Once I reached the eighth floor, there was another reception desk right at the front.
How many people do I have to go through?
The two women greeted me with smiles, and I explained who I was all over again.
“Oh, thank God you are here,” one of the receptionists—a blonde woman—said with way too much relief on her face.
Uh-oh. This seemed like another red flag.
The other receptionist—a brunette—clasped her hands together, as if she were praying. “Yes, the last two weeks have been awful.”
“Uh…I’m not sure I want to work here if it’s that bad,” I told them. I was only half-joking.
They bolted around the corner and took my arms.
“No, no, it’s not horrible. Let us show you to your cubicle, and then we’ll take you directly to HR to get your security badge,” the blonde woman said.
“I don’t even know your names.”
“Oh, I’m Rhonda,” the brunette said, “and that’s Colleen.”
“That’s great. I’m Tessa, and I am perfectly capable of walking under my own power.”
They both laughed and let go of my arms while I resisted the urge to spin around and make a dash toward the elevators.
After Rhonda and Colleen showed me to my cubicle, they took me by the break room and then HR. I had a new badge that was really just a white rectangle to give me access to the building. When I went back to my desk, it was only after I sat that I realized they hadn’t introduced me to my new boss.
I stood up and looked around for someone to give me guidance. Technically, I was out in the main area with the assistants and additional people who didn’t get their own private space. But Mr. Crawford’s office was in the back and around a corner, so I was secluded from the others and had some privacy.
Mr. Crawford’s door was closed, but I could see light coming from underneath, so there was a good chance he was in there. But he might be one of those people who didn’t want to be disturbed if their door was closed. One of the lawyers I’d worked with at my old job was like that. We’d all known not to even knock unless it was an absolute emergency.
I finally resigned myself to going back up to the front to find either Colleen or Rhonda when something in my peripheral vision caught my attention.
It was a man wearing a white tank top, a pair of black gym shorts, and a sheen of sweat. He looked to be early to mid-thirties with dark blond hair, styled in a fauxhawk, and a beard.
At first, I thought maybe he was a messenger, but he didn’t have anything with him, except a water bottle and a look of determination as he headed for my new boss’s office.
I didn’t know what to do. Did I let him go? Did he even belong here?
He sure didn’t look like he belonged in an office building, but what if he was Mr. Crawford’s son?
I had thought of Mr. Crawford as being in his late fifties to early sixties, making this man too old, but I could have been wrong.
And if I only asked him who he was, I couldn’t get fired for that. Right?
I bolted over to him so fast that he almost ran into me, but I didn’t want him to walk into the office, unannounced.
“Hello, sir,” I said. “May I help you?”
He took a step back and looked at the door, which was now behind me. “I don’t think so. Can I ask who you are?”
“I’m Mr. Crawford’s assistant. It’s my first day, and I apologize, but I’m unfamiliar with his clients.”
I was pretty sure this guy wasn’t a client, but it was the politest thing I could call him.
He raised an eyebrow. “Can I get your name?”
I cringed inside. Wanting someone’s name was usually a bad sign. He probably wanted it, so he could complain about me later.
“Tessa,” I answered reluctantly.
Nodding, he flipped open the lid to his water bottle and took a long drink.
It was then that I noticed this man was built well. Broad shoulders, nice biceps, and I would bet five hundred dollars that he had a six-pack under that tank top of his because his legs were thickly muscled. When I brought my eyes back up, I didn’t miss the bulge in the front of his black shorts either. The man was clearly not aroused, yet I could see a faint outline of his penis anyway.
I plucked the front of my shirt. All of a sudden, it felt warm in there.
The sound of the man’s water bottle clicking closed jolted me back to the present.
“So, Tessa, did you happen to Google the Bradford Group before you started?”
This felt like a quiz.
“Just a little.” I mean, it was my friend, but it still counted, right? “I know this company was started twelve years ago,” I said with a smile to show him I had done my homework.
I didn’t know who this guy was yet, but he must have some serious clout with my new boss if he was asking me questions like this.
But this guy didn’t seem to be impressed with my answer. “Did you happen to look at any images during your Google search?”
Oh no, this guy had to be Mr. Crawford’s son. Or what if he’s Mr. Crawford’s lover? Or best friend?
“No,” I finally admitted.
“Do me a favor.”
Do I have to?
He raised his brow.
“Okay.”
But if he asked me to go and fetch him coffee just to prove he was more important than me, I was out of there. I didn’t care how much they planned on paying me.
That was a lie. I would totally get this unknown person coffee if I had to. I just wouldn’t like it and would definitely be complaining to my friends later.
“I assume you have a smartphone.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“I want you to look up Bradford Group, Seth Crawford. And then click on Images.”
I pointed over at my desk. “I have to—my phone is—” I cleared my throat and held up my finger. “Give me one moment.”
I left my spot that blocked him from entering my boss’s office, wondering if he’d make a break for it but he stayed where he was.
I found my phone in my purse and searched exactly what he’d asked me to. Once the search results came up, I clicked over to Images…and was flooded with pictures of the guy standing a few feet away from me, only he had on a suit and jacket on my phone.
My mouth dropped open, and I slowly lifted my gaze to his.
I had royally fucked up because he wasn’t Mr. Crawford’s son, or lover, or best friend.
“Can I go into my office now?”
He was Mr. Seth Crawford, the big man himself.
I tried to apologize, but only a squeak came out, so I simply nodded.
As soon as he was inside and the door was closed, I collapsed in my chair.
I was going to be fired, and I had barely started.
Chapter Three
After I showered and changed into my suit, it was time to find my new assistant. I figured she’d probably been stewing in the aftermath of our first interaction for long enough.
I sat behind my desk and pushed the intercom button on my phone as I looked at the information the temp agency had sent over to me.
“Yes, sir?” my new assistant’s voice answered.
I cringed. I hated being called sir. That title reminded me of my first boss. I still loathed him to this day. He was an arrogant piece of shit, and if I never thought of him again, it would be too soon. Then again, he was the reason I’d started my own company, but I refused to give him any credit.
“Ms. Archer, can you come in here, please?”
A few seconds later, there was a knock at my office door, and Tessa Archer walked in. She had shoulder-length wavy, dark hair with blue-gray eyes. She was slightly taller than average and heavier than what society deemed beautiful. She might be one of those women who called herself fat even though my ex-girlfriend had explained to me that fat was not a bad word and women were trying to reclaim it.
Either way, I saw her as voluptuous and sexy. Her hips wer
e as wide as the Missouri River, and I, for one, found it hot as hell. I had to remind Little Seth that she was my employee and not to be messed with. I had never fraternized with a coworker or employee, and I wasn’t about to start now.
She sniffed the air, and I realized she probably smelled my body wash.
“I have my own bathroom with a shower,” I explained. “It’s nice for when I come into work very early and want to get a workout in mid-morning.”
She smiled hesitantly, seeming to have received my message about why I had come into the office, looking like I did.
My new employee squared her shoulders. “I apologize for not recognizing you. It was uncalled for, and I should have done my research better. I shouldn’t have assumed anything.”
I actually liked that she hadn’t known who I was when I first walked in. It was the most fun I’d had at work in a long time. I wasn’t famous by any means, but everyone in the office—if not the whole building—knew who I was, and sometimes, it got old. I would see my employees talking to one another, but the second they saw me, they’d snap to attention as if I were a drill sergeant and they were my new cadets. That was too harsh of a description. They would smile and say hi to me, but I still often felt like I was the mean, big boss.
I wished I could explain to them that I didn’t care if they socialized as long as they got their work done. I used to be one of them, and I would be lying if I said I worked every second of my eight-hour workday. I understood the importance of people enjoying their jobs, and that included making friendships with coworkers. Employees were more likely to stay longer and work harder if they liked their careers.
But I also couldn’t be seen as a softie or that I was trying to be one of their friends. While most people were decent, there were some who would try to take advantage or spread the wrong message. And it was better to be seen as too hard than too soft.
“Please sit,” I said.
“Is this where you fire me?” she asked after taking her seat.
I raised my brow. “For what?”
“Being rude and not allowing you in your own office.”
“Did any projects get delayed?” I asked.
She frowned. “No.”
“Was a client insulted?”
“No.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“No,” she answered again.
“Then, it’s hardly worth firing someone over, especially someone who’s not going to be here for long.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You can call me Seth or Mr. Crawford.”
“Thank you, Mr. Crawford. You can call me Tessa.”
Surprisingly, I found myself disappointed that she hadn’t called me Seth even though I really hadn’t expected her to.
“I’ll call you Tessa if you call me Seth.” I wasn’t sure why I’d insisted on her using my first name, but it felt right, and my gut wasn’t wrong when it came to business. Most of the time anyway.
She seemed to consider this. “Okay. Deal.”
I smiled at my small victory. “Did you get a security badge?”
“Yes. And I was shown the break room but not much else.”
“I can show you around later, if you’d like.”
“That would be nice.”
“Also, Jill should have left you everything you need to know.”
“Jill?”
I smiled. “My assistant.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“Anyway, she was supposed to have left you instructions and a list of job responsibilities.”
“I did find that. I just started to look through it when you called me in here.”
“Good,” I said with a nod. “Do you have any questions for me?”
“No, Mr. Crawford. I mean Seth.”
“If you do, please let me know.”
She nodded, but I could tell by her demeanor that I was going to be the last person she asked about anything around here.
My phone lit up, and I heard it ring in the other room. It rang a second time before Tessa’s eyes got big and she jumped up from her chair.
“Oh my God, that’s me.”
I pursed my lips to hold in my laugh as she ran out my door.
That was the second time today she had made me smile, and I’d only been around her an hour.
I absolutely loved my assistant, Jill. She’d been with me for years, and she knew everything I wanted, sometimes even before I did. But Tessa was a breath of fresh air that I planned to enjoy spending time with for the next several weeks.
Chapter Four
Tessa
After transferring the call to Seth, I collapsed in my chair.
“What is wrong with me?” I whispered to myself.
It was Monday morning, and I’d already messed up in front of my boss twice. I wanted to march into his office and tell him that I wasn’t as incompetent as I seemed. I had previously managed an entire office of a small legal firm, and I really could do this job.
But that would make me look desperate and like I was trying to overcompensate for something. Instead, I would just have to work hard and prove to him that I knew what I was doing.
I pulled out the folder I had found earlier. His assistant, Jill, really had given some very good directions on what I needed to do. She’d even left her phone number in case I needed to call her.
Because Jill seemed so organized and this leave of absence seemed planned, I found it odd that no one had arranged for someone to take over for her while she was gone.
“Hey, Tessa.”
I looked up to see Colleen coming my way with a stack of papers.
“Hello.”
“How’s it going so far?”
I wasn’t about to tell her how I’d already screwed up. “It’s going.”
“Did you meet the boss man?”
“I did. No one told me he was out of the office this morning though.”
When I said no one, I meant, her and Rhonda, but she didn’t seem to pick up on their failure to let me know he wasn’t there.
Colleen rolled her eyes and waved her hand. “Oh yeah. He’ll come in super early sometimes, before anyone else gets here, to work alone. But he’s also kind of a fitness nut, so on those days, he leaves for about an hour in the morning.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that out,” I said, but I didn’t think she heard me.
She stared off into the distance. “If you’re lucky, you get to catch him with his shirt off. He’s a gorgeous specimen of a man.” She gasped and leaned forward. “One time, Nina from accounting accidentally walked in on him getting dressed and saw everything.” Colleen winked at me. “Apparently, our boss doesn’t just have big biceps. If you know what I mean.”
“Yes, I know what you mean.”
“I mean, he’s got a huge di—”
I held up my hand. “I got it.”
I whipped my head around to make sure our boss—with the apparently huge dick—hadn’t heard us. I sighed with relief when I saw his door was closed. The last thing I needed today was for him to hear me gossiping about him.
Colleen wasn’t the least bit offended that I had cut her off. She started laughing at me. “You’re not a prude, are you?”
That immediately raised my hackles. “No, I am not a prude. But it is my first day, and I don’t need to lose this job only a few hours in.”
“I suppose.” She smiled. “You should come out for drinks with us after work. Then, we can talk about whatever we want.”
I really didn’t want to. “I’ll think about it,” I lied. “I might be exhausted after today.”
Colleen laughed again. “No, silly, we don’t go out on Monday. We go out on Friday.”
Looked like I’d have some time to come up with a different excuse.
I recalled the folder in front of me, and rather than give her an answer, I asked, “Say, can I ask you a question?”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
I pointed to my desk. “I have all this information fr
om Mr. Crawford’s assistant, and it seems like she knew she’d be leaving for a while.”
“Oh yeah, Jill had a baby.”
So, she’d definitely known she’d be gone.
“Why didn’t she train anyone to take her spot?”
“Oh, she did.”
I waited for Colleen to continue, but she didn’t.
“And what happened to that person?”
“Oh, Todd couldn’t hack it. Jill did have to go on leave a week early, but Todd should have known what he was doing. I’m surprised he lasted two weeks.” She lifted up the pile of papers she was holding. “Which is actually what brought me over here.” She plopped them down in my hands. “Rhonda and I have been filling in the last two weeks. Here’s all the stuff we’ve been working on for Mr. Crawford.”
I set the papers down and started looking through them. I panicked when I realized I had no idea what any of it meant.
“Don’t get too stressed out. This first group is letters to send out. Boss man already signed them, and the addresses are at the top. You just need to print off envelopes with the right addresses on them and mail them off. Oh.” Colleen held up a finger and pulled her phone from her back pocket. “I have to take this,” she said and started backing away.
“Wait! How do I print off envelopes? And what about the other papers in here?”
“You’ll do great,” she said. She gave me a thumbs-up, turned around, and left me to fend for myself.
“Thanks, Colleen,” I said mockingly.
“Do you always talk to yourself?”
“Ah,” I screamed and spun around in my chair to see Seth standing behind me with his hands in his pockets and one blond eyebrow raised.
I had noticed he was tall earlier, but he seemed like a giant with him standing and me sitting. It also put his crotch right in my line of sight, and all I could think about was how he’d looked in his workout shorts and Colleen telling me he had a huge dick.
Great. Let’s add thinking about the new boss’s massive penis on the list of what could go wrong on the first day.
My face felt like it was on fire, but I looked up into his eyes anyway. “No, Colleen was just here. She gave me some work that she and Rhonda haven’t finished.”
Not Another Billionaire (Not Another Romance) Page 2