by Cidney West
Ella sighed, frowning into the mirror. This was simple. She knew it was. If she left work now, she wouldn’t be back here anytime soon. She’d be trapped and that would be it. And all she had to do was ignore Angie. In fact, she had no obligation to call her back or anything. She didn’t owe them anything and they weren’t really her family.
So why did her heart pound and sweat break out on her back? Ella took a deep breath. “You’ll lose your job,” she whispered to her reflection. Her blue eyes were tense with worry. This wasn’t good.
Ella hoofed it back to her desk, knowing what she was about to do and knowing it was unnecessary and stupid. And hating that her stepsisters still had this level of control over her after all this time.
As she walked, lost in her own worries, Ella almost ran straight into Cedric. “I’m so sorry,” she said, stepping back and getting her balance.
Cedric grabbed her shoulders to steady her, the warmth from his strong hands a surprising comfort. Once she was in no danger of falling backward, he took a good look at her, tilting his head. “Is everything okay?”
What a question to ask at that moment. Where did she begin? Ella started to answer, trying to put together the simplest way possible to explain. As soon as she opened her mouth, though, her eyes started to tear up and she couldn’t push it back. Alarm filled Cedric’s face and he ushered her into an empty conference room nearby. It took longer than she wanted, but once she regained composure, she tried to explain what was going on–without burdening him with all the details. But Cedric had been relatively open with her, and Ella felt he deserved some kind of answer.
Though he was probably not expecting a blubbery, emotional one.
When she finished, Ella fully expected him to run out of the room and out of the building and then give her a wide berth the next time they met. Why did this have to happen at work? If she were at home, she could vent on Scarlett, who knew the whole situation and didn’t mind. But Cedric was a virtual stranger. She didn’t really know him. They weren’t friends. And this would no doubt prevent them from ever going that direction.
Or any direction.
Instead of excusing himself and running for it, Cedric looked thoughtful for a long time before speaking, his hazel eyes deepening in color as he processed her story. Ella wanted to tell him to just forget she ever said anything, but something about his expression stopped her. Worry filled her mind as she waited, though. What if he thought she was lying to blow off work?
Finally, after they’d stood in the dark conference room in silence for a while, Cedric responded. “I have a solution.” His eyes met hers, richer and deeper than she’d seen them yet. And it made her realize there was a lot more to Cedric Pearce than he let on. “You’re my temporary assistant. I could have you run a couple of errands for me and it means you may not return to work until later, or at all.” He shrugged as if that was the easiest thing in the world to devise. “I’ll tell Maggie. She won’t be able to say anything to me.” The slightest glimmer lit up his eyes.
Ella thought she might cry again, but she was determined not to torture him a second time. “You would do that for me?” Her voice came out as almost a whisper, her throat dry after all that.
Cedric’s face softened, his shoulders slackening. “Of course.”
His quiet response and gentle expression sent a surge of flutters from her stomach up her spine. He’d never looked at her like that before. Ella swallowed. “Thank you, Mr. Pearce. You have no idea–”
Cedric took her hand, stopping her cold in her speech. She had so many things to say to express how much she appreciated this. But the ability to put words together into a sentence escaped her. Her heart pounded as the same strong hand that gripped her shoulder a few minutes ago now warmed her skin.
“I want to help,” he said. “I know what family can be like. I don’t want you to feel like you owe me for this because you don’t. I…” He paused, starting again. “I’d like to think we’re a little more than just colleagues.”
Ella gave him a small smile. “Me too.” Maybe they could be sort of like friends. At least, more than associates.
Cedric’s hand relaxed around hers. Ella didn’t want to pull away, though she knew she needed to. And Cedric stayed right where he was, making no move to leave either. They stood like that for what felt like minutes before footsteps outside woke them both out of their stupor. They were still at work and it would look odd at best to see them both come out of the conference room together.
Cedric stepped away first, glancing at the carpet. “I’ll let you get going.”
Ella nodded, her cheeks flushing. “Thank you. I mean it.”
He half smiled. “I know, Ella.”
Had he said her name before? Ella wasn’t sure. She did know that the way he said it made it harder to leave.
Cedric gave her two things she could do for him. Then, Ella walked out of the room first, dabbing at her eyes as she left. She didn’t see Cedric again, but she gazed at the door to his office, wondering why he’d been so interested in helping her. She dreaded meeting her stepsisters, but that faded into the background. Even once she was with them, Cedric still took up more mental space the rest of the day. For good or bad, Ella felt she’d just turned a corner. Only she had no idea where it would lead.
CHAPTER 15
Cedric hung back for a while after Ella left the conference room. He leaned on a chair, staring at the wood table. Various thoughts flashed through his mind–Ella crying, the softness of her skin, the relief that painted her features when he offered to help…
It was all a little much for him and he needed a moment to process. He felt like he’d just crossed some sort of threshold, only he didn’t know what exactly. And when he’d said he hoped they were more than colleagues, that wasn’t quite what he meant. But he didn’t know what he meant, so how was he supposed to say it?
Cedric felt confused, and not. As they talked in the conference room, it was like he was on the verge of something, but still far away from it. Liking women was not a new concept to him and if it was just his usual desire to flirt and have fun with her, that would be easy enough to figure out. But that’s not how he felt about Ella. Sure, he wanted to flirt and have fun, but he wasn’t inclined to leave it at that. Ella wouldn’t just play along for the fun of it. And he wanted her to see he wasn’t just some flighty rich guy, which was a brand new idea for him.
The situation stuck with him throughout the day, and Cedric caught himself wondering how things were going for Ella and what she was doing. Cedric read over some of the resumés Ella had left on his desk, then left the office for the day. He felt antsy, and it wasn’t because he’d been trapped in New York way longer than anticipated and wanted to get out. Weirdly enough, it was the total opposite. He wasn’t dreaming about getting away at all.
After walking around the block to work off some of the restlessness, Cedric got in his car and voluntarily showed up at Knightley headquarters and found his dad. And that alone clued him in that something was seriously amok.
His father’s salted eyebrows curved up at the sight of his son standing in the office door. He was hunched over some papers, black circles under his eyes and deeper worry lines. Apparently, he’d had a long day so far. Cedric took a breath, sauntering inside.
His father sat back. “To what do I owe this honor?” He sounded wary, which Cedric could understand. The only times he made an effort to deal with his dad were when he absolutely had to. Like the time he crashed his father’s Lamborghini, which he wasn’t supposed to be driving in the first place…
“Nothing that’s an emergency,” Cedric started. “I just wanted to run some things by you about Vannoy…if you have a few minutes. I probably should’ve called…” He hadn’t considered that his father might be preoccupied, though he usually was.
It took his father a second to digest what he’d said, but when he did, he pushed the paperwork to the side and sat at attention. “Take a seat. What’s on your mind?”
>
Cedric didn’t have a fully formed plan or anything, but he’d been thinking about the resumés he’d reviewed so far and his ideas about making use of the employees already at Vannoy. He dragged a chair closer to the desk, then tried to explain his thoughts. After backing up too far into the story, his father held up a hand. “Punchline first, son. Punchline first.”
Cedric nodded. “Right. Sorry. Anyway, Vannoy already has some employees with technical skills we might need to move things into the digital realm. And I think we should bank on that as much as possible.”
His father appraised him, his eyes lighting up. “You’ve actually given this some thought.”
“Well, I didn’t mean to…but it only makes sense to me. It would be easier to shift people around than start wholly from scratch. A lot of these people have worked there a number of years. They know the company.” He shrugged. “It would just be efficient.”
His father’s mouth curved up. At first, Cedric wasn’t sure what was happening, but then he realized his dad was smiling. Even if only a little. “Yes, it would.” He moistened his lips, glancing to the side. “I want you to go ahead with it.”
Cedric didn’t quite believe him at first. Nothing was ever this easy. “No meetings…?”
His father let out a tired sigh. “I put you in charge and you’re in charge. I want you to handle this the way you think it should be done.”
Cedric stared back at him. He figured he’d have to campaign to go forward and he wasn’t sure how to react. “Really?”
“Really.” His dad splayed his hands on the desk. “You’ll never learn unless you do this yourself. You figure out how to configure things and present your plan of action.”
Cedric leaned forward. “What about all the stiffs? You realize they want to kick me out.”
His father’s lips twitched. “I’ll handle the stiffs. You just do your job and do it right.”
Cedric sat up, feeling liberated and strange at the same time. This was possibly the first normal conversation they’d had in years. And one that didn’t end in an argument. “Okay.” He stood, the weirdest feeling of excitement coming over him. “I’ll let you get back to work, then.”
His father laced his hands on the table, gazing up at him. “Likewise.”
Cedric half smiled, backing out of the office. He strode through the hallways, his back straight and shoulders squared, his chin high. Whatever had just happened back there was some kind of miracle. His father approved of his idea and was willing to stick up for him.
The weirdest part of all was that he couldn’t wait to tell someone. And that someone was Ella.
Ella returned to work the next day excited to see Cedric, but nervous about what Maggie might say. She worried she may have misread Cedric and he wouldn’t vouch for her. But all was well when she arrived, and no one said a word to her about it. Before she even sat down, a coworker told her Cedric was waiting for her. She hustled back to his office, surprised he’d beat her there again.
His desk was strewn with papers and his tie and blazer were thrown across the loveseat pushed against one wall. He waved emphatically for her to come in. “When did you get here?” she said, noticing the laptop open on a corner of the desk. He’d never even brought a computer to work, let alone used it.
“Early.” Cedric pushed up, meeting her halfway between the desk and door. “You’ll never guess what happened yesterday.”
Ella blinked back at him. “No, I don’t think I will.” Especially since she’d left without having time for coffee, which had been item number one on her list when she got to the office.
“My father actually liked my idea.” His eyes widened, his forehead scrunching up. Ella tried to decipher what idea he was talking about. “I still can’t believe it. And then he did this weird thing with his face.”
Ella stared back at him. “Like he stuck his tongue out at you?”
“No, he smiled.” Cedric smacked his legs in excitement.
Ella tried hard to suppress a smile herself. She didn’t want to ruin his moment. “Well, people do that sometimes.”
Cedric shook his head. “Not my dad. At least, never to me. He frowns plenty–and typically sighs a lot–but he never smiles.”
“I guess he liked your idea.” Ella glanced back at the desk. He’d really been working all this time.
“Who knew, right? I mean, I have to get things together now for real. But I still can’t believe it.” He dragged a hand through his sandy hair, his eyes meeting hers again, some sort of recognition lighting them. “How did your…errands…go yesterday?”
“They went.” Then Ella mouthed, “Thank you,” in case anyone could hear them. Cedric brushed it off, but he looked happy nonetheless. “Now…what idea are you even talking about?”
“I can’t tell you anything yet, but it’s related to the resumés.” He held up a finger, darting over to his desk. “Speaking of which, I’m late for a meeting.”
“What meeting?” Ella was tempted to ask if he was Cedric’s changeling or something. The Cedric Pearce she’d met originally didn’t collect paperwork or attend meetings.
“The impromptu one I called for this morning.” He grinned. “You’ll find out what’s going on very soon. After all, I’ll need my assistant to help me out.”
Ella glanced at the tie and jacket crumpled on the loveseat and snapped into work mode. “Well, if you’re meeting with the directors, as I suspect you are, you’ll need these.” She smoothed out his jacket, wondering if she had time to grab the lent roller in her tote. She summoned him over as he rolled his shirt sleeves back down, then helped button his cuffs and get his jacket over his muscled frame. She swung the tie around his neck, straightening out his collar as he tied it, then helped polish him up to look presentable so they’d take him seriously this time.
Then, there was his hair, which he’d just managed to rumple all over the place. On autopilot, Ella ran her fingers through his hair to straighten it out, not realizing what she’d done until she noticed that Cedric was watching her intently.
Ella froze, fully aware now that her hand was buried in his velvety hair. And she was also aware that she liked it and wouldn’t mind having to fix his hair more often. Something crossed his face that told her he wouldn’t mind, either.
“I’m very fortunate to have you,” Cedric said.
Ella’s fingers glided down his hair to his collar, finally lingering on his tie, her eyes slowly turning up to his. “I think that’s true both ways.” She swallowed, her fingers smoothing out the silk.
They might have stayed like that forever if the sound of voices near the elevator didn’t draw them back to the present. Ella stepped back. “I think you’re ready.”
Cedric rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah. I think so too.”
She gave him a reassuring smile, then helped him gather his materials and followed him into the conference room. Cedric explained some of the changes that would be taking place to bring the company up to speed. But Ella could see the surprise, then the relief, then the curiosity cross their faces as Cedric also told them about his plans to use current employees as much as possible.
Ella had not seen him speak with such confidence or authority since he arrived. She wasn’t sure what had gotten into him, but he was like a new person. Or maybe this was him all along. After all, she barely knew him.
But then she thought of how he held her hand in the empty conference room the day before and the way they stood so close just now while she helped him get ready and it felt like they’d known each other for a long time.
After taking questions, and addressing everyone in a personable way, even remembering their names, Cedric let everyone get back to their jobs. Once the room cleared out, Ella gathered up materials. “I think that went over well.”
“Yeah?” Cedric gazed at the table.
“I do. And I like your idea. It’s nice…the way that you’re handling it.” She hugged the stack of papers.
Cedric’s atten
tion switched to Ella. “You do? It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just…” He rounded the table corner to get closer. “I value what you think. You’re a hard worker and I…well, I could learn a lot from you.” He glanced away sheepishly.
Ella shrugged. “Maybe you just needed to find something that mattered to you.”
Cedric locked eyes with her again and she felt heat rise from her core to her cheeks. “You may be right,” he said, then rapped his knuckles against the table. “I could use your help with some things. I need to get an airtight plan together to show my father–and everyone else involved–that this will work.”
If it meant spending time with Cedric, Ella would gladly volunteer. “What do you need?”
CHAPTER 16
Ella stayed with him past closing time to help him finish up his resumé filtering. They had a list of people with skills they could use, which was awesome. But Cedric’s stomach growled in protest to being ignored. Ella laughed. “I think someone is telling you to finish up already.”
Cedric grinned, though he felt his cheeks flush. “I guess the rest of this can wait until tomorrow. Besides, you must be starving too.”
Ella bobbed her head in acknowledgment.
“Come on,” Cedric said. “I’ll take you out to dinner.” He could see her about to protest but he wasn’t taking no for an answer. “I kept you here late, so I’m feeding you.”
Ella acquiesced and he took her to another favorite restaurant. After dinner, they strolled along the sidewalk, glancing into shop and restaurant windows. “What brought you here, anyway?” Cedric asked. He realized he’d given her part of his story, but he had no idea what drew her to this area. “Did you grow up here?”
Ella looked away when she answered. “In the city, yes. But not where I live now.”
“Oh…so your family lives nearby?”
Her blue eyes dropped to the concrete. “That night when you gave me a ride home? Well, that’s where they live.”