“You have visited Italy?” I ask in Italian, interested in just how fluent she is. Her resume said fluent, not all resumes tell the truth.
Delight shines from her, her cheeks are pink for a new reason, her eyes sparkle brightly as she responds in Italian. “I visited Florence for a week three years ago, it was amazing. I was worried it would disappoint from fantasy to reality, it was even better. Have you been?”
“Not to Florence, to Milan and Rome. It has been several years. Their economy sputters so often investing there would be a bad bet. I attended a few conferences. While I was there, I took the time to see the cities. Beautiful.”
“How did you learn Italian? You speak it like a native with all the casual élan, not formal at all.” She speaks even faster in Italian now, choppy, also very much like a native.
“My roommate at Stanford. He wanted to learn to speak English like a native. I wanted to learn Italian. And you?”
“My mother came from Florence when she was five with her mother and sister. They still spoke Italian with each other until my mom passed. My dad, to make her happy, learned Italian and was happy to speak it with my sisters and me at home. It made my mom happy to know we kept a piece of her past alive.”
I am reminded of not having Diego’s file. If I had it, I would have known about Alexa’s mother. I don’t like the way her eyes dim at the memory of her mother’s death. “Is your writing of Florence and its history another way for you to keep her past alive?”
She considers the question. “I wasn’t thinking of it in those terms when I started. I think it kind of became that. A way of staying connected to her. How do you stay so fluent if you don’t visit often?”
“Victoria speaks Italian she would pick a week, and all we spoke was Italian. We still have lunch every few weeks and when we do we speak Italian. As it is the language I use least for business without her, I would likely lose it.”
“How many languages do you speak? I know about Greek and French, are there others?”
“I am fluent in German as well as Mandarin. Thanks to Dmitri Markhoff, I can hold my own in Russian. If you are open to learning other languages, let me know. I will see to it you get a tutor.”
“If you want, I’m a poor learner though. I took four years of Spanish in high school and college and can barely make it through an evening in a Mexican restaurant.”
“Then there is no need. I have others who handle those languages. Victoria did not want to learn either.”
She shakes her head, her eyes wide. “If you want me to learn another language I will. I’ll do what you want me to do.”
What I want her to do is strip and ride my cock. Does she see it? Does she feel it? As I watch her cheeks glow again, she drops her eyes down to the rings on her finger and twists them. Her engagement ring is a small diamond in plain gold, it matches the plain gold band beside it. It’s also the equivalent of a cold shower. Women who are married are as appealing as a kick to the balls. Of the sins people can lay at my feet, none of them will ever be me breaking up a marriage. I switch back to English. “I want to know that even with you writing your attention will be mine when I want it.”
The ice is back as she replies in English. “It won’t be a problem, Mr. Kaplan. I know there will be long hours, leaving me with less time to write. I’m prepared for it.”
For the first time, her eyes meet mine without a hint of ice in them. I am hard again in an instant. “Your husband does not have a problem with all of this? Working for me, being available to me and writing in the small amount of free time.” I cannot believe it. I sure as fuck would not be. If she were my woman, no other man would ever be allowed to have her attention more than me.
“I—yes, he’s fine with it. He understands. He’s a workaholic too. He spends a lot of time at work.”
“The plans you have together, what are they? A house in the suburbs? Three children and a dog?”
Her hands are almost white from how tight she has them clasped. “A home, yes, of course. As far as children, while we do want them, neither of us are ready for them. I’m also more of a cat person, as is my husband.”
I’m not sure I believe what she is saying, there’s something in her tone of voice that’s off. Was she already trying for children? It would be an inconvenience to establish her in the position only to have her gone for a three-month maternity leave. Then she will have available a further six months leave in the form of a thirty-two hour work week at the same rate of pay. While I am proud of the leave and how it enables my firm to attract and keep talent, the idea of it leaving me short an assistant I just trained is not appealing.
I also do not like the idea of her lying to me. Even if I understand why as the question is one Natalie would be angry at me for asking. “What made you speak to Victoria?”
She is less tense now; her eyes meet mine for a moment. Just as Natalie said, Alexa was married, and unlike the other women who have taken the position, she has no interest in me.
“To know what the position really entailed between the lines of the job description.”
“What did she tell that set your mind at rest?”
“You aren’t nearly as scary as I thought. I’ll regret not working for you.”
Hmm...I like the idea of people thinking I am scary, it usually worked to my advantage. I will have to take Victoria to task for divulging my secrets. Alexa is easier to read than she wants to be, her lips are thin, to keep something in. “What else did she say?”
She blushes. “I’m exactly what you need. You’ll regret not hiring me.”
Damn Victoria, after more than thirteen years I trust her. “Fine. You start on Monday. Take this week to wrap up what you have going for Lynch.”
Her eyes are wide, I have looked into blue eyes before, only none have seemed as endless as hers. For a long minute, she stares back. Then she springs up as if the chair was on fire. “Yes, okay. Monday. Thank you. My husband, I’ll tell him. He’ll be so happy.”