Love In High Stakes

Chapter 16

After some time, Jane came into Olivia's office and had her work contract signed. Olivia was pleased with the terms.

The atmosphere that prevailed in the office was magical. Olivia was certain that many people would love to work here. She was lucky to have been selected to be part of the Sterling family. While she was flipping the catalogue that lay on her desk, a tap on the door caught her attention."Come in, please," Olivia said politely.As soon as the door opened, Olivia sprung from her chair."Hi, Olivia. How are you doing?" Alexander asked as he stepped in."H—Hi... I'm great," Olivia stuttered.Alexander's aura was very captivating and he was hot in the dark grey suit. Olivia felt her heart racing, yet she masked her expressions. On her first day of work, she would not want her boss to feel how drawn she was to him."Please, have a seat. You don't need to get up when you see me," Alexander smiled at Olivia."Out of respect for my boss—""Call me Alex. We are associates," Alexander approached Olivia's desk as he spoke.Then, Alexander pulled the chair opposite Olivia, sitting in."So, Olivia. I would like you to familiarise yourself with the kind of designs I'm looking for our next project. Side by side, I would also like you to get to know the VIPs of our company. You already met Lucas Kennedy, our investor who owns 20 % equity in our company and he manages all of our accounts and investments. We have a meeting today with the other board members and I shall introduce you to them."Hearing Lucas' name, Olivia felt her head reeling, but she had to control her emotions."Alright," Olivia muttered."As far as the designs are concerned, I'm very much open to suggestions and fresh ideas," Alexander said."May I know what's the next project?""I would need you to design our next office tower that is scheduled to open in a few months. So, tomorrow afternoon, I need to see the designs for my office. You will be working with our architect, Pablo. He will submit the floor plan to you so that you can work on the space plan," Alexander explained."Noted," Olivia replied.She was quite confident to produce some designs for Alexander's office only, by tomorrow. She made up her mind that once Alexander would leave, she would start right away.For a second, Olivia could not take her eyes off Alexander's handsome face, deep blue eyes and figure. It could be that Alexander mistook it for her nervousness and he stood up to leave."I'll catch you up later. Make yourself comfortable. I'm sending Pablo in."Olivia's words got stuck and she could only nod.As she watched Alexander leave, she heaved a sigh of relief, but cursed, "Are you out of your mind?!"Olivia could not believe that she was growing restless around Alexander and she thought that she should keep her emotions under check now and then when he would appear behind her.Olivia diverted her mind to the task assigned to her until Pablo came in. He was of the same age as Olivia, a hot Spanish gentleman, and very helpful.Pablo and Olivia worked on the designs for about an hour straight. At least, Olivia was glad to work with colleagues who were very skilled and experienced. Therefore, she would get to learn more from them.***Two hours later, Lydia came into Olivia's office, requesting her to follow her to the meeting room. Olivia felt a bit nervous as she knew that she would be introduced to the other members. She was wondering how she would be treated as an inexperienced employee in the conference room.To Olivia's surprise, all the executives smiled at her when she stepped in. They received the memo about Olivia Montgomery joining as the interior designer for Sterling."Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," Olivia greeted everybody with a sweet smile."Good morning, Miss Olivia," they all replied in unison."Hi, I'm Cecilia, the project director. Are you comfortable here?" Cecilia introduced herself and asked Olivia, who sat next to her."Nice to meet you, Cecilia. Yes, I am," Olivia replied gladly.After some time, Alexander and the other three elder executives walk in. Seeing everybody standing up to greet them, Olivia followed suit.As everybody settled down, Alexander introduced Olivia to his partners."They are the board members; Mr. Ford, Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Vanderbilt. Gentlemen, she is Miss Olivia Montgomery, our new associate.""Welcome on board, young lady," Mr. Carnegie said.Then the other two joined in. Olivia thanked them and she suddenly felt like a star. From nothing and nowhere, in just one day, she was treated with kindness and respect. Moreover, she was standing in New York City's most prominent tycoons."Today is just to get together after so long for lunch and I seized the opportunity for Miss Olivia to be acquainted with her associates," Alexander said."Why don't you say that it's your birthday today and you want to celebrate with us?" Mr. Ford laughed."Right! Why? Don't I have the right to celebrate my birthday with my colleagues?" Alexander raised one brow and smiled.Olivia could not believe what she had just heard. It was Alexander Sterling's birthday and he chose to be in the office with all of them, instead of taking a day off. Olivia found it a sweet gesture.As Olivia turned her head in the far-end corner, she noticed that food had been displayed and that there were two waiters on standby."Come on, everyone, please head to the food section and enjoy yourselves," Alexander announced.Immediately, everyone got up and walked towards the two waiters. The amazing hors d'oeuvres exhibited before Olivia left her enthralled.Cecilia was always next to Olivia, making sure that she was at ease. Olivia sensed that Cecilia wanted to be her best colleague and she did not mind.Suddenly, the door of the conference room opened and a latecomer arrived. All eyes turned on the handsome man.