Page 49 of Irresistible

Chapter 23

Scarlet looked up one day and realized that nearly six months had passed since she left Mainsport. But no one there was a stranger to her. She had already been back to visit her parents twice and stopped to visit her friends at the branch along the way. It was still humming along as it always did. Even though it was her hometown and the source of so many wonderful memories, she felt mildly out of place. It felt like a past life for her even though she considered everyone there part of her family. Things were moving so fast in New York. Before she knew it, Scarlet felt like she was part of the hustle and bustle of the city. Everything was much faster-paced. Moving from being a teller to being an executive assistant was a difficult transition, but she was lucky to have an understanding boss. She didn’t think he was too hard on the eyes, either.

It was a Monday morning, and Scarlet was hurrying to get a presentation finished so that Richard would have something to reference during his meeting with the board of directors. It was time, once again, to present the bank’s financial statistics for the last quarter. There was nothing but good news to report, as there almost always was. Nonetheless, Richard was a perfectionist in almost everything he did. It was that perfectionism, in part, that led to the board agreeing to extend Richard’s CEO contract for another five years in addition to electing him chairman of the board. Scarlet could not have been more proud of him.

Things were going perfectly for her. Their relationship had only grown deeper, and they were experiencing a greater level of professional success than they ever had before. Scarlet received incredibly lucrative offers from numerous competing banks on almost a daily basis. Some were even offering to put her on a managerial track just for agreeing to switch. But she had no intention of giving up any aspect of her life without a fight.

“Hey, Scarlet, can you come in here for a second?” Richard called out. The presentation was in a few hours, and they needed to tighten up a few odds and ends with the slides.

“Of course. How can I help, sir?” Scarlet said mockingly.

“You know how much I hate it when you do that,” Richard laughed. He never wanted Scarlet to feel subservient to him.

“Right. I’m sorry. How can I help you, my liege?” Scarlet said, sticking out her tongue.

“You’ve always been quite the comedian,” he scoffed.

“I think I’m a distraction in the workplace.”

“Well, you’re a welcome distraction in this workplace.”

Being able to flirt on the job was a definite perk of this employment arrangement. Even though both of them had stressful tasks on a day-to-day basis, being able to flirt like this put it all in perspective. If everyone could work with the person they loved, the world would be a much better place.

“Did we confirm the final profit and loss figures with the CFO? I know we were waiting to get those last numbers,” Richard asked.

“Yeah. We got them in this morning and I put them in the slides. I don’t think we have anything else outstanding.”

“You’re the best, but I already knew that.”

The two spent another half-hour going over the content of the slides, making small tweaks for mechanics and grammar. It was nothing that would bother most executives, but Richard was an absolute stickler. Anything that could reflect negatively on him could reflect negatively on the bank, and that was something he would never stand for.

“Did you hear back from the board members? Are they all still able to meet at two o’clock? I remember Scott and Rick said that there was an outside chance that they would be stuck on a call.”

“Yeah. They emailed about an hour ago and said that their schedules are open. They’ll be able to make it,” Scarlet responded.

“Fantastic. I don’t even know why I asked.”

A delivery man entered the room with a large bag of food. The two had placed their lunch orders about an hour ago. It was, yet again, a bacon cheeseburger kind of day. They tried to eat healthy most days, but they both needed the comfort food today. It was going to be Richard’s first board meeting as chairman, and Scarlet knew that she was going to have to pull a lot of material to help get him up to speed as soon as possible after the meeting. The next week was going to consist of some long nights and a lot of paperwork.

“Mr. Grant, do you want me to come to the meeting to take notes? I remember you asked me to do that a couple of months ago.”

Jim peered into the office from the hallway. Richard promoted Jim to a managerial position within the investment division. He didn’t have to think twice about taking the job. Sunshine practically forced him to accept it. The prospect of New York nightlife, combined with a healthy bump in salary, made the decision a no-brainer.

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary this time. This is mostly just an update. The bank is financially healthy, so I’m sure that the board members will just want to get out of the room as soon as possible.”

Jim nodded and returned to his office.

“Scarlet, I didn’t just call you in here so we could talk over the slides for the meeting,” Richard said suggestively.

“You didn’t? Is something wrong?”

“Not at all. Quite the contrary.”

“I don’t follow,” Scarlet said, confused.

“Our last few months here have been incredible. I’ve never felt like I really had everything in place before. Either I was obsessed with working here and getting ahead as quickly as I could or I was obsessed on trying to fix my unpredictable love life. I felt like I was trying to grab on to a million things at once, but I never really held on to anything for long. But now, that’s completely changed. I feel whole when I’m with you. Everything just feels perfect.”

“I feel the same way. I didn’t know it was possible to live life this way,” Scarlet gushed.