Home > The Favor(4)

The Favor(4)
Author: Suzanne Wright

I flashed him my receptionist smile as he neared me. “Afternoon, Dane.”

He flicked up his brows ever so slightly—his usual way of greeting me. Well, it was more than a lot of people got.

Grabbing some papers from my desk, I followed him into his sleek, spacious, masculine office. The glossy, cognac-brown wooden flooring perfectly matched the ergonomic desk, the full-wall shelves, and the coffee table in the seating area at the far side of the room. Two black leather sofas framed the table, and I could attest that both were delightfully comfortable.

Dane sometimes held one-on-one meetings in the seating area, but he mostly used conference rooms. I got the sense that he didn’t like having many people in his private sanctum. Not that anything in the room revealed much about him. There were no mementos, no knickknacks, no clutter. Even his kickass desk was surprisingly sparse. There was only his desktop computer, laptop, landline phone, nameplate, and a single coaster.

There were two things I envied about Dane’s office. One, the private bathroom. Two, the floor-to-ceiling windows that boasted an incredible, skyline view.

“Coffee?” I asked once he’d settled in his chair.

“No.”

In the beginning, I used to bristle at his curt manner. Now? I was used to it. I knew not to take his rudeness personally. Dane didn’t put much effort into sparing the feelings of anyone.

After relaying some important messages to him, I placed the papers on the desk in front of him. “You need to sign these.”

He only grunted.

I gave him a bright smile. “I like these little chats we have.”

He gave me one of those droll looks I’d become accustomed to over the years.

I headed to the door. Reaching it, I looked over my shoulder as I said ever so casually, “Oh, and Travis turned up to see you.”

Dane’s eyes narrowed as he studied me hard. “What did he do?”

I blinked. “Who says he did anything?”

“What did he do, Vienna?” Dane repeated. He very rarely raised that smooth, low-pitched, authoritative voice … as if never doubting that he had his conversationalist’s full attention. From what I’d observed, he was right not to have such doubts.

I really didn’t like tattling on people, but I figured Dane had a right to know that his brother might have been up to something. “Travis wanted to go into your office even though you weren’t here. I wouldn’t let him, so he kicked up a fuss. When it didn’t get him anywhere, he left. He also wants you to call him.”

“Define ‘fuss.’”

“He whined and yelled and growled and promised he’d have me fired.”

“Did he touch you?”

“No.” But he had threatened to. I decided not to mention that, though. It would only piss Dane off, and he was even more of a pain when he was in a mood.

“Hmm.” He made that sound far too often. It was infuriating, because it could mean everything or nothing.

Moving swiftly on … “Don’t forget you have a meeting in an hour. The agenda is on your desk, and I emailed you the materials that you’ll need to review for the meeting.”

His gaze on the laptop screen, he said, “You’ll attend it with me.” An order.

“That’s fine,” I said, nothing in my voice betraying that it was far from okay.

He went very still, and his eyes flew back to mine. “Is that going to be a problem?”

Seriously, the guy was a warlock or something. It was next to impossible to get anything past him. “Of course not,” I replied. “Are you sure you don’t want coffee?”

He didn’t answer. He just fixed me with that hunter stare. The only reason I didn’t squirm or avert my gaze was that I’d had plenty of practice at acting unaffected.

The cell phone he’d placed on his desk began to ring.

“I’m sure,” he finally replied, reaching for the chiming phone.

“Okay. Buzz me if you need anything.” With that, I left the office and returned to my desk. It was clean and tidy but, unlike his, far from sparse with a computer, printer, landline, stationery, and the fake cactus that my foster mother gave me. Melinda knew I’d accidentally kill a real plant.

I didn’t have time to dwell on the upcoming meeting—I had too much shit to do. As the founder and CEO of an incredibly successful analytical software company, Dane maintained a schedule that was never anything but hectic, and his workload was never anything but heavy. That meant my workload was just as heavy.

There was never a lull in the activity during the day. It started off at full throttle and remained that way until the business hours finally came to an end—and sometimes even longer than that. But I liked working in such a fast-paced environment. Each day was similar yet different.

Luckily, Dane wasn’t one of those bosses who asked his PA to do ridiculous shit like buy him condoms or cater to diva-like whims. In fact, he never sent me on any personal errands, as if preferring to keep his personal life separate. He was an intensely private guy, and I’d long ago given up trying to get to know him.

He rarely sent me out of the office on errands, though he did occasionally ask me to courier sensitive documents to other buildings. He also used me as a sounding board on occasion, which I liked. Mostly, though—in a nutshell—I handled his calendar, kept things running smoothly, and freed up as much of his time as possible by taking care of tasks that didn’t require his personal touch. I also made sure everyone else was in sync with his calendar of meetings, trips, and conferences.

The most trying part of my job was screening Dane’s emails, calls, mail, and visitors. Everyone “needed” to speak to him, and everything was a “priority.”

One of the things I most liked about being his PA was that I often accompanied him on business trips. They weren’t necessarily fun, since my time was rarely mine during those trips—I ran on pretty much the same schedule as him. Still, I got to travel on private jets, stay in luxury hotels, and attend exclusive events.

I was part way through an expense report for his last business trip when Dane came striding out of his office, and I realized that almost an hour had gone by. My stomach sank. All too soon, he and I were heading to one of the conference rooms for the meeting.

I was so annoyed with myself for caring that Owen would be there. I didn’t want it to matter. Didn’t want him to matter. He didn’t deserve to. Not that I was still hurting after what he’d done. But I didn’t like being reminded of that time; of how small he’d made me feel when he’d not only dumped me but dropped me from his life like I was a bag of crack.

Maybe it wouldn’t have hurt as much if we hadn’t been friends for so long. I didn’t trust easily, but I’d trusted Owen. I’d never thought he’d ever cut contact between us like that. And it stung that he’d so easily been able to do it.

As we reached the conference room, Dane stopped at the door and turned to me. “Is there something I should know?”

I blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“You’re uncomfortable. Why?”

Yep, he was a warlock. “I could tell you, but it involves talk of feminine products—”

“I don’t need to hear it.”

I almost snickered.

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