Twenty-five minutes later Ava came out of the office carrying some files, looking very pleased with herself. “Oh that man is so hot and such a … charmer. I can’t wait for him to come back from his trip so we can continue what we just got started in there.”
As she was walking towards the elevator she turned to Melody, “Oh I almost forgot, he said he’d email you his travel requirements. He needs them asap as he’s leaving in the next ten minutes or so.”
Melody was against violence but some people really tempted you to give up your convictions. Her face was hurting trying to keep the fake smile on her face, “Thanks Ava,” she called out as Ava stepped into the open elevator with a triumphant smile on her face.
That’s it. There was no way she could continue working here if he started dating Ava, or anyone else in the office. She didn’t think he would stoop that low, but she wasn’t willing to take that chance. Not when her heart was on the line. A stray tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away. She’d make Mr Harrington’s travel arrangements then would accept the interview offer. She just hoped she would manage to keep it together for the next ten minutes until Mr Harrington left the office.
CHAPTER FIVE
Alex pressed send on the email to Melody that outlined his travel requirements. He knew he was a coward for not letting her know sooner, but ever since his conversation with Marcus, he’d tried to minimize any contact until he figured out what he should do about her. Should he take the bull by the horns and ask her out or try to shake his infatuation?
The answer had come a couple of hours before, when he’d taken a call from David Maxwell from Maxwell Holdings. There were a few things in the contract he’d drawn up that David wanted to negotiate on and wanted to go over them with Alex. Being of the ‘face-to-face’ generation, he’d insisted on meeting personally, rather than setting up a conference call. Alex was ashamed to admit he’d jumped at the chance to get out of town for a few days under the guise of business. Maybe that’s where he’d gone wrong, practically living at the office all the time. He’d never had any space from Melody to see what his feelings were when she wasn’t around.
Thanks to Marcus he’d started to delegate some of his responsibilities. Really he should have come up with the idea himself, but he’d been preoccupied. He hoped that this was the start of him getting his act together. Handing over some of his less important account files to Dan was definitely a good start. He shivered at the thought of having an assistant like Ava. Dan must have his hands full with her. He was extremely lucky to have Melody and he hoped he wasn’t messing that up with his schoolboy drooling.
He grabbed his coat and everything he needed for his meeting with David Maxwell. He also double checked he definitely had the ‘Holdings’ file. He grinned at the memory of Melody sweeping in to save the day. She really was the best thing to come into his life and he regretted the way he’d pulled himself away from her more and more over the past couple of months. At first he was confused on what he was actually feeling, and then when it started to become clear to him, he’d decided he was actually going to ask her out. At the time he’d been out with a few of the other directors and one had mentioned his new assistant had moved to the company after filing a sexual harassment suit against her old boss. Everyone was disgusted that anyone at their level in a company would abuse their power like that. It made Alex stop in his tracks and really think about what he was doing. He started thinking with his head and not his heart. He didn’t want to jeopardize Melody’s career nor start any office gossip if he’d asked her out and she refused. Not to mention the embarrassment and awkward working relationship if she’d refused. He’d not even considered, what if she’d said yes.
He walked over to Melody’s desk, “Melody, did you manage to make the hotel booking? I’m sorry again for the last minute notice but I thought it best to go up and sort it myself as I was the one who put the deal together. Hopefully I’ll be back in a few days with a signed contract and then I’ll take you out to celebrate.” He held back a groan, what was he doing? “I mean we’ll all be going out to celebrate and you’ll be invited of course, as my assistant.” He needed to take his foot out of his mouth and just leave before saying anything else.
“Yes, Mr Harrington all the arrangements are in this folder,” she said, as she passed him a folder that he slipped into his briefcase. He’d decided to drive up to give himself time to clear his mind and going by what was falling out of his mouth recently, it was a good thing.
“I’ve also rearranged the meetings you had for the next few days and made the changes to your calendar.”
He audibly groaned, “Thank you Melody, I totally forgot about doing that. What would I ever do without you?”
Before second guessing what he’d just said, he walked over to the elevator then turned as he remembered to let her know how to contact him while he was away. He really wanted to go cold turkey but knew that if there was an emergency, it wouldn’t be fair to her if it was seen that she couldn’t get hold of him. “I’ll be tied up in meetings probably for the next two, maybe three days so will have my phone switched off most of the time. I’ll pick up my messages during breaks or in the evening. Don’t miss me too much.”
What was he thinking? Luckily the elevator appeared at that moment and he got in and he pressed the button for the ground floor, hoping it would slam shut and just drop straight down. Don’t miss me too much? He rolled his eyes. Yes, this break couldn’t have come at a better time.
CHAPTER SIX
Melody sat in the reception of Miller, Miller and McCartney and wiped a non-existent piece of fluff from her navy pencil skirt. She was surprised to be asked to attend an interview so quickly, while also relieved that Mr Harrington was out of the office when it came through. She hadn’t made up her mind whether she was really going to go through with this but as she was presently sitting in reception, she figured she’d made a decision and she’d need to follow through. There was no guarantee she’d get the job anyway, so she could relax.
A young woman wearing a beige pantsuit and carrying an ipad walked around the corner and made her way towards her. “Ms Chambers?”
Melody stood up and extended her hand, “Yes, Melody. Nice to meet you.”
“Cassandra White, I’ll be taking you up to Mr Miller Junior for your interview.” She smiled at Melody, putting her at ease and started walking towards the bank of elevators. “If you’ll come this way. We’re on the nineteenth floor.”
They made small chat during the elevator ride which made Melody relax slightly. It wasn’t the interview itself that was making her nervous, it was the implications. What if Mr Harrington found out? What was she going to do if she got the job? There was nothing she could do now and her perfectionism refused to sabotage this interview.
Fifty-two minutes later she was descending in the elevator and as she had it to herself, she allowed herself to physically sag against the wall and let out a huge sigh of relief. She’d done it. She smiled as she replayed the interview, knowing she did really well in it and could tell they were impressed with her answers. The only sticking point was when they’d asked why she was looking to change jobs, as she’d only been at Harrington Enterprises for a short period of time.
She’d mentioned that she wasn’t as busy as she would have liked and preferred working in an environment that gave her more to do and challenged her more. She was thankful she’d already prepared an answer beforehand and that was the best she could come up with, without Harrington Enterprising losing face … she hoped.
Back at the office she busied herself as best she could. She was sad to admit that the excuse she’d given for leaving was showing itself to be more true than not. Over the past couple of months Mr Harrington had stopped giving her as much work as she’d had in the beginning. She’d offered to help with any number of things that would make his life easier, even offering to organize his personal life. She groaned at the memory and quickly shook it off . He’d politely refus
ed all her offers of help. Mary had shown her a wide variety of tasks she would need to take over when she first started, initially she’d worried if she would be able to manage them all. Now her tasks mainly consisted of answering the phone, travel arrangements and her favorite task of all … filing.
She groaned as she noticed Ava stepping out of the elevator with a huge grin on her face. This wouldn’t be good. She plastered on her ‘Ava’ smile, waiting for the reason for the visit.
“Hey Melody, I just got off the phone with Alex and he wanted me to pick up a few things from his office. He’ll be back in the office tomorrow,” she said, with a smug grin.
Melody held back her fury, determined to stay professional. “Sure, go on in. It’s open.”
When Ava had traipsed into the office and shut the door, Melody wished the area was soundproofed so she could let out all her frustrations with the loudest scream she could. Nope, she could never be that lucky. She hadn’t heard from Mr Harrington apart from a few short emails during the whole time he was away, and yet he seemed to have time to have cozy chats with little-ms-up-herself.
This was crazy. She was a grown up woman and she was fed-up second guessing Mr Harrington’s motives as well as her own. When he got back to the office tomorrow she was going to make him have time for her to discuss her job. She needed him to give her a chance and trust her with more responsibilities.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Alex sat in his hotel room and looked at the contract David Maxwell had signed a few hours earlier. He’d enjoyed the past couple of days being shut in a conference room and battling out the finer details of the contract so that both parties were happy with the result. He felt like his old self after shaking off the cloud of inefficiency he’d been carrying around with him for the past few months.
He smiled to himself as one thing had become abundantly clear during the time he’d had away, trying to clear his head. Melody was his. He was going home and was finally going to ask her out on a date. He wasn’t sure how she’d take his sudden request, but was willing to man up and ask her.
He’d planned on staying overnight at the hotel and to drive back early the next morning. However, he couldn’t wait. He packed his overnight bag and took a final sweep of the room to make sure he hadn’t left anything, then went to sign out.
It was a few hours drive and he settled in for the long drive by listening to his brother, Noah’s, music. He was the lead singer of Stroke of Midnight and on a US tour right now. If he remembered correctly, they were playing Dallas tonight. It had been a while since he’d caught up with Noah, usually catching up on what was going on in his life through their mother who insisted on calling each of the five brothers at least once a week, usually more often.
As he hummed along to the tune he began to think about Melody, he chuckled at how little time it had taken him to bring his thoughts back around to her. He wondered if his family would like her, but also how she’d get on with them. He couldn’t wait to find out.
Now that he’d pulled his head out of where the sun doesn’t shine, he realized just how badly he’d treated Melody. He felt ashamed that he reduced her duties to only the menial ones, all because he’d been too much of a coward to ask her out. He’d never had that issue before, always taking the lead if there was a woman he wanted to see more of.
He’d given Dan a few of the accounts he’d handled personally as a way to lighten his workload, but wondered if he couldn’t have given Melody more responsibility with them. Dan didn’t seem to have any issues delegating some of the work to his assistant, Ava. He groaned thinking about how pushy Ava was about the receiving more information from him. Information he’d left in his office. He really should have told her to wait until his return, but he’d just come off a call with Marcus and had been called back into the meeting room for the final round of talks. He’d answered without looking at the screen, assuming Marcus had forgotten to tell him something. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. It was easier just to let her go and collect the missing items.
As he reached the outskirts of the City it was almost midnight. It would be close to one am before he got to bed. Getting to sleep in his own bed, and be in the office earlier in the morning, he was glad he’d made the decision not to wait until the morning to leave. He couldn’t believe how much more focused he was, and couldn’t wait to share his ideas with Melody, although he should perhaps have called Marcus while he was driving and asked for his thoughts on it. No, it was his decision and he didn’t want Marcus having any opinions on his life right now. He knew he’d let his brother down recently, but from now on everyone would see a different side to him. A better side and he couldn’t wait to show it off, to one woman in particular, he chuckled.
CHAPTER EIGHT
She’d just watch Mr Harrington walk back into his office after a few days away and he definitely had a spring in his step. She wasn’t sure what had come over him, but she liked the change. It suited him.
Her cell phone began to ring, normally she kept it in her purse but with very little to do she’d taken to playing games on it. “Hello?” she asked, not recognizing the number on the screen.
“Hi, Melody? It’s Greg Miller from Miller, Miller and McCartney.”
“Oh hello Greg, nice to hear from you,” she told him but wasn’t sure how true that was.
“Glad to hear it,” he chuckled. “I’m phoning to offer you the assistant position you interviewed for the other day. So, what do you say? Would you like to come work for us over at Miller, Miller and McCartney?”
Melody wasn’t sure what to say. She hadn’t thought it would get that far but obviously it had. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting your call,” she explained. “Is it okay if I get back to you? I am interested, I’d just like to have a look over my employment contract before agreeing.” That should give her some breathing room.
“Of course. If you’d let us know as soon as you can so that we can start the ball rolling on our end. I think you’d fit in really well here and look forward to working with you. I’m sure you’ll be a great asset for our company.”
“Thank you Greg. I’ll be sure to let you know, tomorrow at the latest. Thanks again for the opportunity.”
“Ah Melody, before you go can you please put me through to Alex. We’re old school friends and since I’m already on the line, might as well take the opportunity to catch up. It’s been a while.”
Melody stared at her cell phone. Could this really be happening? What if he told him? Clearing her throat she reminded him, “Greg you’re on my cell, not the office phone. If you’d like to call back on the office line or I can ask Mr Harrington to call you?”
“Oh yes, of course. I’ll call back on the office line. Give me two minutes.”
Right enough, two minutes later the office phone rang and she picked it up and put him through. She couldn’t help but wonder what they were going to be talking about.
The elevator door opened and out walked the last person she expected to see … Mary. She was the cause of all her anxiety.
“Hello dear. I thought I’d pop in and see how you were doing,” she said.
Melody just stared at her, her mind still in the office with her boss and her potential new boss. Mary had a concerned look on her face as she took a seat next to her desk.
“Melody, it’s come to my attention that you’ve been looking for alternative employment. Surely the rumors aren’t true? I had to come and see for myself and get all this nonsense sorted out.”
How did she know? “I did have an interview with another company,” she admitted.
“Come now, it’s a bit more than an interview isn’t it?” Mary replied, with a disappointed shake of her head.
“Well yes. I’ve been offered a new position.” There was no point hiding the fact, after all Mary seemed to know everything. How, she had no idea.
“What happened between you and Alex? I thought you’d get on great together. I was so sure.”
Melody looked down
at her hands, not sure whether to be truthful or not about her feelings towards Alex. As she’d been offered a new job and had an escape, she felt she’d nothing to lose.
“He’s not interested,” she told the older woman. “I didn’t take this job to catch myself a husband, but you put ideas into my head. He’s such an amazing man, very intelligent and caring. I did fall for him … hard, but he’s shown no signs at all that he’s interested in more than my assistant skills. Even then, he’s given me less and less work to do over the past couple of months and he doesn’t even speak to me anymore. He emails or texts his instructions. I’m not sure what I’ve done wrong, but he obviously doesn’t trust me to do my job, so I just thought it best that I leave.”
“Oh dear, don’t you worry about Alex. I’ll soon sort him out. You, my lady, are not going anywhere. It seems I have to knock some sense into both of you. Is Alex free? I think I need to have a word with young Mr Harrington.”
CHAPTER NINE
Alex was happy to be back in his office. He’d just sent the signed contract down to the legal team and was making his plans on how best to ask Melody out. He knew he wouldn’t get much done until he’d taken that first step.
Before he could do anything about that his desk phoned buzzed, indicating Melody was about to put a call through to him. He picked up the receiver and willed himself together, “Yes Melody?”
“Mr Harrington, I have Greg Miller on the line. He says he is an old friend of yours. Would you like me to put him through?”
He hated that she insisted on calling him ‘Mr Harrington’, more so when she called Marcus by his first name and even his father, when he came into the office, she always greeted him with ‘David’. He hadn’t spoken to Greg in months. Last he’d heard he was primed to take over his father’s company in the next few weeks as the old goat was finally retiring. It had been a while since they’d last caught up, maybe that was why he was calling.
Love by Assistant (The Harringtons Book 3) Page 2