Page 43 of The Rebel Billionaire

I position myself carefully.

“How are you finding it, working at St Clair?”

His question surprises me.

“Erm, good. I’m learning a lot. Callie is a great teacher, and everyone I’ve met has been incredibly welcoming.”

All bar you, I want to add, but bite my tongue.

“Good,” he says, sitting back and steepling his fingers in front of his face. “I have a task for you.”

I clamp my mouth shut to stop my jaw dropping.

“Of course,” I say, leaning forward and opening my notebook.

He holds up a hand and reaches into his drawer, pulling out a new notebook.

“For this, you’ll need a new notebook,” he says cryptically.

He pushes it across the table, and I lean in, reaching for it. When I sit back, his eyes are locked on me.

“Right,” he says, as if catching himself. “Callie’s leaving party.”

A smile spreads over my face before I can stop it. Now this is something in my wheelhouse. Parties are my speciality. I’ve been helping my mother organise social events for years.

“Do you think I can leave it with you?”

“Absolutely,” I say. “Do you have any stipulations or requests…other than it’s going to be a surprise, I take it?”

“Yes, she’ll murder me if she knows we’re planning this. She wants to slope off in silence,” he says, and that’s when I catch a real glimpse of the affection he has for Callie.

He’s going to miss her and their working relationship.

For the first time, I realise I’ll never be able to replace Callie in Alessandro’s eyes. That will be impossible. We don’t have the history or trust, so of course things will be different, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work well together as a team. I just need to show him I can get the job done efficiently and effectively.

My grin widens. “Leave it with me. Callie will have a first-class send off.” I open the new notepad. “Budget? Catering? Venue? Do you have anywhere particular in mind?”

“I’m thinking here. In the Couture Salon.”

I frown, masking it when he looks across, although clearly not quickly enough.

“It’s used for in-house fashion events,” he explains. “It’s where we privately show our collections to clients, buyers, even editors.”

I nod, making a note to myself to ask where the hell the Couture Salon is.

“As for the budget, tell them to bill me personally.”

My pen pauses on the page.

“No expense spared. Callie has worked here for a long time. She deserves it.”

“Collection for mum and baby?” I ask, feeling for the first time that this is where I can shine.

Show Alessandro I’m not some young, inexperienced airhead.

“Yes. Bring me the total before you buy anything, and we can discuss.”

“Certainly. I’ll go down and see Sue in HR once I have a plan in mind and make sure, I’m not breaking any codes of conduct.”