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He grinned. “That I do, but we all know you are the queen of secretaries. Besides, this is of a more… personal nature.”
When I frowned, he continued.
“See, there’s this gala that we throw every year. It’s my job to find my friends a date for the thing. I already know I’m going to struggle this year. Perhaps you’d be willing to go with one of them and make my job a little easier?”
I snickered. “You’re not serious.”
“As a heart attack, sweetheart. Bennett and Grayson can’t be trusted to pick their own dates. And going stag is just sad. Say you’ll do it.” He gave me his best puppy dog look.
I shook my head slowly. “You’re silly. But if it’s a company event, I’m pretty sure Alan and I will be going together.”
His face pulled into a tragic look, and he clutched at his chest dramatically. “Ah, the boyfriend. I completely forgot. What if I give him a raise in exchange for him relinquishing you for the night? Getting those two dates gets harder every year.”
He was such a goofball, and I seriously enjoyed hanging out with him. He and Bennett both were becoming some of my closest friends and whenever they showed up at my desk, my day got better, especially when the conversations were as silly as this.
“I seriously doubt he’d take you up on that. But if you need help, I’m sure a few of my friends would love an excuse to get dressed up and eat fancy food.”
He perked up. “Really? That would be excellent. If they’re friends with you, I can’t imagine them being as ditzy and money hungry as I’m used to dealing with.”
Rolling my eyes, I wrote a note in my notebook about calling some of my friends about the gala. “They’re very smart and have their own jobs. They aren’t gold diggers. I’ll send them a message and see if they’re free.”
He beamed at me. “You’re the best, Julie. I only wish I could whisk you away from the boyfriend and keep you for myself. You’re too perfect for words.”
Unwilling to encourage him, I shooed him away and got back to work. His flirting was too over the top to take seriously. I was concerned at first that he’d get into trouble with that sort of behavior. I didn’t want him causing more stress for Mr Andrews, but everyone seemed to love him and, like he said, he only did the flirting thing with the people he knew wouldn’t take offense. It didn’t bother me because I knew he wasn’t serious about it. He was just outgoing and playful. He didn’t make me uncomfortable with it and I honestly looked forward to it. Alan wasn’t really big on flirting or complimenting me. He said I should already know how he feels and not demand more from him. I tried to pretend it didn’t bother me, but sometimes… it did.
Chapter Ten
JULIE
I got the phone call from Priya about the documents arriving just as we were about to leave for the meeting with Mr Vanderbilt. I told her I’d stop by and pick it up on our way out and hustled to grab everything I needed before we left. This was the first time Mr Andrews was bringing me with to a meeting and I wanted to be prepared so my purse was stuffed to the gills with things we might need. I hoisted it over my shoulder and grabbed his jacket, holding it out for him. He took it with a polite thank you and led the way to the elevator.
When we reached the ground floor, Bennett was standing by the front desk, looking through the mail that had just been delivered. Out of everyone, Bennett was my closest friend here. He was so kind. I found it hard to imagine that Luka would find anyone who wouldn’t want to go on a date with him.
“Bennett!”
He jerked his head up, his lips quirking up when we approached. “Hi, Julie. Where are you going?”
“We’ve got a meeting. We’ll be late for lunch, so do me a favor and distract Luka or he’ll harangue me the entire way back,” Mr Andrews said with a growl.
Bennett frowned. “How late?”
It took less than a few days to figure out just how much these guys cared for their friend. They constantly checked in with him and made sure he was doing okay. It was sweet, and I couldn’t help but snicker at the exasperated look on Mr Andrews’s face. Even if he was annoyed by it, he admitted once that he valued their friendships and tried not to take for granted how much they cared.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure we stop by the cafeteria on the way back. You can even meet us there if you want to make sure,” I interjected, smiling as Priya handed me the files. I tucked them carefully into my purse, wiggling my fingers at her as we headed towards the door. Bennett followed, his hands stuck in his pockets.
“Sure. Just shoot me a text and I’ll meet you down there.”
Mr Andrews sighed. “We will. Now we really have to be going. I’ll see you later.”
Bennett raised an eyebrow at his friend before turning to me. “Don’t let him overwork you, Julie. You’re too valuable here to lose.”
My face warmed, and I beamed at him. “I won’t. Thanks for thinking of me. See you later!”
He waved as we climbed into the back of the town car that was waiting for us. Since Mr Andrews had a headache issue, I’d taken to ordering the town car service for big meetings. I convinced him by reminding him he needed to make an impression at meetings like this and showing up with a driver was a good impression. He wasn’t happy about it, he didn’t like frivolous spending, but he agreed eventually and it helped us worry less about him driving while in pain.
The meeting itself was longer than we thought. When Mr Andrews said Mr Vanderbilt wasn’t easy to work with, I didn’t realize just how true that fact was. He was specific to the point of anal retentive and a lot of my notes contradicted themselves to the point where I had to quietly ask Mr Andrews to clarify a few things. Mr Vanderbilt was also an older man and talked in circles a lot before getting to the point. By the time we got to be on the same page, I’d heard almost half his life story.
Mr Andrews stood, shaking the man’s hand. “I’ll have the contract written up and sent to you as soon as possible.”
