Page 5 of Catalyst
A knock on my inner door has me standing from my chair. I button my jacket as Elliana steps through, two coffees in her hands and a notepad tucked under her arm. For a moment, all I can do is blink.
Her blonde hair is piled on top of her head in an artfully messy bun, her blue eyes are framed by dark glasses that seem to make them shine brighter, and her navy blue dress is skintight, showing off curves I’m having a hard time taking my eyes off of.
I bet my hands would fit perfectly around her hips.
What the fuck?
Shaking off that idiotic thought, I step around my desk. “Elliana, I’m Adam. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Her smile is bright, causing the corner of my mouth to tick up. “Hi, Adam. Call me Ellie, please. Anytime I hear my full name, I think my mother is around the corner with a lecture at the ready.”
“Ah, mine always included a middle name.” I gesture toward the couch while I sit on the adjacent chair.
“Fellow troublemaker, I see. Never would’ve guessed.” Ellie raises her eyebrow, a teasing smirk on her face.
“Only in my teenage years. These days, not so much.”
“Well, that’s a shame.” She slides a coffee toward me. “That’s for you, by the way. Tessa told me how you prefer it, and since you’ve been here for a couple of hours already, I figured you’d need it.”
“Thanks. How do you know how long I’ve been here?”
“Your email came in at six-thirty this morning, which means you’ve been working since at least that time.”
“I could’ve sent it from my phone while I was at home.”
“Still counts as working.”
My eyes narrow. Matthew calls me out on how much I work as it is. I don’t need it from someone I only met a few minutes ago. Although, I will concede about her ability to pay attention. Taking a sip of my coffee, I gather my thoughts so I don’t snap at her unsuspecting comment.
“Shall we go over the projects?” I ask, even though she doesn’t have much of a choice.
Ellie nods her head, grabbing her notebook from beside her. Then, to my utter horror, she pulls out a purple, sparkly pen, with multicolored feathers surrounding a spring-mounted peacock sprouting from the top.
“What the f—” Jesus, I almost just cursed in front of my employee. “What is that?”
Ellie looks down at her pen and then looks back at me with a grin. “It’s my pen.” She wiggles it, making the peacock bobble around. “Isn’t it fun?”
“Is there something wrong with your tablet? It should allow you to take notes on it.”
“Yeah, see, I couldn’t get the pencil to connect with the tablet, and I didn’t want to be late, so we’re going old-school.” She shakes her pen at me again, and I almost flinch.
Clearing my throat, I try to keep my annoyance inside. I know I’m being unreasonable. It’s just a pen; it shouldn’t matter, but the thing is fucking ridiculous. “Right. Well, take your tablet down to IT and have them help you set it up.”
Ellie takes a sip of her coffee, peering at me over the rim. It feels like she’s reading every one of my thoughts as she looks at me. I want to squirm in my chair, which is absurd. I command every board room I’m in. People respect me for being a leader, but one look from her sapphire blue eyes and I’m fidgeting again.
Focusing my attention on my tablet instead of Ellie’s eyes, I start going over what we’ve done with the contracts for Leon in New Orleans. Ellie takes meticulous notes, it seems, despite the pen that continues to mock me as she scribbles. I give her the work I need her to complete for the week, and she goes over my schedule with me.
As much as I know Tessa should have taken the extra week off, I’m glad she stuck around to train Ellie. Our first meeting seems to have gone well, and, if I forget about the pen, I think Ellie will do well here.
Thank God.
* * *
“Hey, Adam, Clifford Byrnes is on the phone for you,” Ellie says, peeking her head around the open door into my office. Usually, I keep the door between my office and Tessa’s closed, but I wanted to be available in case Ellie needed anything. If I also got to enjoy her laugh while the door was open, then I considered that a bonus.
“He wasn’t on your schedule, nor your approved caller list, so I wasn’t sure if it was okay to patch him through.” Ellie leans against the door frame, her arms crossed tightly against her chest. A frown mars her face instead of the usual smile. I can’t quite tell if she’s upset or just unsure.
“Ah, no, he’s a bit of a thorn in our side. Go ahead and send him over. Unless I have another meeting scheduled this afternoon?” I raise an eyebrow in question.
