“Oh, not a chance, buddy. You promised pleasure, so now you have a job to do.”
His laugh was even sexy. How was that possible? “Don’t worry, babe. I always deliver a great performance,” he said and then the line beeped, signaling the end of the call.
What the fuck had I just agreed to?
I pulledinto the parking garage at five the next morning, much earlier than normal. Parking in my usual spot, I looked around the car in every direction, scanning the stairwells anddarkened corners for anything amiss. Satisfied all was well, I gripped my knife still hidden in my purse and walked to the door to my building. I didn’t have the creeps so maybe if Ryan was stalking me, he decided to leave me alone after our conversation the night before.
The morning went by smoothly, and I had more than made up for being behind the day prior. I did enough for three people that morning alone, and Mia noticed.
“You’re getting so much done today,” she commented as she was pulling her lunch from the fridge. “Even for you, who always does so much already. Did you have three pots of coffee this morning or something?” she asked.
I poured a healthy dose of ranch over the salad I made with leftover veggies from the previous night’s dinner. “Nope. Just on it today, I guess.” I turned to face her. “How are things going with you?”
“They are…going.” She sat down at the small table in the corner of the kitchenette. “Kyle had to leave for work again so it’s just me and the puppy. He’s gone most of the time even when he’s in town so it’s not like it’s much different than normal.” She gathered her sandwich, but before taking a bite she added, “How are the resumes coming?”
I leaned my hip against the counter. “They’re going well. I think I’ll leave the posting up, but Joanne and I are going through the ones we’ve received so far this afternoon. I’ve only glanced at a few, but they seem promising. I’m excited to get Joanne back here with us to manage things. It’ll be a huge help to you and I.”
Mia nodded. “I’m excited too. It’ll be so nice to have another hand around, and it’ll be great for the company.” She looked down at her plate, and I noticed a hint of a blush creep into her cheeks. “I really love it here, Raven. You’re a great boss.”
I grabbed my lunch and waved her off. “You flatter me, Mia. I know I’m a lot to work with sometimes, but I’m grateful you’re always ready to go like I am. Let’s keep up the good work!”
Back in my office, I set my lunch on the open side of my L-desk. Snatching my phone from its stand, I was greeted with no texts as I sat down. Ryan wasn’t joking about surprising me. I was antsy, wondering what he had in store when a thought crossed my mind. Ryan said he could appear anytime. I’d been right. He was the one who had been in the garage that night.
That explained my unease in that regard, but this wasn’t the type of edge I was used to being on. Always motivated to work was one thing, but always distracted by thoughts of a man was unusual. I had no idea how this was going to go, which was frustrating because I was always ready with a plan for everything.
Parents live in poverty? Oh, hang tight, let me just go get a nice degree, work my ass off, open my own business, and make enough money for all of us.
Become entranced by a guy I knew nothing about, more so than any I’d ever known in the past? I had nothing.
I picked up my phone again and opened the text conversation, the contact still labeled “Zander.” Looking back at the two photos he had sent, a rush surged through my body. Though they were the definition of my type, I never dated guys that looked like that. Ones that dressed sort of like me, with the chunky jewelry and all-black clothes. The guys in my past were polished and proper. Suits everyday, dinner out every night at a fancy restaurant. They were all mostly vanilla, too. That wasn’t a bad thing, but I wasn’t vanilla so the compatibility was always off with them in the bedroom. It was usually the reason things didn’t work out after a few times of being with them. Not to mention I didn’t fit their picture of wifematerial. Spencer was the only guy to entertain my desires for more than five minutes. Although, with Zander, well Ryan, I was learning I might like other things. I really needed to stop separating the two. They were the same person.
I closed out of the thread before I started drooling on my desk, still unable to comprehend why he affected me so much. Men hadn’t been on my radar since Spencer. I took care of my needs myself when they arose and then moved on without a thought. The desire for a man was nonexistent unless he was a fictional character in a book. Maybe that was it. Maybe I was obsessed with Zander because I had been obsessed with him before Ryan ever called my office.
After I listened to his first audiobook, I was in a chokehold. A woman possessed, I sped through every book he narrated as soon as they were released. It never occurred to me to check his social media to find the other content, but I was glad I found it the way I had.
Shaking my head, I finished my lunch and instead of going back to work, I found myself walking to the elevators instead. I needed a distraction from Ryan. Maybe I would see the hot guy from last week in the park again. I felt a bit guilty because he looked like he was probably just out of college, but oh well. It was common for women in their thirties and forties to be attracted to younger men, and I supposed I was starting to fall into that category. It didn’t hurt to look. Anything to get my mind off Zander.
“Hey, Joanne,” I said as I walked into our small conference room a few hours later. It served the purpose despite its size. My gaze roamed over the neat piles of paper spread out on the table. “Can you be any more prepared and organized? I think you’re slacking a bit.”
Joanne chuckled. “I think we have some good prospects here. I also made a spreadsheet with all the candidates as well.Once we have it narrowed down to the people we want to interview, I’ll schedule them for you.”
I sat down at the head of the rectangular metal table and pulled a stack of paper in front of me. “Maybe I should just let you do all the interviews. Since you’re probably a better judge than I am. Not to mention I hate the thought of sitting through hours of these.”
Joanne scoffed. “With all due respect, I don’t want to sit through them, either. You’re the boss; you get to suffer.”
Smiling, I huffed. “I might own the company, but we all know who’s boss around here, ma’am. That’s why you run the office and I’m hiring someone else to relieve you of the receptionist work.”
She beamed at me. “That right there is why I came with you. You’re a badass, but you motivate those around you to work just as hard as you do. That’s a great leader. Trust me, I should know after my many years in the soul-sucking machine that was our old office.”
Redness crept up my neck at the compliment. “Well, since I have your approval, I agree I’m doing pretty well.” I grinned. “Let’s get these out of the way so we can get back to our usual stuff, shall we?”
After two hours, Joanne and I had combed through a hundred resumes and chosen fifteen candidates to interview. The process was arduous, but after sifting through the prospects, I was hopeful we would find a great fit. Skill and experience only went so far. The person we hired also had to fit with our culture and environment. I went through the same process when I hired Mia, and it turned out great.
I pushed back from the table. “Perfect. See if you can get them all in for next week. I’m going to leave the posting up just in case we want to pass on all of these. Hopefully, we have our person in here.”
“Absolutely,” Joanne said as she gathered the stacks of paper. “Thanks, Raven.”
I reached for a stack and Joanne shooed me away. “You get back to work. I’m good here.” She winked.
