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.
I bid her farewell and drew in a deep breath. The last thing I needed was to walk into this interview with an erection pressing against my pants. I braced myself for whatever burly man Mr. Williams was going to be. Whichever ex-military asshole with monkey hair was going to be cramping my style for the next few months.
But when I walked into the room where I figured we would be meeting, there was no one there. I was here on time for the interview, yet no one was to be found. I sat my ass on the edge of the table in the middle of the room as I pulled out my cell phone. I dialed the company, ready to fire them at a moment’s notice. The last thing I was going to allow anyone to do was waste my fucking time. If this was how they treated their high-end clientele, then I was going to slaughter their reputation so none of my friends ever fell into their lazy trap.
I called the company and heard the phone ring, but then the call disconnected. I held my phone out to figure out what the hell was going on, groaning as I saw the issue. No fucking service. Great. I was in my own office building, and I had no fucking cell service. Who the hell decided to put cell phone jammers in all the damn meeting rooms?
Wait. That had been my idea. Shit.
I strode through the room and made my way to my office. I rode the elevator up to the main floor and barreled down the hallway, nodding at my assistant who was opening her mouth to say something but I waved a hand to hold her off. I’d apologize after I called the security company. Pushing the office door open harder than necessary, I slammed it closed, prepared to redial and deal a real blow to this joke of a company.