Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 94546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
When I glance out at the bustling hive of activity waiting for me, I say, “We can’t talk about this now.”
“This afternoon then.”
“Jack—”
He squashes his finger to my lips once more before moving in so close if anyone is lingering outside the elevator, waiting to enter, they wouldn’t realize there are two people inside. “This afternoon. I’ll drive you home so you won’t get wet in another downpour.”
I look at him like he’s bonkers. “What downpour? The rain has already burned off.”
I curse karma to hell when fat droplets roll down the exposed wall of the elevator. It’s tinted so no one outside the building can see me pushed up against the wall by a man in an impeccably tailored suit, but the glass does little to douse the heat that roars through me when Jack mutters, “Or perhaps I should say, then I won’t get saturated following you home.” He runs his fingers through his drenched hair, making mine green with envy. “Not all of us were smart enough to collect an umbrella this morning.”
With a smirk that exposes he loves my gaped mouth and wide eyes, he drops his arms from the wall, then steps to the side, exposing me to the frenzied hub of my office.
Jess spots me first. “Tivy! Thank God.”
In a flurry, she whizzes me out of the elevator and into the thick of it. Upper management is darting in all directions, their assistants are following them like lost puppies, and the thick stench of awkwardness is depriving the air of oxygen.
“What’s going on?” I dump my purse onto my desk, then pivot to drink in the circus. “It isn’t another lawsuit, is it?” My eyes stray to the idling elevator during my last sentence. It’s as empty as my chest cavity feels since my heart is sitting in my stomach. My body shouldn’t crave Jack as much as it does, but no matter how hard my head warns me to tread cautiously, all I want to do is race back into the elevator so he can squash me against the glass once more.
When my eyes return to Jess, she shakes her head. “Mr. Potts and everyone in human resources were fired this morning.”
“What?” My eyes bulge, shell-shocked.
“Yep.” The ‘p’ pops from her mouth. “And that isn’t the half of it. Rumors are the new owner has scheduled meetings with upper management. No one is safe.”
“Especially me.” As I look at the door my boss once sat behind, my stomach gurgles. “I can’t be Mr. Potts’s assistant if there’s no Mr. Potts.”
Before Jess can reassure me my head isn’t on the chopping block, my name is called by a familiar yet still unrecognizable voice.
“Elaine?” I murmur more to myself than her when her sprouts of blonde locks register as familiar. We only met for the quickest second, but her face is hard to forget. It is too cute to belong to a lady in her mid-sixties. “What are you doing here?”
She smiles at the unease in my voice before gesturing for me to enter Mr. Potts’s office before her. “Being downgraded, from what I can tell.”
My head rockets to the side when a scrumptious voice says, “You’re not being downgraded.” Jack smirks at my wide-eyed expression before he sinks low in Mr. Potts’s big leather chair and shifts his amused gaze to Elaine. “You are merely being put to better use until we get everything in order.” His eyes are back on me, and there’s something more burning inside them than humor. “Elaine is the new HR Manager, and you are Head of Recruitment.”
“What?” Words are above my caliber today. I can’t get over the image of Jack sitting behind Mr. Potts’s desk, let alone speak. “I know nothing about recruitment.” I shift on my feet to face Elaine. “I can’t do this job. I’m not qualified.”
“I disagree.” Jack stands from his chair then moseys around his desk. His desk. That should sound foreign coming out of my mouth, but for some reason, it doesn’t. “You understand people. You have a knack for reading them, so I think you are perfect for this position.”
“You’re insane. I’m an assistant if that. And not a very good one.” I snap my mouth shut, mortified I spoke my thoughts out loud. I need this job, and despite the excited patter of my heart that he thinks more highly of me than my last boss, I must keep a rational head. Caleb is more qualified than me, yet he hasn’t had a job in months. “I can’t do this, Jack. I appreciate the opportunity, but this isn’t the position for me.”
Jack joins Elaine and me on the other side of his desk. “If I prove otherwise, will you at least consider it?” Before I can answer him, he clicks his fingers two times, summoning Mr. Simone, Marketing Manager, into his office. “Elaine cleared out most of the riffraff this morning, but I still have a handful of employees for us to go through.” He gestures his hand to Mr. Potts’s big leather chair, silently gesturing for me to take a seat. “So how about we get proceedings under way?”