Mr. Big Shot: An Enemies To Lovers Romance (Kinda Cocky Book 1), стр. 37
The waiter nodded. “Of course. I’ll even put it in--.”
Zane waved him off again. “I don’t need the details. Just get it done.”
The waiter looked at me, and I mouthed him a soft apology. I didn’t know what the hell had gotten into Zane, but I certainly wasn’t going to be added into this deluge of rudeness he thought was appropriate for the time. I gathered up my things and rushed back to my room, preparing myself to make those phone calls.
But, I had a personal call I needed to make first.
“Oh, my god! Oh, my god. Oh. My. God. You finally called. Kelly!”
“Roxy, no!” I said harshly.
“What?”
“I just--I just want to talk to you for a second. Is that okay?”
“Uh-oh.”
“What?” I winced, knowing full well she could hear it in my voice.
“It’s never good when you want only one of us.”
I sighed. “I’ve got a serious story to fill you in on, and I have to be quick about it. Try not to interrupt me, okay?”
“Any reason why you don’t want Kelly here?”
“Because she’ll interrupt anyway.”
Kelly giggled. “Very true. All right. Shoot.”
“The night we all went out to the club, Zane and I went back to my place. We slept together, it was wonderful, but then I left that morning. And I mean, completely left. We fell asleep together. I woke up, and he was there. I freaked the fuck out. So, fast forward to this job of mine. Haha jokes on me, he’s my boss. How weird. Well, we got here, to Hawaii, yesterday, and we went out for lunch. That spiraled into drinks and talking for three or so hours before taking a sunset walk on the beach. Then, we had sex on the beach. I see him for breakfast this morning, and he’s more of a professional douche than usual.”
She cleared her throat. “So, uh, what’s your question?”
I panted, having said all of that in one breath. “How do I fix this? Because I’ve clearly screwed something up.”
“You’re on a business trip, right?”
“Yes. Right.” I nodded as if she could see me.
“Is it possible that Zane’s simply focused on the job at hand now that the free time has passed?”
“Oh, well maybe, I did not consider that possibility.”
She barked with laughter. “Girl, you drive yourself nuts with this shit, you know? Zane’s been single for as long as I can remember. He’s used to being a single guy. And now he’s got his secretary on a business trip, who he happens to enjoy banging, and you expect the man not to be a little confused and pissed off at that? He has to be professional with your tight little ass flouncing around everywhere. I’d be trying to focus on work, too.”
I blushed. “You’re probably right on that.”
“Yeah. I am right. You do have a nice ass.”
I snickered. “Have I done the wrong thing?”
“Depends. Do you regret anything you’ve done with him?”
My answer was quick. “No. Never.”
“Then, you haven’t done the wrong thing. Okay?”
I sighed. “Thanks, Roxy.”
“You know I’m going to tell Kelly, though, right?”
“Better you than me.”
“So when she asks for details, you know I’m going to make them up if you don’t give them to me. Right?”
I grinned. “Nice try. Enjoy making them up anyway.”
“Damn.”
“I do commend your ability to garner information, though. That was a good one.”
Roxy giggled. “Maybe it’ll work next time. Because you know there will be a next time.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” .
“And you go, girl. It’s about damn time you had some fun for yourself. Call me tomorrow, and I’ll let you know how high Kelly’s head blew into the sky.”
“If I don’t see it from where I am right now.”
She snorted. “This is very true.”
Glancing over at my laptop, I signed. “I need to start working. Talk soon?” .
“You know it, love bug. Love ya.”
“Love you, too.”
Right after I hung up the phone, a text message from Zane rolled through.
Zane: Let me know if you need anything today, okay? I’ve scheduled lunch to be sent to your room around twelve-thirty. Make sure you eat.
I read the message over and over. It was such a stark difference to our interactions only a few minutes before, and it took me aback. Make sure I eat? Scheduling my lunch? Letting him know if I needed anything? Those were the statements of someone who cared, not comments from the man I met at breakfast.
Maybe he wasn't a morning person. I mean, I almost cussed out the wake-up call guy.
“Maybe so,” I murmured.
I pushed it all to the back of my brain, focusing on the tasks ahead. I needed to make sure everything went off without a hitch.
Especially if I was going to carve out some time to take another walk on the beach tonight.
Even if it is by myself.
20
Zane
“And here is our assembly line. As you can see, Mr. Hearthstone, our setup, along with our staffing, is incredibly effective. Overall, the average rate at which we manufacture our materials is--.”
I mindlessly walked through the plant as my head swirled with other things. I felt like shit for being such an asshole to Karina for these past couple of days. But I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t get close to her. At the end of the day, she was my secretary.
And I had too much baggage on my shoulders already.
“In here is our automated computer systems. We log complaints and use word-tracking technology to then shoot that request or complaint to the exact person that can help them. Our average response time is thirty minutes, and our average timeframe for fixing even the biggest of issues is around an hour.”
I nodded slowly. “That’s efficient.”
“And that is exactly what we pride ourselves on, Mr. Hearthstone. Efficiency.”
One of the things I wanted to start doing was branching out. But I decided a few months ago that just taking Stonewater