“Hi, I'm...” I began to respond.
“Jane.” The woman finished the sentence for me. “You're Jane, right? The new hire.”
I cocked my head, causing my blonde hair to swing to the side. “How did you know?”
She shrugged. “News spreads fast around this office. We're a pretty tight-knit group and new hires don't come around as often as they used to. I'm Maddy, by the way.”
“Good to meet you,” I replied, feeling my shoulders relax as the tension began to release from my body.
“I think I'm supposed to meet my new boss,” I said. “Can you tell me where his office is?”
“Oh, David?” Maddy said. “Yeah, his office is in the back corner, near your cubicle. He's usually in meetings until noon or so, though. Want me to show you around?”
“Sure, that'd be great,” I said, wondering if Maddy was taking me on this tour just to avoid work.
Maddy showed me around the building, and mostly talked about office gossip and politics. All things that I didn't give a shit about. When we went to the North Wing, I saw a sexy man in a suit. Maddy pulled me to the side of the hallway as the man walked quickly past us. He walked with purpose and hardly even noticed our presence. I, on the other hand, couldn't stop staring at him.
As soon as he had passed, Maddy said quietly, “You dum dum. That's our boss's boss's boss. Don't you know anything about this company?”
I admitted that I only knew his name, but had never actually bothered to look up a picture of him. I didn't care much for People Magazine or any of the other grocery store tabloids.
So that's Carter Winthrow, boy prodigy of Wall Street and billionaire playboy, huh? I thought, still tingling from my near encounter with him.
“Come on,” Maddy said. “It's 10:45 already. Let's go get lunch and then you can meet our boss when we get back.”
“This place is cute,” I said, glancing around the small patio.
Maddy and I sat at a table under an umbrella, but the shade only covered her half. I had sunshine falling over my fair skin and the warmth felt amazing.
“You'll love the food,” she said, opening the menu for just a split second before closing it. “I already know what I want. The BLT is fantastic here.”
“I'll do the same.” I put my menu on top of hers and took a sip of my water.
After giving our order to the young waitress, I let out a relaxed sigh.
“So, tell me about yourself, Jane,” Maddy said. “What brought you to Winthrow?”
I shrugged. “I really just wanted to get my foot in the door at a bigger corporation. I figured that there would be a lot of growth at Winthrow. When I saw that they were hiring accountants, I jumped on the opportunity. I can't tell you how happy I am that I got the job. Most of my friends that I graduated college with haven't been able to find any work yet.”
“It's a tough market out
there,” Maddy said, as the food arrived. “You found a good company, though. I've been with them for almost ten years. Hard to believe how fast the time has gone by, but I can honestly say I wouldn't want to work for anybody else but Carter Winthrow.”
I raised my eyebrows as she said his name. I still hadn't actually met the guy, besides seeing him walk by me in the hallway that morning. As far as he knew, I probably didn't even exist. I was just a lowly number cruncher, hardly even worth a mention on a spreadsheet as far as he was concerned.
“The only things I know about Carter are the few things I've read about online,” I said. “Most of which was probably lies.”
“I don't know about that,” Maddy said, lowering her voice so that the others on the patio couldn't hear her. “He's every bit of the playboy that he's made out to be. I heard that once, he had sex with a girl in one of the break rooms. God, I wish I could be so lucky.” Maddy picked up her napkin and waived it in front of her face as if to cool herself down. “I've only spoken with him on a handful of occasions, but I swear, I got soaking wet just looking at him.”
“Maddy!” I squealed, feeling my face blush at her crude comment.
“Sorry, sorry,” she said, with a chuckle. “It's true, though. The man is nothing but eye candy that I could eat for days. Mmm, hmm. It's not just his muscles and broad shoulders, though. No, it's those green eyes of his. There's something seductive in them. They're a big part of why he's able to get whatever he wants, I'm sure of it.”
The way Maddy described him almost made my panties get a little wet. I mean, what girl wouldn't be intrigued by a billionaire CEO, who not only had money but also good looks?
“Well, I don't think a girl like me ever has to worry about ending up with Carter in the break room,” I said, looking down at my plate of food.
“What do you mean?” Maddy asked.