Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 29567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 148(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 148(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
“You’re very welcome.” He extends his hand, and I shake it. Every nerve in my body goes wild, and his fingers linger against mine far longer than necessary. Suddenly, I’m envisioning how his hands would feel elsewhere on my body, if they would have this same effect, and from the look in his eyes, I can sense that he’s thinking the same thing.
“Miss Locke?” he says, his hand still shaking mine.
“Yes?”
Silence.
After several more minutes, he finally lets go of my hand, leaving me bereft.
“Get the hell out of my office. Now.”
THE CEO
DOMINIC
Braxton
When I said ‘consider’ giving Miss Locke a promotion, I was thinking of making her a temp supervisor or a junior lead…Not our FUCKING EXECUTIVE MARKETING ADVISOR.
You should’ve been more specific.
She doesn’t even have an undergraduate degree. Every person we’ve ever hired at this level has had at least a master’s, Dominic…
Education isn’t everything.
Just admit you hired her because you’re attracted to her.
I hired her months ago without even knowing who she was.
Are you still upset about her eating your Uber order?
Furious. But I assure you that I put my emotions to the side for this decision.
She probably won’t last a week.
Make sure she has a good severance package and a VERY tight NDA.
Ten steps ahead of you.
Did you update the job description or keep it the same?
I added quite a few tweaks.
Legal ones?
Petty ones. :-)
Jesus…
THE INTERN
IVY
Getting to work at 5 a.m. is going to take some getting used to. On the plus side, New York’s streets are clear and uncluttered, and the streetlights wave me through with green yes-es, cutting my usual forty-minute commute to fifteen minutes.
On the negative side, I’m already three cups of coffee in, and my body is begging me to go back to sleep.
As I pull into the parking garage, I take advantage of my first perk of the new position: a designated parking spot.
Coasting into the “Executive Marketing Advisor” spot, I let out a breath.
No more getting drenched on the way to work. No more racing back and forth to feed greedy parking meters, and no more—
Tap! Tap! Tap!
A blonde is tapping on my window, motioning for me to roll it down.
It doesn’t work, so I gesture for her to step back so I can open the door.
“Am I in the wrong parking spot?” I ask.
“Not at all, Miss Locke,” she says. “But you are wearing the wrong thing, so for future notice, stick to neutral or jewel-tone colors. I’m sure Mr. Sutton will let it pass since it’s your first day in the department.”
“Um, okay. Who are—”
“Follow me, so I can walk you through your new job.” She cuts me off. “Less talking, more walking, and try not to ask too many questions.”
I sling my purse over my shoulder and follow her into the building.
“I’m Tracey, but everyone calls me Mr. Sutton’s right hand because everything goes through me. But you’re now his left hand, so we’ll work together.”
“I thought I was a marketing executive…”
“You are, but you have this additional work to do as well.” She thrusts a phone into my hand. “This is your work phone. It rings, you answer. Do not pass go. Do not wait.”
“It’s preloaded with all of Mr. Sutton’s contacts and preferences, and you have a week to learn them all.”
She leads me onto the elevator, still talking a mile a minute.
“I’m responsible for getting his morning coffee and lunch, but since we’ve reassigned our lead intern, you’re responsible for presenting it to him with the day’s updates.” She hands me a notebook. “This is his notebook. You will carry it around whenever you’re with him, and if he says things like, ‘Remind me to…’ or ‘I need to…’ you’ll write it down, and you’ll also record a note via the phone.”
Where the hell was this in the job description? I bite my tongue.
“Look alive, Miss Locke!” She snaps her fingers when we reach the designated floor. “We’ve got a lot to go over today, and you look like a deer in headlights.”
“I kind of am.”
“Well, let’s get you some coffee on our way to prepare Mr. Sutton’s, and hopefully you’ll snap out of it.”
I stand still on the elevator, tempted to ride it back down and ask for my former job back, but she grabs my elbow and tugs me off.
“Let’s go…”
Only two hours have passed since my tour, and I swear it feels like an eternity. It also feels like this man gave me a promotion out of pettiness and spite, so… after I cash my first few checks, I’m moving on to someplace else.
While Tracey juggles three different cell phones, someone hands me a lanyard with my new badge attached.
It’s a lot heavier and thicker than my old one, and it bears a second job title under the one on my contract:
Left Hand to Mr. Sutton.