Xander's Chance

"So … go put on clothes," she said, face warm. It was too hard to deal with him when she wanted to stare at his perfect body.

"Stay right there," he ordered. She rolled her eyes at him.

For a moment, he didn't move. She returned her attention to the iPad. Only then did he turn and retreat down the hallway.

Xander's calendar was full for the week. She flipped through his schedule, overwhelmed before it even began. Ingrid referenced documents she emailed the woman who was supposed to be here, documents Jessi had no access to.

She successfully navigated through her first obstacle: turning away the woman who was supposed to be here. Second obstacle: surviving her first full day in an unfamiliar job working for someone with the uncanny knowledge that she was there for nefarious reasons.

The work cell rang, and she picked it up, answering instinctively.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Ingrid, this is Toni." The woman's voice was high-pitched and nasally.

"Ingrid's on vacation. This is -"

"Great, well we'll be about half an hour early. Is that okay with Xander?"

Jessi glanced towards his bedroom, not about to knock on his door to see if he was ready.

"Yeah, it's fine," she answered.

"Great. We'll see you soon." Toni hung up.

Jessi eyed the phone, realizing there were five voice messages already this morning, along with a few texts.

She listened to the voicemails first and was soon laughing so hard, she was in tears. All were from women who sounded desperate just to talk to the strange man who owned this condo.

Xander's gaze settled on her as he emerged from the direction of his room. He was dressed in jeans and a casual button-down shirt that was snug across his shoulders and chest and loose over his abdomen. His hair was tied back. She didn't think it was possible for him to look sexier in clothing, but he somehow managed to.

"What?" he asked warily.

Jessi wiped her eyes and set the phone down. She shook her head, grinning. Too aware of his scrutiny, she cleared her throat and pretended to read the iPad. Another laugh bubbled up.

Xander hadn't moved. She felt like she was at the zoo, standing in front of the cage of a hungry lion.

"Toni will be early," she said to fill the tense silence. "I take it you don't listen to the messages women leave on your assistant's phone."

"No."

"Yeah, well, they're pretty funny."

Under the intensity of his glare, nothing was humorous. She scratched the back of her head nervously.

"How do you want me to handle phone calls like that?" she asked.