He unclasped the watch and took my phone.
“Have a seat, please.”
He moved to his chair and stared at me for several seconds without saying a word.
Still keeping his eyes on mine, he adjusted my watch and slid it back to me.
“I was looking through the employee records, and I noticed you didn’t have a job title,” he said, adjusting my phone. “What exactly did Mr. Lewis consider you to be?”
“He would say—” I paused. “I was about to be an executive, one step below the CFO, actually.”
“Without finishing your master’s degree?” He looked right through me. “Or passing the CPA exam?”
“Yes…”
“Nice try.” He smirked. “I’ll give you one more chance to tell me the truth, Miss Stone. I would hate to fire you for dishonesty on your first day under me.”
“I didn’t have an official title.” I held back a sigh. “I just kept his days organized, attended meetings, and ran communication between him and all the staff.”
“Hmmm.” He tapped his chin. “So, like an intern?”
“No.” I bristled at that comparison. “I did a lot more than all the interns combined. No offense to them.”
He looked as if he expected me to elaborate.
“I helped with a lot of finance things.” I was suddenly nervous. “I also helped design policies for our cafes and had inside experience to share.”
“Ah, yes.” He flipped open a folder. “You were a lead barista before.”
“I’m going to un-ban you from our Times Square location the second I get off today.”
“I’ve already handled that.” He looked amused. “That said, given all that you’ve told me and all the times Mr. Lewis raved about you, I think I’ll consider you as an executive after all.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” He smiled. “An executiveassistant—to me.”
I bit my tongue.
“I have to warn you, though,” he said. “I have a far bigger imprint than Mr. Lewis, so if you can’t handle my depth, I suggest you leave before I go any deeper.”
“I think I can handle you.”
“I hope so…” His gaze dipped—slow, deliberate—like he was assessing whether that was a challenge.
He opened a drawer, pulling out a laptop and three huge binders. “The password for this is on the back, and my contacts are in the first one, so save all the numbers to your company cell, not your personal one.”
“I don’t have a company cell,” I said. “I typically just use mine for everything.”
“That won’t work under me, Miss Stone.” He picked up his desk’s receiver. “Ciara, call Rob and tell him to get me a new cell phone for my new EA.”
He hung up and continued talking without missing a beat.
“You’ll need to keep me up to speed on the major things in the second binder while handling my schedule on a daily basis, commit to my policy on time, and deliver consistent research on our number one competition.”
I nodded, leaning forward to grab the binders.
“Do you know who our number one competition is, Miss Stone?”
