She needed a little emotional distance. A way to remind herself that Cain Enterprise’s new CEO was now her boss. Not her lover. A way to reestablish the professional footing of the boss/executive assistant relationship.
Her very first boss, for example, had always insisted she call him sir or Mr. Thornton. And she’d never once made out with him at her desk. Never mind that Mr. Thornton was seventy-four, humpbacked and mean-spirited. Still, maybe there was something to this formal professionalism.
Maybe if she just focused on the job, she’d be able to push aside her personal desires. So she did the only thing she knew how to do in a situation like this. She did her job.
She started with the basics. She contacted Marion, Griffin’s former assistant, and had her send over his schedule. Marion clearly hadn’t heard anything yet from Griffin because she seemed to think the request came from Dalton.
After that, Sydney generated a short action list. Things that had to get done to ease this transition. When Dalton came back, she wanted him to be impressed as hell by how smoothly everything had run in his absence.
She sent everything over to her iPad and marched to the office door, knocking only briefly before letting herself in.
She found Griffin sitting behind Dalton’s desk, a file open on the blotter in front of him. He didn’t look up when she walked in. His hair—which always looked a little scruffy—was even more disheveled than usual. He held a pencil in his hand, tapping the eraser end against the desk at a frenetic pace. His expression was a mask of intensity and she felt a little shiver go through her. Despite his blasé attitude, he took this very seriously.
Did she know him at all? Sure, she knew many things about him. Like that he had a scar on his neck and that he didn’t like chocolate but would eat anything with caramel. And that he watched the Star Wars trilogy every year on Christmas. But was knowing all of that stuff the same as really knowing him?
Confused, she automatically took a step backward, intending to sneak out and then knock, but his head snapped up and he saw her standing there, clutching her notes and her iPad in front of her. She was struck again by his expression. By the fierceness of it.
Then his countenance cleared, a smile slipped back onto his lips and he looked like himself again—all easy, laid-back charm. Nevertheless, she was left with the feeling that perhaps the Griffin she was used to seeing was the mask and the intensely focused Griffin was the real man. God, that was an unsettling thought.
“You need something?” he asked, his voice oozing that kind of breezy cool that she’d been aiming for on the phone with Tasha.
“No…I mean, um, yes. But I can come back later. Dalton never minded if I just walked in. Is that okay? If it’s not, I can just—” Stop talking! she ordered herself. Jeez, she’d never been the type to vomit words when she was nervous. So what was up now? She blew out a breath. This was just another first day with a new boss. Nothing to worry about.
Except, no matter how she sliced it, this was not just another new boss. This was her lover. A man who knew her body intimately. A man who’d driven her to the heights of passion over and over. She’d been vulnerable with him in a way she’d never been able to be with another man. She’d only allowed herself that vulnerability because he wasn’t a part of her real life. He was part of her nighttime fantasy world. Now, the two disparate parts of her life were becoming inextricable intertwined and, frankly, it terrified her.
“Sir—” she began, thinking of Mr. Thornton “—just tell me what you expect from me.”
Griffin slowly leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him and bringing one hand up to stroke his thumb thoughtfully across his mouth, giving her the impression he was trying to hide the fact that he was laughing at her expense.
“Sir, huh?” he asked in a mocking voice.
She ground her teeth. He was definitely enjoying this. “How would you like me to address you?”
A slow smile spread across his face. “I’ll think about that and let you know.”
“Shall I come back later?”
“It’s fine. Come in whenever you want.”
“I can knock first. Next time I’ll just knock first.” Again with the babbling! What was wrong with her?
“Whatever makes you comfortable.”
Humph. If only that were possible.
She flipped open the cover of her iPad, causing it to flicker awake and reveal the page of notes she’d made at her desk.
“First off, sir, there are—”
“Okay, I’ve thought about it. Stop calling me sir.”
She gritted her teeth, swallowed and tried again for the formal professionalism. “Whatever you wish, Mr. Cain.”
As if he was purposefully baiting her—and he probably was—his smile broadened. “I’d like you to call me Griffin.”
“Fine. There are some things we should go over to ease the transition.”
“Okay. Hit me.”
He flashed her another one of those amused smiles and she cringed. She wished now that she hadn’t made such a big deal about the name thing. Instead of impressing him with her efficiency and professionalism, she was acting like a total dork. “First off, I’d, um…like to go over Dalton’s schedule for the week.”
“I thought Dalton had been focusing on finding our sister.”
“He was, but he still had to run the company.” She looked down at the calendar app. “The weekly officers’ meetings and the—”
“But,” Griffin interrupted her, “I don’t have to be able to do everything Dalton did. No one’s going to expect that of me. At least not at first—and maybe never.”
Sydney had to swallow a laugh. He was right, of course; everyone would expect less of him because of his reputation as a dilettante and playboy.
As if he could read her mind, he flashed her one of his charming grins and gestured modestly to his chest. “I wouldn’t even have this job if it wasn’t for my family connections. So nobody is going to expect much. Everyone knows I’ll need help, especially these first few weeks. I can hand off most of the daily running of the company to someone else while I focus on finding the heiress. Once we find her, the pressure will let up a bit.”
She’d only been thinking about Dalton’s resignation in terms of how it would affect her. She hadn’t skipped ahead yet to the broader ramifications of how it would affect the whole company. When she did think about it, it terrified her. Cain Enterprises was a billion-dollar company. It employed countless people. He’d not only thought about all those ramifications, but also had thought of them quickly enough to start working on a plan.
She nodded. “Okay. In that case, shall I arrange a meeting between you and…” She let her words trail off as she waited for him to supply a name.
“Merkins.”
“Merkins?” She shifted her shoulder as she considered. “Not DeValera?”
Joe DeValera was the chief of operations, so he was the more natural choice.
“No, Merkins has a better head on her shoulders.”
“DeValera won’t like that you’re handing over responsibility to the CFO instead of to him. As COO, he’ll expect to handle things while you get your feet under you.”
“All the more reason he doesn’t need more power. Write up a memo to all the executives explaining the decision. Make sure it sounds like DeValera’s current responsibilities are too important and that no one else can do his job.”
Sydney nodded, quickly taking a few notes for the memo she’d later write and send to Griffin for approval. As she did so, she couldn’t help being impressed by his light hand when it came to managing the executive staff.
Something of her surprise must have shown in her expression because Griffin asked, “You disagree with my decision?”
She finished writing her notes as she shook her head. “No. On the contrary, I think it’s a brilliant strategy.” Griffin looked at her with his eyebrows raised, like he wanted her to say more, so she kept talking. “DeValera is very much your father’s man. He’s a good COO but a bit of a narcissist.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she cringed. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I agree completely. And I don’t trust him. With Hollister’s health failing and this stupid quest of his—which, thankfully, no one outside the family knows about—the company was vulnerable enough before Dalton decided to step down. I don’t want DeValera getting any ideas.”
“That’s very smart.” She cringed a little, realizing she sounded like a yes-man.
“Then why do you look doubtful?”
She tilted her head, considering her next words. Just how honest did she want to be here? She never hesitated to give her opinion when Dalton asked for it, but he rarely asked.
“Out with it,” Griffin ordered, his playful grin never slipping from his face.
“I just didn’t expect you to have such insight into the inner workings of the company. That’s all.”
The smiled that twisted his lips suddenly looked just a little bitter. “Right.”
“The strategy is brilliant,” she hastened to reassure him.
“You just didn’t think I was capable of it.”
“It’s not—” But she fumbled, unsure how to finish her sentence. And feeling just a smidge annoyed at him. “Look, you give off an air of…privileged indolence. I’m not the only one in the company who thinks this. Anyone would tell you the same thing.” But suddenly she found she couldn’t quite look him in the eye. Disconcerted by the idea that she didn’t know him at all, she flipped the cover of her iPad closed, running her finger across the smooth blue leather. “But clearly you’re not that guy. Obviously you haven’t been ignoring the daily office politics of the company. Otherwise you wouldn’t have noticed that Merkins has amassed a really great team or that DeValera is a power-hungry narcissist.”