Page 30 of Executives' Omega
Another shake of his head. “You didn’t do anything. It was all me. I misunderstood something and was in a pissy mood because of it. You aren’t the only one I need to apologize to.”
“Did everybody get sweets?” I asked.
He smiled. “Only you.”
“Why?”
“Because the others at least knew what I was upset about, but I was rude to you and you had no idea why. That makes it extra egregious.”
“Will you tell me why you were mad?”
He squeezed my hands. “Not right now, but soon. Ok?”
“Ok.”
He released my hands, then immediately rubbed the side of his neck. “I didn’t know what you like, so I got an assortment. Clafoutis, macarons, a slice of cheesecake and a meringue. Don’t feel like you need to eat it all if there’s something you don’t like.”
I smiled. “I love all those things.”
He returned my smile. “I’m glad. I hope you enjoy them.”
He started in the direction of his office.
“Maybe…” I called out on impulse.
He turned and raised one eyebrow.
“Maybe…” I started again, a blush creeping up my cheeks. “We can share. Since… since you said you’d wanted to take me to lunch.”
A brilliant grin crossed his face. “I’d like that.” Then the smile dimmed. “But I’m busy until the meeting.”
“After work?”
The corners of his mouth turned back up. “After work.”
Butterflies flitted through my middle for several minutes after he disappeared, but they didn’t last long. What had I been thinking, flirting like that?
Somehow I managed to make it to four without any major accidents—a small miracle as bad as my hands had been shaking all day. I grabbed several bottles of water from the break-room fridge and made my way to the back conference room, where I could see three silhouettes inside.
“Ryan,” Zane chirped as I walked in, “have a seat. Brendan will be with us shortly. His meeting downstairs is taking longer than expected.”
“Ok…” I muttered, passing bottles of water around. Then I took a seat facing them.
Linden leaned back in his chair, took a long drink from the bottle I’d handed him, then started. “First, I’d just like to make it clear that this has nothing to do with you or your work. It is something we’d been considering before Darlene left, but we pushed back to keep some continuity during the transition.”
“Ummm…” I replied.
Zane groaned and looked at Linden. “Stop dancing around the issue.” He turned to me. “We’re going to split your position into two: executive assistant, and executive receptionist.”
I blinked. “What? Why?”
“Because it needs to be two positions, and has for a while,” Alonzo stated. “Sure, right now one person can handle it, but a lot of the reception duties end up going to main reception when you’re in meetings or handling other tasks. We’ve reached a point in the company where we need that covered at all times, and…” he chuckled, “you’re good, but it’s impossible for you to be in two places at once.”
Linden nodded. “Not to mention, we’re in the early stages of adding new services. That’ll put even more pressure on the role if it stays as it is. We want to be proactive and split it now, rather than have you get stressed as the workload increases.”
I blinked, unsure what to say. Part of me insisted that it was to pity me since I couldn’t handle the work, despite their reassurances.
Finally, I licked my lips and nodded. “Is that all?”
