Trust in Advertising (8 page)

Trust in Advertising

“Hope,” Lexi whined as she stood up on her still wobbly legs and brushed her hair out of her face.

A yawn escaped Hope’s lips, then she laughed. “You promised me. And you, my friend, are a good person. You wouldn’t break your word to me or leave Hunter high and dry. So, get your little butt in the shower and quit your whining.”

Lexi’s feet thumped angrily against the hardwood floor as she stormed off into the bathroom to shower and get ready for work. When the door slammed shut, Hope slowly rolled over with a satisfied grin on her face and went back to sleep.

Still annoyed at Hope for making her act like a grown up and return to work, Lexi began texting her every five minutes after leaving the apartment.

When Hope shot off a message with every curse word known to man, Lexi felt victorious.

“Look who’s here bright and early.” Leigh beamed as Lexi stepped of the elevator.

“Good morning, Leigh.” Lexi laughed, pausing to tuck the BlackBerry into her purse.

“Go get yourself settled. I have a feeling today will be a busy one.” Leigh seemed to be trying a little too hard to sound nonchalant.

With a suspicious look on her face, Lexi sighed. “Okay, I’ll get a few dozen cups of coffee in me, twenty or so ibuprofen, and then I should be good to go.

I’m going to mess around on the computer today and try and look through some current projects and proposals so I have an idea what everyone is talking about in meetings.”

A huge grin broke across Leigh’s face. “That sounds like a great idea, Lexi.

Don’t let me keep you.” She waved her hands dismissively, and then busied herself behind her desk.

Lexi said good morning to a few of the other assistants on her way to her desk. Each of them wished her luck, which Lexi found odd, but she had so much she wanted to get accomplished that she shrugged it off and headed for her desk.

She no sooner sat down than the sound of her chirping bird ringtone filled the room, making her head throb. Suddenly, her heart nearly leapt out of her chest, when she wondered if it could be Vincent calling to check in for the day.

“Lexi White,” she said nervously into her phone.

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Victoria Michaels

Hope’s laughter rang out. “Lexi White? That’s how you answer the phone now, not ‘Hey, Hope’?”

Lexi let out the breath she had been holding. “Hope, I’m hung over, exhausted, and about ten minutes away from a nervous breakdown, and you called to give me grief?”

“Absolutely,” Hope chuckled. “You need to lighten up and breathe, Lexi.”

Drumming her fingernails on her desktop, Lexi waited. “Are you done?”

“Has the hunk called you yet?”

“Hope!” Lexi looked over her shoulder to make sure no one heard the little outburst. “His name is Vincent, and no, he hasn’t called yet.”

“So, what are you doing?”

Lexi shuffled the papers on her desk. “I’m looking over one of the files from his desk to find out what projects we’re working on.”

“Sounds exciting,” Hope said sarcastically. “So, are you still nervous to talk to him?”

“No, I figure I’ll keep my head down and my mouth shut.”

Lexi heard Hope snort over the phone. “Whatever you say, Lexi. I’ll let you get back to work. Text me later if anything exciting happens. I’ll be at work with the meatheads.”

“Give them my love. Bye.” Lexi ended the call and flipped the phone around in her hand as she continued reading through the papers on her desk.

For a solid hour or two, Lexi poured over file after file, learning every detail of the projects Vincent was currently working on and the accounts he was in the process of acquiring. She was taking a pile of files back into his office when her phone chirped. Lexi rolled her eyes, wondering what Hope could possibly want now. When she saw “Vincent Drake” in bold letters on the display, she nearly dropped everything she was carrying onto the floor.

Lexi’s hand started trembling, her mouth going completely dry at the thought of having a conversation with Vincent. She breathed a much needed sigh of relief when she saw it was only a message.

Alexandra,

Welcome to Hunter Advertising. I hope that you are more competent than
your predecessor. You have three minutes to reply to this message.

Vincent Drake

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Trust in Advertising

Lexi rolled her eyes at the obnoxious message. His clipped introduction, laced with a haughty arrogance, helped her push aside any leftover fantasies she had of him from high school, and her already throbbing head lowered the chances of a tactful response. “Leigh wasn’t kidding. You are a prick now.” Lexi typed out a quick reply and hit send.

Vincent,

Thank you for the warm welcome. I’m sure you’ll find me more than
competent.

Lexi

She set the phone down and had just gathered up the files when her phone chirped again.

Alexandra,

Prove it. What is my middle name?

V. D.

“Jackass sounds about right.” Lexi pecked out “Giovanni” without blinking and hit send. She sat at her desk for a moment, waiting to see what insane hoop he threw at her next, but her phone remained silent.

“Round one goes to Lexi,” she snickered as she picked up the files and put them back on top of the massive mess on Vincent’s desk. She wrestled with the mountain of papers in an effort to keep them from plummeting to the floor in a document disaster of epic proportions and grumbled, “Question my competency.”

Twenty minutes passed and still no response. No warm welcome, no

“Alexandra White? From Riverdale? Didn’t we go to high school together?”

Lexi realized the all too depressing truth: Vincent didn’t remember her at all.

Her plan to go through high school unnoticed had worked perfectly, much to her dismay. Still, she held out a slim hope that maybe seeing her in person might jog his memory, but until then, Lexi was just another assistant sent to infuriate him.

The tone of the messages he had sent weren’t the most welcoming, but Lexi could sympathize. To him, she was a complete stranger, and he was testing her. That was understandable if his previous employees hadn’t done their jobs effectively. He wasn’t going to give her the time of day until she proved herself worthy of his time. Never one to back down from a chal enge, Lexi got back work.

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Victoria Michaels

Vincent Drake clearly wasn’t the same person he had been all those years ago, but neither was Lexi. She had been through too much in her short life, lost too much, to ever be that girl again. She was still struggling to find herself after all these years, and if part of that process required her to go toe-to-toe with this man to earn some much needed respect, she would do it. She would not be a doormat; she would prove him wrong and be the most competent hire in history.

By the time he stepped off that elevator, Lexi would know Hunter Advertising inside and out. Then she’d make sure he stood up and noticed her this time.

Lexi was still deep in thought when Leigh came flying in through the office door. “Lexi!” she shrieked. The papers in Lexi’s hand flew up into the air and rained down from the ceiling like confetti at a ticker tape parade.

“What?” Lexi gasped as she started gathering the scattered sheets into a disorganized pile on the floor. “You just about gave me a heart attack, Leigh.”

“Giovanni.” Leigh snatched the Blackberry off the desktop and scrolled through the contact list. “His middle name is Giovanni.”

“I know. I replied already.” Lexi shrugged as she placed the last of the loose papers back into the folder.

Leigh just stared at her, dumbfounded. “You … you answered his question … without help?” She couldn’t have looked more shocked if Lexi had sprouted a second head.

“Yeah, it really wasn’t that difficult. I take it he tests all his new employees this way?”

“No one has ever,” Leigh continued muttering incoherently to herself as she wandered back to her desk, leaving Lexi to her work. “… not without my help.”

Just when Lexi started to relax, her phone chirped.

Alexandra,

Congratulations on mastering Google. Now let’s see if you can use your
brain. I need the advertising budget breakdown for the Fox Jewelers
account. I want the advertising expenditures for the local Chicago affiliates
and the greater Boston area. I needed them ten minutes ago or you’re fired.

V. D.

“Google this.” Lexi flipped her phone the bird before popping another ibupro-phen. “God, he’s even more arrogant now than he was in high school.” Lexi made her way into his office and blew out an exasperated breath as she looked at the mountain of papers on his utterly messy desk. “What have I gotten myself into?”

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Trust in Advertising

She began searching through each pile, trying not to move anything for fear of messing up his organizational system, whatever that might be. But after ten minutes it became clear—Vincent had no system other than total and absolute chaos. She was more and more discouraged with each hour that passed, knowing she would probably see the words “You’re fired” in Vincent’s next text message, but Lexi was nothing if not stubborn. Before she let him fire her, she would find that damned file if it killed her.

She eventually came across the tattered Fox Jewelers file tucked inside a massive file for an inactive account from a couple years ago. “I found it!” She danced around the office, waving the manila file wildly over her head until she was pulled out of her celebration by loud clapping from the doorway.

“Congratulations,” a deep voice snickered from behind her.

Lexi froze, her face turning bright red at the sound of the man’s voice.

Mortified, she spun around to see an incredibly handsome gentleman standing in the doorway and grinning down at her. His shaved head gave him a dangerous air, but his striking features and dimples made her heart beat a little faster, and his warm smile put her at ease.

“Oh, thank you. I’m so sorry; was I really that loud?” Lexi nervously tucked the file under her arm and played with a piece of lint on her skirt.

“No, I was on my way in here to drop something off when I heard you … celebrating?” He took a few steps towards her and extended his hand. “I’m Sean, by the way. Sean Adler.”

“Hello, Mr. Adler. I’m Lexi White. I’m Vincent—I mean, Mr. Drake’s—

new assistant.”

“Lexi, nice to meet you, and don’t ever call me Mr. Adler; it’s Sean. A word of advice, if I may? When working for Vincent, don’t let him push you around.

The guy can smell fear. I know he’s a real prick sometimes, but underneath it all, he’s a softie.”

Lexi chuckled. “I’ll try and remember that. Thanks.”

“So, what did he have you searching for?” He pulled the folder from under her arm and laughed when he saw the name on it. “Holy shit, you found it!”

Sean’s hand flew to his mouth then slid away as he grinned sheepishly. “Sorry about the language. I’m working on it. But wow, Vincent was tearing his hair out looking for this file all last week before he left for vacation. He’s gonna sh—I mean, he’s gonna
die
when he sees you found it. Well done.” He winked and handed the folder back to her.

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Victoria Michaels

Lost it? He had me searching for a lost file?
Lexi did her best to hide her annoyance at this bit of information.

“Quite frankly, I don’t know how he finds anything in this disaster.” Lexi waved her hand at Vincent’s desk.

“He claims to know where everything is, even in the mess.”

“Yeah, well, I have proof that isn’t true now, don’t I?” Lexi tapped the folder with her fingers, earning a wide smile from Sean.

“Please don’t quit. I like you.” Sean tossed his arm over Lexi’s shoulders and smiled. “And if you do quit, come work for me.”

“I’ll remember that.” Wearing a grin, she shuffled out of Vincent’s office and held out her hand, offering to take whatever it was that Sean wanted to leave for him and keep it safe on her desk so it wouldn’t get lost.

Sean tossed the manila file folder to her, and said a quick goodbye.

Lexi plopped down in her chair and began thumbing through the missing file, learning as much as she could about Fox Jewelers, the campaign, the target demographic, and budget expenditures for different markets. When she found the information Vincent had asked for, she picked up her BlackBerry and grinned as she sent off her message.

Vincent,

I have the file in my hand. The Boston expenditure was $235,000 and
the Chicago expenditure was $452,000, but there is a note about charges
that aren’t listed, so I assume it’s higher than that.

Who do you want that information sent to? That is, as uming I’m not fired.

Lexi

Lexi wished she could see his face when he realized she had found the missing file. But then she began second guessing herself, wondering what on Earth had made her be so flippant in her reply. He was her boss, after all.