My Boss, My Bad Boy

Chapter 3 - Promotion

Isabella´s POV

I really liked Andrea very much. She was a huge help and really knew everyone here, which often gave me one or the other advantage. But her limitless urge to interfere in my non-existent love life was sometimes difficult to bear.

“I would prefer it if we could concentrate on our work now, Andrea. I need this job and, as you know, there are enough eyes on me just waiting for me to make a mistake."

Andrea was rolling her eyes. “You need to relax a little more or you will get grey hair.” We both chuckled at her statement. I sat at my desk and opened my emails to see if there was any response to the meeting. I sighed, nothing.

“Nothing yet?” Andrea asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

Andrea gave me a compassionate look, ala it will be fine. “Give it some time.”

When it was noon, I was on my way to get something to eat when suddenly my cell phone rang. Mr. Taylor. Oh dear. Shivering, I picked it up.

"Isabella, please come to the meeting room, immediately!" Mr. Taylor's voice was strained.

I walked into the meeting room, with my legs trembling, sure I screwed it up. Mr. Taylor was standing by the window with his back turned to me, looking out over the city.

"Close the door."

Oh no, now comes the part I was most scared of. I knew I wasn’t ready to do it. But still they told me to and now I have to face the consequences. That is not fair. But since when was life fair?

"Miss Hunt, I really hate doing this because I know you haven't been here for long ..."

“Please, Mr. Taylor,” I interrupted him. “Since I´m here, I have always worked hard, worked overtime when you asked me to, and never failed you in anything. I didn't know I should do the presentation.”, I followed quietly but firmly, completely in the defensive mechanism, ready to beg for my job if necessary. I didn't want to go down without a fight.

He spun around, his forehead wrinkled, and stared at me.

"What the hell are you talking about?" There was confusion and anger in his voice.

“Em…” Nervously, I looked around in confusion, when Mr. Taylor carried on:

"Mr. Crawford wants me to finish another high-priority project. I will constantly work on it and also have to travel to ensure that it will be completed on time. You have done a very good job so far, Isabella. Your presentation today was excellent, even though it was on the schedule at short notice. So, I have come to an agreement with Mr. Crawford, that from now on, you will lead and finalize this project. You can put together a team of employees as you see fit, or you can keep things going as they are."

My jaw dropped down to the floor. Excellent? Do they really like my presentation? My heart jumped a beat and a huge wave of relief rushed through my entire body. And will I lead this project? Oh my god! I thought I'd be fired, but instead I´m getting promoted here and now. My eyes widened in awe and then I froze. Could I do that? Would I be able to? What if I screw up? Will I lose my job then?

“What do you think of that, Miss Hunt?” I heard a familiar voice in the background. Immediately I turned around, only to face Mr. Crawford, who was sitting on a chair next to the door. What is he doing here? Well, I guess as the boss he can be wherever he wants to. His presence let my stomach drop.

“I can understand if you refuse.”, Mr. Taylor carried on. “It is a lot of work. But I hope you say yes. I can´t think of anyone else here to whom I would entrust the management of the project. Nobody else has dealt with it as much as you have.”

Now my gaze was wandering between both of them. They were looking at me expectantly as to what my decision would be. Could I refuse?

"I, I ... um ..." I just stuttered. "Thanks?" Escaped me more as a question than an answer.

"Great! Then that would be clarified.”, Mr. Crawford got up from his chair. “Mr. Taylor will talk you through the details. Miss Hunt?”, I looked at him and he kept his gaze straight into my eyes,

“It was a pleasure to see you again,”, he said softly, with a gentle smile on his lips. Then, he extended his hand towards me to shake mine. When I laid my hand on his, I felt a tickling sensation, like electricity hitting me. Shocked, I looked at him. I don’t know if he could feel it too, but he also looked at me for a moment, nodded and left the room.

Mr. Taylor clapped his hands in front of his chest.

“So, let´s talk you through everything then. Please take a seat.”, he pointed towards the chair opposite his and I sat down.

“Of course, you will get a pay raise for the duration of this project. The formalities will be completed by the HR department and you will then be presented with a supplement to your previous contract for signature.”, Mr. Taylor babbled along.

I couldn’t really focus on what he was saying. I was so overwhelmed by what had just happened in the last few minutes.

“Don't worry, Isabella,” he tore me out of my thoughts. “I'm not going to leave you all alone with the project. Mr. Crawford will be here next week to assist you with any questions. You will present your work results to him and discuss them with him. And if you have any questions, just get in touch with Mr. Crawford directly. "

Now all the color has drained from my face. Should I work with the CEO personally? Oh dear ... I can hardly get a word out now. This will be my downfall. Straight away, I had to think about our first encounter and I could feel my face heating up.

“Ehm, Mr. Taylor, I am not sure if I am qualified or experienced enough to work directly with Mr. Crawford.”

“You will be just fine. Mr. Crawford knows your educational background and that you are new to this company. It will not be of any disadvantage to you. See it more as a once in a lifetime chance to gain a lot of experience. Not everyone your age gets the opportunity to work directly with the CEO. It will also look good on your resume and be beneficial for your career. Especially if you do a good job. If you have no further questions, Isabella, you can go. I don't want to keep you from your lunch break any longer. Andrea will take over your previous tasks for me in the future, so you can fully concentrate on the project.”

With a quick nod, I turned and left, still in shock. When I returned to my desk, Andrea immediately jumped up when she saw my chalky face. She ran up to me and asked:

“Isabella, what happened? Are you fired? Why do I have to take over your tasks from now on? HELLO? Isabella?”

She shook my arms to wake me up from my shock:

"ISABELLA !!!!"

“I'm supposed to lead the project”. I couldn't manage to say more than a whisper, but Andrea could hear me.

"WHAT?" She almost yelled at me.

"That's great! Congratulations!", she shouted out, more euphorically and pulled me into a tight hug.

“I told you you would rock this. Why do you look like you got fired then? You should be happy!”

“I don’t know. I am still in shock, I guess. I will also work with Mr. Crawford from next week on. How am I going to do this, Andrea? After I ran into him?” I buried my face in my hands.

“Don´t be silly, I bet he has already forgotten about that. You know as soon as the women in the office get to know about it, they will either want to kill you or to become your best friends to get to the boss.”

“Perfect.” I sighed and threw my hands over my head.

“Don’t listen to them. WE are going to celebrate this. Tonight and no arguing!” She held up her hand in affirmation. I knew resistance was futile. I just nodded.

"Great!" She jumped up and down with joy.

I haven’t been out in Boston yet. Never before at all. That is, if you don't count take away pick-up. Since I had this job, my life has changed rapidly. So why not try something new? What bad should happen? I spent the rest of the day finishing paperwork for Mr. Taylor and updating Andrea on everything with mixed feelings about what´s to come in the next few days and weeks.