Page 2 of The Workaholic Down the Hall

I walked out of the building and onto the city sidewalk. It was warm, too warm for the over-sized sweater I'd thrown over my dress, and sunny, too cheery for my glum mood. Cold and raining would better suit my mood, but it was September in Atlanta and the weather was as uncooperative as Noah. I pulled the sweater over my head and carried it as I walked the two blocks back to the office building where I was now working. I should probably use what was left of my lunch break to eat something, but the thought of food made me nauseous.

Back at my own desk, I slumped into my seat and threw myself into my job as assistant to the CEO of the resort company, Owings Leisure. I'd worry about Noah when I was home and comfortable. Owings Leisure was a direct competitor to Noah's Reynolds Hotels and Resorts. My working for Noah's rival might be one more reason he was angry with me, but I had years of experience working in the resort industry and I hadn't wanted to leave Atlanta, so my choices had been limited.

I listened to Alex Owings' voice mails and forwarded the important ones to him, then I went through the emails that had arrived while I was out. I looked over his schedule for the rest of the week and made the necessary adjustments. He was a workaholic to the nth degree and rarely requested breaks between meetings or business dinners. I leaned back in my seat and checked the time. It was just after two and I had nothing pending. It had been a little slow around the office over the past couple of days and I'd gotten caught up on all my outstanding projects. I looked around my desk area and sighed. Images of Noah, his mask firmly in place and shutting me out, played through my mind and I felt the tears well. I needed something to do, something complex and time-consuming.

I picked up the phone and called around to the different departments to find out if anyone had something for me, but no one did. Like me, everyone was caught up and wondering what was coming next. We rarely had downtime at Owings Leisure and, when we did, it usually meant Alex was gearing up for another big project. As far as I could tell, the man was incapable of slowing down. He was a few years older than me, just past thirty, and he'd accomplished an amazing amount for someone his age. Unlike Noah, Alex's business wasn't a family business he'd inherited, it was one he'd built on his own.

“Aubrey,” Alex said over the intercom of my phone, just as I was considering cleaning out old files from the server for something to do. “Can I see you in my office for a moment?”

I crossed my fingers he had something big for me to work on and left my desk. Alex was a good boss, he was fair and honest, even if he was a bit oblivious to the fact that I had a personal life. Some people, okay most people, found Alex to be cold, insensitive, even ruthless, but I figured he had to be all those things to accomplish what he had and to be taken seriously, since he was young and he looked younger and he, sometimes, acted even younger. He was dedicated to his company, it was his dream, his whole world, and I could understand that. He was very good at what he did, he just lacked some of the social graces that might be nice to have in a boss and, well, he wasn't Noah.

Like Noah had been that morning, Alex was focused on his computer screen. Unlike Noah, Alex was alert and chipper, excited even, his eyes bright, his hair neatly trimmed, his jaw clean-shaven. My heart tugged with worry for Noah, at how stressed and miserable he'd looked, before I reminded myself he didn't want my worry or my time. He wanted nothing to do with me. “Alex,” I said. “What can I do for you?”

He looked up, and I almost laughed at the surprise on his face. He'd called me into his office and, in the two seconds it had taken me to get there, gotten so pulled into his work that he'd forgotten all about me. I envied his passion for his job and for his company.

“Aubrey,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

I knew he didn't really want me to answer that, but I'd discovered Alex Owings was easily grossed out and I'd been having some fun with him lately. “A bit gassy today. She's really moving around in there and kicking up some major unhappiness in my stomach.”

He swallowed hard, his skin going just the faintest shade of green and I bit back a laugh. It really was too much fun to see the uber-serious, hard-working, ruthless CEO go green at the mention of intestinal issues. “I'm, um,…Yes, well, I called you in here to thank you for sending me the schedule for tomorrow. I don't know how I'd survive without you.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared him down. Alex never complimented me unless he wanted something.

He stared right back. “I'd like you to call Regina and let her know I won't be able to see her for dinner tonight.” He cleared his throat. “Or for any dinner ever again.”

“No.” I bit back another laugh. Alex, as self-assured as he was in the workplace, was completely incapable of breaking up with the women he dated. I'd done it for him one time and I wasn't going to do it again. Okay, truth be told, I didn't break up with her the way he'd asked. I told her he was a chicken shit with commitment issues, and he was such a weenie he had to ask his assistant to dump his girlfriends. I was trying to suggest she was better off without him, she disagreed. She'd keyed his car. I thought that'd be the end of his asking me to dump women for him, but Regina must be a scary one.

He frowned and glanced at his computer like he was too busy to be bothered with my peccadilloes. “I have an important meeting tonight, and I can't make our dinner. Please let her know.”

“I call bullshit.” Yes, I was aware that was not the way an employee should talk to an employer, but I'd learned early on when to stand my ground with Alex, otherwise he'd have me taking his car to the car wash and picking up his dry cleaning. He might be an amazing CEO and a fair boss, but he'd clearly been a spoiled child and didn't understand boundaries unless he was slapped in the face with them.

He sighed. “Look, Aubrey, I tried, okay. I told her I didn't want to see her anymore and she…She got really mad. We're talking nuclear mad, Aubrey. She'd already planned our wedding and named our children. She's insane, and I'm too young and good-looking to die.”

Alex had only been seeing Regina for a little over a month, so I found his assessment of her mental state accurate. “Is Regina an MMA fighter or a body builder?”

He winced. He knew what was coming. “No.”

“Then I think you'll survive, tough guy. Go to dinner with her and end it, like an adult.”

“I should fire you.”

“Try it. I'll sue you six ways from Sunday for firing a pregnant woman.”

He grinned. “You'd probably win and take me for every penny I'm worth, and I'd be helpless to stop it, because I couldn't survive a day without you.”

“Still not calling Regina.”

He frowned. “I'll give you a raise. Five percent.”

“Not worth it.” It totally would be worth a five percent raise, but letting Alex cross a boundary even for a sweet raise would only lead to more trouble. I had no interest in getting involved in his personal life in any way ever again.

He sighed. “Fine. I'll dump her myself.” He ran a hand through his hair and stared at the phone on his desk like it might sprout tentacles and gouge out his eyes. “This is the price I pay for picking up women at a strip club.”

I didn't manage to hold back my gasp of shock. I didn't have any illusions that Alex was a choir boy, but I couldn't picture him hanging out at a strip club.

He rolled his eyes. “Not my idea. An old friend invited me out for drinks.” He shook his head. “We don't have much in common anymore.”

I didn't know a lot about Alex, but I knew he hadn't grown up in the nicest part of Atlanta and, as far as I could tell, he didn't have any friends, no one he could trust, no one he could call when he was looking for some fun. If I ever took an interest in Alex's personal life, which I had no intention of ever doing, I'd say he was lonely.

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