Tony sat down in one of her desk chairs and sighed. “If you tell anyone this, I’ll deny it, but Vincent and Elizabeth know and you may as well. Jade used me too. She flirted with me, came on to me all the time, did a few other things I won’t go into detail about, but she was using me to find out information on other accounts. She fed me a bunch of lies, telling me that Vincent always talked about me and said what a loser I was. Those errors you guys always found in the boards, they were her idea as a way to get back at him.”
“That bitch.” Lexi set the boards down and folded her arms across her chest as Tony continued.
“Yeah, she was. She admitted the only reason she was with Vincent was to make contacts and further her career. I should have said something, but my stupid pride …” He tilted his head toward the pictures on the wall of Vincent and his campaigns. “He deserves every success. The guy’s brilliant.” He looked pointedly at Lexi and said, “I’ll deny that was well, so don’t go repeating that either.”
A smile spread across her face. “Scout’s honor.”
He pointed to the boards. “So, do you approve of the changes?”
“You mean where you took Jade out and put Natasha in her place? Absolutely.” Lexi laughed. Knowing how much Jade hated the other model only made it that much sweeter.
“She always talked shit about her, so I figured who better to replace her with.” Tony stood up and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Well, I guess I’ll get going. If Vincent or you want any changes made, let me know.”
“You know, when you’re not being a complete jerk, you’re a decent guy.”
Tony snorted and started to walk away. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Girl Wonder. Try to not mess up my boards before tomorrow. They cost more than you earn in a month to produce.”
“Bye, Tony.”
Seconds later, Vincent walked past her, glancing back at Tony and stopping long enough to look at the boards. He laughed out loud when he saw the changes, mumbling something like “Maybe he isn’t a total douche after all” before he went into his office and put his stuff down.
Usually the sight of Tony enraged Vincent, but this time he seemed amused. When the last of her papers printed out, Lexi walked into Vincent’s office without even knocking on his door; they had work to do.
She found him sitting at his desk, the jacket of his suit draped over the back of his chair and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He was on the phone, but waved her in with a flick of his wrist and a smile. She came in, closed the door, and took her usual spot on the couch.
“Okay, that sounds good. Yeah, I’ll call them back tomorrow. Sure. Hold my calls for the rest of the day, please. Leigh, hang on.” He nodded at Lexi.
“Do you want me to have Leigh hold your calls too?”
There was a long pause during which Lexi’s brows furrowed together in confusion. Vincent watched her expectantly and waited for her answer.
“You’re talking to me?”
“Is there anyone else in the room?”
“Um, sure hold my calls.” Lexi looked around the office trying to make sure she was in the correct building and not trapped in some bizzarro alternate universe of her life. Everything looked the same, but nobody was acting the same. First a polite Tony and now a considerate Vincent?
What is the world coming to?
“Hold Lexi’s too. Thank you.” He placed the receiver back into the cradle and jotted a few notes down, then leaned back in his chair. “Are you ready to start?”
“Sure.”
Vincent heard the hesitation in her voice and mistook it for something else. He stood up and came over to sit on the couch beside her. “You don’t sound too sure. Maybe we should talk.”
“No. No talking.” Lexi shook her head emphatically. “What we need to do is set some ground rules.” She shifted her body away from him. “This is about work, not us. No talk about you and me or what happened, only Marradesi. Got it?”
“No talk about me being a complete idiot. Agreed. Anything else?”
Lexi watched the way he turned his body to face her and snaked his arm around the back of his couch. She thought she might have felt his fingertips graze the ends of her hair, but she couldn’t be sure because she refused to look. Instead, she stupidly met his eye, hoping to scare him away, but instead finding herself wanting to crawl into his traitorous lap. She wasn’t prepared to deal with those feelings right now. She needed to focus on the job.
“Yeah, one more thing.” Lexi pointed her finger at Vincent’s face. “You, work over there.” She gestured toward his desk. “This,” she gestured her hands around the couch and table, “is a Vincent-free zone.”
He immediately tensed and sat back as if her words stung, but he didn’t argue. He apologized, and returned to his seat at his desk.
“Stop that,” Lexi snapped as she sorted the pile of papers in front of her, making a stack for herself and a stack for Vincent.
Vincent peeked over the top of his computer. “Stop what?”
“Being so damned agreeable. It’s freaking me out. Just be your normal …” she struggled to find the right word.
“Dickheaded?” Vincent offered, trying not to smile.
“Yes … dickheaded works. Be your normal dickheaded self, please.” She grabbed her flash drive and tossed it at him.
“Fine.” Vincent caught the tiny projectile and folded his hands in front of him. “Give the Marradesi presentation.”
“What?” Lexi stood up and began pacing back and forth across the office floor while Vincent sat back in his chair, grinning like a fool. He even went so far as to prop his feet up on the desk, thoroughly enjoying himself.
“You heard me, give the presentation as I would. I want to watch it, dissect it and see if there’s anything we should change.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Don’t look at me like that. You know it as well as I do. You wrote half of the points yourself. And Elizabeth said she wanted you giving part of it, so let’s see what part you’re good at.”
“Dickhead.” Lexi ran her fingers through her long hair, shaking out the tangles and gathering the courage to present this monster to the master of presentations.
“That’s Mr. Dickhead to you,” Vincent quipped.
“No, it’s not. Never has been, never will be. Let’s get this done.”