The Grand Duel (The Grand Men #4)

Chapter 9

NINE

Charlie

M y new assistant is the woman I fucked at the club on Friday night.

What kind of messed up karma is that?

I was knee deep in a case when Edna showed her in here just yesterday. I’m pretty sure my stomach fell out through my ass when my brain eventually caught up with what I was seeing.

She had crossed my mind already that morning. Thoughts of her on her hands and knees crawling over my lap, blindfold hiding her face. I’d been distracted all weekend because of her and threw myself into the messiest case I could find, and it worked.

Right up until she strolled through my fucking office door.

I lean against my door, listening through the wood to their conversation.

“But if you have any problems at all, or you’re unsure, you can just call me. Or ask Mr Aldridge. He’ll answer any questions you might have.”

I won’t. It’s bad enough I even uttered a word in front of her yesterday. Thankfully she didn’t seem to recognise my voice.

“It’ll be fine. Just give me a couple days to find my feet, and I’ll be on the ball with things. I’ll grab those files and wait in the car.”

Oh god, she’s not coming with me to this morning’s meeting. I wait in the hope that she’s cleared off and then reach for the door handle, but just as I do, there’s a knock against the wood.

Like a panicked child, I make a dash for my desk chair and plant myself down in it. “What?” I snap, sweating.

“It’s me,” Ed sings as she strolls in, leaving the door open behind her. “You have an eleven o’clock at HQ. You didn’t forget?”

“No, I’ll be leaving in a moment.” I swallow and look up at her. “Have…the girl leave the files at reception, please.”

She blisters at that, her eyes widening. “I beg your pardon,” she whispers. “ The girl .” She steps back and knocks the door closed with her foot. “What has gotten into you?”

“I told you I didn’t want an assistant, Ed.”

“No. You told me you didn’t want an assistant on the day I had four interviews lined up. I cancelled all but that poor girl and then dealt with it when she showed up here. I let it go. And then you told me to find an assistant.”

Fuck. She’s right. I sigh and stand. “Look, I’m sorry, Ed.”

“Don’t be.” Her face softens. “I understand how busy you are at the minute.”

“It’s not that.”

“Well, whatever it is.” She doesn’t finish, giving me a look my mum would likely wear if she were here.

“Could you have Miss Elton leave the files for my meeting at reception, please.”

“No need. She’s accompanying you to take notes. It will allow you to be a little more personable with your clients.”

“I’m personable enough.”

“You’re wonderful,” she agrees. “But I’m not going to be here to try and make sense of your notes forever. Lissie is waiting in the car. It’s out front. Get to know her. She’s lovely.”

“Wait.” I round my desk and follow her as she leaves my office. “She’s not driving me.”

“Correct. The driver’s name is Scott. Came highly recommended by Mr Lowell.”

“Edna, you didn’t.”

She tilts her head and smiles, her tired eyes assessing me. “Humour me. Please? I’ve known you for fifteen years, Charles. I’m not doing this to be difficult.”

For fuck’s sake.

She places a hand on my arm. “You can’t keep going the way that you are. I saw the damage to the front of the Jag.”

“I’m fine, Edna. I promise.” I sigh and walk back to my office to get my jacket and things.

Fantastic. I now have a thirty- to forty-minute drive to my meeting trapped in a car with the woman I not only fucked but tipped five thousand pounds for the pleasure. “Shit,” I mumble to myself.

Why does she even need two jobs?

I’m going to have to fire her.

When I walk back out, Edna’s still standing in the same spot. She’s always there, Ed. Probably cares more about me and my shit than her own.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem awfully off today.”

“Thank you for organising the car. I’ll see you at lunch.”

Lissie

I’m in the car for no more than a couple of minutes when the door is pulled open, and Mr Aldridge climbs in.

I’d love to make this journey as awkward for him as he’s made all our encounters so far, but I’m not an idiot and know that the quicker I make the man warm to me, the quicker we can cut the grumpy millionaire act and get along.

That, and the fact he’s gorgeous, and I’m feeling a little disarmed by the man.

I don’t turn to look at him right away, allowing him a moment to get himself situated and comfortable first, and allowing my eyes some respite from that face.

As the car pulls away, I twist in my seat slightly, finding him facing the opposite direction with his pointer finger and thumb holding the bridge of his nose.

I close my eyes briefly, pulling air into my lungs as I put on my big girl pants and pretend I’m not attracted to tall, dark, and handsome.

“Mr Aldridge, I have some paracetamol in my bag if you’d like some?”

He doesn’t look towards me.

Doesn’t so much as twitch.

I rub my sweaty palms together. Relax, relax, relax . “My name is Lissie. I’m not sure how much you know of me. If Edna had you read over my CV or not?—”

“I read it.”

My brows lift as I try to remember what I even wrote on it, my mind blank as it fights for the right words to salvage this awful conversation. “That’s great.”

He doesn’t look towards me, but I force a smile anyway.

Financial independence, Lis. Remember the plan.

“I’m really looking forward to working alongside you. I’ve wanted to work in a more intimate role at a firm since I left university. I actually completed my degree whilst working at a solicitor’s.”

He sighs, shifting in his seat to turn further away from me.

I stare at the side of his head as my eyes start to burn.

How can someone be so rude?

I try not to let it get to me, brushing off the nerves growing in my gut. “Edna asked that I take notes today, but if there’s anything else I can do just let me know. I’ll figure it out as I go.”

He gives me a slight nod, still without turning.

What the hell?

I’m talking on impulse, too nervous to shut up.

Why won’t he look at me?

I feel a bit sick.

“Do you have any questions for me?” I try again, feeling like a relentless child.

“No.”

I stare at him, wondering if it’s just me or if he’s like this with everyone. Edna told me how lovely he is. Kind, caring, and a wonderful boss. And those pictures in his office…he’s like a different person from those frozen moments captured.

Right now, I’m not sure the man possesses the ability to smile.

I straighten in my seat and focus ahead, knowing I’ve tried my best.

Maybe this job isn’t for me.

Mr Aldridge definitely doesn’t want me here.

A good person wouldn’t make another feel the way he’s just made me feel.

There’s no helping some people, I’ve learnt that the hard way in life. There’s being stubborn—I, for one, can be disgustingly stubborn at times, and then there’s being too proud to admit when you need help.

You can have all the money in the world, the looks—like Mr Aldridge does, but if you can’t lead with kindness, well then, I think you’re a loser.

I forget about the man at my side and force myself to think about something else.

Or someone else. I haven’t let my mind drift to that night in the club too often, but sometimes, especially now it’s been a couple of days, and the small details have started to fade, I’ll find myself dipping into my own imagination to remember. I’ll lie in bed late at night, blurring the lines, pretending I can see, and that he’s as beautiful as he sounded and felt behind my blindfold.

My sister thinks I need to start dating again. That if I live off the sex at The Nightingale for too long, I’ll “forget what it’s like for the rest of us.”

I can’t seem to find an issue with that, though. It’s not like I have plans to work the rooms—maybe just when “cop boy” pops back in.

It would be nice to have someone to curl up with every now and then. Someone to take me to dinner or to walk through the park with on a sunny day.

Once I find a flat, I could consider putting myself out there. Find a balance between the club, the office, and my personal life.

I purse my lips at my own lie, trying to ease my cheeks as they spread.

“Your last name is Elton.”

My smile fractures as he speaks. “Uh…yes, it is,” I say warily.

“Your parents…the chocolatiers?”

My face drops completely, and I can’t help but be thankful that he’s not looking at me.

I might actually be sick. I stare at the side of his head, unsure of what he knows of my last name. Being in his line of work, there’s a chance he knows more than I’d like.

When I don’t reply to him, he chances a glance my way, his blue eyes flaring before they narrow on me.

I turn my head to look out of the window as he had, letting my body follow as the dreaded feeling of deep shame takes root in my gut, making me feel even worse.

If he knows my last name and who my parents are, he’ll know I come from money.

What else does he know?

Everything?

Is that the reason he doesn’t want to talk to me?

I swallow down the mortification that builds, letting my eyes drift closed.

This is horrifying.

Charlie

I can’t remember everything, but I remember a story. I was young, in college maybe, and the tabloids went wild for the billionaire chocolatiers. A scandal of some sort that never came to be anything in the end. I’d have to look it up to see what it was, but there was definitely something.

She seems to give up after I question her name, and I finally have a second to grasp hold of my composure.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt so rattled in my entire life.

She doesn’t try speaking to me again for the remainder of the journey to headquarters, during the meeting, or on our way back to the office, and to be honest, I’m grateful. It’s bad enough having the memories I have of her consuming my every thought without her talking to me.

I should fire her.

When we pull up outside of my office, I watch as she climbs out and walks in ahead of me, bypassing the reception and slipping straight into Ed’s office.

She’s upset. I’m not a complete idiot to see that. She was fiddling with the rings on her fingers the entire time we were in the meeting, those dark-brown eyes not holding with my own, her answers short and clipped—professional enough.

But I wonder if I should apologise.

I ignored her, pretended she wasn’t even there, and then went at her with her parents.

Fuck, I was horrible.

Curious.

Too fucking curious.

I linger in my office for over ten minutes, pacing. And then I hear her laughing through the walls and quickly walk to the door, listening as she and Edna natter on about something Luna did whilst we were out.

I frown.

She laughs.

I try to listen harder, my ear touching the wood, catching my skin.

I rear back, realising how stupid I must look. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

What is wrong with me?

She’s fine.