“I’m surprised. I would have thought when they pulled my credit report that they would have said no way, but I guess they must have liked what they saw!” Ericasaid.
“Congratulations,” Brock said with a warm smile. “I’m sure they saw what I did when youinterviewed.”
Angie’s warning or not, Erica laughed and blushed and felt utterly teenage-girlish.
“Well, I’ll see you in the morning. Thank you!” shesaid.
On her way down the elevator, Erica put her phone to her ear. She knew she ought to call the bank and see how much money she should transfer before she made it down to the bank, not wanting to overdraw any of her accounts. She flipped through the menu, listening to all the prompts she was being given by the computer on the otherend.
She listened to the menu, but then shook her head and looked down at her phone. Something had to be wrong. Pressing the button, she listened to the entire list again. There had to be something wrong with her account. It said that she didn’t have any outstanding balances of anykind.
But just the day before, she had been thousands of dollars in debt. Confused, Erica looked at her watch. She was going to have to hurry, but she would have time to stop by the bank before she went down to the rentalagency.
She would have to get this straightenedout.
15 minutes later, her jaw was on its way to thepavement.
“My balance iswhat?!”
“Itoldyou there were going to be plenty of perks for working for a billionaire!” Meagan said with a laugh, taking a pair of shoes from the store clerk and starting to try them. Erica had just told her what had happened earlier that day, and how she had had all her debt paidoff.
There was no question that it had been Brock. Nobody else she knew had that kind of money. Part of Erica was thrilled, but most of her was freaked out. She couldn’t stop thinking about what Angie had said, and she worried that the woman wasright.
Perhaps there was more going on than what she thought—and perhaps it wasn’t as innocent as she thought itwas.
“Come on, you aren’t sleeping with the guy, are you? I mean, it’s not like you’re getting perks for sex, right? Maybe he just wants to help you out, and don’t tell me you don’t deserve it!” Meagansaid.
Erica laughed. “I don’t know about that. Look at these.” She held up another pair of shoes, and Meagan immediately took them fromher.
Shoe shopping had seemed like at least a small way to celebrate being suddenly debtfree.
“Come on, you’ve been through a lot, what with your dad and everything,” Meaganreplied.
Erica winced. It was true. She had lost her mother when she was very young, and her father had a heart condition and often required surgery. Though she didn’t like to think about it, she often worried that he was going to have some kind of heart failure and would need atransplant.
“I wouldn’t worry about it if I was you. That’s my point.” Meagan’s voice broke through her thoughts, and Erica looked back over ather.
“I know how you think, Erica. It’s weird. I agree. Who does that, especially for a brand-new employee?” Meagan went on. “But then again, who looks a gift horse like that in the mouth? God. I’d love a bosslike…”
She knew that her friend was right. She shouldn’t worry about it. But then, she didn’t want Brock to think that he owned her. She worked for him. She was his secretary. Nothing more. It was strange that he would do so much for someone who was nothing more than his assistant, and she didn’t feel comfortable with what he haddone.
“I don’t know. I just don’t want this to turn into a scandal, you know?” sheasked.
“Look, if you’re that worried about it, why don’t you tell him so?” Meagan asked. Erica sighed. She knew her friend was right, and no matter how much she didn’t want there to be tension or trouble between her and her employer, she was going to have to talk to him about this. There was just no otherway.
But in the meantime…
“Meagan …”
Her best friend gave her a smirk. “Yeah, yeah. You’re debt free. Rub itin.”
“SCHOOL DEBT FREE!” Erica threw her arms around Meagan and hugged her hard. “Now I can finally pay for a new couch foryou!”
Meagan laughed and hugged her back. “I wouldn’t mind that. Your body pretty much permanently imprinted the cushions. But for now, I’ll settle for lunch and a spaday…”
Chapter6
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea. I mean, I’d fuck the shit out of her if I could.” Jack laughed as he downed the rest of hiswhiskey.
