F O U R
EMELIE STANDIFER WAS IN BALDWIN INDUSTRIES THE VERY NEXT DAY.
I should've seen it coming from a mile away, but I didn't and the fact that she came so fast gave me whiplash, spots dancing before my eyes at the sight of her strolling in with her large handbag over her shoulder.
She was just as beautiful as Elijah described her, not to mention leggy, and seeing her pass my desk in such a skimpy dress - I could see her underwear - made me almost jealous. I was checking my lipgloss in the tiny mirror I brought from home when I heard her loud heels clinking back and increasing in volume as they came closer to me. I was completely sure she would pass me by, but the sound of her shoes stopped behind me and I was forced to turn around and see what she wanted.
"Hi, is there anything I can do for you," I asked, hoping my grin was fake enough for her. "Do you want anything to drink? We have coffee, tea, water, wine -"
"No, would you happen to know if Ashton is here," she asked as she walked around my desk so she was no longer behind me and I was no longer craning my next to look at her. "I think you're his assistant, right?"
There was the word no in just as many languages as the word yes, so it was hard for me to deduce how I would properly answer her question, but thankfully I didn't have to. The closed door to Ashton's office opened up, not revealing him to be there, but the lady who cleaned it from time to time. I, of course, knew that he did show up at work today, but he happened to be out of the building. He was meeting with a potential investor and he only stopped by to thank me for writing his letter and to give the cleaning lady instructions before heading out wig the coffee I grabbed him.
"Well," she said with a devilish glint in her eyes. "Can I borrow a piece of paper so I can write him a note?"
"Do you want me to make an appointment instead," I asked but she was already taking a pen from the cup of them on my desk and one of the pink sticky notes from the top of the stack before I even finished my question. I had encountered her for only three minutes and she was already beginning to annoy me, not only because of her relationship with Ashton, but how persistent and invasive she was being. Like Ashton except she wasn't paying my salary.
"Done," she said when she finished writing the note and folding the corners together so she could hand it to me. "Can you just make sure Ash gets this when he gets back for me?"
And that was that. She left without another word.
-
"GUESS WHO MADE THE BEST DEAL OF HIS LIFE."
Those were the words that came from Ashton's mouth as he passed by my desk, a bag from the Chinese restaurant a block away in his hands. It smelled like heaven and whatever was heaven for non-believers, so when he didn't stop to share with me, I was rather disappointed.
"The president," I answered sarcastically although there was noticeable excitement in my voice because politics was my one true love, "you should've seen it on the news today. He solved our missile crisis for good."
"You haven't been using your computer to check up on the news today, Ms. White," he asked in an accusatory tone that made me shut up. "Now, who made the best deal of his life again?"
"Ashton Baldwin," I said defeatedly, slumping down in my desk chair.
I was going to either confess or lather on the praise, but he handed me a container of orange chicken and some chopsticks. "Good girl, now eat up, because I have some important business to do - you should know because you're supposed to organize my schedule."
The way he said it made me realize that I hadn't even done that just yet, his schedule still needed to be finished. "Sorry," I said and went straight to it on the laptop. "It won't happen again, Mr. Baldwin."
But when he planted his palm onto the desk so he could get behind me and lean over me, using his other hand to point at different events of the day he needed me to arrange, his body so close to me that I could feel it, maybe it could happen. I felt a blush rise to my cheeks when he leaned into my ear and whispered, "now just submit that into the system and I should be able to view it on my tablet. Thank you, Ms. White."
I nodded, waiting until he was gone before I could release the breath I realized I had been holding.
-
BEING THE TALK OF THE OFFICE WAS SCARY.
But it happened inevitably, one second caught by all of the coworkers on my floor where Ashton Baldwin's lip was dangerously close to my ear and the reactions were as if we were Brad and Angelina. One second I had Ashton all over me, and now I had about ten people from the forty-fifth floor all crowding in front of my desk and asking me questions about him.
"How big is it?"
"Did you get to go on the yacht?"
"Are you two dating? Are you just a fling?"
"Do you think he'd mind if a guy slept with him?"
"Are you sure he really went to Wharton?"
The questions were endless and I swiftly got up from the table and apologized to all of them before walking in the opposite direction to the bathroom. By the lack of voices heard outside of the door, either they didn't follow me or they had stealth training on their resumes, but I wasn't even bothered enough to find out. Because I realized then how that was the reality of things, that if I ever were lucky enough to be with Ashton, I'd only become the office's next hot gossip topic. The scrutiny would be beyond all measures of scrutiny or morality, I'd just be an object to all of those people out there.
"So you're just going to sit there like that," a male voice asked, making me realize not only that I had my eyes covered, but I walked into the wrong bathroom. No wonder they didn't follow me inside, a large crowd of women wouldn't exactly be able to sneak into the men's bathroom, could they?
I pulled my hands away from my face to find a tall black man with a charming smile on his face standing before me. It was until I looked down that I noticed his hand was held out to me. "Hi and sorry for intruding," I said as I took it, allowing him to pull me up. "I'm Fiona and I'm new here - like two days in."
"Really," he said, shaking the hand he held before letting it go. "I'm Nolan Abernathy, the CFO here. You're Mr. Baldwin's new personal assistant, right? I've heard a lot about you."
Well that was never good to hear. I shuddered as he pushed open the bathroom door, his hand finding the small of my back to guide me out of there. "What kinds of things did you hear? About me, I mean."
"Well," he shrugged, "nothing bad of course, except you're related to a baseball player whose team I'm not rooting for this season. So let's just say there'll be some friendly competition going on here."
I had no idea if he was being serious or not so I just chuckled and went along with it. "I'm sure my cousin won't disappoint - or well, he'll disappoint you but not me. He never does."
"We'll see about that when - Mr. Baldwin," he interrupted himself. "I was just saving your personal assistant from the men's washroom that she just walked into."
I turned to the side where I saw that he was looking to find that sure enough, Ashton was making his way towards us, a tight-lipped smile on his face. "Good, because I need to speak to her in my office. Now."
I completely assumed he was bluffing so for Ashton Baldwin's fingers to ensnare my wrist before pulling me away from Nolan without even a glance back in his direction was enough to make my heart stop for a second. It was only a matter of seconds before he pulled me into the office and shut the door behind me, depositing me along one of the walls while he planted his hands on the same wall on either side of me so that there was nowhere I could run, his body too close for me to duck under his arms.
"What the hell did you do," he asked with a growl.
I gasped, realizing that he was jealous of Nolan and I coming out of the bathroom together. Maybe Ashton did really like me, I still had a chance. His body was way too close and I could feel the heat radiating off of him, almost like a heatwave that would sweep me away. He was a heartthrob in every sense of the word and I couldn't stop myself from going mad around him, turning into a blushing school girl whenever we made some type of contact. This moment was no exception, no matter how angry and jealous he was, he was so close I'd have a heart attack.
"I apologize, I wasn't trying -"
"To set me up with Emilie Standifer," he asked in a way like he knew the answer already. "Well she just left her fiancé like this morning, it's all over the news. If it gets out that it was for me, I'll be a dead man in the media."
"You were talking about thanking her for last night," I said in my defense. "What exactly did you mean by that?"
"I meant that she allowed us to rent her ballroom for a benefit we're having next month, she owns a hotel chain, which we talked about over dinner last night," he said, stepping away from the wall with a sigh. "And I know that she came while I was out today, Elijah told me. I also heard from her how I called her 'foxy momma' in the letter and 'sweet baby'. Those aren't even things I would call a woman."
"I'm sure this is not the worst thing," I offered, "you just have to tell her it was a misunderstanding. Or I'll do it, I need to rectify this situation for myself."
He shook his head and walked over to his desk. "Don't, you'll only make things worse. She's hot and has a great sense of humor so I wouldn't mind sleeping with her. I think just one night should be fine to secure the hotel and then we'll never have to see her again. How does that sound?"
In any situation, a good sense of humor and a great body weren't enough for sleeping with somebody, but it didn't slip my attention that he addressed this as our problem, that we would never have to see her again. What did that mean? For him? For us?
"Go out and buy me some condoms," he said, fishing through his wallet until he conjured up a twenty dollar bill, a smile on his face as he handed it to me. "The large ones of course, unless you assumed wrong and I would've had to fire you. If there's any money left, but yourself a soda or something, I don't know what you'd want. Also buy me a drink too in case I get thirsty later during...you know."
And with that, I was ushered out of his office.
-
THIS WAS COMPLICATED.
The only place I could think to go was the drugstore a block away because it was in walking distance and I was sure rich guys didn't have any qualms with drugstore condoms and soda. There did happen to be a lot of different large-sized condoms, and each second I spent perusing them made me feel embarrassed.
I was about to ask an associate which brand was the best - in my most flirtatious voice - bang for my buck, when I looked up and saw the last person I wanted to see. In fact, the were the last two people, because it was my ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend who he seemed to have moved on with rather quickly considering we were only on an official break for two days before they were suddenly announcing themselves all over social media.
Not wanting to seem like a stalker or attract their attention to myself, I ducked my head and walked over to a random man who stood by and asked him the question instead, talking with him until I could see that the cashier had rung up their items and they were walking out of the store.
Now that they were gone, I could collapse against the rack, a hearty sigh escaping me.
"Are you okay, miss," the man I was talking with asked in a frantic voice as if he thought I were near death. Unless maybe I looked the part. "Do you want me to call for help?"
I shook my head, not even looking at him nor at anything, just off into space, the colors blending all around me as if the room was changing. That problem would have to fix itself.