Chapter 20
“He wants to meet,” said Izzy, closing her cell phone in confusion. He had called her the day after she’d met with Savannah, and she wondered if it was some strange coincidence, or not.
“Shoemoney?”
“Xavier.” After yesterday’s shock news from Savannah, the last person she wanted to hear from was Stone.
Cara rolled over on her bed, propping herself up on her elbows and gave her a Cheshire Cat-worthy smile. “Xav-i-er.” She stretched out his name on her lips as if it were a dirty word ripe with sexual connotations.
“Don’t ‘Xav-i-er’, me,” whined Izzy, repeating his name the way Cara had said it. “I told him I was busy revising but he said it was business related and it wouldn’t take long.”
“Business related? I wonder what he means?”
“I’m intrigued enough to want to find out.”
Cara’s brow raised slowly. “I can come with you, if you need support, or chaperoning.”
“It’s not what you think. I can tolerate him. If you met him you’d see what a total jerk he is.”
“The offer still stands. I can come with you.”
“Thanks, but I can handle Xavier Stone.”
“Are you going to his apartment?”
“No.”
“Where’s he taking you then?”
“Nowhere.”
An hour later she met him in Central Park, over by the benches near the kiosks.
“Hey,” he said, getting up as she started to walk towards him. He looked sexy in navy blue. That was her first impression, seeing him the smartest she’d ever seen him, in a thick, short woollen coat and dark jeans.
“Hi.”
“I won’t beat around the bush.”
Good, she thought. Hopefully this wouldn’t take too long. “This is all very secret spy-ish.”
“I was too scared to turn up at your apartment,” he replied, a mischievous look danced in his eyes.
“Funny.”
“You still haven’t told me what happened.”
“And you still haven’t stopped being nosey.”
“It’s part of my nature, Laronde.”
“I noticed, Stone. It’s also very annoying.”
“Glad that’s out of the way,” he muttered, staring straight ahead.
“You said you weren’t going to beat around the bush, and it’s exactly what you’re doing.”
“I’m making small talk. I’m trying to be polite, seeing that we don’t usually have much polite conversation going on between us.”
“I’m meant to be revising for tests,” she lied.
“I happened to hear that Savannah doesn’t need you so much, at the moment.”
She stared at him in disbelief. His choice of wording was interesting. “Why did you tell Savannah?”
“I honestly thought you might have mentioned it to her.”
“She only called me late on Friday, and it’s not something I would have discussed on the phone.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“I’m mad that you told her something that wasn’t your news to tell.” And she was mad that she had lost the hours, but to be fair, she would probably have lost them anyway. She was mad at him because it was easier to be mad at him than worry about where she was going to make up the shortfall in earnings.
“She told me she’d been worried about Jacob while she was away, and I tried to allay her fears. I casually mentioned the only thing the kid seemed to be down about—the stuff you told me. I never thought for a moment that she would stop you from working there.”
She was silent as she tried to find something to say. Something that would be neutral. But she couldn’t, and so the silence stretched uncomfortably.
It was Xavier who spoke first. “Savannah feels bad that she’s left you without any work, and for taking away your income.”
“So?” She had no idea what any of this had to do with him. “Did you call me so you could rub my face in it?”
“Hell, no. What kind of guy do you think I am?”
“I can never tell.”
“Savannah was trying to find something for you to do so that she could still keep you on, and then I had a solution.”
“You?” She flinched at his words.
“One of my virtual assistants had to take care of some personal stuff, and I have no idea when she’s coming back. In fact, I don’t think I want her back, but, I need someone to carry out a few administrative tasks for me, and to take care of some emails, check some of my spreadsheets, basic things.”
“If they’re basic things, why don’t you do them yourself?”
He angled his head, as if weighing up the amount of spite in her words. “Do you want the extra work or not?”
She didn’t want to say ‘Yes,’ because, for some reason she wasn’t sure of, she didn’t like the idea of letting him think he was right, or that she needed the work. “I could do with a few extra hours.”
“Okay. Well, I could do with some extra help. I’m busy running the businesses,” he said, “And Savannah mentioned you already did some stuff on the side. If you’re not interested, just say so. There’s plenty of other people I can find to fill my VA’s shoes.”
She jerked to attention at that, and while the last thing she wanted was to work for Xavier Stone, she didn’t have a better alternative.
It was waitressing back at the fast food place, or look for some other type of babysitting—but nobody would offer her the weekend only type of work that Savannah had. And Savannah had hinted she would need her after Christmas. If she could go back to her, and look after Jacob, and get paid that much for it, she wanted back in.
“How many hours?” she asked, testing the waters.
“As many as you want.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “You don’t have a fixed number of hours?”
“I go through a fair number of virtual assistants. This particular one was based in the city, and I trusted her with more than the basics. She kept an eye on my sales figures, and returns for my stores. The rest of the VAs are abroad. Now, you could do her work, which is about 5 to 10 hours’ worth of work a week, or, if you want more, I can give you some work from the other VAs.”
“I can only work weekends.”
“You can do the work when you want, and you don’t even have to turn up at my apartment, hence it being a virtual assistant.”
“At your apartment?”
“I have an office at home.” He eyed her suspiciously. “What did you think I did?”
“I have no idea. It never occurred to me that you did any work.” She could see his jaw go hard, and knew he was grinding his teeth together, biting back on what he wanted to say. “Obviously I was wrong.” She couldn’t be mean to him. He wasn’t Shoemoney. He was trying to help her.
“It’s probably a good thing that you’re not coming to my office, Laronde. You would drive me crazy, and not in a sexy way either.”
She snorted. “Virtual is good.”
“I’ll match whatever Savannah was paying you.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I can, and because you’re local. It beats having to wait for someone to wake up in the Philippines or elsewhere. A VA in the same time zone as me, and logistically close, is better. Sometimes I need stuff done ASAP.”
“Don’t think I’m going to be at your beck and call.”
“Are you interested in working for me or not?” He seemed irritated by her reaction, and she could hardly blame him. She’d been anything but grateful. She didn’t like the idea of him being her boss, even if it was on a temporary, couple-of-hours-a-week type of arrangement, even if it was a virtual role where she didn’t even need to see him. But he’d given an easy and timely solution to her money worries.
“I—” She didn’t need to think about it for too long. She wouldn’t see any decline in earnings, given that she’d only lost the babysiting job yesterday. What was she waiting for? “Yes. I’m interested.”
“Good. Text me your email address, and I’ll send you the work piecemeal.”
“What about instructions?” What was it exactly? He’d been vague about the specifics of the job, and she was none the wiser as to what it would entail.
“You’re a college student, you’re smart, I’m sure you’ll find your way around it easily. But I’ll be sure to send you idiot-proof instructions, just in case.”