Page 17 of Stuck On Them

I gasped. “You’re giving me the gossip already?”

“You have to know what you’re walking into, my dear.” He led me past the reception desk and into a larger hallway. “This is the heart of the floor where you’ll be most of the time. To the left of the reception area is the entrance to the other half of the floor which houses the top-tier marketing teams.”

“How many marketing teams are there?” I felt a little guilty that I knew nothing about the company I was now employed by.

“Four if you count the owners themselves. The lower tiers have more employees, but with the recent growth, the mid and top tiers have been growing.” He stopped in front of an office with an open door. “Here’s your office. You have a direct view to the main conference room and two of the executive offices. They expect you to have your door open so they can get your attention if needed, but most of the time they text or email.”

I walked in and was surprised at how nice the furniture was. There was a fancy office chair, a desk with plenty of space, and a wall of cabinets and shelves. “Wow.”

“What are we talking about in here?” A woman popped her head into the office. “Please tell me you aren’t already scaring the new girl.”

Ethan put his hand over his chest. “I would never.”

“He was just about to tell me about Audrey.” I put my bag on my new desk and sat down in my chair. “I’m Paige.”

“Ophelia.” She looked down the hall, walked in, and shut the door. “The bosses have been on a warpath lately.”

Ethan sat on the edge of my desk, crossing his ankles. “The tension has been almost unbearable, but Audrey was late a few too many times and-” He made a slicing motion across his throat. “She wasn’t even that bad at her job.”

“And just yesterday they fired one of the project managers.” Ophelia shook her head in disapproval. “I just don’t get why they are such assholes lately.”

“Luca isn’t.” Ethan stood up and adjusted his tie. “It’s probably all the pressure they’re under with the new clients. Bigger names. Bigger demands. Bigger assholes.”

“Ethan. She’s been here like two minutes.”

“It’s better she has some warning.” He looked apologetic. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I smiled up at him. “Don’t worry about me. This should be like my average Tuesday.” They both raised their eyebrows. “At my previous job, I was executive assistant to the top partner of a law firm. He had his days.” I didn’t add that he was the father of my ex-fiancé.

“You’ll be just fine then. The legal department scares the bejeezus out of me when they come up here with their scowls and stacks of papers.” Ethan shuddered. “I’ve been doing a lot of things over the past week so if you need any help, just let me know. It sounds like Sue has full confidence in your abilities after your interview if she hired you on the spot and sent you right up to the wolves.”

“Sue is the best at what she does. I’m in the office right off the reception area. I edit and proofread anything and everything for anyone that needs it.” Ophelia opened the door and both of them walked out, leaving me to finally catch my breath.

It had all happened so fast, and my head was spinning. Speaking of which… I spun toward the window and was met with a tall building, but I could also see around it, giving me a spectacular view of the city.

“So much for a job with less stress.” I sighed and spun back around, looking down the hall where I had a direct view of the conference room my new bosses were in.

I opened the laptop sitting in the middle of the desk and logged in with the temporary password I was given. After changing my password to a permanent one, the laptop loaded, and I pulled up my new work email.

The normal executive assistant duties were on the list Sue had sent me like checking and responding to emails, maintaining their schedule, and keeping records. But it was the list of everything personal that had piled up over the last week that caught me off guard.

“Take Garrett’s plant to the doctor? What the…” I scrolled down the list. “Take Ryker’s sweater to PBS…”

My heart beat hard as I scrolled through, seeing Ryker’s name a few times. But it couldn’t be that Ryker, could it? He said he was here on a business trip just like I had. He’d had a hotel room—although I didn’t remember seeing any luggage.

There was no way.

You saw one of them outside.

I scrolled back up to the top where it mentioned coffee and I was pretty sure I was going to throw up all over my new desk and laptop. “One green tea, one black coffee light roast, one latte from Perky Squirrel when we’ll be in the office.”

It had to be just a coincidence the man I bumped into had three cups with a squirrel on them, right? A CEO wouldn’t have gone to get his own coffee, let alone two others.

I was freaking out over nothing. What had I done to warrant such karma?

Looking around the office, I found the printer and turned it on, grateful it was already connected to the laptop Bluetooth. I’d need to ask them about a few of the items on their to-do list because they were ridiculous. Picking up dry cleaning and arranging tickets to a movie I could understand, but who asks their assistant to line up miniature gnomes on their desk when they are out of the office?

I wasn’t an investigator by any means, but I did notice that all of the weird requests were for Ryker and Garrett.

---