April flatted her lips into a line. Samson’s smile was so slick, so confident, and he looked down on her like his baby sister’s dumb kid friend. Like he was humoring her.
“I have a lot of work to do here. You two enjoy.” April patted her pocket to make sure she had her keys. “Maybe you should go easy on the mimosas, though. Try to finish something you start.”
Samson stepped back. “I’m the CEO of the country’s largest design conglomerate!”
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“Yes, yes, and the CEO of disposing of girlfriends like used tissues.” April leaned into the doorframe. “I’ll see you around. Probably in the tabloids, but that doesn’t bother you, does it?”
April’s palms were slick with sweat as she sauntered back down the hallway to the elevator. She didn’t know if she hoped he’d be there when she returned, or not.
Chapter Two
“So,” Samson said as he cut into his steak, “What does your roommate do? Besides bust balls? Is she a budding fashion designer like you?”
“No, she’s in architecture.” Lana balanced a small bite of lobster risotto on her fork.
“And she came down here from Parsons, to what? Room with you?”
Lana pinched her lips to the side. “She came down for a job. But you know how things are in Houston. The funding for the project she was hired on evaporated, and so did her job. She’s been living in the drabbest little apartment, I swear. You should see the outfit she goes to work in.”
Samson wondered if the outfit she had been wearing today was any indicator. Truthfully, he hadn’t remembered her at all until she mentioned that Christmas dinner. Now he had images in his mind of a girl wearing her curly blonde hair in pigtails, and pajamas with smiling cartoon sushi on them. There was no possibility that the girl had been dressed like that for Christmas dinner, so he must have seen her in Lana’s room at some point. But the girl he remember was far from the woman who had spoken to him so sharply less than an hour ago. The girl he remembered had been very young, a bit mousy, and seemed to tremble whenever he was near. No wonder he didn’t recognize her.
“Did she lay you out?” Lana asked with a smirk.
“Pardon?” Samson dabbed the sides of his mouth. “No, she did not. We just spoke for a few minutes. I forgot she used to spend time with you at the manor.”
Lana waved her fork around impishly. “You’re looking awfully thoughtful.”
“I am simply...” Samson folded his napkin as he chose his words. “...considering whether she would be a good fit for the company that we just acquired here. You should have her send in her resume.”
“Really? Looking to go another round?”
“I told you, nothing happened.”
“Then April went easy on you.”
Oh, right—her name was April. “Good. I need more people with some guts at Jones & Ramirez.”
“How long will you be staying?”
“As long as it takes to rebuild the infrastructure of the company. They’ve been running it like a buddy firm; not keeping up with paperwork and making handshake deals and the like. But our larger problem is a lack of innovation,” Samson sighed. “Location-wise, it was a good acquisition, but normally when I take over a company, I prefer their work to be more ambitious.”
“You’ll get that. April won an award for her senior project.”
“Excellent. Send her over as soon as you can get her to put on real pants.”
“Oh, wow. Do not say that in front of her!”
“She called me out for getting drunk and bailing on Christmas dinner that one time. I think she can handle it.”
Lana’s eyes lit up in delight.
***
It was over a week before Samson spotted April again, although he had her resume in his hand sooner. April Marie Lucas: Twenty years old, graduated from high school early with an academic scholarship despite working at coffee shop and an art studio for much of the time. Double major at Parsons, interned for a reputable firm during her schooling. Her resume wasn’t exhaustive, but it wasn’t the kind he might throw out of the pile, either. It was a resume that spoke to a lack of opportunities and a fight around every corner to get what she had.
Additionally, he liked what he saw in her senior project. Samson had ordered his secretary to find it for him, and while there were practical limitations that would have made the project a no-go from a business standpoint, he appreciated the creativity it took to transform a regular office building into a work of art. Moreover, every line of that plan had a practical function.