“Have a nice day, Ms Freedman,” he said instead and she smiled widely. He noticed how bright her eyes were when she smiled and how her lips lifted up on the sides as she did it. He couldn’t bring himself to look away.
She nodded to that and then walked away, towards the reception area. Devon stood in front of the elevator doors for a few more seconds, watching her walking away, before he breathed out a deep sigh and started making his way towards his own office.
His secretary Lily found him soon enough, and intercepted him in the corridors.
“Mr Rymer, we have two meetings set up for you before lunch. You are supposed to meet with Pat Lynch & Sons first thing,” Lily was walking with him, keeping pace. She also had his double shot Americano in her hand, which she eventually handed to him.
Devon’s mind was occupied with thoughts of Belle instead, and he stopped abruptly in front of his office doors.
“Lily, do you know about a Belle Freedman, who has been hired as an intern? It’s her first day today,” he said and Lily looked back at him with some surprise in her eyes. She didn’t expect him to be talking about an intern that early in the morning. In fact, Devon, rarely ever spoke about interns to begin with.
“Well, I don’t know her personally. But is there something you want me to find out? I can ask Susan, she’s in charge of all the interns,” Lily said, fixing the files and papers in her hands.
Devon was thinking, and he wasn’t really looking at Lily.
“Have her come over to my office, maybe between the two morning meetings,” Devon said. Lily nodded and turned on her heels to walk away. “Oh, and also ask Susan to keep a close eye on her, and give me a report at the end of day about her work,” he added, before pushing open the door to his office and walking in.
Once inside, Devon placed his coffee on his desk and walked around to the glass wall that overlooked the Hudson River. He had his jaws clenched as he watched people walking over the bridge. From the thirty-fifth floor, they looked nothing more than just tiny dots.
He couldn’t get Belle Freedman out of his mind. Not only was she gorgeous, but there was something comforting in her voice. She seemed sweet and cheerful, and he wondered if she was from a small town. He was sure that she wasn’t from New York, and he suddenly felt worried if the city might affect her. If in a few months, Belle might turn into a completely different person.
The phone on his desk beeped and he walked over and pressed a button.
“I’ve set up a meeting between you and Ms Freedman for eleven fifteen, Sir,” Lily’s voice came through.
“Good, thanks Lily,” Devon said.
“And I’ve told Susan what you said. She said she’ll come in and have a word with you at the end of the day,” Lily added.
“Thanks Lily,” he said again.
“Also, she was wondering why you’ve taken an interest in her, and if there’s a problem. She was worried that she might have made a bad hire,” Lily continued.
“No, Not all. There’s no problem and please tell Susan that she’s made a
great hire. I like Belle, she seems enterprising and bright,” Devon said and with that he ended the call and sat down on his chair.
He steepled his fingers on his desk and narrowed his eyes as he thought about it some more. He couldn’t put a finger on the exact reason why he had taken an interest in Belle. It wasn’t just her looks was it…? Because he knew he could have any number of beautiful young women he wanted, in fact he tried to keep his distance from them as much as possible, so that a relationship didn’t come between him and his work. Besides, wasn’t Belle a bit too young for him?
There had to be something else about Belle that he had noticed. Just during their five minute conversation in the elevator, he was instantly drawn to her. To her smile. To her innocent confidence.
Devon shook his head, to drive the thoughts out of his brain. He had an entire day’s worth of work to get through and he wasn’t going to allow a girl to occupy his mind.
He pressed the buzzer again and got through to Lily in an instant.
“Set up the board room for the first meeting, I’ll be there in five minutes,” he said and with that, he took two large gulps of his scalding coffee.
Belle
She was nervous as she walked towards Devon Rymer’s office. Her team leader, Susan, had informed her that Mr Rymer wanted to personally meet with her at quarter past eleven, and Belle had no idea what for. Susan couldn’t give her the details of the meeting either, so Belle had spent most of the morning fretting over what she had done wrong.
As far as first days at work go, Belle assumed that it had been going well. She had been given the task of conducting some simple market surveys, and she had spent the morning doing that; completing her task well before the eleven fifteen meeting with Devon Rymer.
So, now she walked self consciously towards his office, as directed by Susan and found his secretary sitting at the end of the corridor behind a desk.
“You must be Belle,” the middle aged woman said, looking up at her from over her crescent shaped spectacles.
“Yes, I’m here to meet with Mr Rymer,” Belle said and stuck out a hand to the woman.