Page 24 of If You Could Only Imagine
I wondered, as Maxine was looking up at my face, if she could see me actually losing my mind. She was telling me how a client was manipulating his account as an excuse to see Denise, with no idea what those words were doing to me. “Well, Maxine, Ms. Hart has been in her position a lot longer than I’ve been here, and I’m certain she wouldn’t have been promoted to her position if she wasn’t exemplary at her job, so you don’t need to worry.”
She brought her hand up to her throat. “Oh, thank goodness!”
“Now, I really am late for a mee-”
Her eyes rounded. “No, oh God, of course.”
I turned and left her standing in the hallway.
I had to.
I was about to lose my shit.
Chapter 13
Denise~
I knew it was coming, but it still sucked.
I knew it was coming, and I knew at what time, and I knew what would take place.
Earlier in the day, Raymond Sampson had called and insisted on an emergency meeting to discuss the discrepancies with his account. And, even before he said anything, I knew he would want to schedule the meeting for the end of the day so he could casually invite me out for a drink after work. It was his patterned MO. He makes sure to run the meeting long so he could recommend we continue talking over dinner and/or drinks.
I was not looking forward to it. It wasn’t even that big of a deal. Mr. Sampson was very good looking and actually quite charming. He just makes things awkward because he won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Hell, had I worked elsewhere, I might have taken him up on his advances…I mean, he wasn’t a bad guy. I just…wasn’t interested. And his refusals to take no for an answer were different from Aiden’s.
Raymond doesn’t make my heart race the way Aiden does.
When Sarah buzzed me to let me know he was here, I counted to ten and pulled my most professional self together. I stood when he emerged under the doorway to my office and walked over to stand in front of him. I reached out to shake his hand. “Hello, Mr. Sampson,” I said, smiling. “It’s been awhile.” I was not going to tell him it was a pleasure to see him. Not when it couldn’t be a pleasure, seeing as how he was here to discuss issues with our handling of his account. It wasn’t good to see him either for that same reason.
He took my hand and let his eyes rake down and back up my body. “It’s been too long, Denise,” he cooed. “And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Raymond?”
I pulled my hand out from his grasp, shut the door behind him for privacy, and walked back behind my desk. I nodded my head towards the chairs in front of my desk, indicating for him to have a seat. “As long as we keep meeting with you as a client of Buchanan Industries,” I said, hoping he took my words teasingly. And as always, he stood until I sat.
A true gentleman.
“I’ve gone over your account, Mr. Sampson, and there does seem to be some errors, but nothing alarming, that can’t be audited accurately,” I began.
He chuckled and brought his left ankle to rest across his right knee. “Denise,” he insisted on using my first name even though I never gave him permission to, “I am not, at all, worried about how Buchanan Industries is handing our account,” he replied, smoothly. “I’m just here to answer any questions you may have in rectifying this. I’m here to help.”
I smiled and opened the folder on my desk that contained all of Sam-Martin’s account information. “Mr. Sam-” I was interrupted by a knock on the door and I was instantly worried. No one ever interrupted me while I was in a client meeting. It was rude and not becoming of our client motto to make the clients feel like they’re our sole concern. “Uh…”
The door slowly opened and in walked Aiden Buchanan.
I almost said ‘what the fuck’ out loud.
I stood up…out of shock, more than anything else. “Mr. Buchanan…”
Raymond, also, stood up and turned to face Aiden. As I watched Aiden stand at his full height, I immediately knew what this was.
Aiden was here to whip out his dick.
Goddamn, fucking Maxine.
Aiden grinned and said, “My apologies, Ms. Hart.”The goddamn lying liar. “I heard you had a meeting with Mr. Sampson and I wanted to come by and lend my support,” he lied; the lying, lyingest liar that ever lied. He extended his hand towards Raymond. “Mr. Sampson,” he nodded. “Aiden Buchanan.”
“Ah,” Raymond replied, taking Aiden’s hand in a macho bullshit handshake. “It’s good to meet you. I’ve heard a lot of great things about you,” he continued. “But then, you have to be great to meet Mason Buchanan’s standards, don’t you?”
God, save me now.
