Charlotte’s stare moved between my eyes and Emery’s as she said, “I’m happy to tell you about the software programs I’m familiar with and how talented I am on the computer and how efficient I can be with time and how my memory is my most valuable asset, but I would imagine every candidate you bring in here is just as astute as me.” Her face was kind with a smile that was already in her eyes. Freckles sat at the tops of her cheeks. Her naturally pouty lips gave her even more expression.
I looked at Emery and his attention was on Charlotte.
“Keep talking,” he said to her.
“I don’t need to bore you with my work history either since it’s detailed on my résumé.” The lines in Emery’s forehead deepened. So did the ones beside his eyes and in his cheeks. “Who I’d like to tell you about is me, the person off the page, the one sitting across from you right now. Because it’s this woman”—she pointed to herself—“who’s going to be coming into your home every day.”
Emery sat a little straighter, his hand reaching under the table until it landed on my thigh. That was where he left it when he said, “Go on.”
He found Charlotte attractive. That had been obvious from the moment I’d walked her into the dining room. He wasn’t obnoxious about it nor was he inappropriate. No one would ever even notice, I just knew him so well, I could tell.
I understood why. Charlotte was beautiful.
She was also thirty-two, at an age where life had already kicked in. Where she had learned from her experiences and lost battles she’d desperately wanted to win. She had reached the point where she knew who she was beneath her makeup and skin.
And that was the kind of woman Emery needed on his team.
When Charlotte had said her skills were the same as the other candidates, she was wrong. She had something none of them had and that was the ability to get my husband to listen.
With Emery’s hand still in my lap, I wrapped my fingers over his and while I stared at his profile, a thought was so clear in my head.
Charlotte would be the perfect assistant for him.