Chapter 8 （B） - Harrison
EIGHT (B)
HARRISON
At eleven o’clock on the dot, Miss Stone returned to my office in an emerald green dress that made focusing nearly impossible.
With flushed pink cheeks, she stood in the doorway, glancing between me and Aaron—who’d overstayed his welcome by ten minutes.
“If you’re going to commission new designer-level uniforms, I just think you need to consider whether that’ll have a real effect on sales, you know?” he asked. “It sounds nicer and the designs look wonderful, but…”
His words stopped registering.
I could only stare straight ahead and picture Andrea’s dress pooled at my feet—her sandy-colored pumps wrapped around my waist.
“No wonder Mr. Lewis wanted to keep you to himself…” I muttered.
“Huh?” Aaron’s voice broke into my thoughts. “What do you want to keep?”
“I said Miss Stone is here for my meeting with the Keaton Group.” I cleared my throat and gestured to her. “You can join us over here, Miss Stone.”
Aaron glanced over his shoulder. Then he muttered something I couldn’t quite hear under his breath.
“Andrea Stone, this is Aaron Fletcher—my longtime advisor, and Aaron, this is Andrea Stone.”
“Nice to meet you,” they said in unison, shaking hands.
“You can call me Aaron—no formal Mister, please.”
“Noted.” She smiled and looked at me. “Where do you want me, Mr. Cross?”
On top of my desk…
“You need to set up the meeting in the boardroom for me.”
She looked confused, like she was expecting me to explain.
“Meeting setups are on page fifty of binder two,” I said. “The Keaton Group is a level-three guest. Follow that standard—and make sure Ciara approves my speech.”
“Who’s Ciara?”
“Page eighty in the binder,” I said. “Have you even started to read it?”
“I’m on page twenty.”
“That’s it?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “I specifically remember Mr. Lewis mentioning that you’d read a huge technical manual in a single night.”
“Because unlike your binder, it was actually well-written…”
“Excuse me?”
Her cheeks reddened. “I said I’m adjusting to your new system, and I’ll be sure to get it done.”
“That’s not what you said, Miss Stone.” I glared at her, tempted to grab her by the waist and make her repeat those smart-ass words a little slower.
“Ciara is his long-term researcher and strategist, Miss Stone,” Aaron intruded on the moment. “She’ll be glad to help you with whatever you need in the coming days, and you can reach her at 555-0823.”
She saved the number to her phone.
“You can also call me if Mr. Cross assigns you something financial-related and you have a question,” he said, rattling off his number as well.
“Thank you very much, Mr.—” She stopped herself. “Thank you, Aaron.”
“You can get to work on setting up the boardroom now, Miss Stone,” I said. “And when you’re done, check your email for my updated tasks list and leave the binders for evening reading, since you’re struggling so much.”
“Understood, Mr. Cross.” She looked as if she wanted to say something sarcastic, but she simply nodded and left the room.
As soon as she was out of sight, Aaron stood up from his chair and slammed the door shut.
“Get rid of her,” he said. “Get rid of her right now.”
“Because of her smart-ass mouth, right?” I asked. “I can foresee that being a huge problem.”
“No, Harrison,” he said. “It’s because you’re obviously attracted to her, and she’s going to be a huge distraction.”
“I don’t think my legal team will let me get away with firing someone based off their looks.”
“Try it.” He looked dead-ass serious. “The only other thing I’ve ever seen you this captivated by is your reflection.”
“Funny.” I flipped over my hourglass. “Anything else you need to say before my meeting?”
“I’ll draft her one hell of a severance package.” He didn’t let me change the subject. “Just promise me you’ll fire her.”
“No,” I said. “And it has nothing to do with the fact that I’m attracted to her.”
“Thank you for at least admitting it.”
“If Mr. Lewis considered her to be his ‘secret weapon,’” I said, “do you believe it’s a good idea to just let her go? She clearly has immense value to this company, and every other employee I’ve interviewed has mentioned her name in one way or another.”
“If she’s so important, why did he keep her as a basic-level assistant? He didn’t even make her a junior-level executive…”
That’s a really good question…
I tapped my chin. “Get Ciara to look into that for me.”
“Sure.” He nodded. “I’ll have her do that while she’s helping Miss Stone clean out her cubicle and you can pick someone else for this position.”
“Andrea only has a cubicle?” I asked, genuinely confused. “Why doesn’t she have her own office?”
“Harrison…”
“I’m just asking questions.”
He stared at me in a way that made it clear he knew I was full of shit—that he could nearly read my mind without asking another question.
Give me at least ninety days with Miss Stone…
“Sixty,” he said aloud.
But we’ll find out everything she knows and why she’s so valuable?
“Yes.” He read my mind again. “I’ll sit her down for several sessions and get everything she knows.”
“I can join you for those,” I spoke aloud again. “Just in case you forget to ask her something.”
“That’s okay.” He stepped forward and pointed to a notepad. “Write down whatever you want to ask on that, and I’ll pass it along when it’s time.”
I didn’t move.
None of my questions were appropriate.
“Exactly.” He rolled his eyes. “Sixty days until you fire her, Harrison. Sixty fucking days.”