“Really? Because the way I heard it, you stiff-armed him in the chest and gave him forty-five seconds to put the boards in your hands or he was fired.”
Lexi looked down at her hands folded in her lap and shrugged. “Well, that’s not entirely accurate.” She peeked up at Sean and smiled. “I only gave him thirty seconds.”
Sean doubled over in laughter, his hands slapping down onto the desk top. “I bet the guy blew a nut over that! Next time you need to go down there, you have to come get me.”
“Sure, Sean, next time I’ll bring an audience.”
“Why are you wandering the halls, Lexi? What’s Vincent up to this afternoon?”
“Jade.” She had to stifle a giggle when Sean moaned.
“I knew I smelled sulfur in the hallway earlier.” Sean shook his head as he grumbled a few other choice things under his breath. “Well, feel free to hide out in here for as long as you need to, but I’m actually leaving for the day. I get to go check out this sweet Ferrari that we’re using for a photo shoot next week.”
“Sounds like fun. I better get back to my desk. I have a few things I want to get finished before I leave.” Sean led her to his office door. “I also wanted to thank you for whatever you said to Vincent today. I thought for sure he was going to fire me, so thanks.”
Sean leaned against the door and smiled. “Sorry, Lexi, I wish I could take the credit, but the reason you’re still at Hunter is all you. Vincent was dead set on firing you when I left his office. I just told him not to be a jerk when he did it.”
Lexi was still trying to sort out what Sean had told her when she sat down behind her desk. Knowing that she had managed to save her job on her own gave her quite a sense of accomplishment. She only wished she knew what it was she had done to impress Vincent.
Lexi’s good mood was instantly quashed when she saw Jade slink out of Vincent’s office. “See you at eight, Vince.” Jade made a show of straightening out her clothes and hair as if they’d just had some illicit tryst in his office.
Ew.
Ignoring the childish posturing, Lexi turned her attention to her computer screen until she heard the repeated tapping of Jade’s talons on her desk.
“Yes?” Lexi asked.
“I just want to get something straight with you. If you ever make me wait to see Vincent again, I’ll have you fired within minutes. I kno—”
Lexi’s phone rang, so she held up a single finger to Jade, stopping her venomous tirade in its tracks. “Yes, Vincent?”
“I need those mockups now.”
“I’ll bring them in as soon as Jade leaves.” The hateful woman crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently while she waited for Lexi to get off the phone.
Vincent sighed. “I thought she left.”
“No, she’s just … explaining something to me. This shouldn’t take much longer.” Lexi casually spun her pen on the desk, not letting Jade know how badly she was getting to her.
“Let her know I can’t leave the office until I see those boards, so if she wants dinner … Never mind. Just bring them in when she leaves.” The line went dead.
“No problem,” Lexi said sweetly to the dial tone. Jade’s eyes bugged out of her head a little more. “Sorry, Jade. Where were we?”
“We were nowhere, you little snot. Just know Jade’s watching you, and you really don’t want her as an enemy.”
“Lexi will try and remember that.” Lexi got up from her desk, picked up the presentation boards, and headed for Vincent’s door. “Have a wonderful dinner tonight.” Lexi grinned as she heard a loud huff escape from Jade before she stomped toward the elevators.
Lexi tapped on Vincent’s door and waited to be invited in.
“Yes?”
She found Vincent hunched over a file on his desk, furiously skimming over presentation notes. He had a pen tucked behind his ear, and his lips moved as he read. Lexi took a deep breath and stepped inside.
“Here are the mockups. Where do you want them?”
“On the desk.” He quickly closed the file, and Lexi bit back a smile when she saw him neatly slide it back into his bottom drawer where it belonged.
At least he was trying.
She laid the boards side by side and watched Vincent take a step back to appraise the work. He said nothing for quite a while, and Lexi debated whether she should stay in his office or go back to her desk. Before she could take a step, his deep voice startled her.
“That didn’t take long.” Vincent didn’t look away from the boards.
“I’m sorry? What didn’t take long?”
“Jade’s grand exit speech. Usually she keeps my new assistant tied up for a good twenty minutes.”
“Well, maybe she could sense that I’m a quick learner, so she didn’t have to go into as much detail.” Lexi shrugged, not daring to look at Vincent.
Instead, she turned her attention to the mockup and gasped. “The date is wrong.”
“What?” Vincent’s head snapped up.
“Right here.” Lexi stepped closer and pointed to the logo that incorrectly said Maximillian’s opened in 1970. “It should say 1971, right?” she offered quietly, but when Vincent’s face turned into a scowl she immediately backtracked. “I could be wrong, though. I just thought I saw in the file that—”
Vincent cut her off. “No, you’re right.” He grabbed the phone and furiously punched in the four-digit extension. “Tony, you idiot, what date did Maximillian’s open their doors? Correct. Then can you tell me why the mock up says 1970? I expect this corrected by nine a.m., and I don’t care how long you need to be here tonight to fix it.” He slammed the receiver down and began scrutinizing every inch of the board.
Lexi leaned forward and quickly scanned the background information while Vincent examined the campaign philosophy. “Do you see anything else?” he asked quietly while he continued checking his side of the board. “I am so sick of Tony and his games.”
“He did this on purpose?” Lexi’s brows knit together in confusion.
Vincent never answered her question. Instead, he continued scouring the layout. “Find anything?”
“No, this part is fine. I think it was only that date. Everything else looks good.” She took a few steps toward the door to allow Vincent time to get his work done.
Vincent must have seen her out of the corner of his eye and looked up. “Thank you again, Alexandra.” His eyes were dark but appreciative.