Wilson's Hard Lesson (69 page)

“I’m very good thanks,” he answered, then chuckled. “Anyway,
I’ll just cut to the chase, shall I? Bradley and I have been chatting about
you. We both really enjoyed your interview the other day…we thought you
performed well and we feel you’d be a good fit here at Briar Finance.”

Alexis almost jumped up and down she was so excited, and
happy.

“So, we’d like to offer you the job,” he continued. “If you
haven’t found somewhere better already, that is.”

“There’s nowhere better than Briar Finance,” she gushed.

“That’s definitely the right answer!” He chuckled. “I take
it that’s a yes then?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” she replied immediately, no longer
bothering to hide how happy she sounded.

Brendan seemed to delight in that anyway and she heard him
laugh again quietly. “That’s great. Would you be able to start this coming
Monday?”

“Yes, of course,” she said again.

“Brilliant. Just come into the office for a 9am start. Your
immediate boss will be Jack Penderton. I’ll introduce you to him, then he’ll
get you set up and sorted and tell you what work you need to be getting on
with.”

Alexis grabbed a pen and paper and took down the details,
including her new boss’s name so that she wouldn’t forget, before once again
profusely thanking Brendan for the opportunity and promising him that she
wouldn’t let them down.

“I’m sure you won’t,” he said warmly before bidding her
goodbye and hanging up.

She immediately dashed up the stairs to tell her mother the
good news and that night the two of them celebrated in their own small way, by
having a glass of wine each, her mother still propped up in bed by a couple of
pillows, her condition no better or no worse. Perhaps now though, now she had a
job, she would be able to afford to send her for more tests, to find out what
was really wrong with her and to finally get her the care and attention she
needed.

She also made that important phone call to Maria, arranging
for her to come in on Monday and all the following week, to make sure her mom
got something to eat and offer assistance if she needed help going to the
bathroom.

The kindly middle aged widow accepted the job on the promise
of pay at the end of the month, once Alexis explained that she was working now
and would be bringing home a decently sized pay check.

With everything sorted and the things in her life finally
beginning to take shape, Alexis went to bed that night feeling relieved and
happy, the tension lifted off her shoulders for the first time in months.

That Monday morning, she was up bright and early and debating
over what to wear for her first day at work. She didn’t exactly have that many
suitable clothes, but she didn’t want to wear the same thing she had on at her
interview. That would make it look like she only had one smart outfit in her
closet – which was near enough true.

In the end, she did put the same skirt on, with a different
pair of tights and shoes, and a different blouse, but with the same jacket,
because she really did only have one. Perhaps if she changed the blouse every
day, no one would notice. That was what she hoped anyway. Then, at the end of
the month, when she received her first pay check, she could go out and buy
herself another suit.

Her mother told her not to worry and that nobody would be
bothered about her clothes, then gave her a kiss on the cheek and dispatched
her off.

She took the car in this time, seeing as she knew where she
was going and public transport was just generally a nightmare. There was also
an underground parking lot at the offices, so it would be easy to find somewhere
to park.

She made sure to arrive in plenty of time, and was ten
minutes early into the actual offices themselves.

She made herself known to the receptionist and was told to
just head on up.

As the elevator doors pinged open on the twenty second floor,
Brendan Briar was stood there waiting for her in a pristine, crisp blue suit
and a smile on his face.

“Alexis…” He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek,
dropping some of the formalities he had adopted during their interview. “So
glad you could join us.”

“I’m glad to be here, s-sir,” she mumbled, unsure of
actually what to call him now she was working for him.

“Oh please, none of that sir stuff. Brendan will be fine.
Come with me, please…” He set off walking at a brisk pace, in the opposite
direction to the large open spaced office she had gone through to get to his
office on the day of her interview.

This time, they went right, and the corridor emerged out
into another almost identical office space on the other side of the elevators.

He strode over to a desk near the window and had a word with
the man sitting there, who got up and came over, a smile on his face as he
offered out his hand to Alexis.

“Good morning. My name’s Jack, I’m the man in charge around
here.”

“Nice to meet you, Jack.” She shook his hand. He seemed like
a decent enough guy.

“You’ll be alright now, Alexis,” Brendan assured her. “I’ve
got to shoot off. Some business to attend to. But I’ll leave you in Jack’s
capable hands and I’m sure we’ll see each other real soon.” He gave her a smile
and a squeeze on the shoulder then dashed off again before Alexis could really
say goodbye.

She turned to Jack and put on her best attentive expression
as he began to explain everything to her.

He gave her a full guided tour of the office, introducing
her to absolutely everyone who worked there. With a staff of thirty-two, that
in itself was quite a daunting experience and she knew there was no way she was
going to remember everyone’s names. She simply tried her best to remember the
ones who were working in her specific section of the office, which Jack had
already told her would be right there next to his desk by the window, where
there was an empty desk already waiting for her.

After the introductions, she was shown where the bathrooms
were, where the kitchen was and how to work the coffee machine; the various
drinks machines dotted around, the photocopier, the fax machine, the printer.
Then she was shown to her desk and Jack set her up on the computer system,
giving her a username and password and showing her how to login, check business
e-mails and reply to them and how to operate the system in general.

All of that took up the majority of the morning, and they
just had time to fill out the forms for HR with her bank details so that she
could get paid before it was lunchtime.

Some people went to get the food they had brought with them
from the kitchen, and heated it up in the microwave or took sandwiches back to
their desks to eat while they chatted to one another or checked Facebook.

Others went out and left the office for a bit of fresh air,
to grab some lunch from sandwich bars or cafes across the street. That was
exactly what Alexis did, seeing as she hadn’t thought to bring her own lunch,
although she certainly would from now on considering how expensive New York
was. She wanted to try and save as much money as possible, not spend all her wages
on food.

After lunch came the actual work that she’d been hired to do
and now that she was comfortable enough with the computer and the office space,
Jack wheeled over his chair and explained what she would be doing for the
company. It was simple enough and nothing that she hadn’t already been prepared
for by her degree, so she cracked on with it and the rest of the afternoon soon
past.

She had a few casual conversations with the people sat
closest to her but mostly she kept herself to herself and just go on with her
work. She didn’t want to earn a reputation for slacking or gossiping on her
first day, especially as her desk was situated so close to Jack’s. She wanted
to impress him. No doubt he would be reporting back to Bradley and Brendan on
her progress.

Of course, her mother wanted to hear all about it when she
got back home later that night, and they swapped stories about their days.
Thankfully, Maria had come in as arranged and cooked her lunch, as well as
spent a little bit of time with her in the afternoon, which Alexis was grateful
for.

The next day was much the same as the first, only this time
she remembered to take her own sandwiches in with her for lunch, and she spent
the entire day focusing on her work rather than needing the morning to get
things set up.

The rest of the week passed by quickly and easily. Alexis
found the work stimulating, challenging at times, but mostly simple and within
her grasp of understanding. She felt as though she was being given fairly
simplistic tasks to start off with, to ease her into the work environment.

She didn’t particularly make friends with anyone, although
she chatted with people pleasantly enough, but she spent most of her spare time
at work wondering where Brendan and Bradley were, and when she would see them
again.

For the next two weeks, she worked solidly, five days a
week, eight and sometimes nine or ten hours per day, and she didn’t once see
either of the brothers. She understood that they were very busy and probably
had other businesses to take care of as well as this one, but she couldn’t help
but think of them, her mind occasionally wandering to daydream about their
handsome features or perfect bodies, and hoping they would come back into the
offices again sometime soon.

It seemed she wasn’t alone in her fascination and slight
crush on the brothers. The other girls in the office often talked about them,
and giggled and turned red whenever their names were mentioned. It was fairly
obvious that they were well liked and well fancied by at least the female
population of the office and one or two of the males too, and it appeared that
Bradley in particular had something of a reputation.

“Apparently he once slept with three women in one day.”

“I heard it was four.”

“I heard it was three women and one man.”

“No way! He’s not into men.”

“He likes his women petite and blonde too. They have to be
petite and blonde.”

“I heard he’s slept with over a hundred girls.”

“It’s probably more than that. I think so anyway.”

“Yeah, he’s a total womanizer.”

The whispers and the rumors and the gossip were constantly
flying around the office on break times and at lunch, particularly where
Bradley was concerned. Alexis never joined in, never offered an opinion. She
just stayed silent and listened, but she took it all on board, processed it
all. It made her realize that the incident at her interview was no trick. He
really had wanted her to get down on her knees for him.

Alexis kept her head down and got on with her work, focusing
on delivering good results and impressing Jack, her immediate boss, who seemed
pleased with everything she was offering up so far, and told her at the end of
her first two weeks that she was settling in very well and would make a
valuable asset to the team.

Her mother frequently asked her how her days at work had
gone and when she returned home they often sat and talked together in the quiet
darkness of the bedroom while Alexis encouraged her to eat.

It wasn’t until her third week in the office that she encountered
either of the Briar brothers again.

She was sat at her desk minding her own business when she
felt a heavy hand on her shoulder and a familiar scent wafting up her nostrils.

She gasped slightly and spun around to find Bradley Briar
standing right beside her.

He smirked and walked around the side of her, perching his
butt on the edge of her desk as he glanced her up and down, his eyes lingering
on her chest before looking back up at her eyes again, meeting them with his
own dashing, piercing blue.

“How are you?” he asked quietly, shuffling a little closer
and keeping his voice down as though he didn’t want the others in the office to
hear.

“Really well. Th-thank you,” she answered, fumbling slightly
over her words. She hadn’t been expecting to see him and now she didn’t quite
know what to say, or how to react, remembering what had happened between them
the last time they’d met. She was fairly sure that her cheeks had turned bright
red too.

“Very good, very good. I’ll be around for a week or two now
so…it’ll be nice to have a catch up,” he smiled and reached out to push a
strand of hair off her face that had fallen down.

He was very forward, once again making it pretty obvious
what his intentions were and that he was into her, and once again, Alexis was
flattered and nearly knocked off her feet, her heart fluttering and her stomach
turning over and twisting up into knots. Gosh, he was gorgeous. She had quite
the crush on him by this point and, by the sounds of things so did most of the
people in the office.

“Uh…y-yes, that’d be…nice,” she agreed with a little nod and
a smile.

“I hear you’ve been settling in really well.”

“I’d like to think so, yes,” she answered, growing in
confidence slightly as they began to talk about work.

“I’ve only heard good report back from Jack so…I definitely
think we made the right decision offering you a place here.”

“I’ve a lot more to give too,” she added, then bit her
bottom lip slightly as she suddenly realized the potential double implications
of her words.

Bradley picked up on it too. Of course he did.

His smile widened and he played with his tie a little,
loosening it off. “I’m sure you have, sugar, I’m sure you have…”

Alexis blushed some more and looked at her computer screen
instead of him, half hoping he would leave her alone so she could just die of
embarrassment in peace, and half hoping he would carry on.

In what she came to realize was typical Bradley Briar style,
he carried on, not phased at all by anything she’d said or how she’d reacted to
him. In fact, quite the opposite. He was probably encouraged by her blushes,
her awkward responses and her stammering, easily being able to tell that she
was into him.

“About that catch up,” he continued. “It’s lunchtime in half
an hour. How about you take it with me?”

It was more of a demand than a question. She got the
impression he wasn’t used to having any kind of request refused.

“I…uh…”

Now she was nervous. Was it appropriate for them to go to
lunch together? Where would it lead? What did he want from her? And more to the
point, how far was she willing to go with him? She found her eyes roaming up
and down his body again without even realizing she was doing so.

“I absolutely insist,” he added.

“Well…”

“In fact, I order you to. And as I’m your boss, you can’t
actually refuse me. Unless you want to get fired.” He said it all with a jovial
smile and a sparkle in his eye, of course, and she knew he wouldn’t
actually
fire her just for not going to lunch with him. There was something about
the way he said ‘order’ though, and just the very idea of Bradley Briar
ordering her around. It sent a shiver through her spine and once again she felt
her heart fluttering.

She giggled slightly and looked up at him, smiling. “In that
case, I suppose that’s a yes.”

“Good girl.”

There was something about the way he said
that
too.
It was as though he knew exactly what he was doing and how to push all of her
buttons.

She found herself pretty unable to concentrate after he
sauntered off with a swagger, leaving her to get on with her work for the next
half an hour. All she could think about was her lunch date with Bradley. Where
would he take her? What would they talk about? Would he stare at her breasts
the whole time or actually manage to look at her face occasionally? Would he
try and make a move on her?

She tried to decide whether she wanted him to or not and how
she would react if he did, but by the time he came to collect her she was no
closer to figuring things out, although when she saw him again and got that now
familiar flutter in her chest, she began to think that she would most probably
do anything he wanted at this point.