by A P Gore
“I’m a new recruit. Please call that number and confirm my identity.”
“Why should I?” Melissa said. “Wait here. I’ll get you fired as well.” She rushed inside her office and lifted her desk phone.
Knowing what would happen, Gavin wrapped his arm around Samantha’s shoulder and led her away from the office.
“Samantha, don’t worry. Everything will be all right once she makes that call.” He pushed her gently into a chair and patted her head before heading back to face Melisa.
As expected, all the color in her face had drained out, and she was huffing and puffing. Her eyes widened when Gavin entered her office.
“Mr. Hamilton.” She bent forward and grabbed his hands. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it was you.” She muttered something to herself. “Please don’t fire me.”
Gavin yanked his hands away. “Rehire her without telling her who I am.” And he stepped out of her office. It gave him chills to stand in that tiny office.
Two minutes later, Samantha came to him with a bright smile on her face. Getting her job back was worth it for that one smile.
“Thanks a lot, Gavin. I would’ve died without you today.”
“Then treat me for lunch on Wednesday.”
“Wednesday?” Her lips curled downward. “Wednesday is—”
He patted her shoulder. “Actually, it’s my treat. After all, I got you into this mess. I should’ve told my manager about this.”
“Deal.” She smiled like bright sunshine coming out from behind dark clouds. Maybe she could be his sunshine for a year.
After deciding on the time and place to meet, he beelined to his office. There were many items pending his review.
“Gavin, I’ve arranged a meeting with all the directors in half an hour,” Rosie said in her modulated voice as soon as he stepped into his small office.
Gavin smiled. The office was changed. A bookcase was gone, and a small makeshift pantry table replaced it. Rosie knew his tastes very well. “I’ll handle that, but first fire Melisa Samithi from the planning department and gather background information on Samantha Hald from the same department.” When Sam dragged him, he had spotted her name and department on her ID.
Rosie eyed him like a hawk studying its pray. “Is Samantha the one from the lobby?”
“Yes,” Gavin replied with a smirk. Nothing could get past his secretary.
“And why do you want her information?”
“Because I need a wife for six months.”
Chapter 9
Gavin glanced at the half-bald heads and suits in the board room, his fingers stroking against the rough texture of the armrest. The previous owner must have faced so many flakes sitting here. No wonder he’d chipped the armrest with his nails.
Cold air blew over his head as he got the air temperature down when everyone started sweating profoundly in the room. It was fun.
As expected, the meeting finished with a bang. It started with the news of the Vice President getting fired, so it was bound to be a blast. Especially the finance guys, their faces were drained of blood by the time the meeting finished. Even in their dreams they wouldn’t have thought Gavin would hit finance first.
Rosie, in a rose red pencil skirt, entered the boardroom with a red coffee mug filled with his favorite coffee.
“Did you get the information?” he asked, inhaling the vanilla aroma mixed with two spoons of sugar. The only sugar in his diet.
“Yes, but how did it go?” Rosie asked, tapping on the A/C panel on the nearby wall, increasing the temperature.
“Blissfully.” The flavor burst on his tongue, providing him much needed break. All that whining had given him a headache, and coffee was his medicine.
Rosie placed a blue folder in front of him.
Gavin leaned back in his chair, sipping coffee. “They shouted, cried, and threatened me. But they went home with one clear message: their lives are going to be hell.”
Rosie giggled. “How many are you planning to fire?”
Gavin tapped on a list of names placed on the table. “Let’s start with these ten. We can do fine with the remaining five. Also, ask our team to join the office starting tomorrow.” Brushing his finger against the edge of the folder, Gavin opened to the first page.
A picture of Samantha occupied the right corner while her bio occupied the remaining part. She had glasses in the ID-sized picture, and she looked younger. It was a standard document for any employee.
Name: Samantha Hald
Age: 26 years
Sex: Female
Marital Status: Widow
Parents: Deceased
Children: One. Male. Four years old.
Here, Gavin stopped for a moment, wondering how it would affect his plan. Well, he wouldn’t have to deal with the kid if everything went according to plan.
The rest of the page contained unnecessary information about her.
He moved to the next page, which contained all her financial details.
Rosie shrugged. “You seem quite interested in that woman. I doubted you would go past the first half of the first page. She was married. A bad candidate.”
Gavin rose to his feet. Pacing behind the conference table, he tapped on the folder. “Was is the key word there.” He shot a glance at Rosie who had her eyes fixed on his every action. “Do you think I want to marry her because I like her?”
Rosie narrowed her eyes. “You’re acting strange. The way that woman dragged you around, it wasn’t something you would allow. Then you even fired her boss, just for the sake of that woman?”
Moving his fingers through his hair, he chuckled. “I admit. I was intrigued. But it stops there.” He got back to his chair and sipped his coffee. “She has a kid, so my interest stops there. But that makes her perfect for this role. As for her boss, she was working with one of the directors and embezzling money through a shell corporation.” He pulled a file from his desk. “Fire all of these, one by one. I’ll remove all the weeds from this garden.”
“Why her? You can get anyone to do this for you.” She leaned on the desk, staring into his eyes. She was trying to peek into his mind. “Hire an actress or ask one of your exes.”
Because she was honest. That’s what he wanted to say, but Rosie wouldn’t agree to it.
“Forget about my exes. I can’t go back to them,” Gavin said, “Hiring an actress is too dangerous. The media can’t know about it being contractual. It breaches a clause in my grandma’s will.”
“But she’s a widow. How can you marry a widow?”
Gavin chuckled. “Rosie, you know what’s my biggest fear in this world?”
“To not to fall in love. So, you can continue working on bankrupt companies like this and enjoy the thrill.”
She was right. He enjoyed this. Buying struggling companies and reviving them. It was his addiction. When he fired people and hired new ones who did the right job, he could sleep peacefully. Money wasn’t the problem here. If he had joined his dad’s business, money would rain on him. But the thrill of playing chess on a sinking ship was something he could only get with companies like Tecme Systems. Compared to this thrill, dating was far less interesting. And he hated the women running after his dad’s money.
“So, marrying a widow means I won’t fall in love with her. Because there’s no way I’ll be attracted to a woman with a kid. And this is only for six months, to fulfill the will’s condition. After that, I’ll give her a divorce, and we can go our own ways.”
Rosie crossed her arms. “I doubt this will work. And why would she agree to marry you, anyway?”
He slapped his index finger on a particular line. “She will.”
Chapter 10
A little panda on her mobile hovered over eleven and fifty. It was Aarons favorite anime character, so she liked it too. Waiting patiently, she glanced at the glass door to her left.
A cold chill emerged from nowhere, sending a chill down her spine. Winter was coming. Time to buy a new jacket for Aaron. The l
ast season’s didn’t fit her growing child anymore. A smile automatically played on her lips when a picture of her little devil in the green jacket popped into her mind.
“Sam!” A familiar voice startled her. Melisa. What was she doing here? If Melisa saw her leaving, she would make a scene. Her eyes jumped around to find a place to hide, but Melisa caught up to her before she had a chance.
“Sam, please save me.” She carried a brown square box so full that its contents almost spilled out of it. Her makeup was all messed up. Her eye liner was all over her cheeks, and she slumped like someone had placed a twenty-pound weight on her shoulder. “Please, Sam, have to save me. For our friendship.” She dropped her box and hugged Samantha tightly. “Please ask your boyfriend to take me back. Please, please, please.” Her voice shook, her body quivered, and her tears fell on Samantha’s shoulder.
“What?” Samantha didn’t understand a word she said. Boyfriend? Save her? Jesus! What was wrong with her?
Another sob overtook Melisa, and she leaned more on Samantha.
Samantha’s back complained about the extra weight. But when she tried to push Melisa away, she clung to her like a hook in a fish’s neck.
Jesus! Save my back.
By that time, people had started gathering around them, whispering in each other’s ears. Who didn’t enjoy free drama like this? Embarrassed, Samantha pushed hard on Melisa’s arms to get out of her bear hug. But moving that heavy lady was more difficult than moving the CEO’s thirty-pound box.
As the pressure intensified, her knees wobbled, and she almost lost her balance.
An arm wrapped around her shoulder, stabilizing her, taking the weight for her. Two guards emerged from the crowd around them and pulled Melisa away. The arm around her shoulder pulled her backward and led her away from the drama.
When her ragged breath settled, she glanced at her savior. Somehow, it was Gavin again with a breathtaking handsome smile playing on his face. Something tickled inside her heart when she saw that smile.
Jesus! He was too handsome to be a security guard. Women must fall for him left and right. That smile, combined with his tailored light blue shirt and dark blue trousers, made him look like a Greek god out of a movie.
Melisa’s cries grew distant as Gavin lead her away. Once they crossed the next building, she shrugged his hand from her shoulder. Though it didn’t give her any premonition, staying away from a man seemed like a good choice, especially a graceful handsome man like Gavin.
Red rushed to her cheeks. What was she thinking? Graceful? Handsome? Really?
“Thanks for that,” she whispered, clutching her bag. The tingle in her body still circled around her stomach.
Gavin replied with another breathtaking smile, his brown eyes lit up like a breeze on the hottest day of the year.
Samantha had to pull her gaze away purposefully. What was happening to her? Why was she all flustered?
“Where do you want to go?” he asked. “Magenta sound good?”
Her hands jumped to her mouth. Magenta? Was he crazy?
No, it must be because he’d only been working for Tecme a few days.
“If your colleague recommended that to you, he must be pulling a prank. That’s the costliest Italian restaurant on this street. Never go there. They will bilk you for more than a week’s salary.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry about money. I’ve got a lot.”
Samantha shook her head. “No. You shouldn’t waste it like this. Even though you have a better position than mine, I know how much you earn in a week.” She pointed toward the next street. “There’s a sushi place down there, much cheaper, and with amazing food. Let’s go there.”
“Humor me. How much do you think I earn?” Gavin asked with a serious face.
Samantha paused and stared up at him, guessing his salary. She was a temp, so she earned six hundred a week. If he joined as permanent, he must earn between one thousand and twelve hundred.
“Twelve hundred a week?”
The left side of his mouth curled into a smirk. “You’re smart. Aren’t you?” And he patted on her head. Why did he keep doing that? It made her feel like a little girl.
“Come on, let’s go try this amazing sushi place you mentioned.” He touched the small of her back and guided her forward.
Frowning, she let him take her with him.
For some reason, his touch never felt foreign. Being a woman meant she understood men’s touches. She knew when someone touched her with desire, or with love, or a harmless touch. Gavin’s touch was not harmful; it was like an old friend meeting her after a long time. Maybe it was because he’d helped her last night, or because she herself grabbed his hand this morning. Whatever the reason, his touch didn’t bother her.
The scent of Japanese dishes stimulated her senses when they approached the sushi place. It was a small cafe inside a building with a few tables placed on the footpath. This place was well hidden from the posh trappings of the main thoroughfare. People wouldn’t believe that something like this existed around the corner, but here it was. Bustling with people like her who enjoyed nice cheap sushi. Her team always did their team dinners here. One day, she would bring Aaron here. He would love it.
Samantha sighed when she spotted five couples waiting outside. Something unusual.
“I’ll solve this.” Gavin went straight to the people waiting. God knows what he did, but after he talked with them, all five couples left with smiles on their faces.
“What did you do?” Samantha asked as Gavin came back. Not even five seconds, and a waiter came to guide them to an empty table. He even smiled at them, sugar dripping from his smile. The waiters didn’t do that here. They were usually arrogant, cursing for everything. “Are you a magician?”
Gavin chuckled. When he laughed, she realized he always laughed wholeheartedly around her. He probably always laughed that way, but it felt good. A wholehearted smile meant a person with graceful heart.
“What do you want?” He asked, flipping through the menu.
Samantha licked her lips. “Ebi nigiri for me. It has a nice texture to it.”
Gavin turned to the waiter. “Make it two, along with soda.”
Ten minutes later, two plates of ebi nigiri appeared out of the chef’s kitchen. It looked so good that Samantha wanted to dig into it right away. But eating like a starving woman wouldn’t look nice in front of Gavin, so she had to take it slow and cut it in small pieces.
Then Gavin asked for a fork.
What? Why? What was wrong with chop sticks?
Then he started cutting the sushi.
It seemed like Gavin had all the time in the world. Piece after piece, he cut one sushi into two identical pieces. What was wrong with him? On a normal day, in that time, Samantha would have finished half her dish.
Jesus.
“Do you always eat this slow?” she asked when her patience ran out, and her stomach yarned for the sushi on her plate. “Do you want me to cut it for you?”
Gavin shrugged and pushed his plate toward her.
With that cue, Samantha chopped his Nigiri like a professional chef cutting an onion. Yet, she found it hard to understand why did he cut the ebi nigiri in two. He didn’t have a small mouth.
He stared at her in amazement.
“What?” she asked, trying to push a loose strand of hair from her forehead with her shoulder. “I’ve never seen a person cut nigiri. I bet you don’t eat sushi so often, nor been in the kitchen.” He must be was well off, maybe near the top of the security team. Twelve hundred per week sounded too modest now. The way he’d handled the Melisa situation suggested he had some weight in the company. She should have taken him to a nicer place.
Leaning forward, he tucked the hair strand behind her ears. His skin brushed against her forehead, and the same tingly sensation spread through her core. His touch didn’t scare her. It actually felt nice.
“Why did you stop?”
She realized she was staring at him like an idiot. “
Nothing.” Shrugging his question off, she finished cutting the nigiri into perfect pieces. Cutting everything into perfect pieces had become her habit since Aaron only ate things in pieces. It was an uphill task for her to get him to cut pieces himself. He even demanded his toast cut into small pieces for eating.
One step at a time.
After she finished cutting his food, she pushed it back across the table to him. “Now eat like a good boy and finish up fast. I’ve to get back in fifteen minutes.”
Gavin picked up one piece with a fork and slipped it inside his mouth, slowly chewing like he was there to enjoy the opera.
“How is it?” Samantha asked, stabbing two pieces at a time with Her chop stick.
His eyes glittered. “It’s good. I wonder why the owner doesn’t open up a restaurant in a nicer neighborhood.” He glanced around at the small shop.
She was right. Gavin was somewhere near the top of the security team. And she’d thought he was a security guard. What would girls do if he stood as a doorman in front of their office?
His brows arched. “Now why are you laughing? Do I look funny?”
She waved her hand in the air. “No, No. I was just thinking about how girls would react to you if you stood as a doorman outside of our office.”
Curling his lips into a sad smile, he shot her a this-is-not-funny-woman look.
She stopped giggling. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you, but I really thought you were a security guard when I met you last night.”
Gavin was about to reply, but his phone beeped. Pulling an iPhone from his pocket, he started talking. “Yes, Rosie.” A moment of silence, and then he shot an apologetic smile at Sam. “I’m sorry, but I have to get back. There’s an issue back at the office.”
Samantha replied with a soft smile. Work came first.
“But let’s meet again, okay?” he said, covering the mouthpiece with his hand.
“Of course. That would be nice.”
He pulled a hundred dollar bill from his wallet and put it on the table. “Would you mind paying? Just leave the change as a tip.”