The French Billionaire(42)

Sarah,

Please enjoy these flowers. I had an absolutely wonderful time with you at the party on Friday night. I would love to spend more time with you (outside the office!) again soon.

Yours,

Jayden.



Mia’s anger towards Xander flared right back up again. She’d been so stupid to think that he would really want to apologize. Really, she’d been stupid for falling for him in the first place. She’d heard of everything that he’d done to Lillian. She should have known better.

Just then, Jayden came walking around the corner. “I hope you like your flowers, Sarah,” he beamed at her.

Mia forced her face into a smile. “I love them! You are so sweet. Thank you very much.”

Even more people started to gather around, wanting to catch a bit of the gossip. Why was Jayden so interested in his secretary? Mia then realized that Alexander was standing towards the back of the crowd, watching her like a hawk. She got a chill, and realized that she was sweating bullets.

“Sarah, I know this is very soon, and you are my secretary and everything,” Jayden said. “But I had a lovely time dancing with you at the party on Friday night. You are such a wonderful, kind person, you are very fun to talk to, and of course, you are beautiful. I was wondering if you would come out on an official date with me. I would love for you to be my girlfriend. I can always find another secretary, but it’s very difficult to find someone as wonderful as you to have in my personal life. Please say yes.”

Mia was completely taken aback. She had not expected this at all. She had thought that Jayden was just being friendly to her because he was her boss, not because he was interested in her. But then again, he was fun, nice, easygoing, the complete opposite of Xander, and he was cute in that golden boy sort of way.

Everyone was staring at her now, and Jayden was starting to look worried. She was completely aware of Xander’s eyes on her, scrutinizing her. She would have to make a decision right now.

“Yes,” she said, not totally aware of what she was doing. “Yes, I would love to be your girlfriend.” The entire room burst into animated conversation. She smiled at Jayden, then looked briefly over at Xander, who was walking away, and shaking his head in obvious remorse.

***





Chapter 9


The next day, Mia came into work feeling very pleased with herself. Dating Jayden was sure to make Xander extremely jealous, and right now, all she wanted was for him to feel as horrible as she had when he wrote her that check. She had gone out to a boring, but still pleasant dinner with Jayden last night. She had made sure that everyone had seen them leave the office together, so that word would get back to Xander that they were, in fact, going out.

When Mia sat down at her desk, she realized that there was a memo from Jayden saying that Xander had sent him on an emergency trip to meet with the European branch of their company in London. He would be back in a week, he said, and if she could just keep everything organized for him and answer all of his calls, that would be great.

Then, Xander’s secretary came up to her desk. “Mr. Will would like to see you in his office at your earliest convenience, please,” she said to Mia.

Mia’s stomach dropped. She had not been expecting him to react so quickly. “Tell him I’ll be there in a few minutes,” she said.

She went to the bathroom and made sure her hair and makeup were perfect, and then walked over to Xander’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in, please,” he said. She walked in and sat down in the chair in front of his desk. “What’s this about, Alexander?” she asked.

“How could you humiliate me like that yesterday?” he growled. “Why would you go out of your way to publicly date Jayden?”

Mia was confused, but also perversely glad to see him so upset. “I thought you wanted me to stay out of your life,” she said. “This isn’t doing you any harm at all. Why are you so mad?”

“Because he doesn’t deserve you,” he said. He then got up, locked the door, and shut the blinds. He yanked Mia up by her wrist so she was standing, and aggressively kissed her, pushing her up against the desk. He started tugging at the zipper on her skirt, but she pushed his hand away.

“This isn’t the time, or the place,” she said.

“You’re right,” he said, breathing heavily. “Meet me downstairs at one o’clock this afternoon. I’ll have a car waiting to take us somewhere better.”

Mia knew she should say no, but she was so captivated by Xander. He was even more magnetic when he was angry. Plus, she knew this weekend hadn’t been a lie. He had to have felt something for her.