The other day, she didn't inform me that the time of one of our meetings changed. Next morning, I arrive at work only to find out about the said meeting five minutes before it started. I rushed to the upper floor and barged into the room to find them all there, assembled and waiting for me after Deacon's strict orders. But the worst part was me standing there unable to speak, not participating in fear that I would do a mistake and lose my job.
Linda was giggling from her seat the whole time, shining in my lack of preparation. I swear, if it wasn't for Deacon and that devilish smile of his, I would have left. I'd rather work at a cafeteria my whole life than have Linda humiliate me every other day. That woman is borderline crazy.
The first days at work, I didn't know why she acted that way. Okay, maybe it's because Deacon overruled her decision and hired me even though she did a pretty thorough job of making me seem like the least suitable person for the position. But there's no way in hell I can prove to her that it wasn't my fault that this happened. I just answered her questions the only way I knew: smartly and sincerely.
But Linda doesn't seem to understand; in her eyes, I'm the villain and she's the hero that will save Deacon from the disaster named Chloe. And to be honest, if it wasn't for Rachel, the kind lady working next to me, she would have achieved her goal.
Rachel is the first, and maybe the only one, of my co-workers who isn't afraid of Linda's influence on Deacon. She has that old-people wisdom and the spark of a woman half my age in her eyes. Being friends with her has made me understand what it feels like having someone watch my back. Rachel is the only reason I'm walking on equal terms with Linda.
That has been the story of my life during the last three weeks.
Today, as I arrive at the building, I see Rachel in the reception hall. She's heading towards the elevator. She smiles at the receptionist and uses her card to get inside. I rush to her side; when Rachel spots me, her face lightens.
“I thought you’d never come,” it’s the first thing she says to me.
I smile at her. “You’re pretty sleek for your age, Rachel. I did my best.”
She's pretty open about her age, especially the part where she loves making fun of it.
Rachel isn’t, in any way, old. However, she has been working in the Stamford Corporation since the time Deacon’s father was running the place. It’s like a distant aunt to him and Deacon seems to value her opinion in many matters.
When we enter the elevator, Rachel squeezes her purse close to her chest and opens it. She fishes out a red lipstick and passes it to me. I'm surprised by her move.
“What’s this?” I say.
“It’s a gift, honey. Put it on now, before we arrive.”
“But...but I don’t know if it suits me, and Linda...”
"Chloe dear, screw Linda. Trust me. Put it on and act like every other day."
I follow her command, even though I don't fully understand what's going on. To this day, every time Rachel said something cryptic like that, she always saved me in the nick of time from humiliating myself or falling into one of Linda's traps.
After I put it on using my phone as a mirror, I look at her. "Thank you. You shouldn't have gotten to the trouble." She twirls her writer and grabs the lipstick and tosses it inside my purse. Then, she looks at me. Suddenly, her eyes open wide from the surprise. "What? It's a mess, right? I fucked it up. God, I'm such a fool," I say, panicking.
She grabs me by the shoulders and stops me. "What did I say before? Act like it's nothing. That's the trick. Act like wearing this lipstick is the most natural thing in the world, like the red of your lips was the same all this time."
The elevator bell stops her from saying more to me. I know her for a month now, but Rachel is already a really special friend to me.
We walk into the office together. Linda is talking to Deacon, acting all cute and kind. Someone has to say to that harpy that a sweet smile doesn't suit her sour face. I walk towards them with the confidence brimming from my body. I have to brief up Deacon about yesterday's project and about the results of the research he assigned to me.
As I get closer to them, Linda raises her head and stares at me. If Rachel seemed surprised before, then Linda is astonished. Her jaw drops and she ignores Deacon while he's talking to her. I make sure I don't seem terrified even though I'm ready to collapse like a house made of cards.
“Linda? Linda, what’s wrong? What happened?” he says.
When she doesn't reply to him for the third time, he turns his head to see what's going on himself. That's when I finally understand what Rachel meant when she gave me that advice before.
The first thing that happens is that Deacon smiles at me, not entirely understanding what's going on. It seems he's one of those men that don't look a woman in the eyes, but actually at her face. However, it takes him a second to figure out why Linda seems so shaken.
His jaw doesn’t drop. I wish it was his jaw that dropped in that moment. It would have made the moment less humiliating.
On the edge of the desk where Deacon and Linda were working, he had set up his laptop on an unsteady pack of papers. After seeing me approaching them, his hand unwittingly pulls the laptop over the edge, crashing it into a thousand pieces on the floor, spreading the papers everywhere around him.
"Fuck," I hear him mutter. It's the first time he swears in front of me.
I don't know why, but instead of making him seem vulgar, it elevates his status to an even sexier man than he already is.
I have a strong urge to apologize to him, but it's not like I tossed the laptop on the ground. This time, it was Deacon himself, the man with those striking blue eyes, my boss who caused the accident.
Linda still can't pull her eyes away from me but it doesn't matter. I hurry to Deacon's side and get on my fours to help him. At once, he tries to stop me.
“Be careful! You’ll get hurt,” he says and grabs my hand in mid-air.
That's when everything changes inside me...I think.
Okay, it's no use trying to fool myself. Throughout my first month working for him, I had plenty of time to get to know Deacon. Instead of being a superficial millionaire like I thought he'd be, the man is a charismatic businessman. He does the job of three executive members all by himself and does it well enough that even the executives he has hired don't get mad at him.
The way he talks, the way he moves, the way that everything always has to do with him...the real MVP of this company...it's a pure drug. When Deacon notices you, he really puts you in the spotlight. And I'm starting to feel that I'm addicted to him.
Every morning, I can't wait to arrive at the office and greet him. During my break, I hope he visits me and talks to me about work, and when the time to leave arrives, a sudden clench invades my stomach. Even my body doesn't want me to leave away from him.
I think I have a crush on him.
Nevertheless, when he draws his hand away from mine, he continues collecting the broken pieces of his laptop. He lets me help him without complaining anymore, but I can feel him throwing all those supposedly hidden glances at me. They burn my skin like iron and make my hair prickle.
When we've gathered everything we could with our bare hands, Deacon turns and rushes away from me without saying anything. I stand there, staring around, confused. Linda is still standing above; she squeezes her tablet a bit too tight and her hands seem sweaty and tense. She doesn't look that stunning anymore.
I turn my back to head towards my cubicle when Linda stops me. "What are you trying to pull? Do you think you can win him by guessing his favorite shade of lipstick? Is that it? Someone must have told you. Who was it?"
That's it. That's the thing Rachel didn't want to say to me. I guess, after everything that Linda puts me through every day, Rachel wanted me to fight back for once, even without agreeing to anything. And what better way but to throw my boss off course.
Oh my God, I'm going to kill Rachel later.
However, a new question arises to the surface.
“If you have to know, this is a gift. I didn’t try anything nor wanted to make Deacon feel awkward. But you don’t get to point fingers at anyone when you’re guilty yourself. How do you know that this is his favorite shade?”
And she scores! The crowd cheers loudly and the whole arena pulsates with the released energy. When I see the dread spreading on her face, I feel like heaven on Earth. Like Deacon before her, Linda turns and leaves for her office, leaving me behind to stare at the pile of pieces originating from the broken laptop.
For that, I'll have to thank Rachel afterward.
Gosh, I feel so awesome right now.
I head to my desk and sit. I have a strong feeling that everyone is looking at me wearing that lipstick, and after everything that happened this morning, they might actually do. Frankly, I don't care. There's only one thing in my mind right now, and it's the kind of thing that fills your whole existence not leaving any room for other thoughts.
Deacon touched me; he touched me and dropped a laptop on the ground when seeing me.
Can this day get any better than it already is?
Right then, I realize that I have to sincerely thank Rachel for giving me this lipstick as a gift. I make a note to buy her a nice present when I get paid later this week.
After that, I turn on my office PC and start checking the e-mails.
At that moment, a message arrives. I check the sender's name; it's from Deacon.
My hands start shaking. I got him mad at me and now he's going to fire me. Yeah, that's it. He surely thinks that I'm one of those girls that hit their bosses to get a promotion or even marry them for their money. Now, the inquisitive eyes of my coworkers feel like guns aiming at me. If I make one wrong move, I'm looking at a public execution.
Even so, I have to check his message. He's my boss; I can't give the man the cold shoulder.
I move the pointer on the flashing text and click on it. The message doesn't have a subject (which is weird, even for Deacon's standards) and is only one sentence long. Would it be that short if he was asking for my resignation? Probably not.
Well, it's all or nothing.
I start reading the message. "Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. Edgar Allan Poe."
That's it. A simple quote, not saying anything else. Should I get excited or worried? Is that a warning or a hint?
I think I need a break.
Chapter 4
Things went on for some time. Two months passed since the day of the red lipstick incident. Deacon seems changed. He still makes sure he talks to me often, but his glances are longer and I've noticed he works late a couple of times every week, the same days I have to stay until late.
I never put on that lipstick again, not before being absolutely sure about Deacon's feelings towards me. I can't lose this job. Falling in love or having a crush on my boss is not a reason good enough to make me destroy my chances of finally making a career and starting a proper life. Even though I enjoyed the attention the red lipstick gave to me that day, it was a one-time thing, something that I don't dare repeat.
But that didn't mean I couldn't change my style in the meantime. After seeing the results of what a mere lipstick can do, I decided it's time I went through a makeover. Rachel was the person to ask when I finally got the money to spend on myself. She, Nadia, and I went on many trips to the mall to discover the style befitting a girl of my caliber.
I had to start by accepting my body as it is. I'm a curvy, full-grown woman that doesn't need to be jealous of girls like Linda. After all, we're different at a fundamental level; I can smile like I mean it while she's just showing her expensive work she has done on her teeth.
Even though my change of clothes didn't have the immediate impact I was looking for from Deacon, it did seem to draw the attention of other men. For once, when Nadia and I went for a drink at the club, she wasn't the only one flirting and getting treated to free drinks.
Hell, one guy even asked my number and made sure he showed his interest by grabbing my ass. One slap later, we burst into laughing like when we were young and nothing mattered to us.
Life was good, but it could have been better if I could spend it with him. Yeah, I do mean Deacon. I know it's just wishful thinking that a man like him will actually fall for someone like me, but still, I can't stop dreaming about his soft hand, that touch of skin to skin, his lips exploring my body...
I flush every time my fantasies get the best of me. It happens almost every time I see him. I think about him on my way to work and can't wait to get there to actually see him. Even today, riding the elevator to the upper floors of company office at the top, I'm doing my best not to think of him that way.
However, there's something feeling different today, more intense. He got the receptionist to inform me that he wants to see me in his office. It's not uncommon for him to ask me to get to his office, especially when the time for a big deal like the one happening this weekend gets closer.
Linda sometimes isn't enough to help him out, not when there are many companies involved in groundbreaking deals. There are people that have to be notified, emails that have to be written, and overall, work to be done for everything to be perfect for the upcoming meeting.
Nevertheless, the thing is that I can't go up there acting like he called me to get up and personal with me. It's business and it'll remain like that; I have to make stay like that.
That’s it until I arrive at the top floor.
As the lift opens, I notice that Linda's office is gloriously empty. She's nowhere to be seen. She vanished from the face of the Earth, she took a trip to never land, she's spirited away.
I'm starting to get a bad-slash-good feeling about it. During my short time working for Deacon, those mingled feelings became ordinary as well. I can't be around him and not feel flushed-slash-ashamed since he's my boss and all, so I have learned to deal with them in the best way possible.
Smile and not say a thing.
Nevertheless, I walk towards his office door and knock.
“Come in,” he replies from the distance.
“Did you ask for me, Mr. Stamford?” I say, wearing my best smile.
He sighs before replying to me. "Please tell me you haven't anything big planned for Friday night. Also, I've told you since day one; call me Deacon. You make it sound like I'm one hundred years old."
I'm surprised but nevertheless, answer to him. "No, I guess I'm free this weekend. Why? What is the matter, Mr.--I'm sorry. I mean, what is the matter, Deacon??"
"You know about that huge deal our company is preparing for months now, right? Well, I'm supposed to visit their headquarters tomorrow and stay there for the night to prepare for the Friday meeting. The flight back is then scheduled for Saturday. Up until today, Linda was the one accompanying me on this trip, but she caught the flu and has a high fever since last night. I can't allow her to come, not when she sniffles every ten seconds. However, that leaves me with one PA short. Please, Chloe, you're the next person in my list of dependable PAs. I wouldn't ask you like that if I really didn't need you."
Okay, what again? Linda is sick and I'm the only one that can accompany the hot Deacon Stamford to a three-day business trip where we'll spend together practically all the time? Did I make a wish upon a falling star that I don't remember of? Because that's how I feel right now.
I must look funny because Deacon is ready to get on his knees and beg me to come with him. I have to give him an answer. "Don't worry, Deacon. I'm free this weekend, but I don't know if I can be of any help to you. Linda was the one that had prepared for this meeting and --"
"I already got her to send me the files. Get the rest of the day off and start studying them. I can answer all your questions tomorrow," he says in a hurry.
He springs up from his seat and rushes to my side. When he gets closer, he places his hand on my shoulder and squeezes me gently. It feels like I'm his best buddy and at the same time a jellyfish that someone pokes
and starts making waves on its body.
"You don't know how much obliged I am to you, Chloe. You're my savior," he says and vanishes behind the wall, heading to Linda's desk. I'm supposed to follow him but I take a breath before actually doing so.
Thankfully he doesn't know how much I like him. If he did, then things would be really awkward for both of us; now, they will only be awkward for me.
***
We arrived at the town yesterday and we haven't stopped attending business meals yet. I swear I'm stuffed and don't feel rather attractive right now. On the other hand, it's the longest I've spent in Deacon's presence. From our trip to the city to all those meetings, it feels like I've known him my whole life.
The man doesn't stutter, not ever. He speaks Spanish and French fluently; he's well-read, knowledgeable, and can go par to par with people twice his age. It's not a euphemism that all magazines call him the rising businessman of his generation. Deacon is rich, well-mannered, and above all, a professional. He doesn’t get distracted, doesn’t let the pressure of his work show on his face, and above all, he never deviates too far from the task at hand.
Big Bad Billionaires [Volume 2] Page 15