Page 9 of Accidentally Flirting with the CEO

Get your mind outta the gutter, Jess. Focus!

Jess shuffled his papers and peered down while his sister intervened and asked Alexa a few questions. He appeared focused, nodding occasionally as if listening. He could barely make eye contact with Alexa now. Not here. Not now. Meanwhile beneath his skin, testosterone levels were off the chart. He was struggling, wrestling with his emotions. She made his heart gallop. She caused emotions within him that he was not quite comfortable having…not yet, anyway. Maybe when he was 50 and married with children. And the feelings were directed to his loving, devoted wife.

Back on track.

“Jess?”

“Hmm.” He looked up, startled. How long had his sister been trying to get his attention? He had been daydreaming, hadn’t he? Tormented inside. Left hanging. Unable to deal with his emotions or talk about what was really on his mind at that moment.

“Do you have anything to add?” she raised a brow, suspicious of his sudden bizarre, dazed behaviour.

“Right. I do.” His expression suddenly stiffened. He wrinkled his brow as he pulled up the evaluation sheet. His dark eyes quickly scanned the list of performance areas. When his eyes scanned her communication skills--written communication skills and oral communication skills, his eyes kept hovering over the word ‘oral’ and his erection twitched in his pants.

Oral?

Oh, God.

This employee evaluation was going to be one heck of a nightmare. No way was he heading down that path.

Okay. Focus, Jess. Focus.

“Well, Alexa,” Jess flushed, trying to imagine something painful. Anything. Anything but Alexa. His eyes briefly brushed hers and a shot of ecstasy ripped through him. Ecstasy? Wasn’t that one of the words he’d read in her email?

This is all wrong. Wrong. Bad. Bad for business. He remained tortured inside with his internal battles.

He noticed her large, beautiful doe-eyes glaring at him. Her cheeks, too, were flushed. Was she feeling what he was feeling? Never mind, it didn’t matter.

All he could think was lawsuit.

Company policy.

Harassment.

Bad publicity.

His eyes roamed over her glorious long neck as he noticed she swallowed hard. Nerves? Oh, how he wished he could press his lips to her neck now. Right now. At this very moment.

Still, Jess felt all eyes on him now. Again, he readjusted his tie around his neck and casually leaned back. Fighting to keep his cool on the hot seat.

He took the sheets of paper in front of him, perusing as if in deep thought.

“Your quality of work has been rated excellent by your peers,” he continued, matter-of-factly. His tone like steel. Cold, smooth and hard. He could do this. He knew he had no choice but to do this right. Later he would deal with Alexa. Whatever that meant.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

He looked at the remaining entries to comment on.

1.Quality of work. Good.

2.Quantity of work. Good.

3.Documentation of work performed. Good.

4.Meeting deadlines. Excellent.

5. Initiative. Good.

6. Enthusiasm. Good.

7. Tactfulness. Could use far more work where electronic communication is concerned, but for now I’ll deal with that later.

8. Ability to work well under stress. Good. If this wasn’t stress, he didn’t know what was.

9. Organizational skills. Good.

10. Goal oriented. Good.

11. Understands job objectives. Good.

12. Attendance. Good.

13. Punctuality. Good.

14. Flexibility. Good. Jess tried hard not to wonder just how flexible she could be in bed.

15. Overall job performance. All things considering. Good.

In the end, the long, tortuous session ended with his agreement that her performance was highly effective and that she often achieved and exceeded requirements. She was a shoe in for the new position he had in mind.

Trouble was, he wanted her in more positions than just as his account manager.

Alexa’s pulse raced, her face flushed and her stomach squeezed without mercy. Was this the most, tense-filled, gut-churning evaluation ever? She could not believe she got out of there alive. After she shook the hands of the partners of the advertising agency and sped back to her office and closed the door, she closed her eyes and slumped down into her chair with her hands holding her head down. Was she going to have another migraine. She left her pills at home. Great!

That near-disaster was just too close for comfort. She mentally commended Jess for keeping his cool and not letting the partners on to what was in that email he read in the meeting. She really deeply appreciated his discretion and professionalism. More than what she gave him.

She sat at her desk, head down, face covered with her shaky hands. The words played over in her mind. Yes, she did great at her job. But still, Jess said nothing about the e-mail. Not even after he ushered her out of the boardroom. He then returned to the boardroom with the others to make a decision.

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