The CEO and Her Driver

Chapter 35

Have you ever met someone whose face naturally lifts up into a smile? It makes them look friendly, warm, worthy of trust. It turns them into someone you can spill your guts to without fear of it being copied and pasted all over the internet. Well, I was the complete opposite of a naturally smiley person. I was trustworthy, sure, but I had 'resting mean face.' It left people unsettled, and I didn't tend to attract random strangers into my personal bubble with that face.

Laliana on the other hand, smiled a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. And having gotten to know Tate, that was saying something. Her eyes had a shine to them that made you feel seen and important when she looked at you. A smile that lit up when she found common ground with you. And a set of quirks that was disarmingly charming. I was beginning to understand why the world loved her so much. In other words, she was my complete opposite.

Laliana seemed to find amusement in everything. But unlike Tate, she quickly picked up on how little I enjoyed small talk or being distracted at work. Instead, she was comfortable hanging out in her own mind while she waited for me to hit my lunch break, sitting in the lobby with her nose in a book, lost to the world, while my employees tried not to stare at her.

Eyes scanning the pages, she looked entranced. Gasping when something shocked her, or snorting loudly and covering her mouth when something made her laugh before smiling back at the pages, like Tate staring fondly at a donut, forgetting the world again. It was entertaining.

How do people get lost in books like that? I wondered, looking over a set of sketches from my design team, glancing through my door back at Laliana for a beat.

Taking a red pencil, I adjusted a few designs, leaving notes in the margins and tracing over part of the designs, before shoving the work back into a folder, satisfied with the direction of the spring clothing line. My team had outdone themselves with their ideas. It left me feeling like a proud mamma bird. Stupid, terribly dressed Laurence. How dare he accuse them of stealing! 

After looking over the mockups from our couple photoshoot and giving the green light for the images to be plastered up on billboards and across magazines, I left my office curious over what Laliana thought she could do to make my life less chaotic. She seemed too sweet to have a master plan in mind that could destroy my enemies.

It took Laliana a second to realize I was standing above her, purse at the ready, and when she did notice, she jumped, startled out of her book like I had been wearing a killer clown mask and holding a chainsaw. "Holy guacamole! Announce yourself so I don't die!" she gasped, clutching her chest. "I'm reading a murder mystery!"

I stifled a laugh. "Sorry. Didn't know you were so..."

"Antsy? Twitchy? Weird?" she offered like my own book of synonyms.

"Jumpy," I replied, amused by her quick, flustered response.

She stood up and pulled on her purse, which was a raggedy neon quilted pattern that looked like it belonged in the back of a closet. Laliana watched my gaze land on her purse and her face turned red. "Yeah... I'm not known for my fashion sense. Sorry for hurting your eyes."

We made our way towards the front doors of Winters, ignoring the eyes of several employees as they recognized Laliana Summers and began to whisper in excited tones. I couldn't do what she does.

I shrugged. "No need to apologize. If I didn't have to always look put together, I'd wear sweatpants to work."

She laughed, her voice bouncing across the walls, uninhibited. "Should have been a writer."

Several flashes filled the glass doors of my building and I paused, hating the idea of walking out into what was most likely a mess of paparazzi. I just don't have the energy to pummel anyone right now.