4
1347 Words
Chapter 4
Alyssa fidgets with the straps of her bag as we walk into the client’s building.
“Executive summary,” I bark out. Alyssa freezes for a second and then nods, her expression hardening as though she’s getting her game face on.
“Star Enterprises. A fast-growing media company that’s looking to hire us to streamline their finance department. Based on my assessment it just seems like they aren’t equipped to deal with how fast they’re growing.”
I nod at her, pleased with her progress. It’s been almost eight months of us working together and she never ceases to amaze me. She keeps up, no matter what her father or I throw at her, and she excels while she’s at it. I definitely wasn’t anywhere near that professional when I was her age.
We walk into the meeting room and I place my hand on Alyssa’s lower back. “You do the presentation,” I murmur.
She looks up at me with wide panicked eyes and shakes her head. I smile at her and nod. “Yes,” I whisper, just as she whispers, “no.”
This is exactly how Charles pushed me into my first client presentation. Alyssa and I both know that she knows the material better than I do — she made the presentation. She’s as ready as she’ll ever be, but she can’t be given a chance to overthink things.
I sit down and leave her to it, and I’m not even remotely surprised when she completes the presentation successfully. The only giveaway of her nerves are her slightly trembling hands, but I doubt anyone but me noticed that.
My eyes roam over the meeting participants and linger on one of them. A guy in his early twenties that’s looking at Alyssa with far more than professional interest. I grit my teeth and look down. I’ve never been in a situation like this before — how am I supposed to protect her from sleaze bags like that?
He walks up to her as soon as she’s done, no doubt with a list of bullshit questions. I approach her with her coat in my hands and take the folder with files from her.
The guy that was obviously chatting her up freezes and looks at me warily. I hold my hand out for him and he shakes it. “Daniel Devereaux,” I say, shaking his hand just a bit tighter than necessary.
“Grayson Smith,” he murmurs, his confidence shot. He flexes his hand just slightly once I let go of him and grabs the business card I’m holding up for him.
“You’re welcome to email me directly with any questions you might have about the presentation just now. Alyssa here is merely one of our interns, she won’t be able to assist you.”
His eyes roam over Alyssa’s body with regret and I clench my jaw in annoyance. What a d**k.
Alyssa is quiet as we walk back to the car and the way she folds her arms over each other tells me she’s mad.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her, my voice soft. She turns to glare at me and I bite down on my lip. Alyssa doesn’t get mad at me very often and I hate it when she does. It makes me want to instantly do whatever it takes to placate her.
“It’s nothing,” she snaps, before looking out the window. I sigh and drive to the office in silence.
“It’s obviously not nothing. You’re mad.”
Alyssa grits her teeth and continues to ignore me. I inhale deeply and sigh, my own annoyance rising.
“Lyss, if you don’t tell me what’s wrong then I can’t make it right. Why are you so mad? If you’re going to be mad at me, at least tell me why.”
She glares at me heatedly and then looks down. “You said I was merely an intern. I shouldn’t even be mad because it’s true, but I work so hard, Daniel. I can’t believe you still see me as just an intern.”
I exhale in relief. That’s what she’s mad about? The edges of my lips turn up into the smallest smile and I look away.
“Alyssa, I let you take lead on a client presentation and had full faith that you’d do well. How could you possibly think I see you as yet another intern?”
She looks away petulantly and I grin to myself. She’s so cute when she actually acts her age.
“You did great, Alyssa. I only asked Grayson to email me with his questions because he was obviously just flirting with you.”
She looks at me with wide eyes and I chuckle as I park the car. The two of us stay seated as I turn off the engine of my precious Aston Martin.
“He wasn’t,” she says.
“Was too,” I retort.
“Was not.”
We both burst out laughing and the way her eyes light up in amusement does funny things to my heart.
“Was he really?” she asks, seemingly fascinated. My heart drops. Surely she wasn’t actually interested in Grayson? The idea of her with him doesn’t sit well with me at all.
“Yeah,” I murmur. “We have a policy against improper client relationships though,” I say. I have no idea if we actually have a hard policy against that, but suddenly that seems like something that definitely needs to be implemented.
Alyssa rolls her eyes. “He’s so old, I’d never go there. I was just surprised that someone might actually be into me.”
I frown at her words. Grayson isn’t exactly old. He might very well be younger than I am, but I guess to Alyssa I’m old as f**k. Twenty-eight probably seems ancient when you’re only eighteen.
“What do you mean you’re surprised? Surely guys hit on you all the time?”
Alyssa looks away, a sad and insecure expression on her face. What could’ve possibly put that look in her eyes? She’s one of the most beautiful women I know, how could she not see that?
I clear my throat awkwardly. Part of me wants to tell her that I find her beautiful beyond compare, but as her boss I could never say something like that. Even outside of work it wouldn’t feel appropriate. The last thing I want is to make her even remotely uncomfortable around me.
“Anyway, I’m really proud of you, Alyssa. You’ve done so well and you’ve learned so much in such a short amount of time. Your dad told me you’re doing really well at uni too. I couldn’t be more proud. Let’s celebrate, okay? How about we go watch The Nutcracker?”
She looks at me in amazement. “The ballet?” she whispers, as though she’s scared to say it out loud lest I change my mind. I grin at her and nod.
“Oh my god, yes!” she squeals, and I chuckle.
“Okay, let’s go this Saturday.”
Alyssa’s expression drops slightly and she shakes her head. “I can’t,” she says, her voice tinged with regret. “Dominic and I have plans.”
The way she smiles when she says my little brother’s name makes me uncomfortable and I tug on my tie, suddenly irritated.
“No problem,” I tell her. “We can go anytime, to be fair. No rush.”
Why am I so disappointed? I don’t even like the ballet. The only reason I offered to take her is because I know just how much she loves it. She’s been trying to get her dad and Dominic to accompany her, but both have been refusing.
“Okay, let’s do next week,” she tells me, her eyes sparkling with excitement. I nod at her, suddenly really excited too. Who would’ve known I’d one day be excited to go to the f*****g ballet, of all things.
- Writer
