Tales of Darkness & Sin - Pepper Winters Page 0,117

all twenty-nine shades of the Dior Vernis polish line.”

“Loud and clear, boss man,” he grunts out, stalking out of my office.

Sea green eyes meet mine and she shoots me a sweet-as-sin smile. I wink at her because apparently I don’t know how to keep from fucking flirting with her. She leaves, but her fruity scent and the surprisingly good impression she made remain.

This girl is going to fuck up my world.

CHAPTER THREE

Chelsea

Turning to see more of my reflection in the full-length mirror, I scrutinize my appearance. My off-the-shoulder leopard print blouse is flowy and comfortable, but paired with this tight black pencil skirt and a classic pair of pumps, it’s what I’m going to call business sexy.

I know I shouldn’t be worried about sexy at work, but Foster oozes sexiness just by existing. As hard as it is to focus on anything else when he’s in the room, it’s only fair I tempt his gaze in my direction as well.

Satisfied that at the very least his gaze will be drawn to my ass in this skirt as I’m leaving the meeting today, I leave home super early so I’ll have time to wait in line for coffee on my way to work. I’m still working with Ryan and I’ve come to believe the man can’t function without equal parts blood and caffeine running through his veins.

Me, I don’t drink coffee. Don’t like the taste, and I don’t particularly want the teeth stains, either.

It’s a busy morning. Ryan has phone call after phone call, email after email, text after text. I can’t help noticing how much busier he is than the rest of the associates. They’re all working hard and keeping busy, but not one is as bombarded as Ryan.

I really wish he’d let me help more. Even Foster told him to. I don’t understand why he keeps giving me mindless busywork instead of letting me lighten his load. He might as well pat me on the head and tell me to spend the day popping bubblegum and painting my nails.

He doesn’t take me seriously.

I shake it off, refusing to let it get me down.

Another call comes in for him, but I glance in his direction and see he’s still on the last call I sent him.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Wilkes is on another call right now, but if you’d like I can take a message and catch him up before he calls you back?”

The woman on the other end is not pleased. “You know, this is not what I expected when I hired Dunbar Foster to handle my PR shit show. It’s not what I was pitched, it’s not what I was promised—I’m seriously considering firing you guys and taking my business elsewhere.”

Dread pools in my gut. I freeze for a split second, then I cut a look in Ryan’s direction, considering whether or not I should interrupt his call. He told me never, ever to do that, not even if the building caught fire, but this… well, it’s a fire of another sort.

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Winston, you’re absolutely right. Your problems are very important to us and I’m going to personally see to it that you get the help you need right now. Tell me what we can do for you.”

Her tone relaxing slightly, the client continues. “Ryan told me I needed to write up a note of apology, that way when I deliver it, I already know what I’m going to say and I don’t say anything I shouldn’t.”

“Right,” I offer supportively.

“He wanted me to send it back once I finished so he could go over it himself.”

I cradle the corded phone between my ear and shoulder, reaching for a pen and grabbing a piece of paper so I can write down any pertinent details. “Perfect. Did you want to go ahead and email that over to him right now? I’ll have Mr. Wilkes review it right away and email you back. If you have any questions, call back and I’ll make sure to put you straight through.”

“Okay, that will work. Thank you.”

“Of course. We know what a stressful time this is for you, we’re so glad we can help you through it.”

Once I get off the phone with the temporarily mollified client, I glance back at Ryan. He’s still on the phone, his face seeming to get older by the moment from the stress of the conversation.

Definitely can’t interrupt that one.

That’s all right. I may not be a fully trained associate like he is, but I