Chapter 5 : Unexpected Proposal

**Isa 'How did we get here? Sitting across from one another in a diner?' I wondered. 'And why was the room so… hot?' "Are you uncomfortable?" Callan asked. I stopped pulling at the neck of my shirt and straightened up in my seat. I didn't want him to see me at any level of weakness. "I'm just a bit warm," I said. He eyed me and then glanced outside, probably wondering how I could be warm in the middle of September this far north. "This is the only place that's still open that's close to the office," he said, lifting the diner's menu to his nose. "It's fine. I needed a break anyway," I said, trying to remain professional. "Thanks for offering to give me a reprieve." Never showing the slightest bit of a smile or hint of lightness in his eyes, he nodded and set the menu down. Feeling a bit awkward, I lifted the paper up to cover my face—well, mostly to keep my eyes from wandering to his face. Up until this moment, I had been too angry. I didn't even want to look at him, but this situation had me curious. The waitress came to take our orders. I never expected Callan Arison, the man who wore designer suits and watches and who ran SoulMode with what other people rumored as 'no soul at all' to order a double stack of strawberry pancakes with whipped cream on top. That seemed more like a Rooftop Guy thing. We lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Well, uncomfortable for me. Callan took out his phone and began typing away. "So, uh, I heard you were in Forbes' 40 Under 40 this year. Congrats," I said, trying to break the ice. Callan glanced up from his phone and nodded. "Thanks," he said, then promptly went back to his phone. 'What even is this?' I asked myself in my head. Why was I in a twenty-four-hour diner with my new boss/one-night stand partner? And why did he ask me out to dinner if he was going to be on his phone the whole time? It was a little disrespectful. I sighed, trying hard to keep my cool. Now I was starting to feel like the ultimate fool. To think, I'd actually started to give him the benefit of the doubt that Rooftop Guy really was in there somewhere.... "How long are you staying at the office?" he asked suddenly. I flinched, not expecting him to say anything else. "I'm not sure. I have a lot of work to do before tomorrow." Part of me hoped that he would realize I was talking about the work he'd just given me earlier that day. "Right, well, I'll be heading home after this, but I'll let Carl at the front desk know that you're coming back so he's not surprised when someone comes up so late," he said flatly. Wow. It was so painfully obvious that he had absolutely no interest in me at all–professionally or otherwise. I stared at him in muted disbelief. Then I mentally slapped myself and told myself to get over it. Whatever image I'd concocted of him from that night was so far off from his real identity. And besides, he was my boss now.... Even if he was the cute and quirky Rooftop Guy, I wouldn't be able to date him. Not that anything other than his sharp nose, muscular frame, and full lips were appealing anyway.... **Callan Jeffery's pen had been click-click-clicking for the last five minutes, and it was about to drive me insane. How many times a day did I have to remind him how annoying that was? "Do I need to get you a fidget spinner or are you purposefully trying to make me haywire with all your damn clicking?" I grumbled at him. He stopped clicking his pen and slung one leg over the other, tucking his hand between his thighs to trap his mindless fingers. "What happened to your good mood?" he asked sassily. I sneered. What good mood? This whole week had been a disaster. "I might be in a better mood if we could make our clients happy," I said. "However, we're one step closer to losing Vida, and now I've got to worry about who to entrust with this new client even though everyone is barely keeping up with who we already have." "Maybe we need a morale booster," he suggested. "Can't people find a way to boost their own morale?" I groaned. Jeffery hopped up from his seat and came over to my desk. "They can't when they're scared of their boss." This again? I just didn't get it. I didn't think I was scary at all. As I'd said before, there was a difference between tough and mean. I was tough. "Callan," Jeffery said, crossing his arms. Oh, no. This was the serious Jeffery, not the one who was unprofessional and brother-like at work. He only called me by my first name when he meant what he was about to say. "It's been almost a year. Truthfully, you're doing great, especially considering the shape of things when you took over. You were twenty-nine in the 40 Under 40 list, for God's sake. Nobody thinks you're failing—" "I know I'm not failing," I interrupted. "I just want things to be different, to be better." Jeffery stared sidelong at me, frowning. "I understand, but think about your grandmother, think about what she did with this place. She was so close to her employees, but you're only getting close enough to them to scare them into letting you put a collar around their necks." "Oh, c'mon," I said, rolling my eyes. "I'm not THAT bad." I knew about the talk about my cold demeanor, but I didn't care as long as people did their work. I really didn't care about my own image as long as the business was doing well, but Jeffrey had been on my back, whispering in my ear that my image and the company's image were one and the same. "Anyway," I said, desperately not wanting to have this conversation again. "I need to figure out what to do about Gabriella Luca. Who can I entrust her to when she's going to be such an important client?" "The new girl has been shredding everything you give her the last three weeks. Maybe she really is built for this," Jeffery said. Isa. Isa Loveless. A week ago, I sat with her in a twenty-four-hour diner too nervous to say anything. At work, it was easy to talk to her, but as soon as we left the building, it felt like she was someone else. On top of that, I hadn't even intended on asking her out to dinner, let alone having her accept the sudden request. I threw myself into the hole with that one. But Jeffery was right so far. She completed every task I threw at her, and she did them well. Any mistakes she made she never made twice. "Isn't it still too soon? Maybe I should just check with David. He'll be back from Shanghai soon. I'm sure he'd be up for it, and I trust him," I said. "But he's not supposed to be back until mid-October. That's still three weeks away." I huffed. Maybe I was overthinking it. "I guess I can give Isa Gabriella Luca's account, but I want everything to go through me before it's finalized. Let's make sure she understands that this is an important client and she still has to prove her capabilities before I let her run wild with it. She might be the head of the department, but David has been her for years. I know she can handle overseeing the rest of her department, but before I just let her run with something, I need to be sure. I want to be there every step of the way to double—no, triple-check her work," I said. Jeffery raised an eyebrow. "Should I have her come here?" *** **Isa I'd finally started settling back into reality when Callan Arison called me into his office and sent me tumbling backward a few steps. Not only had he just told me he was already giving me my first direct client, premier jewelry designer Gabriella Luca, but he'd delivered the news with a challenging gleam in his eye. It reminded me of the look he'd given me before he dragged me up the fire escape that night—the look he'd given me right before he kissed me and slid his hand up my top. My face heated up, and I clenched my hands into painful fists. This was no time to regress, especially not when he'd done absolutely nothing to earn the blush on my cheeks. Well, hopefully he'd just read it as excitement. "Thank you so much, sir," I said with a polite nod. He scoffed, a shadow of a laugh. "Please don't call me sir." "Mr. Arison, really, I won't let you down with this, I promise," I said confidently. This was really it. This was my time to shine. He nodded and sent me off with Gabriella Luca's file to study. I would have my first consultation with her in a week. "My, my, my," Jonas, the office gossip, hummed as I exited Mr. Arison's office. "What's all that red doing on your face?" I swiped a stray strand of my bangs off behind my ear and righted myself. Professionals were confident, not cocky. They were poised, not impassive. "Oh, I just got my first direct client," I said with a self-assured smile. "I was just excited. I didn't expect this to happen so soon." Jonas harrumphed and gave me a half-assed half smile. "That's great. Sounds like the boss is really into you." Something about his face and his choice of words felt off, but I wasn't going to let his jealousy ruin the moment. "Yeah, it'll be a tough project, but I'm excited for it. I'll be getting the team together soon for a meeting." I tapped his shoulder with the Luca file. "If the project goes well, maybe I can put in a good word to the boss." Jonas shifted, his eyes lightening. "Oh, I'm sure," he said. "Seems like you have more influence over the boss than I do…" To that, I replied, "Well, I am the head of the department." "Yeah, but you're also the new girl," he said with a challenging shrug. I gave him a stern look, and he turned around and walked away. I might be the new girl, but that wasn't all I was....