"I met Nic in a bar, she was like a ray of sunshine, I'd been in the dark for months and she was the first thing that made me smile after Mum, Dad and Lauchie's death. I was a mess, broken and she, well, she repaired me." It was beautiful seeing how much she loved Nic.
"I'm so glad you found your Princess Charming." I smiled coyly at her. She laughed.
"That she is.”
"I'm so glad she found her as well." Bryce was leaning against the folding door, he walked out and sat next to Lucy. I felt like we had been busted.
"So what has my dear sister been revealing to you?" He gave Lucy a gentle nudge.
"Nothing, nothing at all." I reminded myself of Nate when he'd been busted playing his Play Station after it had been banned.
"Excuse me for a minute, the toilet calls again!" Lucy got up and waddled away. My heart quickened as I met Bryce's eye line. He was 'smirking' at me, I looked away.
"Your place is just breath taking, Mr Clark, sorry I mean Bryce." He stood up and wandered over to the glass balustrade.
"Do you like heights Alexis?"
"They are fine, when I have solid ground under my feet." I got up slowly and hesitantly met him at the Balustrade, my stomach dropped to my feet and I felt a little light headed. I stepped back, Bryce grabbed my arms and placed them back on the railing.
"It helps if you don't look straight down, start by looking out directly ahead.” He stood behind me and pointed to the Rialto.
“Then move down to something a bit lower, then lower again until you are looking at the ground." He was right it wasn't so gut wrenching once you allowed yourself some time to adjust. I understood why he lived up here, you felt like you were on top of the world and looking down upon it.
"So Ms Summers,"
"It's Mrs, Mr Clark."
"So Mrs Summers, Na doesn't have the same ring to it." He turned to me and 'smirked'.
You cheeky bastard
"Have you thought of a figure, for your salary?" He crossed his arms.
Crap, I hadn't even given it a thought, I looked down and noticed the time on my watch, it was passed 6pm. Great that's my cue to leave. Right I can play his game too. I stepped back, turned and started to walk inside, I called back.
"I don't think you can afford me."
CHAPTER SIX
The next couple of days went by quite fast, I’d been here for a week already, Lucy was a great teacher and I loved hanging out with her. The job so far was quite easy really, the C.A.’s handle his Room Service and House-Keeping pretty much and apart from politely meeting and greeting his appointments, there really hasn’t been much more to it. If it weren’t for the fantastic perve, the electrifying chemistry between us and the ‘smirks’ he throws me countless times a day it would be the most laid back job ever! Maybe this was just the calm before the storm?
Bryce hadn’t talked to me about my salary figure since I so mischievously told him he probably couldn’t afford me. Truth is, for him I was of no value, I’d happily perve and flirt with him for free, not sure my family would appreciate that idea though, especially my husband. Although, Rick was a pretty good flirt himself, so technically we are sort of even. Rick had asked me what my new salary was going to be, all I could tell him was a bit more, he wasn’t happy that I hadn’t negotiated ‘properly’. At the end of the day I didn’t return to work for the money, yeah the money is definitely a big help towards bills and for extra spending. I did want to be well and truly compensated for the time I was giving up with my children, but the main reason for returning to work was for my social life, I needed to get out of the house and amongst other adults in a working environment; I needed this for my sanity.
Lucy wasn’t in yet and Bryce was at the Self Defence Class he instructs for hotel guests, he must be a guru in Martial Arts as well; I wouldn’t put it past him.
I noticed an email from payroll, attached was my payslip, a small smile crept across my face. Hmmm I wonder? I clicked on the attachment and opened it. Holy Fuck! $500,000.00 annually, minus tax gives me just over $5,000.00 clear a week. This is insane. Rick will be over the moon though! It’s too much, way too much, shit he really can’t take a joke, can he? Or is this his idea of a joke. The man is utterly infuriating. Lucy stepped out of the elevator, she looked a bit off.
“Good morning Lucy, you alright?”
“Yeah just feeling a bit icky today.”
“That’s no good, would you like me to go out back and make you a cup of tea?” Tea used to help settle my stomach.
“Thank you, but I need the toilet for like the 5th time this morning, so I’ll make one when I’m done.”