Page 30 of Adoration: Isn't What It Seems (Love Isn't What It Seems 2)

I nodded, scared if I opened my mouth, I might spill all the curses out, and get Lena’s secretarial contract null and voided. After all, he made me a huge favor by not bringing up what happened at our girls’ night out. Actually, it was as if it never happened.

After two hours of businessmen talking and negotiating about real estate, I was ready to pull my hair out. The meeting finally ended and I cleared out of the room. Unfortunately, my phone buzzed again as soon as all the men were gone. I wanted to pretend I didn’t hear it and be gone, but I ended up answering the phone.

“Miss Smith,” it was Alexander Caldwell again. “Come back so we can go over your notes of the meeting.”

He hung up the phone before I could even say yes or no. I wanted to scream and tell him he was a rude jackass; instead, I took a deep breath, and then another, and another.

“Are you alright, dear?” Janet’s voice reached me and I glanced up to meet her worried stare. Janet pretty much ran all administrative tasks for Caldwell Enterprise and had been with the company for a long time. After she helped me on my first day, she took a few days off but was back this week.

“That man,” I hissed, “will make me go over the edge and do something I will regret.”

She laughed. “I swear, Liberty,” she said with humor in her voice. “You are the only one that has that reaction to him. It is refreshing.”

I closed my eyes, trying to summon all the patience I had when my phone buzzed again. I picked it up, “What?”

“We are waiting.” His voice sounded impatient and he hung up right away. I gave a murderous look at Janet.

“I want to kill him,” I muttered, not caring if she heard me or not. She did and laughed even harder.

Pissed off, I walked into his office and I bit my lip before I would say something stupid. I bit it hard, tasting blood on my lips. For a fleeting second, his eyes locked on my lip and then glanced back at my eyes.

“Sit,” he commanded.

I bit my lip even harder, which almost brought tears to my eyes as I stiffly lowered myself onto the chair, my back straight up.

“Alexander,” Maxim was teasing. “Be nicer. You are making Liberty chew her beautiful lips.”

I glared at him. I should kill both of them.

“Okay, okay,” Maxim raised his hands in surrender. “I won’t tease you anymore.”

“What do you need?” I asked Alexander through clenched teeth.

His cold blue stare barely spared me a glance.

“Summarize the notes from the meeting,” he ordered.

“You know,” I started not being able to hold myself back. “Saying please never killed anyone. And why do you need me to summarize it, if you know every little detail discussed.”

He slowly turned around and for a fleeting second, I saw something flash in his eyes. Good, maybe I was annoying him too. Vengeance was sweet!

“What makes you think I know every little detail?” he asked in that calm tone of his.

“Because you do,” I told him. “It is more likely that something escaped me than you. For Pete’s sake, if my life depended on it, I’d still not remember all the details like you do. I’m not even sure why you need a secretary.”

“Are you saying I should cancel the contract with the secretarial agency?” he asked calmly, as if he was considering it.

‘Hell, no!” I almost jumped at him. “That is not what I am saying at all! Stop putting words in my mouth.”

Maxim’s laugh echoed through the office.

“Liberty,” he was trying to talk through his laugh. “I swear, you are the only one that is not scared to speak up to Alexander.”

I watched them both carefully. “I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not.”

Maxim went to open his mouth, and I raised my hand to stop him.

“Please, I don’t want to know.” I told him and turned to Alexander. “You want me to summarize notes, fine. Here is the summary.”

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