by A. J. Wynter
“I know,” Logan said, completely unfazed. “But I still want to work here.”
“Okay,” I said, still terrified to make eye contact with him, because damn, he was hot. “So what do you think your experience would bring to Torver?”
“Well,” Logan said with a natural confidence. “I brought the accounting firm I managed up from the ground. It took a lot of hard work, and attention to detail, and economic expertise, put we pulled it off. I enjoyed managing, but I want more.”
“What do you do for fun?” I asked.
“Hmm,” Logan said. “I do a lot of cooking, help my brother with his micro-brewery, and a lot of mountain climbing of course. I’ve been up Rainier a couple of times. I’m also really into crossword puzzles, weirdly enough.”
“That’s so weird!” Johnathan interrupted. “Sabryna is nutty for those things, we can hardly get her hands off them.” I gave Johnathan a mean look and went back to my questions.
“Anyways,” I said, going back to my earlier tough question (with a little bit of spite towards Johnathan). “What do you think of the financial choices we’ve made as a company over the past five years?”
Logan looked unfazed. “Could have been better.”
My eyes widened. “Pardon?” I asked.
“Well, I mean, obviously Torver has been growing like crazy, and doing really well,” Logan said, and I leaned forward in my seat. “But you missed out on a lot of opportunities to do even better than you did, if you’re asking me.”
“Really?” Johnathan interrupted. “Interesting. We should talk later.”
I gave Johnathan a glare, reminding him, my interview, and got back to my questions.
“So, why you?” I asked, initiating a rare and thrilling moment of eye contact with Logan. “What is it about you, specifically, being my assistant, that is going to help us grow as a company? Why should we pick you?”
Logan smiled up at me with a mischievous gleam in his eye. “Because I’m the best.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Logan said, almost completely unaware of how cocky he sounded. “Everything I do, I put in 100%, and I stop at nothing to get it done.” He looked right at me, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. “The last place I worked at was in shambles when I got there, and as you can probably see from my references, it still would be if I hadn’t shown up.”
I looked over at Johnathan, who seemed on edge...getting two alpha males in a small room, things were bound to get tense. Samantha just stared at Logan with wide eyes.
“Well,” Samantha said, you have all of experience necessary for this job...office suite, phone experience, business experience, etc. That’s very good.”
“But you still don’t strike me as an assistant,” I interrupted. “No offense, but you aren’t really acting like the type to follow orders.”
“Excuse me?” Logan said.
“I mean...” I started.
“Because it sounds like you’re implying that being someone’s assistant requires some sort of sacrifice of human dignity. And you certainly don’t seem like the type to let Johnathan walk all over you. You’d put him in his place if you needed to, right?”
“Um,” I mumbled.
“Of course she would, and she has,” Johnathan said. “And she’ll put you in your place too, if you keep up that disrespectful attitude—that is, if you’re lucky enough to get hired.”
“I apologize,” Logan said. “I didn’t mean any disrespect. Obviously, I would follow all of Sabryna’s orders.”
“Good,” Johnathan said. “I think we’re finished.”
“Thank you for your time,” Logan said, did a strange sort of half-bow towards us, and walked out.
When the door shut, there was a strange silence among the three of us at the conference table, and we waited to see which one of us would be the first to break it.
It was Samantha.
“Damnnnnn!” she said. “Damnnnn! Did you see him? I mean, a bit stuck up, yes, but Sabryna, even you have got to admit that man was fine.”
I laughed and raised my eyebrows. “You’re not wrong.”
Johnathan looked at Samantha incredulously. “Um, we’re married?”
Samantha giggled. “We could always do a threesome.” Johnathan rolled his eyes. “Kidding, babe.” She winked at him and laughed. It was amazing the change that Johnathan and Samantha’s relationship has made in them—it used to be hard for either of them to even crack a smile at a meeting, and these days I had to work to get them to calm down.
“Okay but seriously, guys,” I said, laying my notes out on the table. “What did you guys think of him? A no, right?”
Samantha and Johnathan exchanged a look. These smug marrieds sometimes, I swear. “You’re not actually considering this Logan guy right? Not after the way he acted in that interview. He could cause trouble.”
“Look,” Johnathan said, grabbing another cherry pastry. “Sure, he’s a bit full of himself, but he’s the most qualified person, in terms of resumes alone. And to be honest, Sabryna, you’re better off with an assistant who can stand up to you sometimes than one like Maureen who just quietly accepts orders.”
“That’s true,” Samantha said. “There were a lot of times, Sabryna, that you could have let things slide, but you told Johnathan when there was problem, and that has helped us God knows how many times. It’s something to think about.”
“I guess,” I said, but I still wasn’t sure. Something about Logan got me agitated, and excited, and I’m not sure if it was in a good way or a bad way—or if it was because he was hot. It would be so easy to pick someone like Maureen, who would quietly fetch me coffees and file my papers while I worked away undisturbed. That would be the easy choice. But was it the best choice for Torver?
“It’s ultimately up to you, Sabryna,” Johnathan said. “Just let me know in a few days what you decide.”
“Got it,” I said, and got back up to go type up some notes. It looked like I had a hell of a decision to make. Sure, I was deciding between a list of fifteen candidates, but when it came down to it, it was beginning to feel more and more like I only had two choices:
Logan, or someone else.
I PICKED UP THE PHONE and took a deep breath.
Have you ever made a decision, felt satisfied with your choice, and then woken up in the middle of the night feeling the other choice pull at you into you give in? Because I have.
“Johnathan?” I said, hearing the sound of a sports bar in the background. I was glad that Johnathan was taking some time to kick back and relax after our busy week.
“Yeah, Sabryna? What’s up?”
“Let’s hire Logan Ainsley.”
Chapter Three
I walked into work the next morning with a strange feeling of excitement coursing through me, and I didn’t even know—
I’m kidding, I knew why. It was because I had hired a ridiculously hot assistant who was already fighting me at every turn...and I wanted to see what would happen.
It also didn’t hurt that it was December, which is arguably the best time to be an employee of the Torver Corporation. We go all out for Christmas here, with decorations, Secret Santa, and all that jazz—the festivity is simply inescapable. Our Torver Christmas parties are legendary, not just among the employees, but across the whole of Seattle. We always have security guards check IDs because there’s always people trying to sneak in. The parties are a kind of lavish that I had no understanding of before I came to Torver. There was a band or orchestra, usually with a famous member, and footmen wandering around with trays of appetizers. The drinks were divine, and the food was exquisite. There were always mushrooms stuffed with god knows what (but whatever it was, damn was it good) and charcuterie trays that looked like they were lifted out of magazines. I was getting hungry just thinking about it.
Point is, December is the best here at Torver. The workload tended to be lighter (although this year that wouldn’t be the case, I assumed) and we were always getting
pulled away from our work to do some “team building” garbage. It didn’t matter what it started as, it always ended with Johnathan getting wasted on eggnog, and everyone else following suit.
I took a deep breath as I stepped into the elevator. I had dressed slightly cuter than usual for work today, but I told myself it was a coincidence. There’s nothing wrong with trying to make a good impression, right?
“Sabryna,” Johnathan said, looking more at his phone than at me. “I got here early and got Logan all set up, don’t worry.”
“You did?” I said.
“Yeah, he’s set up in the room next to you, the little one by the supply closet. You guys should be good to go,” he said.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, slightly hesitant to go to my desk. Logan was probably just sitting there in front of a bunch of fresh office supplies, waiting for me to give him instructions. I had never been anyone’s boss before, and the whole thing still felt a little weird. It would take some getting used to, I supposed.
I found Logan, as promised, in the tiny office next to mine. All Torver offices are nice as hell, of course, but this smaller one...not so much. It certainly didn’t have the snack station and view of the space needle that mine did. But it was still far nicer than average.
“Hey,” I said, watching as Logan sat up to attention as I walked in.
“Good morning,” he said, “Johnathan helped me settle in.” He already looked at home. He wore a dark gray suit with an emerald green tie that made him look casually mischievous. His brown curls were a little looser than they had been at the interview, and he was leaning back in his chair languidly, as if he had been working here for ten years instead of ten minutes.
“I’m sorry we got off to a rough start,” I told him, and I genuinely was sorry. It was always good to establish peace with someone you’d be working so closely with. “I really am just very picky about who I hire, and I didn’t want you to take it personally.”
“Nah, it’s good,” Logan said. “I’m just ready to do whatever work you hand over to me.”
“Oh yeah,” I said. To be honest I hadn’t even really thought through exactly what work I was going to give him, which was a bit unlike me. “Can you give me ten minutes? I’m just going to look through my computer and find something for you to do.”
“Cool,” Logan said, and leaned further back in his chair.
I hurried into my office and waited for my computer to boot up. I can’t believe I didn’t even consider what work I would give my assistant. Stupid. I opened up files on my computer and filtered through the papers I had left on my desk from last week. Was there a lot to do? Yes. Could I trust the assistant who had been working here ten minutes to do any of it? No.
Crap.
“Hey,” I said, stumbling into Logan’s office nervously. I wasn’t sure exactly how he would react to this news. “So, I can’t really find anything for you to do yet.”
“Pardon?” Logan said, looking nearly on the verge of laughter.
“Yeah, I just—“
“No way, Sabryna,” Logan said. “Johnathan was telling me you were swamped. You just don’t trust me.”
“No, no no,” I said, putting my hands up in a panic. “It’s not that, there’s just really nothing that—“
“Show me.”
“What?” I said. I hated how everything he said had the tone of a dare...and I could never resist a dare.
“Show me what you’re working on, and I’ll figure out what part of it I can do. I’m not an idiot, Sabryna, and I know this industry inside and out.”
“I didn’t say that, I just—“
Logan stood up, and we both walked into my office. I guess this was happening.
I sat down at my desk and Logan took the seat across from me, waiting for a challenge, or more likely, a chance to show off. “Okay, so, if I wasn’t here, what would you be working on?”
I sighed and clicked around on my computer. “Well I guess...I guess I’d be compiling these documents into a summarized report for Johnathan to send out to his investors. I don’t know though, I mean, Johnathan likes it done in a very specific way that takes a while to learn, and it’s pretty important.”
“Five minutes, walk me through it,” Logan said, once again making me jealous of that natural confidence of his. “I’ll work on it this morning, and if it’s not to your satisfaction, I’ll just use the afternoon to make you a cup of coffee or something. Deal?”
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s give it a shot.”
“Great,” Logan said, as I compiled the documents in an email to send over to him. “You won’t be sorry!” he half-yelled, walking out the door. I breathed a long sigh of something like relief.
“Oh Sabryna?” he said, suddenly popping back in.
“Yeah?”
“Again, I do like you. I don’t want you to think that I don’t like you. New jobs are weird for everyone.”
“Agreed,” I said, and melted a bit when he smiled—by God, act professional. “And I like you too. Don’t worry, we’ll figure out a system.”
“Yeah,” Logan said, nodded, and left. He had been smiling.
This time I exhaled for real. I had never been a very naturally sociable person, so being in a room with a man that attractive, you know, objectively attractive, of course, was always going to be a little nerve wracking to me. Now I could relax and get to work on something else.
Again, I do like you. The words rung through my head as I opened up my planner. He just meant as a colleague of course. And maybe as a person. I don’t know.
As I started organizing Johnathan’s meetings, I felt some strange, warm kind of energy coming from the right side of me—from the office that separated me and Logan. I was thinking about him, in there doing his work, but was he thinking about me? No. Of course not.
I rolled my eyes at my own silliness and got back to work.
LOGAN HAD COMPLETED the assignment I had given him. And it had been good. Almost as good as if I had done it myself.
Almost being the key word here of course.
It was now a week later, and things had settled into an easy pattern already. As I tested Logan with more and more work, I began to trust him with more serious assignments—and he was doing all of it efficiently and very well, too. It was beginning to feel like I could dump all of my work onto him, which made me suspicious that that was what Johnathan had been doing to me all these years. Was business really just a long line of people passing on tough stuff to their assistants? With everyone being paid inversely to how much work they were doing?
Oh well. Things had been easier since we hired Logan. I had about half the amount of work on my plate now than I did a month ago. I felt more like an organizer, while Logan did a lot of the busy work. It made showing up to my office a lot easier...in most ways. Although my workload was much lighter, I still had to navigate the weird work relationship I was forming with Logan—and in a lot of ways that was a lot more difficult than the work I had been doing before.
“Hey,” Logan said as I came into his office. He had shown up early, as he usually did, and was wearing the Santa hat Johnathan had given everyone at the door without complaint—I had taken mine off the second I was out of view. “What have you got for me today?”
“A lot of meeting notes to type up,” I said, handing him a stack of sheets of notebook paper filled with scribbles. “And you’ll remember to use Times New Roman this time?”
“Yes ma’am,” Logan said, giving me a quick salute and a wink. It was flirty, yes, but he also struck me as one of those guys who was kind of flirty with everyone. “Wanna come with me to get some coffee from the break room first? I need someone to show me how to use that fancy coffee machine Johnathan has.”
“Oh yeah,” I said. “That thing is a nightmare. Awesome once you figure out how to use it, but a pain in the ass to learn.”
I led Logan into the break room. Marissa, one of our board members, was in the corner waiting for her usual morning cup of gre
en tea to steep. “Hey guys,” she said, leaning against the corner. “How are you settling in, Logan?”
Logan smiled. “Pretty good, thank you.”
“I’m glad,” Marissa said. “And damn Sabryna, that dress and scarf combo is one of the most Instagram-ready outfits I’ve ever seen. Your outfits have been super on point lately.”
“Thanks,” I said, and felt heat rush to my face. Logan was smiling. There’s absolutely no reason I’ve been dressing nicer. Nope.
Samantha walked out with a smirk in my direction. Logan was already trying to operate the machine by himself, and was going to fry the whole thing if I didn’t stop him.
“Whoa whoa whoa,” I said, “Pressing all of the buttons at once is not the answer.”
“It is sometimes,” Logan said, laughing as I pushed him out of the way to reset the machine. “I was a big tech nerd in high school, and sometimes that actually does work.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Mmhm.”
“What?”
“Like you were a tech nerd.”
“Excuse me?” Logan said, laughing. “And why would I not be a tech nerd? Is it because I didn’t use Times New Roman the first time on that document? Mmhm,” he said, teasing me. “I see.”
“No, of course not, it’s just that you’re...” I looked him up and down, realizing that I had ran directly into a trap of my own making—way, way too hot.
“That I’m what?”
I laughed. “I don’t know, you look like you work out and stuff...a jock. I didn’t think tech kids did that.” I exhaled. Good. Didn’t come off too weird.
“Well, I didn’t back then, but I do now.”
“Gotcha,” I said, and met his eyes. We suddenly both realized we were holding eye contact too long for it to be professionally appropriate, and both promptly stared back down at the coffee machine.
“So you’re turning it on and off again?” Logan said.
“Yup.”
“Another classic.”