Sophie opened the door and went into the office. Alex was there, obviously. He had loosened his tie and removed his jacket, leaving him in a very well tailored shirt which was now showing a quarter inch of skin at the neck. Scandalous. He may as well have been naked according to his strait-laced requirements.
Alex made her nervous. He made everyone nervous. It was basically his entire M.O. Some of it came naturally. He was incredibly handsome and charismatic, and that could be intimidating on its own.
But there was more, too. There was a stern side to him, an almost fatherly air that didn’t quite come across as patronizing, but something far sexier.
“You asked to see me, sir?”
She threw in the ‘sir’ because she knew about his military past, and apparently she was already on his bad side for bothering to do her job. He probably thought she was insubordinate. He was right. Sophie knew full well she’d been hired above her experience level, but she was keen to show that her proficiency more than made up for it. So far, that was not working out for her — but it wouldn’t stop her trying.
Alex finished signing the papers he was working on before further acknowledging her. It was only a matter of seconds, but it was clearly designed to let her know her place. If she had been a valued client, he would have been up out of that seat and kissing the back of her hand, probably.
He sat there, looking over his papers as if they, not her, were the most important things in the world. She would have been insulted, but she didn’t have time. It was late, and she was hoping to get into bed before midnight.
Being kept waiting gave her a chance to look at him. He was very, very easy on the eyes. There was something old-fashioned and yet incredibly modern about him. He had gravitas. He had sex appeal. He had everything, more than any one man should have. What he didn’t have, as far as she knew, was a wife. Or a lover. Or any female who he seemed to give a damn about. She found herself wondering why. He couldn’t work all the time.
“Miss Pierce, I am going to do you a favor,” he finally said, looking up at her with that dark gaze.
“How nice.”
“You’ve recently come out of an MBA program, and like every MBA graduate before you, no matter how much you tell us that you’re keen to learn, you think you already know it all. In some companies, you might be right. Here, you’re wrong. Keep your head down, young lady. And keep your mouth shut. This is not the time to come to Christo’s attention.”
“Is it coming to Christo’s attention I need to worry about, or yours?” She asked the question relatively pleasantly, though there was hidden steel in her pretty blue eyes. She knew how to project strength.
He allowed the corner of a lip to curl in what might have been an attempt at a smile. “See, that tells me you have the capacity for perceptiveness. Use it.”
Sophie had the feeling she was being threatened, or at least, warned, but she had no idea about what, or why. It was clear that she wasn’t supposed to ask any more questions. She was supposed to take her orders, thank Alex, and leave.
But he’d been right the first time. She was a naughty girl. Maybe not the kind of naughty he’d called her, but the kind of naughty which meant she went her own way and did what she thought was right, which rarely if ever sat well with authority — and there could be no greater embodiment of authority than Alex Roth.
“It’s late,” he said. “Go home and go to bed.”
He was simply dismissing her, but the way he said it, it sounded like he was actually sending her to bed. She had a brief flash of being in her pajamas and having him tuck her into her bed. It was a mental image which forced a giggle out of her.
“Was there something amusing about what I said, Miss Pierce?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head.
“Are you given to random outbursts?”
“Not that I am aware of.”
Those dark eyes locked on her and found her ill-disciplined and wanting. Goddammit. Alex Roth was not a man to giggle in front of. But really, what the fuck was this? He had summoned her to his office this late, just to give her the vaguest of dire warnings about Christo. This was a big fucking waste of her time.
“Is that all, sir?”
“It is.”
“Oh. Because I thought perhaps when you asked me to stay late tonight for this meeting, there might be some substance to it.”
He lifted his head up and back, as if she’d just rocked him with a jab.