have time to check an email I didn’t know I had or rummage around through the desk. I’ll be in an hour earlier than necessary tomorrow to give myself time to go through it.”
“Good, because I need you to be abreast of what’s happening. We have a business trip in two weeks that we’re taking, so you’ll need to book our tickets as well as a place to stay. Also, I need you to get your schedule synced up and confirm a few things I’ve already put on there. Namely, I need to know if you can work later than scheduled Friday evening because I need you for a yacht clean-up.”
I stood to my feet and pulled up my pants. “Yes, I can stay later Friday. I’ll make sure my—ugh—babysitter—shit. I mean, crap.”
“What in the world are you doing over there?”
I laughed breathlessly. “Just hard to listen to you whine and complain while I’m trying to get dressed.”
The second the words fell from my tongue, I wanted to melt into a puddle and die. I’d never done well with people who were naturally condescending to others, and I had a natural knack for getting them to shut up. But, since this man just so happened to be my new fucking boss, one would have figured my mouth would’ve reeled it in a bit.
And yet, here we were with me cursing and spouting off bullshit in my hot boss’s ear while he debated on whether or not to fire me on the spot.
But instead of firing me, he simply drew in a deep breath that even I heard through the phone. “This yacht appointment is important. It’s a good friend of mine who happens to be a top-notch A-list Hollywood star. He’s invested a lot of money in my rental business, so it needs to be special.”
The care in his voice caught me off-guard, and it softened my heart a bit towards him. “I’ll make sure I’m there for it, then.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
His words startled me. “Uh, you’re—you’re welcome. Yeah. Of course.”
“I’ll see you bright and early at nine in the morning. And remember, it’s your last day of training before you start full-time Wednesday.”
Shit, I have to call Suri. “Yes, I won’t forget.”
“And make sure to sync your calendar before you go to bed.”
I snatched my tank top off the floor. “Will do.”
“Great. Have a good evening.”
“You too, Mr. Cataline.”
And when we hung up, I tossed my phone onto the mattress so I could pull my shirt over my head.
Then, I sat against my mattress, pulled my laptop into my lap, and decided to chisel away at some of this stuff while Aurora was still napping.
9
Trey
As I waved Gavin and his growing family off on their luxurious yacht for the weekend, I felt Leslie next to me typing away on her cell phone. No doubt, she was probably updating our schedule with something that had come through her phone, but I had other matters to tend to. With her attitude, I was shocked that I hadn’t already canned her by this point. But I kind of liked it.
Plus, she had been incredibly efficient with changing over the yacht at the last minute.
“Cancellations are a bitch with you, aren’t they?” she murmured.
I grinned. “They can be rough, yes.”
She lit a fire beneath my ass that no secretary had been able to do, and it made me more productive. I was more productive with her around, and other than her fucking mouth, she seemed to be taking to the job quicker than I figured she would have. Now, if only I could keep my hands off my cock at night while dreaming about her.
“Okay, so,” Leslie said as she held up her finger, “I’ve got a crew scheduled to receive the yacht and clean it before Monday morning, and I’ve already confirmed another three-day trip on the boat. The copay has been deposited already on their part, so I’m going to use that to tip the guys who helped us switch everything around on this current yacht before I hire staff for the next yacht trip.”
I nodded. “Sounds like you have it under control.”
“Also, there are a few changes I think you could make to all of this that would make things run much more smoothly. For example, your company doesn’t have a timetable for cancellations. This is the kind of cancelation where they should have forfeited all of their money since they canceled within twenty-four hours of their rental coming to fruition. If we changed that policy and implemented—”
I waved my hand in the air. “I’ll give you the number of who to speak with to get it done.”
Her fingers stopped typing away. “You want me to simply do it then?”
I peeked down at her. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Are you confident in your ability to keep up customer service while implementing these new standards?”
“Yes, and I believe I can raise things up even more.”
I licked my lips. “Then, I’ll shoot you the number of who to speak with.”
Her phone dinged, but when she looked down, a frown took over her face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
She sighed. “Like you care.”
That’s enough. “Contrary to the icy frontier of my face, I do care about those I employ, Leslie.”
She closed her eyes. “My apologies for the attitude, Mr. Cataline. It wasn’t in good taste of me to insinuate something other than the truth.”
I clasped my hands behind my back. “Apology accepted. Now, what seems to be the issue?”
She looked up at me. “It’s Suri, my babysitter. She says that Auro—my daughter, is running a low-grade fever.”
“Do you need to leave? I can have my driver take you straight to your place.”
Her gaze fell back to the screen of her phone. “It’s probably just her allergies. They kick up around this time of the year. But, it always makes me worry when she gets a fever anyway.”
I couldn’t relate, but I tried to sympathize. “I can only imagine. My mother was the same way. Every time I got a scrape or a cut or something, she was there to hold me and clean it up and get me a popsicle.”
She giggled. “That’s very sweet. Are you close to your mother?”
“Not since she died, no.”
Her eyes slowly rose to mine. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t—”
I shook my head. “Nothing to be sorry for. She chose what she did, and all I can hope is that she was happy with her decision.”
Her jaw fell open. “Wait a second, your mother commit—?”
I held up my hand. “If you need to leave, take the car. I’ve got some things I want to check up on with the yachts anyway. But, if you aren’t leaving, follow me. There’s still much for you to learn.”
I had no idea why in the world I was attempting to sympathize with this woman when I knew damn good and well I couldn’t. For some reason, though, m
y gut tried. My heart tried. Hell, my fucking soul tried. I didn’t like where the conversation was headed, though. I didn’t like talking about my childhood, so I wasn’t sure what prompted me to bring it up in the first place.
So, with my hands swinging at my sides, I started toward one of the rental yachts.
Before I heard Leslie rush up behind me in her heels. “How many yachts do you have to rent out?”
I drew in a deep breath of the salty ocean air. “About half the marina.”
“You’re kidding.”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Half of these hummers are yours?”
I grinned at her choice of words. “They are, yes.”
“Do you have multiple businesses? Or just the yacht and the PR stuff?”
I darted over toward a black and red yacht that people were always willing to shell out money to rent. “I’ve got multiple little things I dip my hands into that don’t bring me much money. Those small things are what keep me sane when the yacht rentals and the PR firm get out of control.”
“Will I be dealing with any of those smaller businesses?”
“In time. But for now, you have your hands full. By the way, what are your dinner plans?” I stopped abruptly and gazed down at her, and she almost ran into me.
Almost, at least.
“Uh, well. Since Aurora isn’t feeling very well, I’ll probably just go home and make us up some soup,” she said.
I nodded. “I’ll need you for a business dinner before you head out if you aren’t leaving to tend to your daughter.”
She crooked an eyebrow. “A business dinner? What for?”
I blinked. “For business, of course. Don’t worry, the company card will be utilized for something like this.”
She took a step back, almost as if she were on the defense. “Did you always take your prior secretaries out for ‘business dinners?’”
