by Kira Blakely
Alexa didn’t know what had surprised her the most – the fact that he was willing to tell her all of that, or the fact that he felt it was such an important issue that the kids have better options available to them that he’d take the time to build them a gym. “I’m sorry, Mr. James. It sounds like a sucky situation to be in.”
“A sucky situation?” He grinned at her, his eyes twinkling in amusement at her childlike terminology, and she blushed as red as the blouse she was wearing. Little did she know that her wording had conjured up all kinds of mental pictures in his mind, and his humor was his way at trying to hide it. “Okay, young lady. Back to work with you. Will you get that letter typed up for me this afternoon, please? The address to mail it to will be in one of the files Sheila left for you.”
Returning to her own office and sitting down at her desk, Alexa didn’t start writing the letter immediately. She sat there and contemplated everything that had transpired between her and Dawson first. The man was a complete enigma and she was starting to wonder if everything she’d heard about him so far was actually true. Okay, so he was a ladies’ man; of that, there was no doubt. But with regards to his business dealings and the way he conducted them, well, she really wasn’t sure anymore.
He’d opened up to her about why he had been so angry concerning the Grant Group contract, but she had a feeling that there was a lot more to it than what he’d told her, and her curiosity was overwhelming. She gave a sigh and settled down to the task at hand.
If he wants you to know, then he’ll tell you, so stop being so damn nosey or you’re likely to get yourself into some seriously hot water, she warned herself as she typed. She’d subconsciously made it her personal goal to show him that being kind was much better than being a bully, but now she was having doubts as to whether he really needed to be taught that, especially by her.
Maybe you’ll be better off being kind to him, instead of trying to get him to be kind to others, she mused.
11
SHE SETTLED INTO AN EASY ROUTINE in the following weeks as she became more comfortable dealing with Dawson and her job. Her mornings would start with her bringing him a cup of coffee and him drinking it while he gave her his instructions and tasks for the day. She would make any telephone calls and set up meetings before her lunch, and then after it, she would spend the rest of the afternoon sending out emails, typing letters, and doing any other general assignment he’d given her. Throughout the day, she would transfer a myriad of calls through to him that came up to her via the reception desk, and she quickly learned who he wanted to talk to, who he hated talking to, and who he absolutely refused to talk to.
Sometimes, she would be sitting in her office working, and she would hear him arguing with someone over the telephone. It always amazed her that he had been able to work his way up the corporate chain until he actually owned his own thriving business when she heard some of the things he said. In all honesty, if it was her on the other end of the line, she would probably refuse to do business with him ever again if he spoke to her that way, but the conversations always seemed to end on a slightly better note. Once Dawson got over his little tantrum, his attitude always improved. She still hated the way he treated people sometimes, but then at other times, he would do something totally unexpected and so nice that she still couldn’t make out which side of him was the real Dawson James.
She had also become used to the fantasies she would have about him on a nightly basis, just as much as the daydreams which annoyed her so much. She’d come to the conclusion that Dawson flirted with anyone of the female variety that he came into contact with, and as such, she’d stopped taking it personally, and it no longer flustered her when he threw a wink in her direction or made some kind of remark that would have once had her blushing like a schoolgirl.
Dawson looked forward to their morning meetings just as much as she did, even though he would never admit it to anyone but himself. He found himself trying to think up ways to prolong the meetings and even went as far as creating tasks for her to do that he could have quite easily delegated to someone else.
And, for some unknown reason, he went out of his way to please her and make her smile, even if it was about something inconsequential or if it was something that made him look totally ridiculous. He didn’t know what it was about Alexa Ryan that made him want to strive to be a better person, but whatever it was, it both annoyed the crap out of him and excited him all at the same time.
12
HALFWAY THROUGH ALEXA’S fourth week of working for the company, she took Dawson his usual cup of morning coffee and was about to settle down in the chair opposite his to take some notes as she typically did when he stopped her.
“Do you usually have a cup of coffee back in your office when you leave here in the mornings?”
She nodded with a perplexed expression on her face.
“Then go and get you a cup now and bring it in here to drink. We may as well share our coffee break while we discuss things, right?”
It was something that he’d never suggested before, and Alexa was pretty sure that Sheila never used to take her morning coffee with him. But who was she to argue with the boss-man himself? She placed her notepad and pencil on the chair she had been about to sit down on and turned to leave the room, half turning back to make sure that she’d heard him correctly.
“Are you sure?”
“When have you ever known me to say something I’m not sure about?” He raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively. “Go and get your coffee, Alexa.”
His tone allowed no argument, and she turned to do as he’d instructed, returning a short time later with a cup of her own. She placed it on the side of the desk closest to her chair before picking up her notepad again and finally sitting down.
They went through the usual daily lists of things to do with Alexa taking notes as he gave her his instructions. Periodically, they would both pause and take a sip of their coffee before continuing where they left off.
“I think that’s all for now, Alexa, but before you go there are two things that I’d like to discuss with you.” She felt her heart sink. I just knew that having coffee with him was a bad omen, she thought to herself as she tried to calm her racing heart down.
“I’m listening, but if you’re going to fire me, can you make it quick and not drag it out?” She was only half joking.
Dawson looked at her with an incredulous look. “Fire you? Why on earth would I fire you?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Unless you’ve done something totally wrong that I haven’t found out about yet, in which case you need to confess now or forever hold your peace.” Or you could just hold my piece and then your job is definitely secure, he thought to himself, enjoying the dirty thought even as he tried to quash it. Now is not the time, Dawson, so behave yourself.
“No, Alexa, I’m not going to fire you. Not any time soon, anyway.” He chuckled softly at her relieved expression. “Actually, the first thing I want to discuss with you is your wardrobe.” Her expression became even more befuddled. “Do you remember me telling you that you must always wear skirts at work?”
She nodded her head slowly.
“Then why are you wearing a pants suit? It’s very becoming, but it’s strictly against what I told you, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t think that you were serious, Mr. James.” She’d never heard of anything so preposterous.
Dawson laughed again. “I never say anything that I don’t mean. Well, hardly ever. And I meant it when I said that it would be a criminal act if you were to cover your gorgeous legs up. So no more pants, okay?”
She scowled at him prettily. “I’ll try my best, but I can’t make any promises.” If you think I’m going to let you dictate what I can and cannot wear, then you’re sadly mistaken. Her thoughts were defiant, but she knew that she was going to try her best to do what he’d told her, and that pissed her off more than anything.
“Okay, the next thing I want to discuss is that I need you to attend a business
function with me over the weekend. I know that you don’t usually work weekends, and I had originally intended to take somebody else, but she’s now unable to go with me.” Not strictly true, but I don’t think she’d be impressed to learn that I cancelled my plans with Hannah so that I could ask her instead, he thought wickedly. Alexa was eager to hear more, as her quirked eyebrow indicated. “It’s a high-class event that will mean us being out of town for three days. You’ll obviously be paid for doing it and there will be a nice bonus in with your wages also.”
He had been fully expecting her to jump on board as soon as she heard that there was going to be extra money in it for her, but she surprised him. “I’d like to know a little more about it before I agree, if that’s okay, Mr. James.”
“It’s a charity event that will benefit numerous organizations as well as individuals. As I said, it’s a high-class gala and there will be quite a few celebrities and high-powered people attending, so I can’t really go into too much detail because of how strictly a lot of the people going to it guard their privacy.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, extracting a card and sliding it across the top of the desk toward her. “You’ll need to buy a dress suitable for the occasion; a long evening dress or cocktail dress will do. You can also charge anything else you think you might need for the weekend to this company credit card. And please don’t be worried about how much things cost; the card has no credit limit.”
Alexa reached forward and picked the card up off the table. Was he being serious, or was this some kind of test, she wondered. “I’ll use it to buy a dress and accessories for the evening in question, but other than that I shouldn’t need to buy anything else that I don’t already have.” Using a card that belonged to someone else, even if it was a business card, and being told that she could spend however much she wanted both terrified and excited her.
“So that’s settled then. Take tomorrow off to go shopping, and I’ll pick you up on Friday evening around seven, if that suits you?” He wanted to get everything organized now before she could change her mind on him.
Alexa left his office in a daze, and it was at least another thirty minutes before she could get herself organized to get some actual work done. She couldn’t believe that she’d actually agreed
to go away with him for the weekend, and she hoped that it wasn’t some kind of ploy on his behalf.
Why the hell would he make something so elaborate up, Lexi? Quit being so cynical for once in your life and just go with it. She felt a little better after admonishing herself, but she couldn’t wait to get home and talk it all over with Laura that evening.
13
“YOU’RE GOING WHERE? With who?” Laura sounded as incredulous as Alexa felt.
“You heard me. I can’t quite believe it either. Do you think I’m doing the right thing, Lau?” She was still nervous and wondering if there was an ulterior motive behind Dawson’s request, but her best friend had no such qualms.
Laura’s eyebrows had risen up into her hairline, and she looked at Alexa with an open mouth. “Are you doing the right thing? Did you really just ask me that? Have I not been telling you for weeks that you need to jump this man’s bones?” They were obviously rhetorical questions and Laura poked her tongue out childishly in response. “This is a good thing, Lexi. Wait, scratch that. This is a great thing! You actually get to go away with the guy for three whole days, he’s given you his company credit card to buy everything you need, and he’s giving you a bonus in your wages on top of it all. You’d be absolutely crazy if you turned him down.”
Alexa couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s excitement. You’d swear that it was her going away for the weekend the way she was carrying on.
“Oh my God, Laura. What the hell am I supposed to buy to wear to a charity gala?”
“Panic not, my friend. I know just the place to go, and it so happens that I’m also off work tomorrow, so we can spend the day shopping together on your boss’ dime.”
“I’m not going to go crazy with it, so don’t go getting too excited. I know he said to make sure that I buy something suitable, but that doesn’t mean that I have to spend an absolute fortune.” Alexa was starting to get excited herself, but there was no way she was going to go overboard with someone else’s money. That would go against the grain as far as she was concerned, and it didn’t matter whether Dawson could afford it or not.
The two girls were in the heart of the city’s shopping area early the following morning, which, considering the fact that Laura usually stayed in bed until lunch time on her day off, was a miracle in itself. The first place that Alexa was dragged into was a boutique to a richer clientele than she was, considering the fact that there wasn’t a price tag in sight, which in itself made her cringe. After spending at least an hour trying on dress after dress, she finally put her foot down and told Laura that they needed to find somewhere else.
“I just don’t feel comfortable in here.”
Laura gave an exaggerated sigh of frustration, but she gave in to Alexa’s request, and they left the store empty-handed. The second place they went into felt a lot less exclusive, and Alexa immediately felt much happier.
“I’m looking for something to wear to a charity event. It doesn’t necessarily have to be something exclusive, but it does need to be a gown that will keep my boss happy.”
The middle aged lady serving her smiled at her reassuringly. “First things first. Is your boss male or female?”
“Male. Why?” The question really confused Alexa.
“Because a female boss wouldn’t want to be upstaged by an employee wearing something better than she is, whereas a male boss wants the employee to look as hot as possible at these type of functions so that he is the envy of every other male there.” The lady gave Alexa a conspiratorial wink that had her and Laura laughing out loud. “Women can be such bitches, and men are fickle creatures. We just need to know how to play the game, and that’s where I come in.”
She proceeded to bring out a few dresses and pointed out a few more that were strategically placed on mannequins around the store. “Why don’t you take these through to the dressing room and try them on while your friend and I take a look around for a few other options.”
Alexa took the dresses and walked to the dressing room where another assistant waited to help her change. The first two were totally unsuitable, with one being way too short and the other way too tight. “I wouldn’t mind something that was a mixture between the two, if that was possible?”
The assistant smiled and stepped back through the door into the main area, returning a short time later with another couple of possibilities for her to try on.
The same thing happened a few more times, and each time Alexa found something wrong with the dress. Until she tried another one on and turned to look at herself in the full-length mirror. She hardly recognized the person looking back at her, and her hands smoothed the material down over her hips in awe.
“Would it be okay for my friend to come back here and take a look?”
Her friend was with her in the blink of an eye, almost as though she’d been waiting impatiently outside the door.
“Oh my fucking God, Lexi. That looks absolutely beautiful on you.”
“If you don’t mind me saying so, I believe that it’s you who makes the dress look beautiful.” The lady who had first greeted them when they walked into the store had followed Laura through to the dressing room, and her words made Alexa blush shyly.
She wasn’t quite sure what to say in response. “So you both think that this one will do?”
There was a united chorus of agreement and the decision was made. Alexa gasped at how much the dress cost, but she knew that it was a lot cheaper than any of the ones they’d seen in the previous store, so that made her feel a little better as she walked out of the place with her gown carefully wrapped in tissue paper and a gift box.
“Holy shit, Laura. I’ve only ever walked out of a store with a plastic bag be
fore. I’ve never had anything wrapped up and put in a box.”
Laura burst out laughing. “That makes two of us, girlfriend. And we are not done yet. You still need to buy shoes and a bag to match.”
Alexa let out a groan. “Can we stop and get something to eat first? I never knew that shopping was such hungry work.” She was shocked to realize that it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon. They’d already been shopping for hours and they’d only been to two places so far.
They found a small café and had a bite to eat before their shopping spree continued. Thankfully, they managed to find a pair of shoes and a matching purse in the next store they stopped at, and Alexa breathed a sigh of relief. “Can we go home now?”
“Are you crazy? We still have to find you some new makeup as well as some sexy lingerie to wear underneath that stunning dress.”
“I already have makeup, Laura, but I do agree that I need some new underwear. I don’t think I have anything that would work under that dress because of the style of it. There’s no way I’m charging that to the business credit card though. That would just be wrong as far as I’m concerned.”
Laura laughed at her words. “You can be such a prude sometimes.”
It took them almost another two hours before they were finally done and on their way home, and Alexa was loaded down with bags and boxes. She couldn’t believe how much money she’d spent, even though she’d really tried to be as thrifty as possible. She hung everything up to let any creases fall out before she and Laura had a light dinner, followed by an early night to bed.
She carried Dawson’s coffee to him the following morning and placed his credit card on top of his desk along with all of the receipts she made sure to save. He looked at them in surprise before saying anything to her.