“We’ll order pizza since neither of us had a real lunch,” Paige promised.
“Sounds perfect. I had a muffin and a Frappuccino for breakfast, I’m starving already...thanks, sweetie,” Gina said.
“All I had for breakfast was almost-expired yogurt and sadness,” Paige teased as she got off the elevator. “And that egg roll didn’t do much to hold me over.”
She settled back into her small office—it had been such a delight to have a space to call her own with the receptionist outside. Her previous job had been out in the front lobby of the Winston Building signing in visitors and giving them directions to offices and generally denying appointments to anyone who wanted to see anyone important in the Winston Building. The security desk was right behind hers, so she had back-up, but her whole day had been rerouting phone calls and dealing with a constant flood of people.
Having walls and a door and a window, having a computer and the quiet time to maintain her boss’s schedule and make arrangements for conference calls and meetings, and to hire caterers for those meetings was a major luxury. It was a step up. Not as high as she thought she’d be on the ladder by the age of thirty-two, but better than being buffeted by the slings and arrows as a frontline receptionist had been. Here there was quiet for concentration, a list of tasks she could manage efficiently, and a Spotify playlist for when she was feeling carefree. She could never have played music out in the open in the Winston Building. So, signing on with Conners International was a step in the right direction.
She checked the HR bulletin every month for in-house job postings, on the lookout for any openings in the office of the COO. The Chief Operating Officer position had been created a few months ago and was the administrative hub of the corporation. It was also the place where Paige wanted to make her mark. She’d been taking business classes online for a while, looking t
o complete her MBA in the next year or so. She was scouting for opportunities to even make it to that floor—the thirtieth floor, one level down from the CEO’s executive suite.
By five, the building was practically cleared out. Friday afternoons meant a massive rush to the elevators so the weekend could start. But after she called to check on her sister who promised she was staying hydrated and doing well, Paige hopped on the elevator and headed up to the thirty-first floor. Gina had been her first friend at Conners—they’d met at the Starbucks down the block and struck up a conversation about whipped cream.
Gina was in her sixth year at the corporation and her first year on the executive floor. The changeover to the new CEO—some hotshot playboy—had been rocky for her. She’d taken the promotion as assistant to the old Mr. Conners right before he retired. He’d been a patient, detail-oriented man totally unlike his successor who took no prisoners. So Paige was determined to help Gina any way she could.
“So what’s it like working for the new CEO?” Paige asked. “Do you like him or his grandfather better.”
“The grandson is more laid back, but still a perfectionist workaholic like his grandfather.”
“I’ve never seen him. He doesn’t come down to my floor. Guess I’m in the dungeon.”
“He’s super hot. But we do have a few hotties up here.”
“You do? Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I swear I would’ve been up here in a heartbeat.”
“Because most of them are married.”
“That figures.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“So our new boss is a notorious playboy?”
“Totally. But he doesn’t date anyone from the office. He keeps everything strictly professional. He’s nice to look at...but that’s it. He’s quite the bachelor from what I hear. Dates world-famous supermodels and everything. Changes girlfriends as often as he changes his clothes. Women can’t get enough of him. But who wouldn’t want a hot billionaire CEO?”
“So we’re working for the billionaire sex god? I want to sneak a peek.”
“He left already.”
“Damn.”
“I saw his tats once when he wore short sleeves.”
“He has tattoos?”
“Most definitely. Total bad boy! So are you going to go order that pizza or what?”
Paige went and ordered the pizza.
Chapter 2
“OKAY, PIZZA IS COMING in forty-five minutes.”
“Great. And thanks. Let me finish up these emails. I need your help on the numbers. We’re combing Excel worksheets for transactions from May 17, and it’s like a bad game of Where’s Waldo after a couple of hours.”
“Why isn’t accounting handling it?”