Excitement threatened to swallow me whole as I approached the towering Kendrick Corporations building. I seriously regretted my decision to walk the distance from our apartment to my new workplace because, although it did help calm some of my nerves like I had hoped it would, it also resulted in me looking and feeling rather flustered as I waltzed through the double glass doors.
A brief flash of gelled, black hair caught my eye as I walked purposefully to the elevator, and a grin came over my face at the comforting sight of a familiar face. Shane, Nicholas's bodyguard and the only person I knew other than the Greek god himself, smiled at me as we joined two other bored-looking businessmen in the elevator.Thankful for something to distract myself with, we started a casual conversation about the weekend's events, and for a brief amount of time, our bland small talk shut out the nervous thoughts which were raging in my head.It was seriously much too early on a Monday morning to be seeing Nicholas Kendrick's gorgeous face, I thought to myself as Shane and I went our separate ways.Just as I was about to have a panic attack trying to figure out where the hell the staff lounge was, as I recalled that bringing Mr. Kendrick his morning coffee was one of the first requirements of the job, a woman with a trimmed blonde bob emerged from around the corner. She gasped loudly, a hand flying to her mouth when she realized who I was."Oh my God, Ophelia!"I smiled politely at the woman who I recognized to be the receptionist I met last week, as she raced towards me at full speed. I ignored the noticeable change in her attitude now that she knew I was her colleague, rather than just another desperate interviewee, and smiled rather warmly at her."You got the job? Oh my God, what position did you get?" she squealed excitedly, and I realized, due to our close proximity, that she was much more prettier than I remembered. Actually, come to think of it, I didn't think I had seen anyone even vaguely unattractive within this building."Oh, I'm Mr. Kendrick's assistant."Her face dropped before morphing into a look of pure astonishment. She shook her head, looking bewildered. "Wow, I'm surprised they let him hire a woman."I stared at her. What?She registered my distress, gasping loudly. "Oh, no. I just meant that the management usually doesn't hire women to work with him. You know, because of his age and his looks and everything. Like, when I applied for that job, and let's be honest when every other person here applied for that job, they said that we wouldn't work effectively if we were distracted by him."Now it was my turn to shake my head in bewilderment. That didn't sound like a particularly professional observation."Oh, I have to run, but I'll see you at lunch, okay? Meet me at the staff lounge during lunch!"Sarah didn't even give me a chance to reply, but just as she started down the corridor again, I called out to her."Sarah, sorry, but could you tell me where the staff lounge is?"She turned back immediately, sending me another dazzling smile. "It's three doors down that way. Oh, and black with two sugars."She winked, and I smiled to show my thanks as I turned around and headed in the direction she had pointed to.Finally, after having made the correct coffee and grabbed a cheese croissant for good luck, I began to make my way to Nicholas's office. Heart beating wildly, I glanced at the clock, that thankfully read a time much earlier than when I was supposed to be in, and knocked on his door with my elbow."Come in," he called out.I pushed the door open with the back of my arm and made my way into his lavish office for the second time in my life. My breathing hitched when I saw that today he was clothed in a tight, dark gray suit and a black tie.Will I ever get used to this?We exchanged polite smiles as I set the coffee and croissant down in front of him. His eyes showed confusion when we locked eyes."Black with two sugars?"I nodded, and he looked at me, dumbfounded."I got my own. I didn't think you'd know yet," he said simply, and l couldn't help but grin widely as his lips turned up in a smile."Good start, Miss Morgan."Unable to stop smiling, I turned to make my way out of his office and into my smaller one, which I believed was just next door, when he stopped me by speaking again."Did you have breakfast?" I heard him ask simply, and I didn't react to his random question.Deciding to answer honestly, I turned back to him and smiled. "Um, no. I didn't have the time."His eyes darkened, but I was not given enough time to register this before he spoke again. "Here, take this."He gestured to the small plate with the croissant, and I was just about to turn it down politely when I thought, why bother? I was kind of hungry, thanks to my early morning trek.Thanking him gracefully, I hurriedly took the plate, and left his office with pink tinting my cheeks. At exactly 8 AM, I settled into the small swivel chair in the center of my office, which was just as lavish as Mr. Kendrick's, but obviously much less small in size and with no wall-sized window taking up an entire side.I noticed a small stack of manuscripts sitting on the translucent desk before me, and I grabbed and examined them carefully, realizing that I learned how to summarize these in a class in college.Well, thank God for that.I realized halfway through typing them up that there was actually a connecting door between mine and Nicholas's office, and I told myself to keep that in mind to make life easier later on.A few hours went by with nothing particularly eventful occurring. It seemed that Mr. Kendrick had underestimated my skills slightly because these fifteen manuscripts seemed to be all of the work scheduled for me to do before lunch.I decided- after buzzing out the final man due to a business meeting with the boss before lunch- to go and hand them in."Come in," he called out after I knocked.I decided to try the mysterious connecting door and pushed through it to find myself standing at the very furthest end of his office. He glanced up briefly from his laptop but didn't look fazed when I set the finished papers down on his desk."Thank you. Did you enjoy the croissant?"I stifled my look of surprise. Why was he so intent on being my parent? Just being my boss would be satisfactory"Yes, I did. It was lovely."He looked up briefly at my tone, but I sent him a dazzling smile before he could comment on it. Then, before I could brace myself, he leaned forward and his hand went for his chin, once again finding his bottom lip and tracing it distractedly."Did you read over the job description?" he asked.I nodded limply, unable to stop staring at his alluring pink lips. He didn't speak again, and instead, I simply watched as he pinched his lip between his thumb and index finger, tugging slightly."Is everything alright with the work times?" he asked.Again, I nodded, feeling very conscious of the time on the clock and the time that his next meeting was scheduled to hold.Let me leave before I leap at you and you end up being unable to attend your next meeting! I thought, staring at him hungrily."Does leaving a little after 6 PM give you enough time to grab dinner?"I failed at not flinching at this sudden change of topic. Why was he so obsessed with making sure I ate?"Um, yes?" I said this more as a question, and now it was his turn to nod silently. "Why do you care so much about whether or not I've eaten?" I asked.My mouth seemed to be working without my brain today, and I had already blurted out what I was thinking before I could stop myself. His one hand halted its typing for a second before he replied casually."I care about my employees' wellbeing, Ophelia," he replied.Biting my lip, I willed myself to shut up whilst I could, but that reply hardly satisfied my curiosity."Is that all?" I asked. "If you think I'm too skinny or something, I can assure you that I eat more than enough." I realized I said that a little harshly but it was too late now; I couldn't take back my words.Once again, his hand froze to hover over his keyboard. "No, that's not it at all, and don't you dare think that either." His tone was brash, and I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was infuriated.I shrank under his deadly glare. "O... okay. Is there anything else you'd like me to do?" I politely asked, trying to salvage the situation."As a matter of fact, yes." He grabbed a large stack of paper from beside his laptop and slammed it down in front of me with astounding force. "I want you to compile these contracts. I need them this evening."My mouth fell open. "Um... I'm sorry, I'm not sure..."His eyes burned with fury, and he stared at me as if challenging me to finish my sentence."Oh-okay then," I muttered as I hoisted the stack of paper into the crook of my elbow.Realizing that he wasn't going to say anything else, I hastily left his office with my tail between my legs.Collapsing into my chair, I frantically went over our conversation in my head. At what point did I offend him enough for that to be an acceptable reaction?Sighing, I decided to head down to lunch before tackling the contracts, knowing fully well that pissing him off further by skipping a meal would most likely not have been the smartest course of action.I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't hear the first two screeches of my name as I stepped out of the elevator, but soon enough, I realized it was Sarah who was hollering at me from inside the staff lounge.Great! Now everyone within a ten-meter radius knew who I was."Yes! Hi, I'm here," I told her loudly in an attempt to shut up her obnoxious yelling. To be honest, I was actually rather grateful that I had someone to sit next to at lunch, even if she was rubbing off as a little over-the-top. God, it was like middle school all over again."Oh, Opelia, this is Diego. He works in the reception with me, and this is Harry. He's Mr. Kendrick's limo driver."Limo driver? Wow!I shook hands with both of the men sitting beside Sarah, unable to help but marvel at both of their insanely good looks. Why did everyone here look like a model? It turned out Diego was the one with the highly gelled dark hair and a slightly crooked smile that caused him to rub off as a man in his mid-forti
"What if we go tomorrow?" I suggested cautiously. Finally, he seemed to snap out of his speechless state."Tomorrow?" he repeated bluntly."Yes. Tomorrow evening, after work," I replied just as bluntly. He nodded slowly, still looking bewildered as he glanced in the driver's direction. I saw Harry nod as if he understood what to do simply from that one look. Soon enough, we were doing a U-turn and heading back down the highway we just came down. As we drove steadily, I nibbled on my thumb and gazed out of the window beside me, the majority of my attention being used as I tried to stop myself from glancing over at the man beside me. We all stayed silent for a while, pondering silently to ourselves, until Harry suddenly turned on the radio and it began ro blast music from a random station as loudly as possible.A crooning melody began to echo throughout the spacious car, and a feeling of familiarity washed over me. As the song reached its first chorus- the high-pitched voice singing
I hummed quietly to myself as I waited patiently for the ding of the elevator signalling that I had arrived on the sixth floor. Glancing at myself in the mirrored walls, I took a long, hard look at the white chiffon top and black pencil skirt I had on today. When the elevator doors slowly slid open, I strolled cheerfully past the various people in business suits clogging the corridors and made my way towards the staff lounge. My heart was sent into a sudden, fluttering frenzy when I spotted none other than my strikingly handsome boss roaming freely around the coffee area.When did he get here? I didn't even see him leave his office!After a few seconds of lingering in the doorway, I forced myself to stroll in. I could tell as I made my way across the room that everyone's eyes, including my own, were trained intensely on Nicholas as he gently refilled his coffee. His hair was still slightly scruffy, but I noticed that he seemed to have found a tie and the will to tuck his shirt in sin
The minutes leading up to 6 PM dragged on ridiculously slowly, and I felt as if it may just be time playing a trick on me in order to balance out the good that fate had recently brought into my life, because I couldn't conjure up any other possible reason as to why the hands of my clock seemed to have been stuck on 5:59 for the past ten minutes.Finally, the door of my office clicked open, revealing the marvelous sight of Nicholas Kendrick peering through the small gap."Ready to go?" he asked with a small smile on his lips.I nodded as I gathered up my phone and wallet before hurriedly following him out. As we stepped into the elevator, I told myself repeatedly to resist looking at him, despite the fact that I could tell that something had changed since lunch."Shane texted me; he has your laptop in the limo," he suddenly said out of the blue.It took me a good five seconds to soak up his statement. Oh my God. So he really did that?"Ophelia?"I realized that staying silent just made
Achingly slowly, the limo came to a stop, and as my eyes focused on the dimly lit exterior of the restaurant, I realized that it was definitely not the Italian restaurant Nicholas mentioned yesterday."We are not going to Aventi's, then?" I asked quietly."No. This place just opened up so l figured we should try it. Come, " he said, informing me about of the change of plans as he slid the car door open, stepping out as I paused momentarily to pull my skirt down."Come," he repeated again, slightly more forcefully this time, as I climbed out of the comfort of the car, joining him on the sidewalk.As my eyes tried to understand what the glistening golden sign hanging above us read, I felt a light tug on my lower arm, and then, without warning, Nicholas's hand latched onto mine. My natural instincts kicked in, and I yelped and tugged my hand away from his grasp."What are you doing?" I whispered as he turned around, reading my thoughts exactly."I don't want you to be dragged away by papa
At that moment, I was suddenly hit by the memory of a game Rianne and I used to play in college whenever the guys we liked were at the parties we were. It was a pretty foolproof game to play when you wanted to find out more about someone. I couldn't help but smile as I folded my hands on my lap and introduced it to Nicholas."Let's play a game," I began, and he glanced up, staring into my eyes as if he was searching for the reason as to why I had suddenly transformed into a teenager."A game?" he asked slowly.I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Yes, a game. I used to play it with my friends in college. It helps you get to know someone better," I replied.He dropped his wine glass down on the table slowly."Come on. I think we need this if I am going to accept a new laptop and a new phone too from you."That woke him up from his musings and he nodded to show that he was listening. I tried not to focus on the parts of his toned chest that I could see through his unbuttoned shirt now that
"Okay. I told you a very harrowing story so you could finally answer my burning question. Why are you so concerned with what l eat?"The words rolled off my tongue before I could even process why I was asking them, but he already promised that he would tell me the answer if I ate a decent amount tonight, which I most definitely had. I ate all of the starter which was broccoli soup and almost all of the main dish which included lasagna. I watched attentively as Nicholas's face suddenly morphed into a look of surprise, and then what looked a bit like annoyance."I thought you would forget..." he admitted quietly, not even acknowledging the waitress beside him as she dropped our desserts quietly on the table."Why would you think that?" I asked incredulously."Because..." He trailed off, sighing loudly, as he closed his eyes for a moment before shifting in his chair as if he was uncomfortable. I narrowed my eyes at him before he continued. "I know the way women act around me, Ophelia. Th
I scrambled through the glass doors looking like a literal madwoman; messy hair, minimal makeup with the absence of coffee slowing me down. I ignored the decent amount of judgmental stares I received as I walked through the reception. Patting down my hair, I waved absentmindedly at Sarah and I slid clumsily into the elevator. An odd feeling of deja vu swept over me as the doors slid shut, and I realized that it was because my less than luxurious flats did the same thing yesterday. l also happened to remember the endearing laugh that left Nicholas's lips when I nearly fell, face first onto the floor.Oh, Nicholas. How awkward was it going to be seeing him today? I felt a lot closer to him now, that was for sure, but not really in the way I wanted to be. I was hoping to walk in today having found out his favorite color and maybe where his parents were from, not a heartbreakingly tragic story about his origins. I didn't expect to get so personal myself either, but what he admitted to me