She shook her head.
The professor smiled knowingly. "Since you usually have me from one until five, I knew it would not be. Mr. Watkins has let me know all your time sheets will be faxed over to me and good attendance for him means good attendance for me. Understand?"
Shane nodded. "Thank you again, Professor."
He handed her another envelope. "These are the employment papers he would like you to fill out while he's speaking and you'll start today."
Her dark brown eyebrows lifted significantly. "Today?"
"Of course." He paused, as a round of applause inside the classroom seemed to explode and spill out to where they were. "He said the position starts immediately. Did you have other plans?"
"No, professor." She looked at the employment papers and tax forms.
Professor Henderson handed her a pen and then went back in the classroom. She sat in the nearest chair in the hall and filled out the papers quickly. By the time Andrew had finished his speech, she was done and had even caught the last part of it by peeking in the door of the classroom. The look of adoration had been on the faces of men and women who listened to him, and she knew she was pretty blessed to be working for him. He had a lot of respect in the real estate community and she hoped he would become a great mentor to her.
‘Just keep your emotions in check with him. Andrew’s going to be your boss and you’re going to ignore the fact that he’s handsome, powerful and deliciously put together. And quit thinking about him only dressed in a towel. He’s an ass. He’s an arrogant, condescending conceited ass. I wouldn’t want any guy like that in my life. Besides there’s Paul, if you’re even considering anything. There was a very strong attraction there and he is just as handsome, just as delicious and his kisses made you tingle all over.’
She forced herself to stop there because her inner devil’s advocate was about to voice something about wondering how Andrew’s kisses tasted like.
When she knew he was coming out the door, she quickly sat back in the seat as if the lecture had not interested her at all. He paused closing the door behind him and looked at her.
"Were you surprised?" he asked.
Arrogantly, she lied, "Of course not. I'm the best person for the job and you do like the best, don't you?"
He crooked his head and smirked. "You know me already?"
She burst out laughing and Andrew smiled finding her laugh infectious. Shane handed him the folder.
The professor came out of the door with Shane's coat and bag from her chair, and then said brief words of thanks and goodbye to Andrew.
They were left alone again and she wasn't sure what she should do. Andrew quietly took the lead and she followed him to a side door where a dark maroon Ford Expedition was waiting them. He opened the door for her and she warily got inside, and then watched as he came around the front of the vehicle and slid easily into the driver's seat. After putting the folder into a briefcase, he started up the vehicle and began to drive out of the parking lot towards the eastside of Detroit.
"I just finished having a meeting with Dalton Bellini, the CEO of Bellini Enterprises and he's informed me, if we do well on this account, I can be assured of nailing the entire Midwest," Andrew informed her.
"Is this when you give me details of my exact job duties?" she asked.
Andrew nodded and proceeded with informing her of exactly what she would be doing. He gave her the listing of estates that needed to be investigated and what potential buyers would pay. "I'll be working closely with you and allowing you to contact some of my resources in order to assist you. Once I can see you have the hang of it, I'll leave you on your own. I know you won't disappointment me, Shane."
His confidence in her was reassuring. Shane was not in doubt that she would do an excellent job. Ten minutes later they were arriving at a small office building with a parking lot. She was so excited that she didn't notice the vehicles in the parking lot and followed him around the front of the building.
A very beautiful woman with dark blonde hair and baby blue eyes looked up at them from her desk and smile. "Good afternoon, Mr. Watkins. I wasn't expecting you until later."
"I wanted to get Ms. Keaton on her way," he said and looked back at Shane with a private wink.
Shane could understand his professionalism to call her formally while they were in the office, yet it felt weird hearing it from his lips.
Andrew introduced her to the woman who should be walking a runway and not managing an office. "This is Ms. Rachel Peck. Anything you need, she will provide you with it. She is also in charge of all office equipment including the computers, laptops, cell phones, and even vehicles."
Shane was sure this would be the kind of woman Andrew would be involved in. Rachel was just too beautiful for words and when Andrew wasn't looking, Shane saw the office manager more than once steal almost worshipful looks in his direction.
He proceeded to the back of the office and introduced his sales team to her. Rachel followed behind them until they came to two double doors. Andrew veered to the right before she had a chance to read the second double doors to the left.
"Until we finish with your office, you'll be using mine," he informed her. There was an extra desk set up in the large impersonal office with the necessary office equipment.
Now this unnerved her, but she bit back her protest. Having his presence about her occasionally would be fine, but being in his proximity more than half of her day, would be unsettling.
A man in his mid-thirties came into the office and was introduced as Andrew's personal assistant. His name was Troy Rodgers and if she couldn't get in touch with Andrew, she could contact Troy.
If a strong gust of wind came in the room, Shane was positive it would blow Troy over as skinny as he was. He was extraordinarily dark skinned African American with the pinkest lips and dark brown chocolate eyes. Being clean-shaven gave him a youthful appearance, but she was sure he had to be in his mid to late thirties. He dressed in a suit like all the other men around the office, but none of them looked as good in a suit as Andrew.
Troy gave her a look of jealousness before he looked over at Andrew. "The limousine is here to take you to Southfield, Mr. Watkins."
Andrew checked his watch. "He's thirty minutes early," he pointed out. "Gather my things out my vehicle and I'll be there in a moment." He handed Troy his keys and went over to his desk.
The assistant gave Shane one last look with narrowed eyes before he left out the office.
Rachel came closer to her and passed her a clipboard. "This is a list of equipment you should receive by the end of the day. Before you leave, make sure you've turned this into me, and make a copy of it for yourself. The next page is your instructions to your voicemail on your desk phone and your cell phone. Mr. Watkins would like it set before you leave for the day and check it always. Your agenda is on the third page, plus there's a PDA on your desk with the same agenda so you can carry it around wherever you go. The fourth sheet is for you to verify your name, so that I may send it in to get your business cards. I'll need that within the hour so the printer can have them here by Monday."
Andrew interrupted Rachel. "Could you have them here by this weekend? Ms. Keaton will be coming to Lansing with me on Friday and there are a lot of important people who I want her name out to."
"I will?" Shane questioned raising an inquisitive brow. She hated surprises.
"Like I said on our way here, Ms. Keaton," he said coming over to her. "I need to work with you closely. Is there going to be a problem with that?"
Only that she didn't know if she could stand traveling with him for a long period of time. Shane bit her tongue wanting to say if it meant he was a fast driver, she would have no problem at all. Instead, she forced a smile and said, just as dainty as possible, "No problem at all, Mr. Watkins."
He advanced to Shane until he was inches from her forcing her to look up into his eyes. "I'll be speaking with you later, Ms. Keaton."
"I can't wait," she lied an
d watched him walk out the office. Soon as he was gone out of sight, she looked at Rachel in a friendly way. Shane wanted to become friends with her and the sooner she let Rachel know she wanted nothing to do with Andrew Watkins, the sooner she knew Rachel would open up to her. "How long will it take for my office to be ready?"
"Two weeks or more," Rachel said rather evasively. "Although this is the first I've seen him share and I've been with the company since his father ran it. Back then I was the intern."
"Should I be honored?" she questioned, following Rachel around the desk.
"I don't know," Rachel asked sarcastically. "You get to share office space with Michigan's most powerful man in real estate according to Crain's Business Magazine. You tell me."
Shane should be honored, but she just couldn't. Andrew had a way of grating on her nerves even when he wasn't trying.
Rachel changed the subject and spoke about the office itself. Shane learned there were a shower and an emergency change of clothes for Andrew. He required this when he was extra busy. "He's instructed me to do the same for you. So I'll need your sizes by the end of the day."
"What for?" Shane asked. "I don't think I'll be that busy."
"Mr. Watkins does a lot of late nights. Especially when something's important," Rachel explained. "I think the project he's hired you for is more important to him then he lets on."
"Why do you call him, Mr. Watkins?" Shane questioned. "Even when he's not around."
Rachel looked at the open office, and then back at Shane. Before speaking again she went to close the door. "Like I told you before, I've been here before Mr. Watkins came and I've seen a lot of women come and go. With a face and body like that, staying professional is a challenge to any woman who has to work with him. A woman will go insane if she doesn't draw a line in her mind because her heart will be lost." Rachel reached inside of Shane's desk and pulled out a rather thick manual. "Plus in his revised edition of the employee manual, it's a criterion that all personnel will address him as such."
Shane picked up the manual and frowned. Why would he then make a big thing about her calling him by his first name? All of this confused her.
"Page sixty-five, I kid you not," Rachel said when Shane gave her a look of disbelief.
"I won't have that problem," Shane said very assured.
"Like I said, Ms. Keaton, I've been here a long time and I've seen women come and go. You seem like a nice girl and he seems to genuinely want you here," Rachel admitted. "Speaking of the manual, he does want you to read through it so you can familiarize yourself with business office ethics. Coming from college, he wants to make sure you don't confuse any behavior to what's permitted on campus. Mr. Watkins runs a tight ship around here and on top of that, he's a neat freak and perfectionist."
"Seems like you've seen the good and bad of Mr. Watkins?"
"I've seen enough to know I have a hell of a good job and I will keep my feelings to myself. Girls like me always complain about how they get chased by guys all day long at their job, well, Mr. Watkins has made sure I won't have to worry about that, but I think he's made it for his protection as well." Rachel moved around the desk and welcomed Shane to take a seat.
Sitting in the thick leather plush seat, Shane realized she was facing his desk and could observe the entire office from where she sat. Behind his desk to the right was another door, which no one said where it went. The bathroom was on her side of the office, so she figured this to be closet, although there was a closet on this side of the room.
"Hence you are the only woman in the office?" Shane asked picking up their conversation. "The other ones just couldn't help themselves? Despite all this drama, he is a good boss."
"Don't get me wrong," Rachel said, "On the outside he's good and plenty, but on the inside he's like the sourest jawbreaker. He'll fire you with the sweetest smile on his lips and you won't know you're jobless until the next day when reality smacks you in the face. I worship the ground that man walks on because he does his job damn good and he takes care of his employees, but don't ever get into his personal life."
"Trust me, I won't," Shane assured her.
***
By mid-evening, Shane was enthralled with everything she was supposed to do. After setting up her voicemail and having it approved by Rachel, she was issued her Nextel cell phone and shown how to use her PDA. Rachel would send an agenda and notes to Shane every morning, through the phone hooked up to the PDA. That way if Shane had important messages or if a client left a detailed message, Shane could get the details.
She got started on the information Andrew had given her, by getting a map for each location from where she was located. This wasn't too difficult using the Map Quest on the Internet, yet since her Internet wouldn't be connected at her desk until the next day she was forced to use his.
Sliding into the larger chair similar to her own, she felt so tiny sitting behind his desk and using his equipment. She was careful not to disturb any of the stacks of papers or messages on his desk as she used his terminal remembering what Rachel had said about Andrew being a neat freak and perfectionist.
While working on his terminal she made a mistake and accessed his bank account information. She saw a large contribution had been made to Senator Payne's campaign. Shane found it rather strange she was seeing this information when she had just been listening about Senator Payne's fight against the Tyrex Company. Shrugging this information off as de ju'vu she minimized this and continued to work.
Chapter 8
At five that afternoon, Shane was still sitting at his desk getting the last of the information when he walked in. He looked at her desk first when he entered and she watched as his shoulders actually dropped in disappointment.
Shane didn't know how to take this body language. As he turned toward his desk, he looked surprised to see her sitting at his desk. He closed the office door and came towards her.
Quickly she gathered up all her papers and moved out his way. "My Internet connection hasn't been installed, so Rachel said it should be alright to use yours until you return."
"No need to rush away, Shane," he said, coming around the desk to where she was sitting.
She went over to her desk to place her papers down and organize them. "I don't want to get in your way."
He continued to look at her even though there wasn't anything else to say to him. She sat down in her chair and pretended not to notice he was still staring at her. Diverting her eyes down to her work, she pretended to busily attach a map to each property information that she had gathered already on the Internet about the property.
"Can I ask you a question, Mr. Watkins?" she asked as nonchalantly as possible despite the nervousness she was feeling at speaking to him.
He gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes. "Why don't you come over here and speak with me, Shane Keaton?"
This wasn't a request even though he worded it like that. Shane knew this was an order and she didn't want to get into an argument on the etiquettes of office practice or his hearing. She hesitated a moment picking up her employee manual, yet stood up out of her chair and walked over to the front of his desk.
"I wanted to know why you insisted on me referring to you by your first name?" she questioned. "When it clearly states you dislike this practice according to page-"
He cut her off only mildly stating, "I wrote the book, Shane Keaton, I know what page it's on."
Infuriated, yet keeping her voice low, she said, "Why did you insist that I do?"
"Same reason I insisted on you being in the same office with me, Shane Keaton."
She was even more confused than when she had first started pondering the whys of his action. Was he deliberately annoying her, or was he just like this naturally. "Can I know the reason behind that one?"
He smiled wickedly. "In due time, Shane Keaton."
"All right Andrew," she said flustered. "I'll abide by the rules, but I won't like them."
"In due time," he repeated.
It too
k all her control not to scream. He was naturally frustrating!
Troy came in the room after a brief knock on the door and said, "Are you ready to leave, Mr. Watkins?"
"Yes, we are, Mr. Rodgers. Ms. Keaton is about to put on her jacket so we can get going," he said.
She narrowed her eyes to Andrew, but got the message that she was suppose to be going somewhere with him. Going over to the closet, she retrieved her jacket and quickly put her PDA, cell phone, and notes in a leather briefcase Rachel had given her.
Troy left them alone again, but didn't close the door behind him. Andrew led her out to the front of the building where a limousine was waiting for them and he motioned for her to get in first. Troy was sitting in the front with the driver leaving her alone with Andrew. The window between the driver and passengers was down, so she didn't feel too much agitation. She sat across from him at a slight diagonal because of his long legs.
"Will I be privy to know where you are taking me?" she questioned.
He raised an inquisitive brow. "Haven't you checked your agenda?"
She felt like a fool as she pulled out the agenda to see Rachel had noted a five o'clock meeting with Mr. Watkins and Helen St. Charles. Rachel had put in the notes, “This meeting will consist of the businesses that are listed. Mrs. St. Charles will be informing you of the depreciation. She should have a detailed report of each item to make your pricing easier. She only knows that these businesses are going to be sold in pieces, but not to whom.” Obviously the last sentence was an important piece of information, Shane needed to know.
Shane was very aware of people inflating the price when they knew who wanted to own or bid on the property of value.
Looking back to Andrew, she sighed, "I apologize for letting my annoyance with you get in the way of my duties."
He opened up a panel on the door, and pressed a button. A dark shaded window came up to enclose them from the driver's area. She couldn't even see through it.
Drawing The Line (Mistaken Identity Series) Page 8