ur guard. Keep your body alert. Even a personal bodyguard can’t watch you every second of the day.”
“So, no burly men showering with me. Got it. You know this man’s only coming for an interview, right? I have the last say in all of this. And it’s not happening here. It’s happening at the office.”
“Yes, sir. But Deac keeps reassuring me you’ll sign off on it. So, I’m preparing for you to, and if you don’t, then it’s no sweat off my back,” he said.
“Whatever it takes to get the job done. Can you send for my limo? I need to get to the office and get this interview over with.”
“I’m your security guard. Not your personal assistant,” he said.
“Right.”
“But yes, I’ll send your driver up there for you.”
That time, maybe he was teasing me. I chuckled and smiled into the phone. “Thanks a bunch, Griggs.”
I headed downstairs and slipped into the limo, making my way over to the office. If someone was going to be with me every second of every day, then it meant my ass could get back to work. I couldn't be the effective owner and CEO I needed to be if I was trying to do everything remotely. Sometimes, people in this place needed a good staring down in order to pick their feet up and get shit done.
And I was damn good at giving that stare.
The car service dropped me in front of the office, and I made my way inside. I told the security firm to have Mr. Williams report to the main office of the building so I could go over details and give the guy a tour of the building. If Deacon was so insistent this interview would go well, then I had no reason to doubt him. He’d been nothing but loyal to me for the past two years I’d employed him, so his suggestions deserved some faith. Griggs approved as well, so that was the closing feature on the deal.
I walked into the main office and noticed a pretty girl sitting in the corner. She was gazing out the window, her stare hard and brooding. Probably here to interview for one of the assistant positions we’d opened up a few weeks back. Some of our interns got a little crazy with the office romances, and a couple of them got caught under the senior partner’s desk. While the college kid in me wanted to high-five him, I knew better. This was a place of business. It was wrong. That was not what this company was about. I then had to remove him from his position to make a statement about what this company would tolerate in terms of women in the workplace, and then had to fire the two assistants who had been half-naked at his feet.
I straightened by tie and focused on the business at hand. I was finally back in the office—hopefully for good. I blink as the pretty woman turned her eyes from the window to me, and her stare locked me in my tracks. She really more than pretty. Stunningly gorgeous. Long legs. Long brown hair braided down her back. Perfect for tugging on if the time felt right. Scratch that last thought. Completely inappropriate. I smiled politely at her, and she smiled back, her brooding brown eyes lighting up as her white teeth glistened in the rays of the sun.
I found myself gravitating toward her, my legs carrying me slowly as I slipped my hands into my pockets.
“Beautiful day,” I said. I was allowed to make small talk with clients or possible employees. There was nothing wrong with that.
“Sure is,” she said.
“How long have you been sitting here?”
“Long enough for you to notice me. Which means too long.”
“Does that mean you didn’t want to be noticed, or that you wanted to sit long enough to be noticed by me?”
“Why can’t it be both?” she asked.
She was spunky with a smooth voice and a sharp tongue. I grinned at her as I sat down, crossing my leg over my knee. Her body followed me, hooked to mine as our shoulders touched. She was warm like the redness her tan skin boasted as we sat there in the emptiness of the main office of my company.
“I enjoy moments like this,” I said.
“Moments like what?”
“Silent moments with a beautiful woman.”
“Funny. You struck me as a man who enjoyed a bit of noise.”
A grin tugged at my cheeks as I turned my eyes toward her. I found her studying me, her eyes raking up and down my body. I hated that she was interviewing for one of these assistant positions.
I could have ruined her knees underneath my desk. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to get to,” I said. “It was nice meeting you ...?”
“Samantha,” she said.
“Samantha. What a beautiful name, and it suits you well.”
“My parents thought so,” she said.