I Can Explain (Awkward Love 2)

“Calm down, I’ll come in,” I say as I roll my eyes. “But you so you owe me for this.”

I get change into my work clothes and grab my keys and then make my way downstairs to my hail a cab. In the end, I decide to walk. It’s not that far from his place, and me being a few minutes late isn’t going to kill him. If he’d promoted me already like we agreed, then he’d have another assistant there, ready to kiss his ass. Hold on. I’m not sure I like that idea.

Everytime I broach the subject of my internship, he promises me it’s happening soon. First, it was waiting until the latest mergers were settled before introducing me to the team, but then, we were so close to the next quarter that he wanted to wait until then. I trust him that it’s coming, but if it doesn’t happen soon, I might have to withhold sex. I chuckle. That will speed things up.

I walk toward Chase’s office, I run into Peyton. I frown at her.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, her eyes wide.

“Nothing,” I mumble, confused. “It’s just that Chase asked me to come in because he was snowed under because you’d called in sick.”

She laughs, looking at me like I’m crazy. “What? I haven’t called in sick all year. Come find me when you speak to him though, okay? I have to get this to the mailroom or he’ll have a stroke.” She rolls her eyes and rushes off, still laughing as she disappears down the hallway.

I shake my head and walk through my small office, to Chase’s door, knocking gently on it. He calls out for me to come in, so I do.

“What is this about? I thought you said that Peyton…”

My voice trails off when I see Philip sitting on the other side of Chase's desk. They both stand up and smile at me.

“Hi,” I say, feeling flustered.

What the hell is this all about?

Chase motions for me to sit down. I walk over and sit next to Phillip. I glare at Chase, because I hate being blindsided. He knows that better than anyone. I have no idea what’s going on, and if I don’t find out soon, I’m going to snap.

“Philip asked me to get you in here,” he says.

Well that confuses the hell out of me. Why would he want to see me?

He motions for Phillip to talk, who nods and turns to me.

“Chase came to me a few months ago with an interesting proposal. At first, I was ready to laugh him out of the room, but then I decided to hear him out. By the end of it, I was ready to take a chance on a company that was struggling and would appear to have nothing to offer.” He pauses and glances back at Chase.

“I’m not sure if you know that we closed that deal two months ago.”

I glance at Chase. “Why didn’t you tell me that?” I frown.

“Hear Phillip out,” he asks me.

I turn back to Phillip, who continues.

“We redeveloped their entire marketing strategy, their manufacturing process and their management. We thought about what we should be highlighting about the product and went with it. Everything was overhauled, except for the product. Last month, that product alone produced one of our biggest profit months in our history.”

“When I told Phillip the takeover was your idea, he didn’t believe me,” Chase adds.

Phillip nods. “I struggled to see potential in that company, so I couldn’t see how someone with little experience in this field could. I’ve been looking into you, Alana. I know you graduated college majoring in statistics in business, and you have been working here ever since, right?”

“That’s right,” I say.

“What do you want to do?” he asks.

I glance at Chase. “Well, I want to work for the analytics department here—”

“Such a waste,” he cuts in, shaking his head. “I want to offer you a job with my company.”

“You want me to work for you?” I ask, shocked. I glance at Chase.

“No, not for me, with me,” Phillip corrects. “I’m offering to mentor you, Alana. Show you everything I know.”

“I don’t know what to say,” I reply, too stunned to think of anything else. I glance at Chase, who smiles at me.

“You can start with yes,” Phillip laughs.

“It's an amazing opportunity. I wouldn’t be hesitating to say yes,” Chase agrees.

“I guess there is only one thing for me to say, then,” I grin. “Yes.”

“Fantastic. Call my assistant and arrange a meeting so we can go over the final details.” He nods. “Chase, I'll leave you to it.” I wait until Philip has left the room before I run around and throw my arms around Chase's neck. He laughs as I kiss him.

“Did you have anything at all to do with that?” I ask narrowing my eyes at him. He shakes his head.