Chapter 11 （B） – Andrea
ELEVEN (B)
ANDREA
Five Hours Later
My butt was seconds away from going numb in this hard wooden chair. Worse, the music blaring through the speakers was loud enough to rupture my eardrums.
“An order for Andrea?” The barista called my name as she placed my latte on the counter.
I finished penning a few final notes before retrieving it and walked out to the town car.
When I opened the door, I noticed that Ciara and Aaron were gone. Only Harrison was sitting in the backseat.
“Do you plan on getting in and giving me the coffee, Miss Stone?” he asked. “Or do I need to assist you?”
“I’d rather wait so we won’t be alone.”
“I’m not going to bite you, Miss Stone,” he said. “Even though you strike me as the type who likes that.”
I started to slam the door shut, but he grabbed my wrist before it closed.
“Get in the damn car.” His tone made it clear not to resist. “Now.”
Obliging, I moved into the seat across from him and handed over the latte. I watched him take a long sip and shake his head in disappointment.
“Their customers should sue,” he said. “This isn’t coffee.”
“It never really has been.” I decided to be cordial. “Their customers are conditioned to like them because of their branding and their daily routines.”
“Hmmm.” He rolled down his window and poured the rest of the drink outside. “What about the ambiance in this one? Anything new?”
“Same as the others.” I hit send on my text message with the notes. “Not as inviting as ours by a long shot, and their employees look as miserable as I feel.”
“That last part of your comment was unnecessary.”
“Today is my sister’s birthday.” I refused to let it go. “Her. Birthday.”
“Did you call and give her a birthday wish already?”
“Yes.”
“And you bought her a present?”
“Yes.”
“Are you expecting me to do either of those things?”
“No…”
“Then I don’t see why you need to keep bringing it up to me,” he said. “It’ll still be her birthday when we get back to New York.”
“At ten o’clock tonight, barring weather.”
“Exactly, Miss Stone.” He looked at his watch. “So let’s spend our remaining hours focusing on your job, which is what I’m paying you to do.”
I bit down hard on my bottom lip and clenched my fists as the driver slid behind the wheel.
“Careful, Miss Stone,” he said. “That doesn’t have the effect on me you think it does.”
“What should I do to make it clear that I absolutely despise working under you, then?”
“I’m not sure.” He smirked. “But I’ll happily give you some suggestions on trying something else under me instead.”
“Sounds like I should hurry up and report you to human resources for sexual harassment.”
“Go ahead, so I can do the same,” he said. “All your skirts and dresses are four inches shorter than the dress code, and you only wear panties half the time, so… Want to make that trip to HR together?”
I felt my jaw unhinging and my cheeks heating all at once.
“That’s what I thought.” He smiled. “You can drive us to the next cafe on my list, Francis. Now.”