Chapter 18
JEREMIAH
She fucking called. Hell yeah!
I was this close to fist bumping the air. All morning, I’d been on edge. I was thrilled to finally be on the phone with her.
Sitting in my Monday morning meeting with some of the other execs, I lost count of the times I looked at my watch or checked my phone.
Now I only hoped she was calling for the right reasons. “Have you got an answer for me?”
Silence greeted me on the other end of the line. Neil texted me to give me the heads up he was putting through a call from her, but she hadn’t said a word to me yet. “Stephanie? Hello? Are you there?”
I heard what sounded like a sigh or perhaps a scuffle for the phone, then her sweet voice came on. “Hi, Mr. Williams. Sorry about that, bad connection.”
Did that even happen anymore? “No problem. I was starting to wonder if you were going to call. I’m glad you did.”
“You are?” She sounded dubious. What the hell?
“I am,” I said. “I believe you promised me an answer this morning, so what’s it going to be?”
There was another awkward pause during which silence reigned. I wondered about the connection. Maybe she was right, and it was bad. “Stephanie?”
“I’m here,” she said. Her voice was higher on the phone, sounded breathier.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine.” She answered quickly, sounding more like herself again. And what are you, an expert on the inflection of Stephanie Donavan’s voice?
Ordering myself to cut it out with the internal running commentary, I rested my butt on my desk and stared out at the slightly smoggy blue sky above the city skyline. “Good to hear. You’re calling with your answer?”
“I am,” she said hesitating. Why did this conversation feel so awkward today?
“And?” I prompted when she got quiet again. “Have you made the right decision?”
“Depends on your opinion of what’s right.” The words rushed out of her, and I could almost feel the regret that she couldn’t take them back. I, for one, didn’t regret them at all.
There she is. That was the girl whose call I’d been waiting for, the spirited one who spoke her mind. “My opinion is what’s right.”
“Is that what it’s going to be like working for you? Do you honestly believe you’re always right?”
My heart rate sped up. “Is that your way of saying yes to working for me?”
She sighed. More sounds of a scuffle filtered through my phone, like someone was trying to grab her phone or something. She let out a little huff and then said the words I’d been waiting to hear. “Yes, that’s my way of saying I’ll come work for you. As your secretary.”
She emphasized the last word. I smirked, trying to stop myself from getting hard at the memory of how she’d looked calling me out on wanting a slut instead. So confident, so real. “I got that part. Secretary. You’ve got yourself a deal. Welcome to Williams Inc Stephanie Donavan.”
“Thank you,” she said, her voice lower. Less certain. Shit. She’d made the call, but I could tell she was still wondering if it was the right thing to have done. Which meant my job wasn’t done yet. Getting her on board wasn’t going to be my biggest hurdle, keeping her here might be.
Usually, human resources took care of orientation for new hires. In this case, I was going to make an exception. “Are you still able to start immediately?”
“I am,” she said, followed by a quiet exhale. “Do you need me to come in this morning?”
Fuck, I needed her to have started last week. Never mind coming in this morning. Sliding my eyes to the large round industrial looking clock that hung behind my door, I realized my next meeting started in ten minutes. I wouldn’t be out of the conference room again for hours.
“No, not today.” Surely I could survive one more day without a secretary. “Tomorrow morning will be fine.”
Sounding relieved, she said, “Tomorrow morning it is. What time should I be there?”