Falling for the Lawyer - By Anna Clifton Page 0,19
Thank goodness. Put me on to her straight away.”
“JP …” Alex began again.
“Now!” he demanded down the phone.
Alex had no choice. With the touch of a couple of buttons she directed his call to Vera’s extension and then dropped her head into her hands and moaned.
She could just imagine the conversation JP was having with his Senior PA right then. Vera would be putting a favourable spin on things so that she came out of the incident looking like the PA of the century and Alex like a walking disaster area—her fate as an unemployed Assistant PA had to be sealed!
“Alex, what are you doing lolling all over the desk when you were supposed to meet me at the lift ten minutes ago?” Sophie was at her side and looking down at her, her hands resting on her hips in irritation.
“Soph, I’m so sorry! I completely forgot about the shopping arrangement.”
“Did you skip your swim this morning? You know how flaky you get when you do.”
“No, I didn’t miss my swim. And I’m fine Sophie, I’ve just had a run in with Vera and Jonathan, that’s all. Do you mind if we take a rain check on our shopping?”
“Yes, I do mind,” Sophie replied without hesitation. “If you’ve had a run in with Vera and the boss then the last thing you should do is mope around here all lunch time. Come on. Let’s go.”
“But I’m not in the right frame of mind for choosing clothing.”
“Don’t worry about that. I am. I’ll choose everything for you. All you have to do is dress up.”
Sophie grabbed Alex’s bag off the back of her chair and strung it over her friend’s shoulder. And it wasn’t long before Alex was admitting to herself that she did feel a lot better for escaping the office for a while.
She spent an hour trying on outfits as Sophie draped her in clothing and accessories. Before long she had a pile of gear on the shop counter and her credit card was running through the machine.
“I just hope I have a job next week to pay for it all,” Alex said to Sophie as the two of them wandered back into the foyer of the building amongst the lunchtime throng. But when Alex saw JP emerge from the lift and unknowingly begin to walk straight towards her she stopped dead in her tracks.
Her next set of instincts told her to turn and run but she was unable to move. A confusing cocktail of anxiety about the outcome of that morning, irritation with him for not allowing her to explain herself and a deeply disturbing desire to be in his company again was coursing its way through to every nerve ending in her body.
Unaware her friend had stopped behind her, Sophie had continued on into the lift, chatting cheerily to the now empty space beside her. Behind her in the crowd, Alex remained rooted to the ground.
JP’s eyes swept over her and then back again, his lips pressing together as his gaze drifted over her figure in the powder-blue suit. And as he approached she waited for the rebuke, yet JP didn’t seem to have any particular interest in launching into a tirade of chastisement. He stood close to her as the crowd jostled them a little, his hands deep in his pockets in his characteristic stance.
Alex lifted her chin to face him. There was no way she would apologise. She’d done nothing wrong. If he wasn’t prepared to listen to her side of the story then that was just too bad.
“Well?” he began finally when she maintained her stony silence.
“Well what?” she grated.
“You owe me an explanation.”
“It’s a bit late now. I’m sure you’ve already had Vera’s take on what happened.”
JP smirked humourlessly as he absorbed the hostility in Alex’s voice. “As a matter of fact, I have. Now I’d like your take.”
“What would be the point? I’m just Vera’s assistant. Why would you take my word over hers? I suppose she’s blamed me for everything that happened this morning.”
“She has.”
Fury and indignation coursed through Alex like floodwaters. “How dare she! Short of going around to every lawyer in the office to beg for the files back there was nothing I could do to get your work done. I wasn’t about to humiliate myself like that just because Vera pulled rank and took them all away from me.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes, it is.”
“So why are you so angry with me?” he queried, raising his eyebrows.
“Because you didn’t give