Love Untold

Love Untold: Chapter 24

Love Untold: Chapter 24

Chrissie dropped her head to her desk, rubbing her temples.  She woke up this morning with a massive headache, and it wouldn’t go away.  She didn’t know if it was from the hypnosis yesterday -- Dr. Gray warned her about the side effects, but they were rare -- or if it was from her sleepwalking for most of the night.

Her closet was in shambles this morning when she pulled herself out of Dena’s bed.  Dresses, shoes, and underwear were everywhere.  Dena said she spent hours changing clothes and modeling them and dancing in her panties throughout the house, and the thought that Race might have seen her parading around in nothing but a few scraps of lace horrified her.  He’d already left for his morning ride when she got up, so she was saved the embarrassment of facing him.  

Yet, unable to put off going back to work, she dressed and arrived at her downtown office barely an hour ago.  Brian, her trustworthy assistant, recounted the events from her week and a half absence, and after placing her mail and messages on her desk, he left her alone.  Which was a good thing.  She had a lot of stuff to catch up on, but all she could think about was the video from Dr. Gray’s office.

I can’t believe I kissed him like that.

Was that really what happened the first time she met Race?  He uttered some crazy, stupid pick-up line, and she kissed him senseless?

Chrissie stared at herself in the video, wondering, Who is that?  That’s not me!  I would never do that!

A sharp knock on her open door brought her head up and her mind out of her inner hysteria.  “Chrissie,” Brian said, “Mrs. Fisk just confirmed your meeting today for eleven o’clock.”

“Thank you, Brian,” she said, squeezing the bridge of her nose to ease the tension behind her eyes.  They felt like she’d dipped them into a bucket of sand, and her throat was scratchy and dry as if she swallowed cotton balls with her morning coffee.

“Are you alright, Chrissie?” Brian asked, looking at her with some confusion and concern.  Chrissie attempted a little smile.  She always liked Brian, even right from the start.  He was competent and eager to learn, and she never had to tell him to do something twice.  Half the time, he did all those chores that popped into her head before they popped.

At only the age of twenty-four, her assistant was more valuable to her than any other employee, and up until now, apparently, she’d not been very forthcoming with her trust in the young man.  He wasn’t classically good-looking, nor did he have any of that boyish charm.  Instead, Brian reminded her of what her brother would be like -- if she had one.  Geeky to the point where it was actually fashionable, he typically wore off-colored jeans -- like the brick-red ones today -- and t-shirts with those stupid sayings, “Tetris taught me the fundamentals of architecture.”  His dark blond hair was always sticking up at the oddest angles, and the thick-rimmed glasses framing his eyes reminded her of something her grandfather would wear.

But the boy could manage an office better than Jimmy Choo made platform heels.  Chrissie had not explained in depth the reason for her recent absence, and he had not asked any questions, comfortable with just allowing her the time to deliver such information as she deemed important.  However, the fact that she yet to thank him for taking up her slack weighed heavily on her mind.  Would the previous Chrissie done such a thing?

“I’m fine,” she answered his previous question.  He nodded and turned to go.  Chrissie called him back, “Brian, would you come in and close the door?  I need to speak to you for a minute.”

Looking very worried, he did as she requested and sat on the small sofa in front of her desk.  “Um...did I do something wrong?  I know I didn’t call you much last week, but nothing overly important came across my desk, and...”

Chrissie smiled at him.  “No, Brian.  Everything’s fine.  In fact, I wanted to personally thank you for helping me out when I couldn’t be here.  You’ve done a fantastic job, and I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

He blushed to the root of his eyebrows.  “Um...okay...no problem.”

Picking up her rubberband ball, she studied him.  “Brian, what are your plans for the future?”

His eyes shot up to her face, smothering her with dread.  “My plans?  I don’t...Am I being fired?”

She laughed.  “Did I not just tell you how invaluable you are to me?  Why on earth would I fire you after saying something like that?”

He lowered his brows.  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

She sighed and bounced the ball off the desk.  “Why does everyone keep asking me that?  I’m fine.  I’ve just had a wake-up call lately, and you didn’t answer my question.”

He studied her intensely for another moment.  Then he shrugged.  “I’m happy here.  The work here is...well, it’s okay.”

“Just okay?  Come on, Brian, be honest with me.  You won’t hurt my feelings.”

He shifted his glance to the ball in her hand and eased back a little.  Chrissie realized he was afraid she’d launch it at him.  She calmly stuck it in her desk drawer.  He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses.  “You won’t get mad...or anything?”

“I promise,” she vowed with a hearty smile and crossed her heart like a child would.

“Okay...um...well, the work here is fine...wonderful!  It’s wonderful, more than I ever dreamed of, you took a chance on me, coming right out of college and all, but...”

“But?”

He played with his glasses again.  “But...I feel like...like I’m just your...errand boy sometimes.”  He spoke in a rush that last part and blanched, clenching his eyes closed and rearing back from her.  Obviously, her temper was a notorious one.

Chrissie couldn’t help it.  She giggled.  He slowly opened his eyes and gaped at her.  “Oh, Brian!  I needed that.”

“Um...needed what?”

“Someone other than Dena or Race to tell me how bad I’ve been,” she said, grinning at him.  “Okay, here’s the deal.  I like you--”

“Um, Chrissie,” he sputtered, and she cut him off, “I don’t mean it like that.  I meant I like you as my assistant, and possibly as my partner.”

Behind the round lenses of his glasses, he blinked at her.  “P-partner?”

“Yeah, partner,” she confirmed with a nod.  “The business is doing great, and with the Fisk job we’ve secured, we’ll be getting more clients from that circle of society.  I’m going to need a partner, and you’re my choice.”

All color drained from his face.  “I -- I don’t know much about interior design, Chrissie.  I’m just an...an...”

“Errand boy?” she offered, getting up from her chair to come around the desk and perch on the edge of it.

“Yeah,” he said in an unhappy tone.

“Brian,” she started in a subdued resonance, “you are the best damn assistant I could have ever hired--”

“Did you just curse?!”

“I did,” she said, “but let’s get past that, shall we?  As I was saying, even though you’re only twenty-four--”

“Twenty-five,” he interrupted again.  “My birthday was last month.”

Chrissie stopped whatever she planned to say next.  “It was?  Why didn’t you say anything?”

He shrugged again, adjusting his glasses again.  “It’s not important.”

She pondered him for a moment.  “Was I really that bad?” she asked in a whisper.  His mouth tipped in a small grin.  “Some days,” he replied.

“Well, that’s about to change,” she said with a stern nod.  “Starting right now.  I’m offering you a promotion because you’ve earned it.  And I want you to handle all the business aspects of the Fisk account.  This morning, I want you to come with me to meet Mrs. Fisk, so consider your interior design training to start today.”

As she spoke on and on to him about his new expectations, he grew more and more pale, but he didn’t say anything.  “What’s wrong?  I thought you’d be happy about this,” she said, leaning over to gauge his expression better.

“I..I appreciate the offer, Chrissie, really I do, but...”  He glanced at himself and waved an annoyed hand over his body.  “Do I look like someone would hire me to decorate their house?  My idea of interior design in a beanbag chair and clean sheets on my bed.”

“Nonsense,” she scoffed, “and I’m not asking you to take on a decorating job all on your own.  I’m just asking you to handle the management end of this business.  All of it.  You’re exceptionally skilled at the office end, and I know we’ve thrived here because of you.  That glitch in the invoices from the furniture warehouse that you found in February saved us thousands of dollars, and I was able to provide some much needed raises to everyone.  You did that for me...for everyone, and I’m wholly grateful for you and want you to learn more than just fetching my coffee in the mornings and driving the van.  Which is why I want you to accompany me on some jobs so you understand every aspect.”

“Oh,” he breathed out a solid breath, getting more color into his cheeks.  “Okay, I can do that, but I like driving the van.  Can I still do that?”

“Damn right you can,” she said, and he blanched again.  “Please stop cursing, Chrissie, you’re scaring me.”