Trust in Advertising (25 page)

“Thank you for the speech, Dr. Ruth, and I hate to burst your bubble, but Vincent isn’t attracted to me. He’s my friend. I gave up my schoolgirl fantasies years ago. This is the real world. I need to live in that, not my head, and sometimes reality sucks. Being friends works for me. I’ll take that. That’s enough.”

Hope eyed her friend suspiciously. “Is it? You’ve spent years of your life wanting him, and this might be your second chance with him. Something in the cosmos brought you two back together—chance, fate, destiny, whatever you want to believe. So are you going to try and fight for whatever this could become, or settle for friendship because it’s the safer option? Would being friends really be enough for you, Lexi?”

For the briefest second Lexi considered pursuing Vincent. Maybe Hope was right. The way he held her after he’d pulled her close to talk had felt more than friendly, but was that real, or simply her overactive imagination where Vincent was concerned? Fantasy versus reality. Could she trust herself to tell the difference? Probably not.

Taking a moment to put on a brave face, Lexi decided to let this dream die and finally smiled. “Friends is enough, Hope. It has to be.”

Monday morning, Lexi arrived at work earlier than usual because she had countless appointments to reschedule and contacts to follow up on after the gala.

Vincent showed up at exactly the same time and stopped Lexi in her tracks by handing her a bagel with cream cheese and tall cup of coffee as they stepped into the elevator together. Surprised, Lexi wondered what she had done to warrant such a kind gesture.

“You’re here early.” Vincent smiled as she tucked her keys into her purse.

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“My boss, he’s a real slave driver, and I know he has a pile of calls for me to make so I thought I’d get an early start.” She took a bite of the bagel then held it out and offered it to him, just to see what he’d do.

His lip twitched in revulsion. “No thanks, I had some egg whites before I left my apartment this morning.”

Jade must have been there this morning,
Lexi thought to herself.
How someone
as big as Vincent survives on rabbit food is beyond me.

Lexi wrinkled her nose. “Please tell me you tossed some cheese in there, maybe a few pieces of ham?”

“There’s nothing wrong with plain egg whites,” Vincent chided. “They’re a healthy breakfast, not like the carb-ball slathered in cream cheese that you’re enjoying this morning.”

“Hey,” Lexi’s mouth fell open as the elevator doors opened and they both stepped out, “you brought me this calorie packed carb-ball.”

“Only because I knew if I didn’t, you’d spend the morning eating those Peanut M&Ms you have hidden in the top drawer of your desk.” Vincent winked and held his arm out, ushering her down the hal toward his office, but Lexi refused to move.

“How did you know about my candy stash?”

Vincent innocently shrugged. “I needed tape and stumbled across your Willy Wonka drawer.”

She looked over at Leigh who was now covering her mouth to keep from laughing out loud as she watched the exchange.

“Keep your hands out of my drawers, buddy.” As soon as the words left Lexi’s mouth, she wanted to suck them back in, but it was too late. Blush flooded her cheeks, and Leigh actually snorted from behind her desk.

Vincent, however, kept a straight face, which made it even worse. “I’ll try and remember that, Alexandra.” The sultry tone of his voice washed over her, instantly electrifying her body.

Suddenly, she needed some space between her and Vincent. “If you don’t mind, I have work to do!” Lexi started to storm down the hall.

She didn’t get far before Vincent caught up with her and whispered in her ear. “You need more licorice, by the way.” Without waiting for her snarky comeback, he continued down the hall in front of her.

“You
ate
my licorice?” Lexi pointed an accusatory finger at him. “Mr. Egg Whites chowed a whole pound of licorice?”

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Vincent stopped and turned unapologetically toward her. “The bag was open, so I’m sure it wasn’t a full pound, and yes, I ate them. Haven’t you ever taken a moment to read the packaging? It’s a fat-free food.”

Rolling her eyes, Lexi shoved her way around him, brushing against his chest as he blocked her path. A flash of him holding her immediately popped into her mind, but Lexi shook it off and continued to her desk.

She tucked her purse into her drawer, flipped open her laptop, and got ready to pull up Vincent’s schedule for the day. As her fingers flew over the keyboard, he sat down at her desk. The apprehensive look on his face took her by surprise.

“Hey, I’m sorry about earlier.” He ran his hand through his hair as he only did when he was nervous.

The thought of letting him sit there and stew for a minute crossed her mind, but her kind heart won out and she let him off the hook. “It was candy, Vincent. I was just kidding. A joke.” His face remained serious as he stared at her as if trying to determine whether she was really telling the truth. Lexi let out an exasperated sigh. “Scout’s honor.” She held up three fingers and put her hand over her heart. “I swear I was just teasing you.”

Finally, Vincent relaxed. “It won’t happen again.” He stood up and made his way to his office. “And if I didn’t tell you on Saturday, thank you for all your help, Lexi.”

She handed him a copy of his schedule. “No problem.” A blush slowly crept into her cheeks at his words of thanks.

He pushed the door to his office open and glanced back over his shoulder.

“Oh, and thanks for the dance, too.” The wink that he gave her before he disappeared into his office nearly stopped her heart.

There was no way she could allow herself to think too much about what had just happened. Instead, she began working furiously, planning Vincent’s week, lining up the phone calls she needed to make, taking information down to productions so they could begin the research on the new prospects. She did everything and anything she could to not let her imagination run away with her and over-think Vincent’s words and actions.

It was almost noon before she came up for air and found herself sitting behind her desk with nothing to work on. Her peaceful moment, however, was soon interrupted.

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“Lexi, Lexi, Lexi!” Leigh sprinted over to her with a bouquet of roses in her hand. She placed them on Lexi’s desk and stepped away, grinning widely.

“Wow, those are gorgeous.” Lexi chuckled as she ran her fingertips over the velvety buds. “Who sent Vincent flowers?”

“I’d like to know the same thing,” a voice sneered from around the corner.

Jade appeared, overdressed and as snotty as ever. A grimace shadowed her face as she yanked a flower from the vase, twirling it between her fingers. “Red roses.

How … unimaginative.”

“Give it back. It’s not yours.” Leigh yanked the flower from Jade’s grasp, and one of the thorns sliced deep into Jade’s finger. The yelp and loud string of profanities that came pouring out of Jade’s mouth attracted Vincent’s attention from behind his closed office door.

“What the hell is going on out here?”

Jade sucked on one finger and pointed at Leigh with an uninjured one.

“Your phone girl decided to stab me. I think I need some antiseptic.” She sat down on one of the chairs and rummaged through her purse until she pulled out a bottle of antibacterial hand sanitizer and poured a dollop into her hand.

She swore loudly as the alcohol in the sanitizer burned, and then held her finger out for Vincent to examine.

He gave it a quick once over and sighed. “It’s going to be fine, Jade. I don’t think you’ll lose the finger.”

Jade was furious at his flippant tone. “Do I need to remind you that I’m a model, Vincent? This body is what pays the bills. The last thing I need is to have it marred by imperfections.” She turned on Leigh. “I should sue you!”

Leigh ignored Jade and addressed Vincent. “Sorry, Mr. Drake. I was just bringing these flowers down here to—”

“Who sent me flowers?” Vincent yanked the white envelope from the beautiful bouquet and removed the white card inside.

“But, they’re—” Leigh stepped closer, but was silenced by Vincent’s hand in the air as he read.

He tucked the card back into the envelope, his lips set in a hard line. With a flick of his wrist, he held the card out to Lexi. “They’re for you, Lexi.” His voice was clipped.

She tugged the white square from his tight grasp and glanced down at it.

The card was written in blue ink, and the instant she read it, she knew why Vincent was so agitated. The flowers were from David Reid.

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Alexandra,

Sorry we were unable to tango on Saturday due to your pompous
employer. My offer still stands. Leave Hunter and join up with the
winning team over at Reid. You won’t regret it.

Until we meet again,

David Reid, CEO

(555) 277-4653

“Who are they from?” Leigh peeked at the note. When she saw the signature, she gasped. “No way.”

Jade reached up from her seat and snatched the card out of Lexi’s hand.

When her eyes skimmed the paper, her fury matched Vincent’s. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Vincent cleared his throat, the scowl still planted firmly on his face. “If it’s not too much trouble, when you’re done ogling your flowers, could I bother you to do some work?”

His biting words shocked Lexi and Leigh both, and the two women exchanged a surprised glance. “S-sure. What do you need me to do?” Lexi asked.

He looked over at Jade, who was still scowling at the tiny, white card. “Jade looks hungry. Why don’t you grab us some lunch, and I’l make a list of things that need to be done while you’re gone.” He leaned over and kissed Jade on the cheek.

Jade’s eyes lit up, and she rattled off her order. “I’ll take a salad of field greens with no blue cheese, ex—”

“Extra sprouts and a bottle of water. I think I got it by now, thanks. And Vincent will take the same, of course.” Lexi snatched her purse out of the drawer in her desk and glared at Vincent.

Jade rolled her eyes as she took Vincent’s outstretched hand. “Good help is so hard to find,” she sniped as they disappeared behind the office door.

“What the hell just happened?” Leigh asked as Lexi slammed her purse onto her desk.

“David Reid happened. Vincent hates him, and I just got a big bunch of flowers from him so somehow we must be in cahoots. That’s how Vincent’s paranoid mind works.” Lexi sighed and tucked the bouquet into a corner of the room, hiding it as much as possible. “Back to square one,” she sighed to herself as she grabbed her purse and tossed her jacket over her shoulders. “Stupid David Reid.”

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Leigh wrapped a reassuring arm around Lexi’s shoulder as she led her down the hall toward the elevators. “Mr. Drake will snap out of it, Lexi. Just give him time.”

For the next few days, Vincent spoke very little to Lexi. Unless he was giving her an assignment or needed her to answer a work-related question, he stayed locked behind his office door or out of the office at meetings. He was short tempered and in a foul mood with everyone, especially Lexi. Things came to a head when he returned from a meeting with the people from Keller Pharmaceuticals. It obviously hadn’t gone well.

As he stormed through the office, Lexi held out a stack of messages to him.

“You have about five messages—”

Vincent didn’t give her so much as a second glance, and the slam of his office door reverberated through the building.

“—that need to be returned by the end of the day, but guess I’ll take care of them.” Lexi picked up the phone and began making calls. She was waiting on hold with one of them when the office door flew open.

“Alexandra, get off the damn phone and come in here. Now.”

The acidic tone in his voice made her temper flare. She set the receiver down slowly and took a deep breath before leaving her seat. Moving in slow motion to collect her thoughts, she picked up the pad of paper and a pencil and made her way into Vincent’s office. By the time she crossed the threshold of his doorway and slipped into one of the chairs at the foot of his desk, she was ready to let him have it.

“Vincent—” she began, but he quickly put his hand up to silence her.

“We lost the Keller account. Adria Parketti is a pain in my ass.” Vincent shuffled papers on his desk, searching for something specific.

Lexi tried to finish her thought. “I’m sorry we lost the account, but that’s no excuse—”

Vincent held out a sheet of paper and began barking out orders. “Take this to my mother’s office and tell her the Keller thing went badly, and have Sean cancel the prop order for the commercial. Get this information to him today before we end up losing our deposit for the location.” He leaned forward, his face deadly serious. “We’re going after Julian Stone, hard. I want this account.

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Do you understand? Call and confirm the appointment. Maybe try and talk with him personally. Flirt a little. He seemed to like you at the gala. Hell, if he asks you to go on a date, do it. I need an in with Stone, so do whatever you have to and make it happen.”