Double Standards // ziam

Chapter 10

With that resolution firmly implanted in his mind, Zayn drove to work on Monday and threw himself wholeheartedly into his job.

At noontime some of the other secretaries invited him to join them for drinks after work at a local pub, and Zayn happily agreed. When he returned from lunch, the phone on his desk was ringing. Putting down his side bag, he glanced over his shoulder into Harry's empty office, and then answered it. "Mr. Malik?" It was Mr. Vernon. "Please report to me in the personnel department immediately."

"We haven't much time, so I'll be brief," Mr. Vernon said five minutes later, when Zayn was seated in his office. "To begin with, I should explain that the information contained on every employee's application for employment is automatically fed into the Global Industries computers. Then, whenever a project requires someone with specialized skills or talents, the personnel department is notified and a computer search is made. This morning the director of Global Industries personnel received a top priority call for an experienced, skilled secretary who is fluent in Italian. You are the computer's selection. Actually, you're the computer's second choice. The first was a woman named Lucia Palermo, who has worked on this project before, but she is on sick leave. You should expect to be away from your regular position every afternoon for the next three weeks. I will notify Mr. Styles of your reassignment when he returns from lunch, and I'll arrange for another secretary to work for him in the afternoons while you're working on this project."

Zayn's objections to this arbitrary reassignment tumbled out in a flow of disjointed words. "But I'm still trying to learn my present job and Har-Mr. Styles-isn't going to be at all pleased about-"

"Mr. Styles has no choice," he interrupted coolly. "I don't know the exact nature of the project that requires your fluency in Italian, but I do know it is top priority, confidential." He stood up. "You are to report to Mr. Payne's office immediately."

Zayn's eyes nearly went out of their sockets."Whaaat?" He gasped, leaping to his feet in alarm. "Does Mr. Payne know I'm the one who's being assigned to him?"

Mr. Vernon gave him a dismissive look. "Mr. Payne is in a meeting at present, and his secretary did not feel that he should be interrupted to discuss this minor substitution."

An atmosphere of suppressed excitement seemed to pervade the eightieth floor as Zayn walked across the thick, emerald green carpeting toward the circular desk in the center of Liam's private reception area. "My name is Zayn Malik," he told the receptionist, a beautiful brunette. "Mr. Payne requested a bilingual assistant, and I've been sent here from personnel."

The receptionist glanced over her shoulder as the doors to Liam's office opened and six men emerged. "I'll tell Mr. Payne that you're here," she said politely. As she reached for the telephone it began to ring, and she picked it up. With her hand over the mouthpiece, she whispered to Zayn, "Just go on in. Mr. Payne is expecting you."

No, Zayn thought nervously, he's expecting Lucia Palermo.

The tall rosewood doors to Liam's office were slightly ajar, and he was standing behind his desk, his back to him, talking to someone on the telephone. Drawing a deep breath, Zayn walked into the immense cream-carpeted suite and silently closed the doors behind him.

"Right," Liam said into the telephone after a pause. "Call the Washington office and tell our labor relations team that I want them at Global Oil in Dallas tonight."

He put his disregarded ear piece to talk more at ease as he picked up a file from his desk and began reading it. He had removed his suit coat, and as he slowly flipped the pages, his white shirt stretched rippling across his muscled shoulders and tapered back. Zayn's hands tingled as he recalled the rippling strength of that powerful body, the feel of his warm, tanned skin beneath his fingertips...