Doubly Impressed

Alijah awoke to the chiming of her alarm clock. She quickly turned it off before turning on the lamp next to the bed. Getting up, she stretched and padded across the soft carpet to her walk-in closet. Turning the light on, she looked through her work attire before settling on a black pencil skirt, peach blouse, and peach pumps. She lay the outfit on the bed before going into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.

After taking care of her hygiene routine, she headed out of the bathroom and the bedroom into the hall. Making her way towards the living room, she continued until she came upon the kitchen. It took her a moment, but she finally found the light and turned it on.

Going through the refrigerator, she discovered there wasn't much in it. She did, however, find some eggs and cheese, along with a green pepper and tomato. There was no meat to go into it, but she figured a veggie omelet would be just as good. She went about making breakfast while making a mental note to tell Mr. Cayman that they needed, or rather she needed, to go grocery shopping, especially if he expected her to cook.

Alijah plated the omelets and placed them in the microwave to keep warm while she started on coffee. He looked like the coffee type, which was verified in her list of job duties, while she preferred tea. However, after searching the luxurious kitchen, she didn't find any. The coffee had just finished when she heard footsteps.

Turning towards the entryway, she saw him standing, watching her.

"Good morning,” she stated, sitting the coffee on the bar before retrieving the omelets.

She placed one by the cup of coffee and gestured for him to have a seat while she put the other in the spot two down from it. She poured herself a cup of milk and got two forks before taking a seat. Closing her eyes briefly, she blessed her food before digging in.

They ate in silence, but Alijah hadn't expected him to make small talk. She preferred it that way. The less she had to talk to him, the less she dealt with his coldness. It sounded like a good plan to her.

Once she finished her food, she stood and took her plate over to the sink and rinsed it off along with her cup before putting it in the dishwasher. She then exited the kitchen and made her way into her new bedroom. She picked up her phone and glanced at the clock seeing that it was almost six o'clock.

Alijah made her way into the bathroom, brushing her teeth again before going back into the bedroom and getting dressed. Once done, she decided to leave her hair in its mass of curls. She put a bit of mousse in it before spraying it with a bit of water. It didn't take long for her curls to set back. She finger-combed them before doing her makeup, which only consisted of eyeliner, mascara, and light lipstick.

After slipping on her shoes, Alijah checked herself in the full-length mirror inside the closet door. She nodded in approval before grabbing the tablet and phone she had been given along with her personal phone. Placing them into her black Coach purse, which she'd gotten from Lawrence for graduation, she turned off her bedroom light before heading into the living room.

She saw Mr. Cayman sitting on one of the black couches, talking on his phone. She looked up at the clock on the mantel above the marble fireplace. Who could he possibly be talking to at six-thirty in the morning? When he saw her, he told whoever was on the phone that he would call them back and stood to his feet.

Bypassing her, he headed out of the door, and she followed. The entire elevator and car ride were silent, and again Alijah couldn't say that she minded. She would hold off speaking to him as long as possible. It was just something about the man that irked her so. She was sure it was his cold demeanor, and she almost wanted to assure him that it was alright not to be an asshole some time in his life.

They pulled up to the office five minutes before seven. Mr. Cayman led the way into the building and past security while Alijah followed him to the elevator. They stepped on, and the ride to the top floor of the building was one filled with silence, making the journey seem longer than it was.

When they made it to the top floor, Alijah allowed him to lead the way. He stopped at a glass top desk that housed a flat-screen monitor, wireless keyboard, wireless mouse on a sky-blue mouse pad, a lamp with a white shade, and a circular silver base. A comfortable-looking white chair accompanied the desk.

Alijah thought that the area was beautiful. The desk was pretty dull, but that was just fine with her. She would have plenty of time to fix it up with a few small paintings and drawings.

"This is your desk. Everything on your tablet is on your computer as well. I trust you read over your work duties and the schedule I provided you last night,” he stated, his hazel eyes piercing her.

"I did," Alijah responded.

Mr. Cayman nodded curtly before walking off towards his office. Taking a deep breath, Alijah pulled her tablet out of her purse along with the phone he'd given her. She sat both items on the desk before placing her bag in one of the two drawers housed by the desk.

Once that was finished, she set about finding the break room. She'd read over her duties the night before and knew that as soon as the workday started, he liked a cup of coffee, black — no sugar or cream.

She found the breakroom and wasn't surprised when she saw how big it was. She hadn't expected anything different. The countertops were dark marble, and the stainless-steel refrigerator in the corner was spotless. There were two tables with marble that each housed four chairs. She was, however, shocked that there was a stove housed in the room.

After looking around for a few minutes, she found the individual cups for the coffee maker and put in a dark roast. She waited for it to fill the cup before grabbing it and returning to her desk. She picked up her tablet and phone before making her way to his office door. She knocked and waited for him to call her in before entering, closing the door behind her.

She knew as soon as she had given him his coffee, he would want to go over his schedule. The man had been meticulous in outlining her duties and when she was to do them. Alijah also knew this because of her experience as a secretary.

On the ride to the office in the silence, she'd decided to go through all of the things on the tablet and rearrange the applications to her liking; that way, she would know exactly where everything was.

She took a seat in one of the chairs across from his desk and sat his coffee down on the coaster to the side of him. She then pulled up the schedule for the day and began to run through it with him. He was quiet until she finished.

Once she did, he immediately began giving her meetings to reschedule for later in the day and appointments to schedule for the future, as well as calling a meeting for the department heads for the afternoon. He then told her she needed to set up the meeting room.

Alijah remained completely quiet as he spoke. She'd brought up the dragonfly app on her tablet and allowed it to pick up everything he was saying. She'd used the same thing on her other job and loved it. When he was finished, he turned his attention to his computer, and she took that as her dismissal.

Standing to her feet, she turned and exited the office, heading back to her new desk. It was a quarter past seven. Looking around at the other offices, she noticed they were empty. When she'd come for her interview, a couple had been occupied. She figured the other people who worked on the floor wouldn't be in until about eight, or they only worked on the floor on occasion. So, Alijah decided she would find the meeting room before emailing him the changes to the schedule.

Kieran sat at his desk, replying to emails and wondering how competent his new assistant was. She hadn't taken a single note when he told her of his changes and what he needed her to do that day. It was going on eight, and she had yet to email him the changes to his schedule. Granted, his first appointment wasn't until nine; she had time, but that wasn't the point.

He was tempted to buzz her and see what was taking so long. That and he wanted to know if she'd found the headset he'd left in the top drawer of her desk. He was sure he should have told her it was there, but he wanted to know how observant she was.

Kieran returned to the emails that needed his response and continued to reply to them. He'd just finished the last one when he got another email. Checking the time, he saw that it was almost eight-forty. He opened the email to see that it was his schedule for the day with all of the changes he'd asked to be made. He continued to scroll and noticed that she'd also made most of the appointments he'd asked her to take care of. Kieran was a bit stunned until his phone buzzed.

"Mr. Cayman." Her silky voice came over the intercom on his phone. "I've spoken to both Mr. Richards and Mr. Waggoner about a meeting. Mr. Richards would like to know if you can conference call for the initial meeting since he's in Rome for the next two weeks but wants to meet as soon as possible about a merger. Mr. Waggoner wants to meet on Friday this week instead of next Monday since he's leaving the country Sunday."

Kieran was quiet for a moment. He had to admit that he was impressed, even if only to himself. He had asked her to contact the two men because while he did need to meet with them, he also knew that they would give her a challenge. Another way he was judging her competence as his assistant.

"That will be fine, Ms. Douglas,” he stated after a moment.

"Alright, Sir." With that, she clicked off the line.

Shaking his head, Kieran began to go over the information he needed for his first meeting of the day once again. He knew the information inside and out, but you could never be too prepared. His computer chimed five minutes before nine, alerting him to another email. He opened it, noticing it was from Ms. Douglas. It consisted of times for the meetings she had mentioned before.

Moments later, she buzzed him again.

"Mr. Cayman, Mr. Russo is here for your nine o'clock."

"Escort him in."

Kieran's door was opened to reveal his assistant and Maxwell Russo a moment later. Ms. Douglas stood, holding the door open with her body, her tablet pressed to her chest, allowing Maxwell to walk in. Kieran stood as the older man came to a stop in front of him and extended his hand.

"Maxwell."

"Kieran." They both greeted simply.

He heard the door close and listened to the light tap of heels as they crossed the floor. He glanced over and saw his little assistant sitting on the couch on the other side of his office. Kieran said nothing, and he and Maxwell got down to business.

He noticed she sat on the couch, not saying a word the entire time. His meeting ended a quarter before ten. He watched as his assistant led Maxwell out of the office before coming back a few minutes later and taking a seat in front of him. He'd been interested in Maxwell's proposal and decided that going and touring the man's agricultural plant would be best before committing to doing business with him.

"I'd like to set up an appointment to tour his plant," Kieran told her.

"I suggest going on a Thursday. That's the only day that all parts of the plant are operating. Monday thru Wednesday, it's only two different departments each day, and they're closed Friday thru Sunday,” she informed him. Kieran eyed her for a moment.

"How do you know this?"

"I did some research while the two of you were talking."

Kieran nodded his head, impressed. "How soon can we go tour?"

He watched as she pulled up his schedule on her tablet, her green eyes looking over the screen. He found himself shifting from her eyes to her thick pouty lips. His eyes rested there for a moment before trailing down the delicate curve of her neck.

"Well, I can move your afternoon meetings this Thursday to the morning, as long as you don't mind them starting at eight and having meetings back to back. Including a lunch meeting, and we can go this Thursday,” she informed him, pulling his attention back to her gorgeous eyes.

"That's fine."

She nodded before rising to her feet. "I'll make the calls and necessary changes and get with you on lunch suggestions. Don't forget you have a meeting at ten-fifteen and then a meeting with the department heads at eleven. I set up the boardroom as well as hooked up the projector. I ran off presentations that I found on the tablet scheduled for today. I went through the contacts on my email and figured out the number of department heads. I'll email the list I came up with to you. If I missed anyone, please let me know."

With that, Kieran watched her walk out of the door. Again, impressed.