Heather London: The Hardest Part

When I sat down, I saw a pink stinky note stuck to my monitor.

PLEASE COME SEE ME. — SHARON

Great. This couldn't be good. Sharon was my boss. If she was going to fire me, couldn't she have at least waited until the end of the day? I sighed, my tired eyes suddenly feeling heavier. I had to keep telling myself that whatever happened, I could get through it. In the past few years, I had gotten through worse. I had dug myself out of deeper holes than this. I could find a new job. I would be okay.

Standing up, I prepared myself to face my fate, when something stopped me dead in my tracks. A guy in a fancy suit walked into our office. I couldn't help but stare at him. I'd like to say it was something else that stilled me. Regardless, it was his good looks and how amazingly sexy he looked in that blue pinstriped suit. His sandy-brown hair was styled perfectly and I swear the clothes he wore were made for him. They fit him perfectly.

When he approached Isabel's desk, it looked like she was about to faint right there in front of him. I wondered if this was the mystery guest she spoke of just a few minutes ago.

Isabel leaned forward on her desk, practically drooling as she stared up at the gorgeous man who stood in front of her. The two of them chatted for a few seconds before Isabel picked up the phone and then pointed him toward Sharon's office. He gave her another dazzling smile before making his way down the hall.

I hadn't even realized I was following his every move until Christine said something.

"Don't even think about that one. That guy is T-R-O-U-B-L-E." I tore my eyes away from him to glance over at Christine, who was shaking her head. "I guess all the rumors were true. He is back in town."

"Who is he?"

She looked at me like I was crazy and then laughed. "I forget you're not from the city. That"—she looked toward Sharon's office, where the gorgeous guy disappeared—"is Reed Alexander. He's been gone for a few years now. He had some crazy family stuff go down. I heard he was back, but I didn't believe it, not until right now."

My eyes drifted back to Sharon's closed office door. I guessed I wouldn't be going in there now.

Taking a seat again, I tried not to stare at the door, but I secretly wanted to see him again. When a few minutes passed and the door opened, I quickly looked away.

Keeping my head down, I reached my eyes towards the front desk where I saw Sharon and the gorgeous guy talking. They looked friendly; Sharon was smiling, maybe even drooling a little herself, even though she was twice his age. Then Sharon looked in my direction and her eyes locked with mine. Crap, I was caught staring. Before I could turn away, I saw Sharon pointing to me, causing Reed to turn around and look in my direction, too. I could feel my eyes grow wide and my mouth drop open a little. Sharon raised her hand up and waved at me to come over. Oh God. She couldn't mean me... could she? I gulped loudly and just continued to sit there, frozen, not sure what to do.

"Um, Emily. I think Sharon needs you," Christine's voice snapped me back into reality.

"Uh, yeah, I'll go see what she wants." I stood up and pulled my skirt down, smoothing it out as I made my way towards them.

"Watch out. He's been known to bring girls to their knees with just one look." I could hear Christine laugh the entire way to the front desk. I tried to ignore her, focusing on the gorgeous man, Sharon and Isabel. They all stared at me as I approached.

"Emily, I'd like you to meet Mr. Alexander. Mr. Alexander, this is Emily Anderson."

His hazel eyes stared into mine and I’m not sure I breathed for a few seconds. My eyes roamed across his face, taking in his beautiful features. His lips were full, matching perfectly with his wide, square jaw. A little bit of stubble was on his face, giving his sophisticated suit and refined demeanor a little more roughness.

"Please call me Reed." He smiled as he held out his hand. I could feel the weakness in my knees, just like Christine had said. He was gorgeous and he smelled even better. Pull it together, Emily, act professional for God sakes.

"It's nice to meet you," he continued. I took his hand, feeling warmth radiate through me. He gave me a crazy sexy smile... or maybe it was just a smile that I thought was crazy sexy.

"Nice to meet you, too," I muttered as I stared up into his hazel colored eyes. I felt thankful that the words made it out of my mouth

"Reed is planning a charity event and he would like to hire us to organize it," Sharon said, pulling my attention back to her.

"Really?" I asked, not knowing what else to say. Great, that sounded professional.

"We are so honored to do this for you and your family, Mr. Alexander." Sharon smiled and then looked between the two of us, finally settling her eyes back on Reed. "Well, I'll let you get going. I know you're a busy man. I'll go over a few things with Emily and we'll be in touch."

My stomach twisted. What did she just say? Go over a few things with me?

Sharon and Reed shook hands and then he looked over to me again.

"I look forward to working with you, Emily."

Working with me? Had I just heard him correctly? That's not possible.

He walked away and every girl in the office, including me, followed him until he was out the door.

"Wow, he is so yummy," Isabel swooned when he was finally out of sight.

Sharon looked towards Isabel and laughed. "I have to say that he is a very attractive young man, but Mr. Alexander has just hired this office to put together the Black and White event for him and we need to act professional."

Isabel shrieked. "No way. Are you serious?"

I must have been missing something. What was the Black and White event?

"We all know who Reed Alexander is and how important this event can be for us, so let's not screw this up, okay?" Sharon gave Isabel a pointed look and then turned to me. "Emily, may I see you for a minute?" She started to walk towards her office as I followed close behind her.

"Take a seat," Sharon said, shutting her office door behind me. She sat down at her desk and stared at me for a long moment. "Do you know who Reed Alexander is?" she finally asked.

I shook my head.

"You've never met him before?"

I shook my head again. "No, not until a few minutes ago."

She sat back in her seat, looking puzzled. "I didn't think so. I know you just moved here a few months ago and I believe he's been living in London for the past two years. That just makes this even stranger." She clasped her hands together and laid them on top of her desk. "This morning I got a phone call from Mr. Alexander's assistant. She said that he wanted to come see me this morning to talk about hiring our company for an event. He not only wants to hire us to coordinate the Black and White event this year, but Mr. Alexander specifically requested that you be involved in organizing it."

My stomach dropped. What? Me? He wanted me ? But, he didn't even know me.

"He did?" I talked around the lump in my throat. "I'm not really sure what to say." A strange feeling crept up inside me and paranoia oozed its way in. Could Jake have found me? Could he have something to do with this? Was the man in the suit working for him? It sounded ridiculous because I knew if Jake had found me, I'd probably be dead, yet I couldn't help wondering the worst.

"It really doesn't matter. I'm glad he came to our company," Sharon said, breaking into my thoughts. "This is one of the biggest events of the year. Or it was until a couple years ago." Her eyes glazed over and, for a moment, she looked upset, like she was remembering something very disturbing. Shaking her head, as if she were trying to remove a memory from her mind, she continued. "Now, I know this is going to be a lot for you to take on, but you've done such a great job this past month. I think you’ll be just fine. This type of event can overload even the most experienced event coordinator." She paused, hesitating. "So I'd like you and Christine to work on this together."