Chapter 6

Alessa snoozed the alarm Kyle had put into her room for the third time. This gift was set to ring every five minutes from 5 o'clock. She fought to go back to sleep, but the loud noise of the machine just kept going. Finally, she decided Kyle had won this battle, and slid out of bed, and ran into one of the communal bathrooms down the hallway, only to run into James coming out of the men's side of the bathroom, his top half naked and glistening. His hard work around the mansion was on full display through his hard muscles.

“Fancy meeting you here!” He grinned at her.

“Can’t talk! Have to get to Camelot before six. I am going to have to catch the bus and it's already 5:15!” Alessa breathlessly said.

“I can take you. Go shower. I'll drive you to get you there by 5:50, the latest.” He offered.

“But why?”

“I have to go into the office anyway. Plus this way I can drive you home. Maybe even have lunch together?” He smirked.

Kyle would freak out if James and Alessa walked in together to Camelot. Oh, she could imagine his face now.

“Okay!” She chirped now excited to get to her one-day job.

She got ready fast. Showering, curling her firey red hair so it softly framed her face. Lastly, she slipped into a tight black dress that met her down at her knees. She looked like she always did when she went to the PHAT office.

James wasn’t joking. He rushed through traffic and parked in the underground lot of Camelot in no time. By 5:48, we were walking into Kyle’s office.

Kyle looked like he had been here for hours. He sat in a clear office surrounded by glass walls and behind a huge glass desk. He had his usual three-piece suit on—today it was black—and to Alessa's surprise he had on large square glasses. Her heart fluttered at this sight. He looked determinedly at his screen. Sighing at the computer screen in front of him. His eyebrows furrowed.

“One assistant, coming right up!” James said as he walked into the glass room, in front of me.

“I want to see the budget the team provided at the beginning of the year. It's only April, why have they spent most of the money already?” He screamed.

“Sir, you don't need to worry about that. The VP of that region is working on getting them to budget—” a voice from the computer squeaked.

“I don't care about any VP. We have too many of those anyway. All I know is, I am being asked to sign a budget increase for a team that makes me no money.”

“Eh-hump,” James coughed.

Kyle looked up, but not at James, at Alessa. He slowly traced her from her bare legs all the way up to her soft red hair.

“What are you doing here?” Kyle asked. His eyes locked on Alessa. Alessa opened her mouth to speak but was stopped by, “Not you, James. I told you to come later on in the day, the printer you are setting up won't be delivered later.”

“I was going to but your assistant told me the printers came in yesterday. So I figured I get a head start on setting them up. Plus I ran into Alessa in the bathroom and figured I could give her a ride.”

“Bathroom? You share a bathroom?” He curiously asked.

“No, the communal bathroom in the servant's quarters,” James explained. “I had just showered and was coming out of the male side and she was—that's not important—where do you want me to start?”

“Go to the IT department on the first floor. They'll help you.”

“Aye aye, captain!” James winked at Alessa, who smiled back at him, and he walked out.

“Where do you want me?” Alessa asked. She only had one plan for today, to make sure she made it through. Initially, she didn't want to do Kyle’s bidding, but after talking to Madison, who begged Alessa to try and get along with Kyle, she decided to not be so combative. Today, she was going to be on her best behavior.

“You can pull up a chair right in front of me.” He pointed at an empty chair across from her.

“What about that empty desk?'' She pointed to a desk all the way down where the other workers were sitting in their cubicles.

“No, right here. I have a big day today. I have a board meeting, lunch with a possible new producer, and a groundbreaking on a new building and I need my assistant.” He snapped at Alessa to get the seat.

She did as she was told, muttering to herself, “Is he going to yell at me like he did the other assistant?”

“That person wasn't my assistant. It was an imposter. No stop muttering and start reviewing my speech. Madison boasted about how good you are at writing her speeches.” He threw a piece of paper at her.

Alessa made several changes to Kyle’s very dull speech, adding a few jokes, and stories that humanized him, if that were even possible.

As she made other smaller changes to the speech, Kyle got on another phone call. This time, he put on his headphones so Alessa couldn't hear. Big whoop she thought. It was not like she wanted to hear what he had to say. She wished he had a blindfold too because he glanced up to look at her several times as she sat there.

“I already said I'll meet the asshole, John! Let's not start the Board Meeting with things that annoy me!” He yelled into his headphones making Alessa jump. He gave her an annoyed look like he couldn't deal with her issues right now because he was busy with his own thing.

Alessa went back to her task, which she was happy was easier than she thought. She figured Kyle was going to use today to torture her but so far, her day had been pretty easy—though she suspected she was celebrating a little too early.

“I don't have the Q2 budget in front of me. I asked for a hard copy so I can write notes.” Kyle grunted as he looked around at his shockingly messy desk. Alessa just assumed Kyle would be a neat freak. He was a freak in every other way.

Alessa looked around with her keen eyes and saw at the edge of a stack of paper that the words Q2 were sticking out. She toppled the paper tower over and pulled out the thing that said Q2 and waved it in front of Kyle. He went to take it out of Alessa’s hand but brushed her fingers in the process. It was like time stopped for both of them as they both did the same thing, look at each other to see each other's reaction. Why this felt like a big deal, Alessa didn't know, but her heart marked it as such.

“Thanks,” Kyle said, breaking the spell.

“Yeah,” Alessa said, going back to his speech.

Alessa didn't dare look up after that, even if she could feel Kyle’s gaze poking a hole into the side of her head. After Kyle’s board meeting, they didn't speak till it was lunchtime. Until they heard a knock at the door.

“Ready for lunch?” James smiled at Alessa.

“No,” Kyle answered for her. “She needs to come to a lunch meeting with a producer, who likes redheads and I think bringing Alessa can help me get some of his money!” He smiled sinisterly.