Page 15 of Obsession

At least it didn’t look hard.

Jack closed the top drawer and opened the lower. “This is your stash drawer.” A glass cooler filled the space. I lifted the lid and gasped. It was ice cold. “Wow.”

“There’s six bottles in there now, and that cabinet has the rest of your case.”

I took one of the bottles of Pepsi Max out and set it on my desk. “Perfect. I have a week’s worth right there.”

Jack grinned. “When you need to refill, it will chill down in eight minutes.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Of course, you will.” He patted my shoulder. “I’m an IM away.”

“Thanks.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at lunch.”

I nodded and glanced at Mr. Carson’s office. This wasn’t exactly the way I thought my day was going to go.

“Oh, and before I forget, Blake put your contract in the folder marked ‘Grace’.”

“Thanks.”

Chapter Six

Iwas seriously going to hear that chime in my sleep. No, wait…my nightmare. I glanced up from the spreadsheet I was working on to the little red bubble sitting on my iMessenger icon. Blake Carson hadn’t come out of that damn box of an office all day.

But he sure as crap had been sending me orders via the messenger since I sat down that morning. I clicked on it.

Mr. Carson

Spreadsheet. Now.

No please, no thank you, not even an “is it ready?” Just barking orders through clipped sentences. Kind of like his voice. At least what I remembered of his voice. I hadn’t heard it since the day before.

I typed back that I needed five minutes. And, of course, there was no answer.

Just orders.

I toggled to the spreadsheet I’d been trying to work on for the last forty minutes. In between calls from three customers who’dbeen flagged in his almighty list of important clients. He had a list for everything.

And I do meaneverything. Times for reports due, times for calls to be made, spreadsheets for specialty invoices for these supposedly special clients. And each of them was different, so I had to learn every one of the layouts.

I recognized the names. The Governor of Boston, The Governor of New York, the freaking Secretary of Defense, and three celebrities who had been in the news lately. What the hell did this guy do for them? It couldn’t be just the pretty glass.

I took a swig from the soda on my desk and frowned when I hit the bottom. Again. I couldn’t worry about the level of caffeine running through my veins at the moment. I needed every last ounce.

I pitched the bottle into the tiny blue recycle bin under my desk, and it bounced out. I sighed and picked it up and put it on top of the seven others.

Oh, boy. Not good.

“How’s it going, Gracie?”

I looked up. “Jack. Hi.” I looked up at the corner of my screen. “Wow. It’s 2:30 already.”

“Yeah, I tried to tag you to come to the conference room with me and Vi, but you didn’t answer.”

I frowned. I vaguely remembered the reminder, but then I’d gotten another message from Mr. Carson and had promptly forgotten about it. “Sorry.”

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