by Ally Nelson
It only took Dana fifteen minutes to get to her destination and she was happy for that. When she took a cab to Connors and Associates the other day, it was apparent that the cab driver took a different and much longer route. Dana parked the minivan into the parking structure and made her way inside.
“Good morning. Welcome to Connors and Associates. How may I help you?” a man said once Dana came through the doors. Dana turned on her charm and smiled a kind smile.
“Good morning, my name is Dana Prescott and I have an interview today for the Legal Assistant position.” Dana extended her hand towards the man who greeted her and he took it with ease.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Prescott,” the man said and looked down at his clipboard. “Yes, I do have you listed here. Please take a seat in the lobby. I’ll let them know that you’re here.” Dana smiled again and walked towards the seats in the lobby. She was nervous, but she was going to do her absolute best. Dana looked through her manila folder to make sure that she had everything that she needed. She had several of her resumes, several cover letters, her references and a few pens. She’d rather come to an interview over prepared than under prepared.
“Everything’s going to be fine, Dana. They called you, so you’re qualified for the position. All you need to do is sell yourself.” Dana murmured to herself and looked up when her name was called.
“Yes,” Dana said and stood up. This time she was greeted by the woman that she seen the other day. Dana recognized her, but it didn’t appear that she recognized Dana.
“Good morning, Ms. Prescott. I’m Joy.” Dana walked over to Joy and shook her hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Joy. Thank you so much for your call the other day.” Dana knew that Joy was more than likely not the reason why she was called in, but Dana knew that it was a good custom to thank everyone for their time.
“Oh, it’s no problem at all. Your resume was quite impressive.” Joy said and made her way towards the elevators. “You’ll be interviewing with Austin and Matthew Connors, they’re the owners of Connors and Associates.” Dana’s face heated up at that and she coughed to clear her throat. Wow, this is the real deal if the owners are going to interview me themselves, Dana was happy and a little scared at this. She was already nervous, but she thought she’d interview with people who work directly under the Connors’, not the two men themselves.
“This is definitely an honor,” Dana said not wanting to appear like she wasn’t interested.
“I know most law firms probably wouldn’t do something like this, but Austin and Matthew are very involved in the hiring process. They want to see the candidates for themselves.” Dana nodded her head. They seem like decent professional men, Dana thought to herself. Austin and Matthew definitely seemed like the type to try to give everyone a chance, which was probably the reason that Dana landed the interview with them.
“That’s good to know. I’ve done some research on the company, they’re awfully young.”
“Yes, a wealthy investor saw potential in the brothers and invested heavily in them. That’s why they were able to build this company.” Joy said and the elevator finally stopped on the tenth floor. Joy turned and looked at Dana then. “They really want to see everyone succeed and they work on helping people build and develop themselves.” Dana nodded. So her assumption was right about them. They walked down a long hallway until they came to a closed door. Joy knocked softly and waited until they were invited in.
“Come in,” a deep and masculine voice said and Dana couldn’t help but to blush at the smoothness of the voice. Joy opened the door and smiled at Dana. ‘Good luck’ Joy mouthed and made her way back to the elevator. Dana took a deep breath before she walked into the conference room.
“Thank you so much for having me,” Dana said before stopping in her tracks. Her eyes went wide and her mouth instantly went dry. The two men before her were mouthwatering gorgeous. She quickly regained her composure and made her way towards the men with her hand extended. “It is a pleasure to meet you.” Dana said as her voice began quaking.
“The pleasure is ours, I’m Matthew Connors and he’s my older brother Austin.” Matthew said taking Dana’s hand in his and nodding towards Austin.
Matthew could tell that Dana was attracted to them, and that made him smile slightly. Matthew was often checked out by woman so he was aware that he was attractive. Standing at five-foot eleven and one hundred and seventy pounds, the athletically built man was no stranger to stares. Matthew had jet black hair and eyes with a neatly trimmed mustache and goatee. Austin walked towards his brother and Dana then.
“Nice to meet you, Dana. Please have a seat. Would you like a beverage?” Austin was definitely impressed by the way that Dana carried herself. She was definitely good looking and even though he could tell that Dana was nervous, he admired the way that she handled the stress of meeting with the owners of Connors and Associates.
“No thank you,” Dana said once she stopped shaking. Get yourself together. You’re acting like you’ve never seen attractive men before.
“Alright, let’s begin,” Austin said and took a seat opposite of his brother. They almost looked like twins, except Austin’s eyes were brown, he was taller, and his face was cleanly shaved.
“Right, tell me something about yourself.” Matthew said giving Dana his undivided attention. Dana took in a deep breath and told them of her traits that’ll make her appear beneficial to their company. She had to nail this interview no matter what.
Chapter Five
Austin and Matthew walked Dana to the elevator as they made small talk with her. They talked about the company and their inspiration for wanting to make the law firm. Dana listened and chimed in every chance that she got. She thanked the both of them one last time before the elevator door closed. Austin and Matthew looked at each other then and grinned.
“So?” Matthew asked as they turned around and made their way back towards the conference room. Austin closed the door behind them before responding.
“She’s hot,” Austin said without a care in the world. Matthew frowned a little before laughing.
“She is… but you shouldn’t be looking.” Matthew said as he looked down at the wedding ring on Austin’s left ring finger. Austin playfully placed his right hand on top of his left one.
“So, I’m married not blind.” Matthew shook his head. He thought Dana was very pleasant and capable of doing the job correctly, being drop dead gorgeous was just icing on the cake for him. “But seriously, I’m very impressed with her. She answered all of our questions with finesse and I must admit that having a JD degree is very helpful.” Matthew nodded his head and started picking up his paperwork.
“Yeah, I think so too. So out of the candidates that we’ve interviewed, are we in agreement that she’s the one?” Matthew wanted Dana on their team as soon as possible. He had to admit that he was very interested in Dana on a more personal level as well, but he’d keep that tidbit to himself.
“Yes, she’s good.” Matthew smiled at his brother and picked up his phone.
“Hi Joy, can you have HR run a background check on Dana Prescott?”
“Of course, I’ll contact them now.” Joy said and the two of them got off of the phone.
“Joy’s handling it right now. She recently passed the Bar exam so I’m sure she doesn’t have a background that’ll affect her working here.”
“Well it’s customary, Matt. We just can’t hire someone because we think they’re a good person.” Austin didn’t have to tell Matthew that because he already knew that. Matthew picked up the rest of his belongings and made his way out of the conference room.
“Alright, talk with you later. I got a crap load of work to do.” Austin was right behind Matthew on that one. He picked up his paperwork and shoved it into his briefcase. His thoughts went back to Dana then. Sure he was married, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t look. Dana was definitely his type, so he’d be lying if he said that wasn’t the main reason why he
wanted the younger woman on board with them. Things at home weren’t looking great for him, especially since Amber couldn’t conceive. She was constantly picking little fights with him, so it’ll be refreshing to see a woman everyday who was similar to his wife before they’d found out about their infertility problem.
“This’ll be fun,” Austin murmured and closed the door to his office.
*****
Dana was grinning from ear to ear when she got home. She could tell that she nailed that interview. If she hadn’t nailed the interview, Matthew nor Austin would have told her more about their company.
“Then again, they could have done that just in case I needed some legal help.” Dana quickly shook that thought out of her head. She didn’t want to overanalyze anything. Dana has never felt this confident about a job before in her whole life, she definitely got this job.
She decided to busy herself by reading some reviews about Connors and Associates on her phone and she was surprised to see that they had high ratings.
“They were cute,” Dana said as she thought about Matthew and Austin. They were definitely more attractive than what she initially believed they would be. The way that they carried themselves was definitely a turn on. She was attracted to them both, but she was more interested in Austin than she was in Matthew. Matthew was definitely friendlier than Austin, but there was something about Austin that drew Dana to him. “Stop thinking about this Dana,” Dana was definitely not the type of person who would try to date her boss. Not only did Dana find that type of behavior unprofessional, but she also believed that dating the boss is another way of ‘sleeping your way to the top’.
“Dana…” Ryan’s voice could barely be heard from the other room. Dana kicked off her gray pumps and quickly made her way to her father’s room.
“Dad, are you okay? I’m sorry I didn’t think I was going to be gone that long.” Ryan opened up his eyes into slits and smiled up at Dana.
“I’m fine sweetheart. I just wanted to know how everything went.” Ryan tried his best to put more power in his voice, but he had failed miserably. Ryan tried his hardest to sit up and after a few attempts, he managed to sit up and give Dana his attention.
“You should be resting,” Dana said and tried to get her father to lie back down, but he shook his head slowly.
“I haven’t been able to talk to you lately… let’s talk for a little while and I’ll rest.” Dana could sense the sorrow in Ryan’s voice. The two of them were very close considering each other was all that they had. She missed talking to her father as much as he missed talking to her.
“Well… I think the interview went well. I’m pretty sure… no, I’m positive that I got the job.” Dana said as she broke out into a broad grin. Ryan mirrored her expression.
“Atta girl, I bet they’ll be calling you any day now.” Dana nodded her head and sat at the side of Ryan’s bed.
“Can I get you something? Are you hungry or thirsty? Do you have to go to the bathroom?” Ryan shook his head no.
“I’m not completely immobile, girl. I’ve only needed you to help me to the bathroom once, and that has to be one of the most embarrassing moments in my life.” Dana laughed at that because she could honestly say the same.
“Well, I’m going to take a shower. Holler if you need anything.” Dana said and Ryan nodded his head. He reached for the remote control and turned on the TV. That was a good sign, he appeared to have slowly been getting better.
Dana made her way towards the bathroom and took a shower. Once she was done she watched TV for a little while before eating leftovers.
“It’s official… I’m bored.” Dana wanted to call up a few friends and see what they were doing, but she didn’t want to leave her father alone too long. It sucked, but sometimes these types of things needed to be sacrificed. Dana flicked through some channels and to her dismay nothing good was on. Disappointed, Dana turned her IPod on low and listened to music until she fell asleep.
*****
Ring, ring, ring… the sound of Dana’s generic ringtone rudely woke her up out of her sleep. Opening up her eyes slowly and begrudgingly, Dana was shocked to see that it was light outside.
“Hello?” Dana said without looking at her caller ID. She was very disoriented, and surprised that she slept through the whole day and woke up in the afternoon the next day.
“Hello, is Dana Prescott available?” Dana sat straight up in her bed. She recognized that voice as being Joy from Connors and Associates.
“Hello, yes this is she.” Dana said barely able to contain her excitement. She knew that she got the job because there was no reason why Joy would be calling her. Her heart was pounding hard and her hands were getting a little sweaty.
“Good afternoon, Dana. This is Joy from Connors and Associates. I am calling to tell you that Austin and Matthew Connors were very impressed with your interview the other day and that they’re formally extending their offer of the Legal Assistant position to you.” Dana took her phone away from her ear and punched her fist in the air in excitement.
“Thank you so much, Joy. I am still very much interested in the Legal Assistant position.” Dana said grinning from ear to ear.
“Great, can you start Monday morning?”
“Yes, I can start then. What time?”
“The typical work day starts at 8am, but we require you to be here at 7 for a small orientation, a tour, and to fill out some paperwork from Human Resources. This should take no longer than an hour and a half. After that, I’ll show you to your office. Welcome to Connors and Associates. I cannot wait to work with you.” Joy said and Dana thanked Joy again before they hung up.
“Yes!” Dana shouted and jumped up and ran to her father’s room. “Dad!” Dana shouted and was surprised to see that he wasn’t in the room.
“I’m in the bathroom.” Ryan said and Dana sat down on his bed.
“I got the job!” Dana said screaming at the closed door. The door opened up slowly and Ryan made his way out of the bathroom clutching his lower back. Just walking to the bathroom seemed too much of an ordeal for Ryan.
“I knew you would,” Ryan said and Dana hugged him once he was close to her. He had definitely lost a lot of weight these past few weeks, but all of that would change soon. Dr. Weiss will call them soon enough with Ryan’s test results and then they’d be able to work on getting a cure for her dad. With her paychecks, Dana was sure she’d be able to pay for Ryan’s medicine and medical bills if he needed to go to the hospital.
Chapter Six
Monday had come and went and before Dana knew it, it was already Thursday afternoon. When Joy showed her around on Monday, Dana was under the impression that she’d be working directly with Matthew and Austin, but she barely even saw them.
“So you type the letterhead like this when you’re sending out letters on Austin and Matthew’s behave. Dana watched Joy’s every motion and took notes when she needed, but she couldn’t help the twinge of disappointment that jabbed at her heart. “Is that something that you believe you can do?”
“Of course, it seems like something I can get the hang of.” Joy nodded her head and stood up from her seat.
“Okay, I’ll let you handle the rest of these. My extension is 3528, so call me if you need any help or have any questions.” Dana smiled and nodded her head. When Dana could no longer hear the clicking of Joy’s heels, she sighed. She was happy that she got the job, but now she was regretting saying that she’d take any job in a law firm. She was an attorney, not a secretary. She typed up the rest of the letters that Joy had her working on, straightened out her new office, filed away some paperwork, and read the training manual that Joy provided her with. By the time that she looked up, it was already five o clock.
“Finally,” Dana murmured and stood up from her seat. She had to keep reminding herself that this was a good opportunity for her. This job was going to pay the bills and keep food on the table. Stop being ungrateful, Dana thought to herself. She turned off her computer and
grabbed the letters that she had worked on earlier that day. She was surprised to see Joy coming up to her door as Dana was heading out.
“Hi, I was just coming to check on you.” Joy said and smiled at Dana. Joy was such a pleasure to be around that Dana couldn’t help but to smile back even though she didn’t feel like it.
“Everything went well. I’ve finished typing up the letters and got some other things done as well.” Joy nodded her head and took the letters from Dana.
“Great. Can you stop by Austin’s office for a few minutes? He wanted to have a word with you.” Dana cheeks flushed at that. She hadn’t really spoken to either of the Connors brothers at all since she started, so she was curious to find out what Austin had wanted from her.
“Of course, enjoy your evening.” Dana said and made her way towards Austin’s office. She reached into her purse and grabbed out her compact. She was feeling nervous and wanted to make sure that she still looked alright. Her eyes were still made up modestly with mascara and her rosy red lips were still in full bloom. When Dana made it to Austin’s office, she knocked on his opened door twice and waited for Austin to invite her in.
“Come in,” Austin’s deep baritone voice said, and Dana couldn’t help but shiver in excitement.
“Hello Mr. Connors. Joy told me that you needed me.” Dana walked into Austin’s office and he looked up from the mountain of paperwork on his desk. His brown eyes scanned over the woman’s beautiful body and he couldn’t help but to feel his lower half starting to stiffen. Dana wore a navy blue dress suit that hugged her every curves. Dana wasn’t well-endowed where her breasts were concerned, but she was quite perky, the way that Austin liked his women.
“Please shut the door and come sit down,” Austin said and Dana took in a sharp inhale. Everything about Austin screamed confident. Austin watched Dana in interest and moved his hand under his table to discard his wedding band into his desk drawer. Austin wasn’t planning on getting lucky or anything, but he didn’t want the stunning young woman to know that he was married. “How’s your week going so far?” Austin asked once Dana got settled in. He could tell that she was nervous and he liked that.