Chapter 12 Lexi
LEXI
The next morning, I dressed Evie, got her breakfast, and was checking my emails when I saw a meeting request from Rafael to introduce me to another team.
My heart sank.
I was in jeans and a T-shirt, and the jeans had a rip at the knee. Everything remotely professional was either in the hamper or still wet from last night’s laundry, and I hadn’t had time to run the dryer before bed.
Not exactly the first impression I wanted to make on new colleagues.
Sighing, I shut my laptop. “Come on, Evie,” I muttered, gathering our things.
“Mom, who’s at our door?” she asked, turning from where she sat, playing in the living room.
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“There was someone out there.”
My heart beating a little faster, I walked over and pulled the door open.
There was no one out there. Then my gaze dropped to the floor, where I saw shopping bags.
Not just one or two. Fifteen.
“Mama, what is it?” Evie asked, peering up at me.
I shook my head, dumbfounded. “I don’t know, sweetie,” I said, kneeling down to examine them.
They were all addressed to me. Pulling one bag inside, I checked the contents, pushing aside crisp tissue paper to find beautiful clothes underneath.
I frowned. Had Sasha done this?
I was about to reach for my phone and call her when I noticed Evie was already pulling more boxes open.
“Are these toys?” she asked excitedly. “For me?”
I reluctantly took a look along with her.
For some reason, she wasn’t disappointed by the lack of toys as she pulled out more clothes. “Mama, these are pretty. Are they for you?”
I took a second look at the clothes before I nodded. It must have been Sasha because she knew exactly the kind of shops I bought from, like Ross or T. J. Maxx. But oddly enough, she’d gone a step further.
These clothes were from Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, and J. Crew. Professional clothes but classy.
I opened the other boxes to find more clothes and then shoes. Box after box. Leather, suede. There were easily ten pairs of shoes here.
Not a single pair of heels.
It was the first time I had a sense of doubt. Sasha was always egging me to wear heels even if I disliked them.
The only other person who knew I hated heels was …
A certain older CEO.
“Try it on! Try it on!” Evie said, jumping around me.
I smiled back at her, feeling conflicted.
I had wanted to be mad at Jonah’s presumption that he could just send me gifts like this.
I wanted to shove the bags aside and send them right back, or worse, dump them.
But if he could be thoughtful enough to remember I didn’t like heels, then perhaps these gifts deserved something better than the trash.
At the very bottom of the last bag, tucked between a silk blouse and a tailored blazer, I found a note.
The first time we met, I promised to replace your entire wardrobe. Consider this me keeping my word.
I stared at it for a long time. A younger man might not have noticed my troubles with my attire, but Jonah had. The weight in my chest shifted into something I wasn’t ready to name. I’d been unforgivably rude, writing him a taunting apology. He’d had every right to fire me.
Instead … I got an entire wardrobe.
Jonah Walkers, the billionaire, the cold-hearted businessman, and my intolerable boss was full of surprises.