“We just concluded the contract signing, Alex,” Costas informed as Alex pulled up a chair and dropped into it. “They commence work on Monday.”
“Excellent!” Alex replied with a serious facade, blowing out a breath and squeezing the ball in his right hand. His gaze traveled down the table, briefly touching Stan, Gianna, Marco, and Dennis. When his eyes met mine, his eyebrows lifted as if recognizing an old acquaintance. Leaning across the table, he extended the hand he refused to offer Stan.
“You must be Carla Jameson,” he declared.
I blinked, glancing down the table at my colleagues. Their attention was riveted to Alex’s dangling hand. He wiggled his fingers, prompting me to reach out. When our fingers touched, a static electricity pop made both of us recoil.
“Whoa!” Alex grinned, sinking back in his chair.
Keeping my hands in my lap, I bit my tongue. Did he engineer that spark? Drag his feet to generate static electricity just to make me appear foolish?
Only a douchebag would do that.
“Shocking to meet you, Miss Jameson,” he quipped with a smirk.
I mustered a polite smile, considering the ten-million-dollar contract in Stan’s briefcase. “Yes, nice to meet you, Mr. Herron.”
“Am I?” he asked.
I blinked at him. “Am I what?”
“Mister Right?”
I stared at him, mouth open, at a loss for words.
Costas intervened abruptly, clapping his hands together. He rose from the table, placing a hand on Alex’s shoulder, the act akin to a parent trying to control a wayward child. Alex's gaze lingered on mine, a subtle smile implying a shared joke.
Costas turned his attention to Stan, adopting a serious demeanor. “I assume you’ll be flying to Tucson on Monday to meet with Levington’s accounting team?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Stan affirmed, standing. His gaze shifted between the two men. Costas faced him, while Alex's eyes remained on me. Stan gestured to his team. “The four of us will be in Tucson on Monday afternoon. The itinerary was already set in anticipation of signing the contract.”
“We’ll meet you there,” Alex said, finally averting his gaze from mine. Still smiling, it was starting to unnerve me and, oddly, turn me on.
Was this some Fifty Shades of Grey game?
Was it his odd form of foreplay?
Was I supposed to strip and lie on the table, pleading for him to take me?
Hmmm...
I put on a blank face, storing that thought for later contemplation.
“We’ll meet them there?” Costas queried, looking at Alex.
“We will,” Alex affirmed, now looking at Stan. “We have meetings scheduled with Levington’s executive team later in the week. We might as well get an early start.”
Exiting the chair, he nodded at Costas.
“Call Levington and tell them we’ll all be there on Monday instead of Wednesday.”
“What if they can’t meet on Monday?” Costas inquired, furrowing his brow and checking his watch. “It’s nearly five o’clock on Friday. That’s awfully short notice.”
“Then we’ll have to find something to occupy our time until Wednesday, won’t we?” Alex replied, casting another glance at me. All eyes turned my way, and I felt myself shrinking under their scrutiny.
“Okay, I’ll make the arrangements,” Costas stated, narrowing his eyes, shifting between Alex and me.
Shit.
I didn’t need telepathy to discern Costas’ thoughts.
Alex's adolescent behavior was jeopardizing my position on the team. I was the innocent bystander in this disaster, yet I’d likely be blamed for derailing the Alex train.
Alex Herron's notorious exploits were well-known, thanks to gossip sites. His reputation as the billionaire bad boy had disrupted billion-dollar deals, and now, his antics were threatening my spot on the team.
What a jerk!
If they thought I'd accept this passively, they were messing with the wrong girl. Setting my hands on the table, I intertwined my fingers, staring defiantly at them.
Steam seemed to rise from my ears. Just let them try to kick me off the team, I thought. Just let them try...
Alex held the ball in front of him, bouncing it in his palm. “In fact, there’s no need for you guys to fly out commercial. We’ll all take the corporate jet out together. It’ll be fun.”
Alex offered a quick smile to everyone, then handed the rubber ball to Costas and exited the room, leaving the rest of us baffled.
Carla
The ride back to our offices at Silverman & Stern was silent, mirroring the confusion felt by my teammates after Alex Herron's unexpected behavior.
The unspoken tension filled the car.
I could read their thoughts. They were likely pondering how swiftly Stan might remove me from the team, despite my lack of wrongdoing.
Gianna occupied the front passenger seat, Stan drove, and I sat in the back seat between Marco and Dennis. Marco stared out the window for the entire journey, while Dennis sat upright with open eyes, softly snoring.
Periodically, Stan would glance at me in the rear-view mirror. Our eyes met briefly before he shifted his gaze away.
Gianna sat in silence, teeth seemingly grinding.
I was certain that once we returned, Alex's conduct during the meeting would be the subject of conversation at Silverman, initiated by Gianna stirring the gossip mill. She'd relish the chance to see me ousted from the team, despite posing no threat to her. That was Gianna – she simply disliked other women. Her attitude bordered on being a male chauvinist; if it were up to her, she'd probably prefer being the only woman at Silverman, if not the only woman on the planet.
All I could do was shake my head and restrain my words. I anticipated facing Stan's judgment soon.
Alex Herron's smirking image flashed in my mind. The crackling static as our fingers touched lingered in my memory. He had won the Douchebag of the Century Award without a doubt. I had never encountered anyone so arrogant and self-assured.
Sure, he was a hot billionaire with a notable bulge in his pants, but did he need to involve me in his foolish game?
I was entirely innocent in all of this. It would be grossly unfair to expel me from the team due to Alex's antics.
As it turned out, Stan saw things differently. After parking the car in the underground garage and as the others headed towards the elevators, he asked me to stay back.
“What was that all about back there?” he questioned with an accusatory tone.
“I have no idea what that was, Stan,” I replied, exhaling with frustration. “Probably just another wealthy jerk messing with us. Isn't that how this works? We're management consultants. We get played by wealthy jerks and then charge them a thousand dollars an hour for it?”
“It was more than that,” Stan said, rubbing his chin as he scrutinized me with narrowed eyes. “You've never met him before, have you?”
“No, never.”
“Never had any contact with him at all?”
“None.”
I knew where this conversation was headed. I've never been one to hold back, and I was too skilled at my job to fear losing it. I spread my hands, offering him a candid response.
“Look, Stan, if you're thinking about removing me from this project because Alex Herron is a flirt, you can forget it. You need me on this team. Nobody knows the digital side of telecom like I do. I'm a consummate professional, and you know it.”
“I know you're a professional, Carla,” Stan sighed. “I’m just not so sure about Alex Herron.”
I didn't even bother going up to the office. I knew Gianna was probably already there, spinning her version of events – how I disrupted the meeting by flirting with Alex Herron.
Of course, her rendition would likely have me fawning over him with my cleavage on display.
By Monday, I'd be the talk of the office gossip mill.
I'd be labeled as the junior consultant who nearly sabotaged a ten-million-dollar deal because she couldn't resist flirting with the bad boy billionaire.
It would all be false, but it wouldn't matter.
The only silver lining was that it was past five on a Friday afternoon, and most Silverman employees would be heading home.
It was a small consolation.
I hailed a cab and made it home around six. Holding it together in the elevator up to my tenth-floor apartment, I rushed down the hall and unlocked my door.
The moment I stepped inside and locked the door behind me, I dropped to my knees and began to sob.