I headed out of the building, stepping outside in the warm air and actually looking forward to my morning stroll. Really, my offering to go get her was as much for me as it was for her. I was happy to get outside for a bit before I had to spend a long day in meetings inside the walls of my office.
I walked faster than usual, wanting to get to the café before my wayward intern could wander off and really get herself lost in the city. I rounded the corner, my eyes scanning the wide sidewalk. The café was on the opposite end of the block. I made my way to the tables, my eyes scanning the people at each one. There was a woman in a white shirt and black pants sitting at a table with her back to me. Her long blonde hair was hanging over the back of the chair. I assumed it had to be her and walked to the table. The moment I saw her face, my mouth dropped.
It was the woman from the bar. She was wearing sunglasses, hiding the eyes I knew were green. She looked up at me, and only then did I realize I was staring at her. “I’m Adrian, from Great Greeks,” I said.
She pushed her sunglasses up and looked into my eyes. I thought I saw a hint of recognition but couldn’t be sure. “Thank god,” she said with a smile. “Thank you so much for coming.”
I stood there staring at her like an idiot. She was gorgeous. Last night, the brief glimpse I had gotten of her had not been enough. Seeing her in the bright sunshine, her eyes bright and a healthy glow about her, was a totally different experience. She looked like a swimsuit model, minus the swimsuit.
I realized I was making things awkward and offered her a smile. “It’s no problem. If you don’t mind, I’m going to order a drink.”
She smiled and shook her head. “I’m already late. I suppose another few minutes won’t hurt.”
Chapter 6
Bella
Holy Greek god. If this was the kind of people I was going to be working with, I was going to have a hard time focusing on work. The man was a walking advertisement for Greece. If the women in the United States knew these were the kind of men roaming in the streets in Heraklion, there would be a mass exodus. I wanted to have his babies. No! That was crazy. I knew better than to judge a book by its cover, but holy shit! It was one hell of a cover.
I watched as the tall man, clearly a direct descendant of one of those Greek gods I had read about in middle school, walked inside the café to order his drink. His ass was fine, firm, and I could practically feel the flesh in my hands. His chest was broad, his shoulders wide, and although I couldn’t see the muscles through the long-sleeved button-up shirt he was wearing, I knew they would be there. His shirt had three buttons left open at the top, just enough to give me a tease of tanned flesh with a tiny sprinkling of black hair. He was crazy tall. He was the kind of man everyone noticed when he walked into a room. It was hard not to stare.
He returned a minute later. I grabbed my purse and laptop case and got to my feet, expecting him to be in a rush to get back to the office. He pulled out the other chair at the table and sat down.
“Let’s sit for a minute,” he said easily.
“What? Really? Shouldn’t we be getting to work?”
He shrugged a big shoulder before pushing up his dark glasses to reveal the prettiest set of light blue eyes I had ever seen. They were nearly crystal clear, popping out against his tanned face. I pushed up my own glasses, not wanting to be rude.
“We’ve got some time,” he said. “No one will mind.”
I leaned back in my chair and rambled. “I cannot believe I got lost. I feel like such an idiot. The boss is going to think he made a mistake in choosing me for the job. I swear, I’m not usually such an airhead.”
He smiled, his teeth white and straight adding to the total package that was him. “I think it will be okay. Mistakes happen.”
I grimaced. “He’s probably going to fire me before I ever get started.”
“Is this your first time to Greece?” he asked casually, as if he was in no hurry to get back to work.
I nodded. “It is my first time anywhere. I’ve never been away from home. I mean, I took a couple of vacations with my dad, but those were places a few hours from home. I’ve never been on a plane, left the Pacific Northwest, or done anything like this.”
“This must be pretty overwhelming for you,” he said, sipping on the dark coffee.
His English was impeccable. There was a trace of an accent but not overly so. “What about you? Are you from here?”
He grinned. “I am. My family lives in Sitia. It’s where I grew up.”
“Wow. I’ve read about that place. It looked beautiful in the pictures.” I tried to imagine what it would be like to live in such a gorgeous area.
“It is nice. Have you been in Greece long?”
I shook my head. “No. I got in late Saturday night. I spent a couple of hours out yesterday but only went to a local bar and down to the beach. I slept in late, and I should have gotten up and walked the route from the hotel to the office. I feel so ridiculous. The boss is going to hate me. I hate making a bad first impression.”
“I know the boss pretty well,” he said, a twinkle in his eye. “I think he’ll understand. I personally think he’s a pretty easy-going guy and gives second chances.”
“I hope so. My dad is going to kill me when I tell him what I did.” I dreaded the recap of my first day on the job—assuming I had a job at all.
“Why don’t we grab some breakfast? I didn’t have time to eat this morning.” He reached a hand in the air and signaled a waitress.
“Breakfast! We can’t eat breakfast! We have to get to work!” I screeched.
“Relax. We have plenty of time. It’s just the boring orientation stuff anyway. Trust me. You aren’t missing anything exciting.”
I wasn’t sure what to think about the guy. Maybe he was my competition for a permanent position in the company, and he was trying to set me up for failure. He didn’t seem like he was manipulative, but that was how manipulative people got by. They were wolves in sheep’s clothing. That was what my dad would say. I sat there feeling anxious and nervous while he ordered in Greek.
“Can we make this quick? I understand you don’t mind being late, but this is really going against everything I have ever known. I’m always early, and I would have been today if I hadn’t gotten all twisted around. I’m not the kind of person that shows up fashionably late. I hate that.” I grimaced.
“We’ll eat fast. It’s always better to go to work on a full stomach. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, or at least that’s what my mother always said.”
He had a sexy grin that probably melted the panties off most women. My panties were made of sterner stuff than that. I was in Greece to work, not have a fling, I reminded myself.
“Fine, but will you please let the boss know why I am super late? I don’t want him to think I stalled on purpose.”
“I will do that. So, what’s it like where you are from?” He spoke as if we had all the time in the world to get to know each other.
I didn’t want to be rude, and the guy might be my only ally, or my worst enemy. It really could go either way. “Well, it was nothing like this. There are mountains and a lot of open land. We’re nowhere near a beach.”
“Did you live in a large city?”
I shook my head. “No, definitely not. There are lots of small towns. The town I lived in, technically I think I still live there, had a population of under two thousand.”
His eyes went wide. “Really?”
I smiled, thinking of home. “Really. I commuted to college. I had to live at home to save money.”
“I see. Did you get to have fun in college? Isn’t that the time we’re supposed to be free, party, and make lots of mistakes that we could look back on with a combination of regret and fondness?”
I giggled. “Not me. I didn’t have time for regrets. I was on a scholarship and couldn’t afford to have my grades slip even a little. I worked my ass—sorry—butt off to make sure I graduated at the top of my class.”
I shook my head again. “Not this American. The school was kind of small, and it wasn’t the kind of school that attracted a lot of wealthy kids. Only wealthy kids can afford to go to Cancun or some other beach for a wild vacation. I worked and studied. I had no time for much of anything else.”
He looked pained. “And now you’re here because of that hard work.”
“I suppose so, yes. I graduated a couple of months ago, and here I am.”
“What have you been doing between graduation and now?” he asked.
I thought about it. “Working and getting ready to come here.”
He laughed. “You have to enjoy your time while you are here. Greece is a beautiful place to visit. There is so much history and culture for you to take in. Promise me you won’t be all work and no play. I can show you around, take you to some of the sites that are worth seeing.”
“I’d like that, thank you. I do want to see as much as I can, but I also really want to impress the boss. I’m sure I’m going to be very busy working on projects after I leave the office. I don’t mind putting in the hard work if it will pay off in the future.” I meant every word.
He offered me a smile. Our breakfasts were delivered, and I was immediately starving. I stared at the assortment of fruits and yogurt, along with a variety of pastries.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked,” he said by way of explanation.
I smiled, shaking my head. “It all looks amazing, but this is a lot of food.”
“Ah, trust me. It isn’t all that much. We can take the pastries with us.” He grabbed a fork and stabbed a piece of melon before popping it in his mouth.
I followed suit, taking a few bites of the fruit and letting the flavors explode in my mouth. We ate and chatted a bit more about the places I had to check out and talked about getting together on the weekend. Once most of the food was gone, he finally made a move to leave. I quickly got to my feet, anxious to get to work and praying like hell I wasn’t going to be fired before I ever got started.
As we walked to the office, I paid close attention to the route. If I got another chance tomorrow, I wasn’t going to blow it by being late again. I would leave two hours early, just in case I got twisted around again.
“This is our building,” he said, pulling open a door and letting me go in first.
The cool air washed over me as I looked around the wide-open lobby. It was then I realized the company I was interning for owned or leased the entire building. “Oh, I didn’t realize this was all for Great Greeks.”
He chuckled. “We have four floors. The top three floors are leased out to other businesses.”
I nodded, in awe of the modern building. I had seen so many old buildings, I had just assumed the entire city was at least two-hundred years old. We rode the elevator up in silence. My nerves were kicking in as the doors slid open. I followed him down a long hallway. There was a conference room on my right. Large windows gave me a good view of three people sitting down, while a man spoke at the front of the room.
Adrian pushed open the door, and all talk ceased. The man at the front of the room made a big show of looking at his watch and then me. There was an obvious scowl on his face as he turned his attention to Adrian. “Glad to see you could make it,” he said dryly.
Adrian looked at me and smiled. “Go ahead and take a seat at the table.”
I nodded, feeling about two inches tall as I pulled out a chair, leaving a couple of empty chairs between myself and the others, and sat down. Adrian moved to the front of the room, looking at the scowling man.
“Good morning, everyone. My name is Adrian Gabris. I’m the CEO and President of Great Greeks. Thank you for coming in today. I’m looking forward to a great few weeks.” His eyes met mine.
I could practically feel my jaw resting on the table, convinced drool was likely leaking out. I clamped my teeth together, making sure my mouth wasn’t hanging open as I stared at the man I had just had breakfast with. He was the owner? He was the boss? Oh shit. I had really made an ass of myself, and he’d done nothing to stop me. I wanted to evaporate into thin air and teleport back home. I couldn’t believe how badly I had managed to screw this thing up. My dad was going to lose his shit when I told him what I had done. Years of hard work had all gone up in flames, right alongside my dignity. I seriously debated picking up my things and walking right back out the door. I hoped like hell he hadn’t brought me into the conference room just to make an example of me before he fired me in front of the others. I would die. I would absolutely die of humiliation.
Chapter 7
Adrian
With the orientation out of the way and the interns delivered to their joint working space, I headed to my office. Rand was hot on my heels. I knew he was going to question me about why I had taken so long. When I had left to fetch our lost intern, I hadn’t intended on being gone so long. It just kind of happened.
I did my best to make him forget all about it by distracting him. Fortunately for me, he wasn’t in his best shape, and I didn’t think it would be all that hard to get him onto something else entirely. “I think we’ve got a good group, don’t you?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Hard to tell from looking at them.”
We both nodded as we passed someone from accounting. “I meant they seemed attentive and they all seemed to have a good idea about what we expect from them.”
“I suppose,” he protested.
My attempts to distract him weren’t working. He was going to say what he had to say, no matter what. I was glad he was going to wait until we made it back to my office. I didn’t need everyone seeing him talk to me like a friend instead of the boss I technically was to him. I moved into the office, staring out the windows at the sprawling city around me. It was a good view, but the view of the sea was blocked by some of the other taller buildings.
When I turned to look at him, he had his hands on his hips and was staring at me. Nope, he definitely hadn’t forgotten. I sighed, knowing there was no way around it, and I prepared to take my lecture.
“What?” I asked, feigning innocence.
“What the hell took you so long?” he snapped.
I shrugged. “We had breakfast.”
His mouth dropped open. “You had breakfast?” he asked. “That’s it? Just breakfast? Bullshit. I saw her. I saw the way you two were looking at each other.”
I frowned at him. “We weren’t looking at each other in any way,” I argued.
He shook his head. “Bullshit. Did she give you a little thank you for going to pick her up? Did she try and smooth things over with the boss?”
“Shut up. Don’t be a dick.”
“You were gone for almost an hour. You were doing more than eating breakfast.”
“You’re wrong, and I don’t appreciate the insinuation,” I growled.
He stared at me. “Really? A woman who looks like that, and you didn’t try anything?”
“No, I didn’t try anything. She works here. She’s an intern.”
“Why?” he asked. “Why would you keep her on if she can’t even find her way here? How hard is it to pull out a GPS app and find us? It sounds like a pretty lame excuse to me.”
“It was the truth. She was lost, and she felt bad about it.”
“Why are you keeping her on?” he asked again. “Those other three are smart and are going to be excellent employees, and they all made it on time.”
“Because there’s something about Bella that I think is worth giving her a chance. She’s smart and driven, and I know she is going to be a hard worker as well.”
“You’re letting her looks sway you,” he said. “We always said we would never let that shit happen here. Don’t start now.”
I sat down in my chair, ignoring his accusations. “It has nothing to do with her looks. My gut instincts have gotten us this far. Trust me. She’s worth keeping around.”
He shook his head, running a hand through his hair. “She’s going to be the downfall of this company. I can see it now. You’re thinking with your dick instead of your brain.”
“I’m not going to say it again. It’s my decision. You’re being a dick. I’m going to let it slide because I know you’re hungover and probably feel like hell, but she stays until she proves her position here isn’t going to work out. I’m giving her a shot.”
Rand was my right hand, but ultimately, the company was mine. I was the boss. He worked for me, and I wasn’t going to let his assumptions push what I had a feeling was going to be a very good employee right out the door. I liked her fresh view of things. I liked that she worked hard and studied hard to put herself through school. The other interns were all from families that had influence. They did well in school, and each of them brought a little something different to the table, but there was something about Bella that none of them had. She offered a glimpse into a demographic I didn’t think we’d really touched on yet. I wanted to expand and grow, and that meant finding new ways to reach new people.
“I hope you’re right, but the way I see it, she’s going to be the one thing that brings you to your knees and takes the company down with it,” he mumbled.
There was a sharp intake of breath. Rand spun around. I moved to the side to see who it was and cringed when I saw Bella’s red face. She’d heard what he had said.
“Do you need something?” Rand asked in a tone I thought was very unfriendly.
Bella’s little chin went up as she took a step inside my office, her eyes locked on Rand. “Yes, I need to speak with Adrian, if he has a minute. However, first, I’d like to assure you I will not be the downfall of your company. Nor will I bring Adrian—I mean, Mr. Gabris—to his knees. I was late. I got lost. I’ve apologized. I really don’t know what else I can say. I’m not sure how that could possibly bring down a billion-dollar business, but if that’s all it takes to do so, I would think you might need to get on more solid footing before you bring on any more interns.”
Fake It For Me Page 4