Taking the box from my hands, he dropped it heavily on my desk.
"You can unpack after our little talk."
When I stall, his hand came down onto the small of my back, shooting disturbing electricity through my body. Traitor! I confront my body. How can you be attracted to this beast? I don't even like him.
But my body and my brain are determined to be at war. I didn't like it one bit.
I can't help jumping when he slams the door shut behind us. I turn to face him. He is not the sort of man I would feel comfortable trusting my back to.
"Your contract states if for any reason you want to resign," he starts, perching one butt cheek on the edge of his desk. "Then you can do so with the expressed approval of your boss."
"That- that contract applied to Mr. Cather," I point out. "Not to you. This is no longer Cather Publishing."
"The name may have changed but I inherited all the employees by nature of my contract with Cather," he states. "Or do you want to get our lawyers involved in this case? Because if you walk out that door, Miss. Emmy, you owe me ten months' salary."
"That's preposterous," I announce. "It's not as if I'm taking any payment with me. Whatever I am to be paid can easily be paid to your new PA. You're not losing anything by me leaving."
"Let me make this clear to you, Emmy. I was promised a PA who already knows the ins and outs of this company and that's exactly what I will have."
"I can recommend someone else," I insist. "There's the—"
"Enough!"
I really need to stop jumping at the sound of this man's voice and giving him physical evidence of how intimidated by him I am.
"Mr. James." " I repeated. "This is not going to be a good working relationship. I'm afraid I don't think I will suit as your PA. We- we are too different in personality. Frankly, I don't think I can like you."
His booming laugh is a surprise. He throws his head back, his face awash with amusement at whatever it is I said which he found funny. The sound resonates within me as I watch the transformation in his face from that laugh.
His features soften, his blue eyes twinkled with warmth instead of coldness and his lips soften instead of flattening in a disapproving line.
He is even more gorgeous when relaxed. Too bad it's at my expense.
"What does, you liking me, have to do with you doing your job?" he enquires, his eyes still crinkling from mirth. "Once you do your job the way you're supposed to, liking me is of very little consequence.
I've enough liking in my personal life without adding that to my professional life. I'm not here to be your friend. Just your boss."
"Mr. James, I feel you are not understanding me," I try again. "I'm sure you understand the nature of a PA's job. It means working closely with each other and I'm not comfortable around you. You don't know how to respect personal space."
"Whatever do you mean my dear Miss Emmy?' He mocks me and deliberately moves away from the desk to walk up to me, crowding me, stealing my breath. "Is this invading your personal space?"
"You-you know it is."
"My question though to you is, why does my presence bother you so much?"
"it's not your presence but you who bother me, Mr. James. You're trying to intimidate me."
"And is it working?"
"No, it is not!" I deny it but take a couple of steps away from him to restore my breathing properly to my aching lungs. "Because I am leaving. You're being unreasonable with the request for ten months' salary."
"I am?" he continues in his mocking tone. "Then what would you say when the assault charge is added to it?"
My eyes widen in shock. "Assault charge? I never assaulted anyone."
"No, you didn't? Did I see you hit the security guard with a weapon?"
"Will you stop making stuff up!"
"I'm a witness. I'm sure you deliberately pushed that box at him."
"That's no weapon and he was standing in my way! I did tell him to move!"
"Tell that to his judge."
My mouth bobbed open like a fish as I struggle to find a response. What an odious man! I am disliking him more and more by the minute. And what a pity too.
A line from GRL's song Ugly Heart comes to my mind "It's such a pity a boy so pretty With an ugly heart." They must have written that song with this man in mind.
"What you're doing is not right," I told him in one last attempt to appeal to his kinder side. A side I still have yet to see. "You know I'm replaceable. I have no idea why you won't let me out of that contract."
"Let's just say I have my inner motives," he replies and walks behind his desk. "You're dismissed, Emmy. You may go and unpack your box. I will need you to help me tackle a few projects today.
Close the door behind you, will you? And don't make any attempt to leave Emmy. I think you know enough about me to understand everything I say, I mean it. Understand? Go"
" understand," I say stiffly and walk towards the door, my back erect from the anger I am holding in.
"And Emmy," he adds, stopping me when I am about to close the door. "You'll thank me someday."
I give him my frostiest look. "With all due respect, Sir. I highly doubt it."
I close the door quietly behind me but mentally I had slammed it into his cocky face.
I wish.
"Emmy, I need you."
I grit my teeth in anger, wishing I could tell him whatever he needs to go fetch himself. All morning I've been playing fetches like his puppy and he my master. It's like the man doesn't know how to do anything himself or he lives to torment me.
Personally, I think it's the latter. I've never worked so much in my entire life and my job description seems to have added fetching his breakfast.
This morning when he asked me to drive the fifteen minutes Downtown to Hudson Café and get him breakfast, I hadn't believed he was serious. Only he was. And had threatened to send me back too when I'd messed up his order and brought him back the wrong type of eggs.
He'd accused me of deliberately messing his order up and I wish I had been smart enough to think of that.
Sending me back out to get him breakfast would be better than this. My stomach was growling, reminding me the only thing I've munched on all day was an apple. That had been so long ago, I don't remember what it tasted like.
My lunch hour had passed half an hour ago and I still have yet to go for lunch because I've been making calls for him since I refilled his cup of coffee.
"Emmy!"
This time he is standing at the door of his office. "Didn't you hear me call you?"
"I'm coming," I answer. Then under my breath, I add, "your majesty."
"What did you say?" he asks.
"I said I'm coming."
I am hungry and getting pissed with every minute that ticks by and I don't get to go for lunch. I walk into his office, following him inside and leaving the door open.
"Close the door."
I don't bother to argue but do as he says. I discover it's less headache if I don't argue with him. Besides, I can get through this one day because regardless of his threats I am not returning here tomorrow.
It takes a while for me to register his office is all torn up. The chairs and other seats were pushed to one side and the carpet rolled up. The walls bear patches where he had removed the paintings that had hung there since the day I first walked through the doors of Cather's.
"I'm redecorating the office," he states as if it isn't obvious. "I need you to help me to pick out samples for repainting the wall as well as different chairs. This all looks too stuffy. I want a modern office."
When I don't respond, he glances over his shoulder at me. "Well, don't just stand there. Get over here and help me go through these catalogues."
"Umm shouldn't you wait to order what you want before tearing up the office?" I ask, tentatively moving over to his desk where he has various catalogues strewn.
"It doesn't matter. The furniture will be here tomorrow anyway."
"And you haven't ordered them yet?" I asked dubiously.
He flashes me his devastating grin. "You're forgetting one thing, Emmy. I'm James."