The Billionaire's Contract

Change {13}

Lucian's POV

"I don't think drinking coffee everyday is healthy." Malea said as she dropped the coffee cup onto my desk.

I looked up from the stack of paperwork in front of me. "I don't really care about your opinion, so therefore your comment was irrelevant." I took a small sip of the boiling hot liquid, the bitter taste and caffeine hitting me with a rush of energy.

She shot me a look before settling into the sofa and opening a manila folder, a pen in her hand. She chewed the end of the pen, wisps of hair that had escaped from her bun, framed her heart shaped face.

"Have you finished editing the mistakes on the report?" I asked while gingerly placing documents into a file.

She shook her head and marked out something on the paper. "I swear, its almost like your editors are illiterate. How could you possibly miss the fact that there is little to no punctuation in this, the paragraphs aren't indented, and someone spelled insalubrious incorrectly. Like hello, there's something called a dictionary!" She crossed out another line and scribbled something on the side in red ink.

"A little harsh, don't you think?" I asked, glancing up from my computer. She was correct though. I'd been planning on firing Jude, the editor for a while. He'd been turning in shoddy work for the last few weeks and why pay him so well when he doesn't bring his A game into each report?

Malea rolled her eyes before crossing out a sentence and replacing it with another. "I'm serious when I say that you should ease on the whole coffee every second of the day thing." She glanced up at me, her emerald green eyes holding mine for a second before returning to her work.

"Well once you become relevant to me, I'll take your advice." I gulped down the coffee.

Malea stood up and gathered her things. "I'm going my office to finish this up. If you need anything, I'll be here until 8 pm before I leave." She lifted the stack of report papers to show me what she was talking about before turning around and starting towards the door.

"Your shift ends when I say so."

She turned around to face me. "Well I have something important to do tonight."

I raised my eyebrows in curiosity. What could she possibly have to do on a Wednesday night? "Care to share?"

Malea shook her head. "No thanks. I think I'll pass."

I turned my attention back to the paperwork in front of me. "If you want to be let off work early, then I recommend you tell me what you're doing tonight that hinders you from doing your job."

"I just have something important tonight.Okay?" She said impatiently.

I looked up at her, my face emotionless. "If you want to leave early, you will tell me what you're doing that stops you from doing your job. But if you'd rather stay till midnight, I wouldn't mind the extra help."

Malea looked at me with sudden melancholy as she spoke her next words. "My grandma died."

I restrained myself from rolling my eyes and instead massaged my temple. "Malea. Your grandma died twice last week when you tried to get out of working late. Can you just be mature about this situation?"

Malea dropped the act and sighed. "Fine. I'm going on a date. Okay? I really hate the fact that I have to tell you every single detail about my life. It's not right."

She's going on a date. Again. As I looked at her, I realized just how insane I must have looked asking her about her whereabouts. "Levi again?" I already knew.