Not that I could do anything even if he was single. He was my boss. It wouldn’t have been right. And the last thing I needed was for him to blacklist me. I had spent the past couple years wondering if maybe I had somehow chosen my career wrong, if this wasn’t what I really wanted. But today had made me certain that this was what I wanted. I wouldn’t do anything to screw it up.
“You said that you wanted to be a CEO someday?” Daniel said suddenly, eyeing me carefully as he took a sip of his beer.
I shrugged, trying not to feel embarrassed at having confessed that in the interview the previous day. I had said it under the assumption that he would never hire me, or at least that he would never hire me for the role I wanted in the company. And yet, here we were.
I had basically told my new boss that someday, I wanted to take over his role. Or that someday, I was going to leave the company. That I wasn’t worth his training me up. I tried to think of a way to fix that, to make it sound better, but I was at a loss.
Daniel laughed, like he knew exactly what I was thinking. He shook his head. “Hey, don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’m flattered that you think my company is the place you want to work your way up.” He paused. “Of course, if we’re going to train you to be a CEO, I’m going to expect a lot from you. It’s good that you’ve done your research on the company, but it’s not g
oing to be enough in the long run.”
“Of course not,” I said immediately. “And I want you to push me. You asked why I wanted this job, and that’s exactly why.”
Daniel gave me a considering look and then a slow nod. “Good,” he said. Then, he grinned at me. “But you’re never going to get my job. This is my family’s company, after all.”
I felt myself blush scarlet. “I know that,” I muttered. I cast about for some way to change the subject. “It must have been hard for you to take it over at such a young age.” I clapped my hand over my mouth, barely believing I had said that. Surely Daniel didn’t want to talk about his father’s death and his early challenges as a CEO. I didn’t know why I had brought it up.
But Daniel just smiled affably at me. “Yeah, it was definitely difficult,” he admitted. “Although to be honest, I think having the company to run helped me in a lot of ways. I couldn’t really focus on the loss of my father because I was so busy trying to prove to everyone that I was ready to hold the reins of the company.”
“That’s sad,” I said frankly. But again, I clapped a hand over my mouth. “Sorry.”
Daniel looked amused. “It’s okay,” he told me. “Honestly, it’s refreshing to talk to someone who doesn’t just want to tell me how sorry they are for my loss.”
I grimaced. “I hated when people told me that after I lost my parents. Still do.” I paused. “I guess since I know all about your family history, I should tell you, I lost both my parents within the past couple years. I’m still getting used to it.” I didn’t know why I was telling him about that. But thankfully, I didn’t see pity in Daniel’s eyes. Instead, he nodded matter-of-factly.
“That must be difficult,” he said. He paused and then smiled crookedly. “I guess for two orphans, we’re doing pretty well for ourselves, eh?” He made it a joke to share between the two of us, and I couldn’t help but smile back at him.
“Guess so,” I agreed. “But I went through the whole grieving process. Anger and all. I didn’t have a company to focus on.” I paused. “But I do have a brother, and I guess that helped.”
Daniel nodded at me. “I’m an only child,” he told me. “You’re lucky to have family.” For a moment, there was a wistful look to his eyes. It made me want to ask a dozen questions about where he saw himself in the future. Would he ever settle down and get married? Have kids?
But that was none of my business. And besides, asking whether he would ever settle down would mean admitting that I did know something of what the paparazzi said about him. I liked him thinking that I only knew about the business side of things and didn’t waste time on the gossip about him.
I didn’t know why that mattered to me. I would have had to live under a rock to ignore all the silly stories about him that were printed in the papers and online blogs, and surely he knew that.
The moment passed, fortunately. We finished our beers, and Daniel nodded at me. “I need you in early again tomorrow, if that’s okay,” he said. “We’ve got another busy day of meetings, and I also have a couple things about the company that I’d like to go over with you. I know you’ve done your research already, but this is insider information. You know, our current projects and that sort of thing.”
I nodded right back at him. “You’re the boss,” I reminded him. I was excited that he wanted to let me in on some of the current company projects. That was a good sign, wasn’t it? He wouldn’t share all that with me if he wasn’t planning on keeping me around.
I hadn’t realized that I was so worried about the probationary part of his job offer, but with the idea that he wanted to train me up and keep me around, I felt I could breathe a little easier.
Daniel drummed his fingers on the table. “I’d have another drink, but there are a few things I want to finish up tonight when I get home. Work things.”
“Sure,” I said easily, mentally filing that knowledge away. So Daniel’s workday wasn’t just finished because everyone had gone home from the office. Interesting. It made me wonder just how many hours he spent holed up at home doing work.
It also made me try to picture what he looked like there. I had never seen him in anything other than a suit, not even in the tabloids. Well, except for that picture where he’d been bare-chested, but even then, he’d been wearing his slacks, his thumbs hooked in his pockets. What would he wear in the privacy of his home, though? Sweatpants? I tried to picture him lounging on a couch, even an expensive couch, but I couldn’t imagine it.
“Let me get you a cab,” Daniel said as we headed out to the sidewalk.
“Thanks,” I said, watching him as he easily hailed a cab. It pulled up to the curb, and Daniel leaned in the passenger-side window so he could pay the cabbie in advance. “You didn’t have to do that,” I said, but I smiled at him. Was this how he treated every woman he knew? Or all of his new employees?
I could tell, even after one day, that the other people working for McGregor Enterprises were all totally loyal to Daniel. It made me feel pretty certain that this was ordinary behavior for him. Why wasn’t this the kind of thing that the tabloids focused on? Daniel as CEO was a pretty nice guy.
But of course, nice guys weren’t what sold magazines.
“See you tomorrow,” I said as I slipped into the cab.
“See you tomorrow,” Daniel echoed, shutting the door carefully behind me.