Page 11 of Irresistible

“Yes, of course, sir. You have a great day,” Deanne said to a customer before turning to meet Scarlet’s gaze. She said nothing in response to Scarlet’s observation.

“I mean, come on. That’s at least a little weird, isn’t it?” Scarlet reiterated.

“I guess. I don’t know. I suppose the man knows what he wants. I guess you’ll just have to deal with it and soldier on. Who knows? If you do a good job, maybe there’s a promotion in it for you,” Deanne said in her usual deadpan voice.

The possibility of a promotion was the last thing that Scarlet was hoping to get out of this. Although she thought maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing to focus on. She could certainly use the extra money. If she could put a fraction of the energy into using this opportunity to advance in her career as she wanted to put into seducing Richard, maybe she would have a realistic chance at it. But then again, the idea just didn’t tantalize her the way being around Richard did.

“Maybe. I assume just being a good assistant wouldn’t be enough to qualify me for that,” Scarlet said, her mind drifting away again.

“You never know. It never hurts to have friends in high places. If it’s not in the cards today, he could put in a fantastically powerful word when your time comes.”

Scarlet nodded her head and returned to her work. She had a couple of hours of work to do before lunch. The idea of working for Richard had so consumed her thoughts that she didn’t even have time to stop and think about who would take over for her while she was away. After thinking about it for a moment, she decided that she would leave that problem to Jim. After all, he was the branch manager. That seemed much closer to his area of expertise.

“Scarlet?”

The voice was unmistakable. Richard Grant peered around the corner from the hallway in the back of the bank where his temporary office was set up.

“Yes?” Scarlet said, trying to catch her breath. His voice took her off-guard. She told herself that she needed to get over that if she was going to successfully work for Richard.

“I’m sorry. I know Jim said that you would be starting to help me out around noon, but I actually need you to start a little bit sooner. Are you free right now?”

“Of course! I’ll be right there!” Scarlet said quickly. She didn’t even stop to see if she was finished with the work that was right in front of her.

“You don’t need a minute to finish that up?” Richard asked, gesturing to the small pile of papers that sat on the table in Scarlet’s teller window.

“This? Oh, absolutely not. I’m fine. Let’s go,” Scarlet said, getting up from her desk in a haste.

She was lying. She hadn’t finished the work she needed to do with that pile of papers. Luckily, it was a longer-term assignment that didn’t need to be finished until the end of the quarter. There would be no problem if she came back to it in a couple weeks. Truth be told, it wouldn’t have mattered if the work needed to be done that day. Scarlet would have figured something out. Richard Grant needed help, and that was the most important thing at this moment. Everything else could wait.

Scarlet walked giddily around the end of the row of teller windows to follow Richard to his office. The two did not exchange a word before getting to the large space that had once housed the former district manager responsible for overseeing over two dozen branches in addition to the Mainsport branch of Local Citizens Bank. She peeked inside and noticed that, somehow, he had already managed to turn the office into a marvelously appointed room. There was an area rug, two bookcases, as well as an entirely new desk. Once Richard determined that he would need to stay in Mainsport for two weeks, he decided to deck out the space. After all, he would be spending almost every waking second in his office, as he almost always did when he was working.

“Do you like what I’ve done with the place? Cody was able to rustle me up a few things before he had to take off,” Richard said, extending his hands to demonstrate the grandeur of the once-bland office.

“Wow. I can’t say you don’t work fast. I’m not sure I’m qualified to fill Cody’s shoes, but I can promise you I’ll do my best,” Scarlet replied. She was trying to sound extra professional, but knew that she was coming off fake. Fake was better than flirtatious in this situation, she figured.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I really just need someone who can run some odd errands and do miscellaneous tasks around here while I’m working. I’m admittedly very bad with administrative tasks, and I’m utterly lost without an assistant.”

“Whatever you need, I can do,” Scarlet said, trying her best to hide the obvious innuendo.

“Great. First, I need you to place a lunch order. I think I’d like to get lunch for the rest of the employees, too. I don’t have time to eat with everyone today, but I feel bad putting them on the spot by staying here so long.”

“That’s no problem,” Scarlet said cheerfully.

She excused herself and went to grab a notepad, kicking herself for not bringing one in with her. Passing Jim on the way out, she mocked wiping sweat off her brow, making Jim laugh nervously. He trusted his friend, but he also knew a good deal about human nature. If someone wants something badly enough, they’ll do almost anything to get it, even if that means breaking a promise to someone they care about. He left his trust in her and carried on about his work. Notebook in hand, Scarlet scampered back into Richard’s office.

“Great. Are you ready?”

“Of course. Whenever you are,” Scarlet replied obediently.

“Fantastic. I’d like you to get me a chicken caesar salad, a bag of kettle chips, and a diet cola. Go ahead and get a box of cookies for the branch, too. See what everyone else wants and then come back. I’ll give you the credit card, and you can head out.”

“It sounds like you eat really well. I guess you must, since you’re in such good shape,” Scarlet blurted, wincing at her own awkwardness.

“I guess, sure,” Richard snickered as he turned back to the work in front of him, giving Scarlet a clear cue to leave.

She left the office, took down everyone’s orders, got the credit card from Richard and left for the restaurant. Charlie’s was a local staple of Mainsport. The owner, Charlie Hadden, had started the business almost fifty years prior and was in the process of passing the business over to his two sons now that he was getting on in age. As she got in her car, she called ahead to the restaurant to get the order started. They said they’d have things ready in about twenty minutes.

Scarlet pulled up to the restaurant and took in its familiar green awning. She had gone there for lunch at least once every other week since starting at Local Citizens Bank. Everyone at the restaurant was very familiar with most of the employees at the Mainsport branch of Local Citizens, since so many of them frequently chose Charlie’s for lunch. To her knowledge, none of them had ever met Richard. As busy as he was, she doubted that they would ever get to meet him. But she had to let them know that he was in town. Scarlet had grown close to Charlie in the past year. When Deanne’s father died several months earlier, Scarlet coordinated with Charlie to have a catered lunch brought to the funeral home so that Deanne’s family would not have to worry about food. Charlie admired Scarlet’s dedication to her coworkers and worked to make sure that the whole thing went off without a hitch.