Читать книгу Crave - Jessa James - Страница 9

A few days later, Cam straightened her stockings beneath her dress and shifted in her seat. She was looking through page after page of scanned financial documents, and coming up with nothing. And the damn stockings she wore took some getting used to, not that Erika cared.

After telling her editor a little bit of the drama — namely that she’d flirted with Smith at a bar prior to working for him — she’d gotten a stipend to go shopping.

She had plenty of dresses for work, and said so… but that didn’t stop Erika from giving her the stipend.

“Get some stockings, and the matching garters… and don’t forget panties,” Erika said. “Men love matching panties.”

Cam wasn’t sure what to say to that. She should turn red and stammer about how Smith was never going to see her panties, but he already had. She wasn’t sure how far she could go with her lie about whether or not they’d gone home together, so she bit her tongue and let it pass.

Now she was sitting in the office, staring out the window at the gorgeous view, and wondering if Smith had even noticed her lingerie. It was stupid to worry about, seeing as how he’d been hellbent on ignoring her the last few days.

She looked at the clock on her computer. It was almost noon. Time for Smith to go to lunch, and for her to clean his office.

It turned out that Smith had a compulsive streak of tidiness. Every day, he put all his trash in the trash can, and then sat the can next to the door. When she hadn’t noticed it the first day, he’d took her aside and showed her that the trash went into a bin downstairs.

He also showed her the cleaning closet, a sleek chrome panel in the wall of his office that opened to show a dazzling array of cleaning products. Every day at noon, she was expected to vacuum, dust, and polish everything in his office.

And she’d learned to be quick about it; the first time she cleaned, she took the whole lunch hour, trying to be perfect. She was alarmed when he came back from lunch as she was finishing, and then launched into composing a letter, expecting her to transcribe as he dictated.

Her stomach had growled all afternoon that day, until she could sneak away for a couple quick bites of her lunch. Smith Calloway was a little more than particular, that was for sure.

She sighed. Picking up her purse, she rummaged around inside and pulled out a necklace. The necklace had a locket, a little gold one, its etching worn smooth from being touched. She rubbed the outside of the locket now, comforting herself.

The phone rang at her desk, and she answered it.

“Hello?”

“Yes, this is the senior Mr. Calloway’s office calling,” a nasally older woman responded. “Mr. Calloway would like a meeting with both you and his son, as soon as possible.”

Cam’s hand flew to her throat. Had Smith complained about her to his father? She’d barely been here a week!

“Certainly,” she said, though it came out sounding weak.

“Mr. Calloway would prefer it if you came now. Will that be possible?”

“Let me check,” she said, putting the woman on hold. She put the necklace back in her purse quickly.

She took a deep breath, exhaled, and then went to Smith’s office door. She knocked, and was told to come in.

“What is it?” Smith asked, not looking up from his computer.

“Your father wants to see us both in his office. Now, if possible.”

She tried not to let her voice shake, tried to stand tall. It wasn’t as if she’d done anything wrong… yet.

“Us?” he said, pausing.

“Yes. Both of us,” she said.

He remained perfectly neutral, which she had learned to expect from him.

“All right. Tell them we’ll come up now,” he said, closing his laptop.

Cam nodded, hurrying back out to give the secretary the heads-up. When she hung up, Smith was at the doorway, his expression hooded.

She cleared her throat.

“Do you, um… do you know what this is about?” she asked.

He glanced at her, his midnight blue eyes curious. “I have no idea.”

She swallowed back any other questions she had. After all, she was about to find out what the big boss said, wasn’t she?

Smith was strangely quiet as they rode the elevator to his father’s office. Cam couldn’t help but notice that he seemed on edge. Then again, in Cam’s limited experience, he always seemed on edge where his father was concerned.

She let him lead the way to the senior Calloway’s office. She stepped into the room after Smith, her eyes going wide at how big the space was. The office was easily double the size of Smith’s, with a huge oak desk and stylized chairs sitting before it.

Spencer Calloway stood up as they entered, waving them into the chairs. “Sit, sit.”

Cam glanced at Smith as she took a seat. He looked foreboding, to say the least.

“What are we here for?” Smith asked, matter-of-factly.

“You’ll excuse my son,” Spencer said to Cam. “Of course, being his executive assistant, you undoubtedly already know of his short temper.”

Smith gave his father a flat look. After a moment of indecision, Cam decided to stick up for Smith.

“He’s always perfectly even-tempered with me,” she lied smoothly, putting a smile on her face.

Spencer’s brows shot up a fraction. “Well, isn’t that nice. Smith, isn’t it nice that your employee speaks highly of you?”

Smith looked like there were about a thousand conversations he’d rather be having than this one. He shifted in his chair, his patience wearing thin.

“Very nice. Now do you mind telling us why you’ve called us in here?”

“I want you to take over running Europe,” his father said casually.

She saw Smith sit up a little straighter. “What? Why?”

“Relax. I’m going to focus on running things here in the US. For me to really concentrate, I’ll have to hand over Europe to you. Think of it as a promotion,” he said.

“I… thank you,” Smith said.

“Obviously it will involve some travel,” Spencer said. “In fact, I was hoping that you two would leave tomorrow for the office in Paris. Provide some oversight, let them know that we’re still paying attention. And see the sights, of course.”

Her jaw dropped. Paris wasn’t part of her plan, but how could she say no?

Spencer winked at her, even as Smith scowled.

“We won’t have time for sightseeing,” Smith said.

“Oh, I’m sure you will,” Spencer said, waving. “You’ll figure it out.”

Spencer turned to Cameron. “You’d be willing to go, wouldn’t you?”

“I… I mean, of course,” she said, her cheeks turning pink.

“Have you been before?”

“No, but I have a passport,” she replied.

“Good. You’ll be paid time and a half for your entire trip,” Spencer said.

“Thank you, sir,” she said.

She felt Smith’s eyes on her, demanding something from her, but she had no idea what that might be. Spencer leaned back in his seat and grinned.

“All right, that’s all. You’d both better head home and start packing.”

“Thank you,” she said again, getting up and following Smith out.

They made it to the elevators before he rounded on her, lecturing her in a whisper.

“Do us both a favor. Email my father right now, and tell him you’re sorry but you can’t take the assignment.”

“What? Why?” she whispered back.

His eyes flashed with anger.

“Because you can’t handle international travel,” he said, stepping into the elevator. “It’s going to be a lot of long hours and close quarters.”

She arched a brow, crossing her arms. “And?”

He reached out and pressed the STOP button on the elevator panel, and they lurched to a halt.

“And I, for one, want this trip to be entirely professional.”

“Are you saying that I am not professional?”

“It’s all well and good for you to run around here in your stockings,” he said, pinning her with his gaze. “Yes, I did fucking notice them, so well done on that account. But my father just put me in charge of Europe, which he’s never even talked about before. I’m not going to let him down by staring at you rather than working.”

“All I’m hearing is how you are going to be adversely affected by us working together,” Cameron said, narrowing her eyes. “It was one night! Just one night. Surely you can forget it.”

Smith stepped closer, caging her in a corner. “Of course I can. I’m worried that you can’t.”

She lifted her chin, determined not to lose her position now. She raised a finger, ready to chastise him.

“Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself,” she said, poking him in the chest.

He grabbed her hand, and the contact ran through her like an electric shock. She wasn’t sure what it was about him that made her body react, but every time they touched it was like being connected with a live wire.

For a second, they stood like that. Smith holding her hand, Cam looking indignant. Both of them so close together, mere inches separated them.

Cam saw him break first, his gaze slipping down to her lips. She licked them nervously, and wondered if he’d lean in, maybe kiss her.

Then he stepped back, dropping her hand, and shook his head.

“Fine,” he said, pressing the STOP button again. “Don’t come crying to me when this doesn’t play out like you want it to, though.”

“How exactly do you think I want this to play out?” she hissed.

He frowned, and she didn’t say anything else. When the elevator doors opened, she got off, but he didn’t.

“See you tomorrow,” she said.

He merely cocked a brow and pressed the down button. The doors closed in her face.

Cam exhaled. That was who she would have to put up with for the duration of her trip to Paris, apparently.

Straightening her back, she went to go get her things. She had a trip to prepare for.