Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
ADRIANNA
Things have changed, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
Elijah has been acting friendlier to me, and it’s making me suspicious. It’s like he has conditioned me to expect him to be such an asshole that now that he is being nice to me, I have no idea how to handle it.
“Adrianna, could you attend the staff meeting for me? I have some paperwork to attend to.”
I turn to look at him with wide eyes. “No.”
He frowns. “Do you have something else planned?”
I shake my head. “What’s wrong with you?”
“What? Nothing. I have something to handle. I won’t make it to the staff meeting.”
“Nope. Not doing it. It’s a trap.”
He rubs his forehead. “What nonsense are you going on about now?”
“You are setting me up. You don’t want me handling things. You said so yourself. I’m only good for coffee and answering emails. I’m not falling for this.” I shake my head, crossing my arms.
“For Christ’s sake. In my office, Ms. Baker.”
When I don’t move right away, he barks, “Now.”
Jumping up, I head into his office, wringing my hands. He slams the door shut behind him as soon as I pass him.
“What the fuck, Adrianna?” he asks.
“I can’t do whatever you are doing right now.
You said you don’t trust me. You want me to do nothing.
I have done that because you told me to.
I know the status quo, and I’m following it.
Now all of a sudden you are changing the rules.
I don’t like when things change. I like to know what to expect.
I had you figured out. Now you are being too nice to me, and I can’t handle it. ”
“So you want me to be a dick to you?”
“No. I want you to go back and be a decent person from the beginning, but you can’t.
The past has already been written, but ever since I stayed at your place last Friday, you have been treating me differently.
You text me off the clock about random shit.
You haven’t been making me miserable. You’re drinking the coffee I bring you that I know you hate.
I feel like an alien has come and inhabited your body, and if something doesn’t… ”
I don’t get to finish my sentence. He pulls me to him, spinning us both until I’m pinned against the door. Then his lips are on mine.
At first he kisses me slowly, as if he is taking his time. My arms fall around his shoulders, pulling him to me as if he could get any closer than he already is. When I respond to the kiss, he picks up the pace, sliding his tongue against my own as he devours my mouth.
It could have been minutes or hours that we stayed like that, his body pinning me against the door as he kisses me deeply. It doesn’t matter to me, though. All I know is I want more.
More of him. More of this. More of the feeling he evokes inside of me.
When he finally pulls away, kissing my lips one last time, I stare up at him feeling dazed. His lips are red and puffy. Mine feel the same way. He is looking at me like I’ve just blown his mind. It makes me feel special, powerful.
I know I’m giving him the same look back. Right now I couldn’t even tell you where we were or why it’s a terrible idea to be making out with him. I just want him. That’s all that matters.
“I’m not trying to fuck with your head, Adrianna.
I’m treating you the way I should have from the beginning.
Well, maybe not exactly. I don’t think I should have been kissing you back then, but that ship has sailed, and I won’t stop it,” he admits.
“You’re insecure when it comes to me, and I deserve it.
I created this doubt in your head. There’s no devious plan.
Nothing is going on that will trick you or harm you.
I sincerely mean it when I say I need you to go to the staff meeting in my place.
You can handle it. I know you can. I trust you to keep it running smoothly in my absence.
While you are doing that, I need to have a meeting with our CFO.
I cannot move it, and I don’t want to reschedule the staff meeting and screw everyone up.
This is the best option. So will you please go to the staff meeting for me? ”
When he puts it like that, I feel bad for overreacting. He has me so out of sorts that I almost forgot who I was for a moment there. Of course I can handle the meeting. I’m strong and independent. Not to mention I’ve been doing it for years without him.
“Okay. I’ll go to the meeting for you,” I whisper.
“Good girl. Report to me afterward. We can have lunch. Order in whatever you like and just pick something out for me. I don’t like raw onions, but otherwise I’m not picky,” he tells me before kissing my lips.
“You can’t keep kissing me whenever you want. We are going to get caught.”
He chuckles. “I didn’t realize we were keeping it a secret. I believe you have three minutes to get to your meeting, Ms. Baker. Better run along now.”
Glancing at my watch, I curse under my breath when I realize that he is right. I shoot him a glare as I push against his chest. He takes several steps back, eyes glinting with amusement as I straighten my clothes.
I don’t say another word to him as I hustle to my desk, grabbing my tablet, notebook, and pen. Then I hustle through the halls until I make it to the meeting room.
Taking my new usual seat, I glance over to Francine. She looks concerned.
“Are you feeling all right?” she whispers to me as the last few people filter into the room.
“Yeah, why?” I whisper back.
“Your cheeks are red, and your lips look chapped like maybe you have a cold.”
I can feel the blood warm my cheeks in embarrassment. Of course he left me looking like a mess.
Shaking my head, I give her a tight smile. “I’m fine,” I say to her in a low tone before I address the room. “Mr. Samson couldn’t be here, so I’ll be filling in. Let’s get started. Boris, updates?”
As Boris starts to talk, I touch my lips gently. This man is going to ruin my life, but I’m not sure I care anymore.
ELIJAH
I watch Adrianna hurry off to the conference room with a smile on my face.
The girl is out of balance right now. She held so much hate in her heart for me that now she isn’t sure how to handle me. I know how I want to handle her, though.
I don’t know when I made the decision, but I’m courting her. Even after she asked me about my mother Saturday morning, it didn’t hit me as hard as it usually does. I didn’t go totally nonfunctional for the entire day.
That could also be because she texted me two hours after she left, apologizing again. Just seeing her name had me perking up. Then I spammed her phone all weekend with memes and other random things just so I could see her name pop up on my phone over and over.
I’m becoming addicted to the woman, and I’m not even mad about it.
Moving back to my desk, I pull out the documents I found. I know they can be explained away. It’s not the evidence I need, but I want to see his reaction.
A knock at the door tells me that my prey has arrived.
“Come in,” I call out.
Bill Lind comes in all smiles. He reaches across my desk to shake my hand, but I don’t bother standing. It’s a show of power. I have no need to show him respect. He hasn’t earned it.
“Sit,” I tell him, shuffling the paperwork around.
“Adrianna wasn’t at her desk. You send her on another useless task?” he asks, laughing.
I don’t like the tone of his voice, though. It’s almost like there’s an underlying malice to it.
“She’s at the staff meeting.”
His smile falls. “Oh. I see. I enjoyed watching you make her run around like a secretary. Knocked her down a peg or two. She seemed to think she ran this place.”
Dude doesn’t know when to stop talking. If he were to look at my face he, would be able to tell that I do not like the way he is talking about Adrianna.
I know I had my issues with her at first, but that’s over with now.
Now she’s mine, not that she or anyone else knows it.
Still, I want the man to keep making mistakes, so I keep up the pretense.
Leaning back in my chair, I force a smile on my face. “Tell me more. Did you not like it when Ms. Baker handled everything for Gloria?”
He scoffs. “I told Gloria we should have fired her years ago. She’s a troublemaker. She thinks that she is the paperwork police. She would constantly bring me documents that she felt weren’t right. I would have to explain to her how it works with the finances. It was tiresome.”
“I see. It would make it hard for anyone to get their job done,” I muse.
Or steal money.
I haven’t been looking far enough back. I’ve been focusing on recent years, but Adrianna likely made Bill and Gloria have to switch up their process. I was so sure it was her that I wasn’t thinking about what Gloria did before her.
“That it did, but you’re here now. It will get back to the way it should. Things running smoothly.”
“That it will. I wanted to go over some of the things I noticed in the budget with you.” I flip one of the papers around toward him. “Why are we buying expensive soap?”
I already know the answer, but I didn’t want to come at him out of the gate with what I think I know. I want to warm him up.
“Another great idea from your assistant. Gloria never wanted to fire her because she let her handle most of her job, but she cost us a lot of money.”
“I see. Same with the toilet paper?” I ask.
“Yep.”
Nodding, I turn the paper around with the supplies. I already know the numbers don’t exactly match.
“What about these supplies? I added up the receipts, but they aren’t matching. What the hell did we buy for an additional two thousand dollars that is unaccounted for?”
He picks up the paper and pretends to be looking into it intently. Then he flips through the receipts stapled to it.
“When was this?” he asks, sweat starting to bead on his forehead.
He’s uncomfortable. I’ve got my guy. He did this, and he’s trying to figure out how he can explain it.
“June of twenty-three,” I answer, studying him.
He swallows hard as his eyes scan the paper, but I know he’s not reading it. He’s stalling. He’s thinking up his lie.
“I’d have to check my files. I probably requested a missing receipt form and never received it. I doubt it’s two thousand dollars of one thing.”
I nod. “I was thinking the same thing. Maybe I should ask Ms. Baker. She seems to have a thumb on the pulse of this place.”
He looks up and shakes his head. “This is my job. I let it slip through. I’ll figure it out. Thank you for pointing out the mistake. Was there anything else?”
I can see how badly he wants to get out of here. He’s going to run back to his office and forge some missing receipt forms. By tomorrow morning there will be documentation of some supplies that don’t exist that were purchased for the foundation.
How predictable.
I shake my head slowly. “No, that was it. You can go ahead and get working on that. I expect a report tomorrow morning. Oh, and I’ll be approving final finances from now on until I’m sure that’s the only mistake that was made.”
He nods quickly, standing. “I’m on it.”
Then he leaves the office. I snort as I stand. I should get to looking into the finances before Adrianna, but I want to see her, so I find myself making my way toward the conference room.
She doesn’t see me right away. She’s busy listening to the employee’s report, yet I can’t take my eyes off of her.
“The Humane Society auction is this weekend. I think it would be good for someone to show their face now that the Jinx project is going forward. A lot of those people would also be willing to donate to us,” Kara says to Adrianna.
“I’m aware. I’ll put it on Mr. Samson’s calendar and see if he can spare the time.”
I shift my stance, catching Adrianna’s attention. She looks startled for a moment.
“Excuse me. I need to borrow Ms. Baker for a moment. She will be right back,” I tell the room.
No one contradicts me. She stands, giving a smile to everyone.
“One moment. Chat among yourselves.”
As soon as she steps out of the room, I pull her over so that no one from the room can see her.
“Elijah, what the hell?” she whisper-shouts.
“I want to go to that event, and I want you to go with me.”
“What?” she asks, confused.
“The Humane Society auction. You’ll attend with me. As my date.”
Her cheeks redden. “Okay. Did you have to pull me out of a meeting for that?”
I smirk at her, glancing down the hall to see no one is around, before I press a quick kiss to her lips. “No, but for that I did.”
Then I tap her nose and leave her standing there as I head back to my office. Before I turn the corner, I glance back to see her still standing where I left her.
Yeah, the girl is mine.
I just need to convince her of that now.