The weekend flew by much too fast for Rory's liking. The electricity had come back on by Sunday and most of his shopping had been taken care of Friday. 

With a heavy sigh, he pulled open the door to Izzy's at seven in the morning, all but forgetting the strange encounter he had with a customer a few days ago. 

"Rory!" a loud voice shouted from the back of the counter. 

Rory's head snapped towards the voice and he repressed a groan of frustration. His boss, Nix, was calling him over. If past experiences with his boss, twenty years his senior and built like a pixy, told him anything, it was that he was going to hate what her next demand was. 

"Good morning, Nix." Rory greeted as he clocked in at the register. "What's up?" 

Nix gave him a beaming smile, her short black hair sticking up in different directions. "Rory! Just the man I was looking for! What do you say to making a delivery at eight?" 

Rory's eyebrows shot up in confusion. "How big is the order? And where is it going?" 

Nix was practically beaming. "It's at the corporate office downtown. Bex Industries. We have an order of coffee, donuts, bagels, and coffee cake for one hundred people. The call came in Saturday morning and everyone here knows you've never screwed up a delivery unlike some people." Her gaze instantly hardened when she took in the other three workers. 

Hiding his chuckle behind a cough, Rory agreed. "Does the customer need everything set up by eight?" 

"Yep." Nix tossed him an order sheet and keys to the company car. "I had the van loaded when I got here. I need you to leave like two minutes ago." 

Laughing to himself, Rory jogged outside to the back of the parking lot where the company van waited, the flashy logo shining on the black paint. A quick peek inside showed that the van was near bursting with all the food. He briefly wondered if he should ask for help. 

But, upon remembering the last time he had asked, he shuddered and just dealt with it. He'd probably have to make a few trips to get everything inside. 

Rubbing his eyes, Rory started the car and made his way toward Bex Industries, the name sounding vaguely familiar to him but he couldn't quite place it. 

It was about 7:40 by the time he arrived. Traffic had been hectic and he hadn't realized how far, or how large, the corporation was. 

The tall building was nestled between two smaller buildings and all but demanded people's attention. There was a fancy entrance and neat parking lot that wrapped around to the back of the building. Windows glimmered in the morning sun and the silver of the building showed an elegance all fancy buildings seemed to posses. 

Rory pulled into the spot marked for delivery and took a look at the order sheet. The order was to go to the top floor in the large conference room.

He scanned the directory and sighed. The building had thirty floors. Fuck. 

Glancing at the dashboard, Rory let out a shout, grabbing the keys and order form before jumping out the van and loading as much as he could onto the large dolly Nix had managed to fit inside the van. 

As soon as he entered the reception area, the secretary waved him through to the elevators after checking his I.D. and order form. 

Shaking his head, Rory entered the elevator and hit the button for the thirtieth floor. The ride felt like it took years rather than a few short minutes. When the doors dinged open, he wheeled his load out and navigated his way to the conference room by following the signs. 

He didn't greet anyone with the first load. 

Or the second. 

By the time he got the third and final load up to the top floor, he was fast becoming exasperated at whoever made the order. His exasperation was further increased when he saw the familiar figure of Jude...Bex! 

Rory mentally face palmed himself for forgetting such a simple last name. 

At least now he knew why he came off as a pompous ass. 

"Excuse me, sir!" Rory called out before the door to the conference room closed. "I need you to sign the order form!" 

Jude glanced over at Rory with a smirk on his handsome face. "Yes, in due time. Right now, I need you to set up the coffee and food station over there. And then I'll need you to serve people once they start arriving. Only then will I sign the order form." 

Rory met cold blue eyes and refrained from throwing a fit. It wasn't his job to serve the coffee or food. He was too under payed to do shit like that. 

"So, we're agreed?" Jude continued after Rory had remained silent for a few seconds too long. 

With a curt nod, Rory turned away to set down the last load. He shot Nix a short text letting her know the situation. However, much to his disappointment, she replied with nothing but happiness saying that he should offer to clean up as well after the meeting. 

Rory's eyes practically fell out of his sockets at taking in this new order. 

Taking a calming breath, he turned around and repeated Nix's message to Jude, a sour taste filling his mouth. 

Jude gave him a mysterious smile while agreeing to this new arrangement. 

Letting out a huff, Rory got to work setting up the space dedicated to coffee and breakfast food. By the time 8:15 rolled around, everything was finished and looked professional. A few minutes later, important looking people started filing into the large conference room, all of them looking pissed off at the world. 

What really pissed off Rory was the fact that every one of them seemed to think they were inclined to be served rather than using their own two hands to serve themselves. 

Someone even had the nerve to call him server instead of waiter. 

When that happened, Rory had met the cold, dark eyes of Jude Bex and he knew without a doubt that corporate CEO ass was enjoying his discomfort more than he should. 

When the meeting finally started, Rory was ready to toss himself out the window. He didn't need to listen in on some random meeting of some random company run by some random man he just so happened to serve coffee to last week. 

"Thank you for joining me," Jude started after all the talking quieted down. "I called you here today because I would like to branch off into the publishing market. While I'm currently not looking to open an actual publishing house, I am curious as to what profits we could potentially make should we decide to partner up with a few publishing houses. 

"I understand that some are more successful than others which has me playing around with the idea of merging a few of the less successful publishing houses with this company. We would then help them become more established in their field and thus gain profit from their success. I've been watching a few of the markets and, for some, it is an extremely profitable business. 

"Their ideals also reflect what we uphold here at Bex Industries and that's something rare to find nowadays. I called you all here because, while we are a large corporation, we are also one team. I didn't hire you just so you could preform a job I couldn't. I hired you because I value your input and any and all ideas are welcomed. Now, my communications team will take you through the slideshow we've prepared so that you'll have a better understanding of what I'm asking. I will be taking questions and ideas at the end." Jude finished, stepping aside and allowing his team to start. 

Rory couldn't help but look at the man in a different light. While he was an ass, he was still a nice ass. And he was curious to see what could become of some of the publishing houses should Jude's plan go through.  

He suddenly found himself meeting Jude's dark blue eyes while a blush formed on his cheeks. Rory suddenly wondered what it would be like to work for someone like him. He found himself wondering what it would be like to work in publishing despite only having an English degree. 

Rory found himself wondering about a lot of things while looking into those cold eyes.