The Assistant

Chapter 4

As Winona sipped on her mint lemonade, a gust of wind blew her black coils over her face, blocking her view of Immanuel's chiseled jaw clenching and unclenching as he spoke into his cellphone. He was clearly upset at the person on the other end of the line, and the way his brows pulled in as he fought to remain calm only made him all the more alluring. She had to look away to deny her attraction toward him.

"You know, Annalise, it's not just my time you are wasting every time you skip out on these meetings. You are now wasting the time of my organization and everyone who works around the clock to legitimize your organization." He dragged a hand over his face, irritated with the excuses in his ear. "We can't afford to let our community down. EFO will no longer be partnering with you."

Winona flinched when he hung up the phone and threw it in front of him. She could tell he had completely lost his appetite when he tried to bite into his lunch and grimaced. "So, does this happen often with community partners?"

"Very," he responded. "Many community based organizations only join a movement for clout, but they're not genuine in the work they do. We end up dropping partners every couple of months and pick up again once there's an event worth protesting."

"It does more damage than good." She couldn't explain why she took his hand in hers, but when he squeezed her fingers, she held onto him tighter. It brought him comfort, and it was nothing more than a friendly gesture in his perspective. "I'm grateful to be part of EFO."

"You told Bradley you used to volunteer before the merge. He's been with the company for awhile. Wouldn't he have known?"

She pulled back, afraid of where the conversation was headed, but he kept a firm hold of her hand. "What are you getting at?"

Realizing how uncomfortable he had made her, he shook his head and waved his hand, dismissing the topic. "Forget I mentioned it. We should head back to the office since Annalise won't be showing up."

"And waste my hour long break today?" When Winona stood up and began walking to the front of the diner, Immanuel was forced to follow.

He quickly grabbed his wallet before she could reach the counter and presented it to the hostess. "Where should we spend the rest of our lunch break?"

"I'm craving ice cream, but you have to let me pay."

"We'll see." After receiving his card back, he led her outside where he had his black sedan parked. He tried to open the passenger door to let her in, but she had moved too quickly for him and opened it herself.

Winona wasn't expecting to be out her entire work shift, but when she and Immanuel returned to work without being scolded, she truly started believing her title held too much authority. Either that or Immanuel's immunity against Kyrie was infectious.

After she'd gathered all her personal belongings from her office and locked up, she made her way back to the lobby where the other employees of EFO were waiting for the elevator. Immanuel was standing by the stairwell, typing ferociously away on his phone, and Queen was having an intense one sided conversation with him. When she noticed Winona across the lobby, she waved her over, urging her to join them.