12

HALFWAY THROUGH ALEXA’S fourth week of working for the company, she took Dawson his usual cup of morning coffee and was about to settle down in the chair opposite his to take some notes as she typically did when he stopped her.

“Do you usually have a cup of coffee back in your office when you leave here in the mornings?”

She nodded with a perplexed expression on her face.

“Then go and get you a cup now and bring it in here to drink. We may as well share our coffee break while we discuss things, right?”

It was something that he’d never suggested before, and Alexa was pretty sure that Sheila never used to take her morning coffee with him. But who was she to argue with the boss-man himself? She placed her notepad and pencil on the chair she had been about to sit down on and turned to leave the room, half turning back to make sure that she’d heard him correctly.

“Are you sure?”

“When have you ever known me to say something I’m not sure about?” He raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively. “Go and get your coffee, Alexa.”

His tone allowed no argument, and she turned to do as he’d instructed, returning a short time later with a cup of her own. She placed it on the side of the desk closest to her chair before picking up her notepad again and finally sitting down.

They went through the usual daily lists of things to do with Alexa taking notes as he gave her his instructions. Periodically, they would both pause and take a sip of their coffee before continuing where they left off.

“I think that’s all for now, Alexa, but before you go there are two things that I’d like to discuss with you.” She felt her heart sink. I just knew that having coffee with him was a bad omen, she thought to herself as she tried to calm her racing heart down.

“I’m listening, but if you’re going to fire me, can you make it quick and not drag it out?” She was only half joking.

Dawson looked at her with an incredulous look. “Fire you? Why on earth would I fire you?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Unless you’ve done something totally wrong that I haven’t found out about yet, in which case you need to confess now or forever hold your peace.” Or you could just hold my piece and then your job is definitely secure, he thought to himself, enjoying the dirty thought even as he tried to quash it. Now is not the time, Dawson, so behave yourself.

“No, Alexa, I’m not going to fire you. Not any time soon, anyway.” He chuckled softly at her relieved expression. “Actually, the first thing I want to discuss with you is your wardrobe.” Her expression became even more befuddled. “Do you remember me telling you that you must always wear skirts at work?”

She nodded her head slowly.

“Then why are you wearing a pants suit? It’s very becoming, but it’s strictly against what I told you, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t think that you were serious, Mr. James.” She’d never heard of anything so preposterous.

Dawson laughed again. “I never say anything that I don’t mean. Well, hardly ever. And I meant it when I said that it would be a criminal act if you were to cover your gorgeous legs up. So no more pants, okay?”

She scowled at him prettily. “I’ll try my best, but I can’t make any promises.” If you think I’m going to let you dictate what I can and cannot wear, then you’re sadly mistaken. Her thoughts were defiant, but she knew that she was going to try her best to do what he’d told her, and that pissed her off more than anything.

“Okay, the next thing I want to discuss is that I need you to attend a business function with me over the weekend. I know that you don’t usually work weekends, and I had originally intended to take somebody else, but she’s now unable to go with me.” Not strictly true, but I don’t think she’d be impressed to learn that I cancelled my plans with Hannah so that I could ask her instead, he thought wickedly. Alexa was eager to hear more, as her quirked eyebrow indicated. “It’s a high-class event that will mean us being out of town for three days. You’ll obviously be paid for doing it and there will be a nice bonus in with your wages also.”

He had been fully expecting her to jump on board as soon as she heard that there was going to be extra money in it for her, but she surprised him. “I’d like to know a little more about it before I agree, if that’s okay, Mr. James.”

“It’s a charity event that will benefit numerous organizations as well as individuals. As I said, it’s a high-class gala and there will be quite a few celebrities and high-powered people attending, so I can’t really go into too much detail because of how strictly a lot of the people going to it guard their privacy.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, extracting a card and sliding it across the top of the desk toward her. “You’ll need to buy a dress suitable for the occasion; a long evening dress or cocktail dress will do. You can also charge anything else you think you might need for the weekend to this company credit card. And please don’t be worried about how much things cost; the card has no credit limit.”

Alexa reached forward and picked the card up off the table. Was he being serious, or was this some kind of test, she wondered. “I’ll use it to buy a dress and accessories for the evening in question, but other than that I shouldn’t need to buy anything else that I don’t already have.” Using a card that belonged to someone else, even if it was a business card, and being told that she could spend however much she wanted both terrified and excited her.

“So that’s settled then. Take tomorrow off to go shopping, and I’ll pick you up on Friday evening around seven, if that suits you?” He wanted to get everything organized now before she could change her mind on him.

Alexa left his office in a daze, and it was at least another thirty minutes before she could get herself organized to get some actual work done. She couldn’t believe that she’d actually agreed

to go away with him for the weekend, and she hoped that it wasn’t some kind of ploy on his behalf.

Why the hell would he make something so elaborate up, Lexi? Quit being so cynical for once in your life and just go with it. She felt a little better after admonishing herself, but she couldn’t wait to get home and talk it all over with Laura that evening.