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. 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.”
When Vincent’s little tirade was over, Lexi waited with her teeth clenched in an effort to keep herself from jumping over the desk and wringing his neck.
Vincent stared back at Lexi. “Tell me you don’t need me to repeat all of that.”
“No, I got the message loud and clear.” She stood up from the chair, her hands shaking with rage. “You know, Vincent, I get paid to be your assistant, to help you with whatever you need done no matter how rotten the request. It’s my job, and I enjoy it most days. But show some manners. i happen to know your mother raised you better than that. So when you hint that I should to go screw Julian Stone so he’ll hire Hunter Advertising, the least you can do is say please.”
With tears brimming in her eyes, Lexi made a run for the door, but Vincent was faster. He pressed his hand against the smooth wood and held it firmly in place.
“Let me out of here, Vincent. I have nothing else to say to you.”
He stood there for a minute, then let out a loud sigh. “Well I have something to say to you. I’m sorry. I was upset about the Keller thing, and I took it out on you. I apologize. You didn’t deserve any of that.” He put his hand on her shoulder and slowly ran it down her arm, finally taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.
The tears that had welled up in Lexi’s eyes tumbled slowly down her cheeks. He brought his hand to her face and wiped them away with the pad of his thumb.
“God, I’m such a jerk.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Lexi willed herself to stop crying. But all she could hear in her head were the awful things Vincent had just said to her.
Vincent’s fury gone, he gently cradled her face in both his hands, trying to keep up with the tears that continued to fall. “Please don’t cry. You’re breaking my heart here.” His eyes searched hers, trying to figure out how to fix this. “I’m sorry, Lexi.” He leaned against the door and ran both hands through his hair in frustration. “Take the afternoon off or stab me with that letter opener if it’ll make you feel better.”
Lexi’s lip twitched slightly at the thought, but then she had a better idea. She reached in her pocket and pulled out her phone, ready to dial when a loud banging on the door scared her half to death.
“Who the hell is it?” Vincent snapped.
“Don’t you dare take that tone with me, young man. Open the door.” Vincent cringed at the sound of his mother’s voice.
“Sounds like you have a visitor.” A smile tugged at Lexi’s lips as she glanced down at her notepad and shook her head. “I wish I could stay, but i have a long list of things I have to get done right away.”
Vincent snatched the notebook from her hand and crossed every single thing off the list. “Nope, your schedule just cleared. Please stay.”
There was more banging on the door. “I can hear you in there!”
“I wish I could, but I need to go shopping for some sexy underwear if I’m going to convince Julian Stone to hire Hunter.” She innocently batted her eyelashes at Vincent. “I’m taking you up on your offer, and I’ll be out the rest of the afternoon. Oh, and you can have the honor of telling her about the Keller account. Have a nice chat with your mother.”
Lexi threw open the door, nearly knocking Vincent over and stifled a laugh when she saw an irate Elizabeth leaning against the doorframe. “Good afternoon, Elizabeth,” Lexi sang as she brushed past her and collected her purse from her desk.
As Lexi headed down the hall, she heard Elizabeth growl, “Why was Lexi crying? Vincent Giovanni Drake what did you do now? I’ll fire you before I’ll allow that girl to quit, so you better start talking and figure out how to fix this.”
By the time Lexi returned to work on Thursday, her head was clear. She was calmer and felt more in control of her life. The hour long pep talk
Hope had given her the night before was just what she’d needed. Vincent had been a jerk, plain and simple. There was no excuse for the way he had spoken to her. Whatever his problem was, it was his problem, and she would not be his doormat. Lexi hoped his chat with Elizabeth had been very long and uncomfortable, and that he would mind his manners from now on.
At eight a.m. Vincent strolled past Lexi’s desk, an hour late, and without a word, grabbed his schedule off the corner of her desk and disappeared into his office.
“Good morning, Vincent,” Lexi muttered sarcastically to herself as she stared at his shut door and began talking to herself. “Good morning, Lexi.
I hope you had a good evening. I’m sorry I was an idiot yesterday, please forgive me. It won’t ever happen again.”