by Alexis Gold
Naomi finished all of her initial sign-up work and then Ms. Klein pursed her lips and walked them to the elevator that would take them to the floor where Jonathon’s office was. Neither one of them said a word during the entire ride up in the elevator.
As she watched the floor numbers above her head light up and grow dim one by one, as they passed them all, she began to feel more and more anxious and self-conscious. She knew she had been given the position because she was qualified for it, but there was some small concern that perhaps Mr. Cross had instructed that women with a certain type of look was who he wanted to hire.
She had no idea if she was hired for that reason or for any other. One thing that she did know was that she had no interest in any kind of extra-work relationship with him, and she was going to make that very clear to him, right from the start.
As Ms. Klein and Naomi were riding up in the elevator, Jonathon Cross was walking through the open office center where many of the women in the office worked at their desks. As he passed by, many of them eyed him seductively, smiling and turning in their chairs, showing their crossed legs, waving at him with their fingers, and asking him how he was and if there was anything at all that they could do for him.
It was pleasant to him that he was treated with so much deference, and he knew in his heart of hearts that the deference was solely due to his position and to his looks, and in no part due to his character, but he loved it all the same. He had grown accustomed to it before his first week was even finished at the company, and the longer he had been there, the more it had become commonplace.
So many of the women there were crushing on him and spoiling him, talking to him and flirting with him, even though he had the reputation for being arrogant and cold. They all seemed to think that he was distant and aloof and that somehow each one of them would be the one to change him.
It was the adoration of the women in the office that made it so easy for him to be indiscreet with them, taking them out on dates, or even sometimes just taking them into his office and closing the door behind them. He never went after any of them, he just let them come after him, and they did, in droves.
He would take a few of them up on their interests in him, and then he would move on to others, and there was a trail of aching, longing, broken hearts in the office that cut quite a swath through the staff pool.
He waved at a couple of the women that he had been flirting heavily with most recently, and then he stepped into his office to see Ms. Klein standing there waiting for him, and beside her was a woman he had never seen before.
He glanced over her once, letting his eyes move over the curves of her body-hugging pinstripe suit and skirt, down her long slender legs to her high heels, and back up to her stunning sky blue eyes again. How unusual it was, he thought, to see a dark skinned woman such as she was, with such light blue eyes. She was breathtaking.
Jonathon gave her his trademark crooked smile and a small dimple showed up in his right cheek as he walked toward them. He held out his hand to her, and the woman took it. “Hi, I’m Jonathon Cross.” He spoke with a suave tone and a confident air.
Ms. Klein cleared her throat as she looked at him, almost scolding him silently with her strict gaze. “Mr. Cross, this is your new administrative assistant, Naomi Bradshaw.” She spoke sharply and clearly, introducing them. Naomi held out her hand and lifted her chin, determined to make a good impression without giving him any modicum of an inclination that she was going to be anything but professional and polite to him; and even that was at best.
He took her hand and made to lift it to his lips to kiss the back of it, his dark green eyes locked on her light blue eyes. She saw what he was about to do and she pulled her hand from his before it ever got near to his mouth and the moment she pulled it from his grasp, he stopped short and he seemed frozen for a moment as shock registered through him.
Recovering a moment later, he lowered his hand and tipped his head at her. “It’s very nice to meet you. Congratulations on getting the job.” He smiled invitingly at her again and she nodded curtly and turned to face Ms. Klein, rather than her new boss.
He was dumbfounded. No one ever treated him that way. Ms. Klein looked at him disapprovingly, and his father’s voice sounded through to him in the back of his mind. “You will not have anything more to do with the staff in this office. I will find out and you will be fired.” He shuddered internally, thinking of it, and in that moment he pulled his hands away from her.
She felt like she would need to be on guard with him until he figured out just how things were going to be between them, and she wanted to be extra sure that there would be no confusion at any point.
He shook his head slightly and drew in a breath, his eyes studying her carefully as he focused on his career and his company, rather than on the beautiful woman who was staring coolly at him. “Let me show you your desk.” He informed her a little more professionally. She nodded ever so slightly and then followed him as he turned and walked through the door to his office and over to a desk just outside of it. It looked as if it had been empty and cleaned for her, and she finally felt as if she was making even just the slightest bit of headway.
“This is where you’ll be working from, unless you are helping me with a project, and then you’ll be working with me directly in my office.” He turned to look at her, struggling to read her mood and her personality, and getting nothing.
“That sounds fine, thank you, Mr. Cross.” She spoke simply, looking as if she had quite a bit more to say to him while simultaneously looking as if she had nothing at all more to say to him.
He seemed unsure of himself for a moment to her, as if he wasn’t quite certain of what his next move ought to be. “Well, good. Go ahead and begin getting set up out here; I think Helen will assist you, and then if you have any questions, you can come and see me.” He told her in a tone he hoped sounded welcoming and firm, though it felt more like uncertainty to him.
She turned away from him and busied herself with getting set up at her desk. He stood there for a long moment and watched her, not entirely sure if he had gotten a good read on her at all. He frowned and turned to walk back into his office, pushing his hands down deep into his pockets as he went.
He had been polite. He had been welcoming. He couldn’t understand why she seemed so standoffish, and then he figured to himself that it must just be because it was her first day and she was nervous. That had to be it, he reasoned with himself as he walked into his office and closed the door behind him.
He lifted his chin a little then, thinking that he would have her feeling good about him in no time, and as he sat down, he found himself thinking about her sky blue eyes and her dark full lips. He smiled to himself for a moment and then shook his head and looked down at the work he was going through on his desk.
He had no business thinking about any part of her, he remembered, as his father’s voice echoed somewhere in the back of his mind, threatening to fire him from the company if he explored any further personal interactions with any one of the staff.
Naomi felt her heart pounding as he walked away. She had been determined that she wasn’t going to let Jonathon Cross come on to her like she was any other woman in the office or on the street. She was bound and determined not to like him, and yet… when he had walked into the office as they were waiting for him, something utterly unexpected and strange had happened to her.
She’d done a double take. She hadn’t meant to, and luckily he hadn’t seen it, but she had done it, and the fact that she had done it was eating away at her. She had never actually seen him in person, and there was something commanding about him that drew her eyes to him and her breath right out of her chest the very moment she saw him for the first time. Her heart had skipped a beat and she was furious with herself over it.
Absolutely furious. She felt like she had let herself down in a way; that she had betrayed her own ideals and morality through her involuntary reaction to simply seeing him, but that only steeled
her resolve even more, to remain indifferent and professional to him. No matter how soft and kind his voice was. No matter how sharp and green his eyes were. No matter how handsome he looked with his chiseled jaw and sculpted physique. No matter how she hadn’t been able to look away from him at first, and how she had felt held to him… bound to him… by some unknown force that wasn’t about to let her go.
She told herself that she would not give him any kind of attention other than what she had to in order to work with him, and even then it would be cool and collected. She was no easy feminine target to be had by a man with an ego bigger than Manhattan. The fact that he was wealthy and handsome had no bearing on her whatsoever, and she would keep it that way. No matter how difficult that might turn out to be.
She finished out the day by readying her desk and filling out paperwork for a variety of things. When it was time to go, she walked over to his office door and knocked on it.
“Come in.” he called out.
She pushed the door open and stopped in her tracks again. He was sitting on the sofa in his office, his perfectly combed black hair tousled slightly, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and his shirt collar open and unbuttoned a few buttons down.
Naomi caught her breath and glanced away from him, wishing she hadn’t seen him like that. He did not look like the egotistical bastard that he was notorious for being. He looked warm and sexy as hell. She cleared her throat and lifted her chin slightly as she kept her eyes diverted from him.
“I just wanted to let you know that I was leaving and I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”
He watched her carefully and a smile curled up at the corner of his lips. She looked slightly flustered, he thought. Flustered was good; it meant that she liked him. Then he paused as he saw the thin line form on her lips and he faltered slightly. Maybe she wasn’t flustered… he wondered. Maybe she just didn’t like him very much.
The concept bowled him over at once and his mouth fell open slightly as he gazed at her. That couldn’t be it, he thought. Everyone in the office liked him; or at least, all the women certainly did. He knew he must be misreading her and it bothered him enormously.
“Sure, that sounds great. Just go ahead and come in tomorrow. We’ll see you then.” And then he thought of something and called out her name. It was the first time he’d said it. “Naomi!” he called out.
She turned and glanced over her shoulder, not really looking right at him, but rather, looking somewhere near him.
“I just…. wondered…. How was your first day?” he asked in an awkward attempt to make light conversation with her.
She was not impressed. He was trying to chat with her. She was resolute. She was not going to chat with him like he was a friend, like he was a confidant. Like he was a lover she could share anything with. “It was fine,” she replied shortly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She disappeared, closing the door behind her and as it shut, he stared at the closed door with his mouth hanging slightly agape.
He knew it then. She didn’t like him. He was dumbfounded. He wondered how in the world she could not like him before she had ever met him and didn’t know him. It was her first time meeting him on her first day and she didn’t like him. He hadn’t even had time to offend her yet. It was completely astounding to him.
The result of it was that he could not manage to get her off his mind for the remainder of the night. Thoughts of her kept creeping into his mind. Thoughts of the way she had been short with him without actually being rude, and the way she had been not quite disdainful, but more indifferent with him.
She was not impressed at all with his looks or his title or his money, or power, or even with the fact that he was her boss. Nothing about him seemed to hold any significance for her and it was a totally foreign experience for him. He’d never been treated with indifference before in his life.
He made up his mind that he would pour on a little more charm on the next day. The same charm that he used with the other ladies in the office, except he would really play it up and then she would like him; that woman with the full lips and the dark skin and the blue eyes, that woman in a pinstripe suit and skirt with the long shapely legs. She would like him. He wouldn’t quit until she did. Just like all the rest.
***
Naomi went home a little nerve wracked but happy. She had been hired at the job that she wanted and she had made it through her first day there, despite the fact that she had been hired to be Jonathon Cross’s administrative assistant. She could not wrap her mind around it in the least and the more she thought of it, the more she thought of him, and the more annoyed she grew.
She couldn’t believe she had given him a double take when he walked into the room. He didn’t deserve that. Sure, he was handsome. One of the most handsome men she had ever seen, but that meant nothing to her. She was all about business, and he wasn’t, and she was going to make it clear to him that it was going to be strictly business and nothing else between them, whatsoever.
She made up her mind that she was going to show him just how a professional woman acted in an office, and she wasn’t going to put up with any of his advances or flirts or even his beautiful looks and soft voice. There would be only business between them. She would make certain of that.
Naomi went to bed enormously bothered and irritated, and had a fitful sleep that night; tossing and turning, dreaming and arguing and fighting in her dream. She awoke in the morning and told herself that she was going to be calling the shots between the two of them.
She was at her desk when he strolled into the office the next day, and he was surprised at her punctuality. She was already working when he walked up to her desk to tell her good morning.
He wore a button down shirt the same color as his deep emerald eyes, knowing that they would be complemented by it. He’d paired it with a dark blazer, and he knew that would make his black hair stand out a bit as well. It was carefully styled to perfection. He knew that he looked as if he had just stepped off the cover of a magazine.
Jonathon had made a point of walking through the cubicles in the main open office area, just to reassure himself that he was looking good, and just as he had thought, nearly every woman there was staring at him, admiring him, smiling at him. By the time he reached his office he was feeling enormously confident.
He smiled down at her, making sure to face his right cheek to her so his dimple showed. “Good morning….” he said with a charming manner.
She didn’t respond right away. Instead, she gathered up a few small pieces of paper from her desk and handed them to him, almost without even looking into his eyes. “You have some messages this morning. There’s a meeting with your father in half an hour, and you need to sign the paperwork that I filled out yesterday as your new hire.” She reached her hand out to him, thrusting the papers in his direction without even barely looking at him. He was completely miffed. He furrowed his brows slightly and pursed his lips. There had to be a way to get beneath that cool exterior.
“You look nice today,” he told her with his dimpled smile, looking down at her body and admiring the sweater dress and knee high boots that she was wearing. She didn’t respond, instead, she picked up the phone and began to make a phone call.
He stared at her incredulously as he tried to comprehend the strangest woman he had ever met. The caller she was trying to reach on the telephone was not around, it seemed and she hung up the phone.
He was still standing there. He lifted his chin a little and looked down his nose slightly at her. “Get me a cup of coffee when you get a chance. Fresh, with two creamers and about eight or nine packages of sweetener.” Jonathon took one step to turn away and she stood up and faced him. He turned back toward her slightly, believing that she was unable to resist him.
“You have an email that needs your attention right away, and the coffee is in the break room. I’m not a secretary. I’m your administrative assistant. I don’t handle coffee. I’m here to help you with your work, to lighten your load, to
handle the small details and big work projects for you. You’ll have to get a proper secretary if you think for a moment that you might want anyone to get you coffee, because that is not why I went to an Ivy League college.” She turned her back on him and tried to forget the way his shirt made his eyes stand out, the way he had leaned so close to her on her desk, and the way that his voice sounded like melting honey.
He stared at her. “You aren’t going to get me coffee?”
She looked up at him and her bright blue eyes were searing. “I’m not going to get you coffee. I have work to do. I’m sure that you can find the break room.” She was doing it. She was being assertive with him, and she liked it. It made her feel like she wasn’t quite so far beneath him, and that she wasn’t quite in the grasp of his power; his charming allure and magnetic draw.
Jonathon blinked and stared for a moment. “Um… okay. That actually is part of what I expect from someone in your position. We might not have had an Ivy Leaguer in here before, though.”
She turned away from him and picked up the phone to make a call. He knew that their talk was over and he was dumbfounded again that she could be so casual and nonchalant around him; that she could speak to him with no hesitation, like she was immune to him. No one was immune to him; they either loved him or they hated him, but no one was immune to him at all.
Naomi stood up and walked past him toward the copy machine and printer where she had just printed out a few things. As she walked past him, a wave of her perfume enveloped him and he breathed it in and closed his eyes for just a moment. Then he turned and watched her walk away, admiring everything about the sweater dress that she was wearing, and the way that it clung to her like a lover, showing off every curve and line like a second skin. He swallowed.