“My name is Veronica Smithers. I’m Mr. Whitaker’s personal assistant. I do most everything for him. It is important that whomever fills this position realizes that it isn’t just about answering phones and sending correspondence. You may be asked to perform any sort of task throughout the day, some you could easily think of, such as making coffee or running to the nearest coffeeshop. Others may never cross your mind until the question is raised.” Veronica turned and looked at her, and Mia nodded, feeling pricks of ice radiate through her veins as she attempted to decipher what that might mean.
They were walking through a vast space of cubicles and offices with people working in groups, pairs, and all alone, but Mia was struggling to keep up with Veronica and hardly had a chance to look around her. Eventually, they reached a small office, and Veronica walked in, stepping behind an organized desk with a huge stack of papers on it. She gestured for Mia to take a seat, which she did, and that’s when she realized the papers were all resumes.
Veronica thrust her hand foreword, clearly wanting something. Still stunned by the enormous stack of applicants, Mia was confused. She looked at Veronica’s open palm and then up to her eyes. “Resume?” the woman said, practically rolling her eyes at her.
“Of course. I apologize. I’m a little nervous.” Mia fumbled for the zipper on the side of her leather portfolio case. It snagged, stuck, and nearly broke. She took a deep breath, tried to smile, and tried again, catching her nail and ripping it. The sting wasn’t as bad as the embarrassment. Veronica was growing impatient.
The third try was the charm; she managed to get her portfolio open and work the single page resume out, handing it over with what she hoped was a confident smile. Compared to the page on the top of the stack, it looked as if Mia had never worked before. The other girl’s resume was nearly full and looked well-organized. Mia had put hers together the afternoon before in the library and printed it for ten cents on the high quality library copy paper.
It only took Veronica a moment to look over the resume. She sat it aside. “What are your strengths?”
“Well, I, uh… love marketing,” Mia began, smiling and hoping she could get her nerves under control. “I studied it in college. I’m a hard worker. I’m always pleasant. Easy to get along with.”
“Uh huh. And other than your complete lack of any work experience even remotely related to the secretarial field, what are your weaknesses?”
Doing her best to disregard the low blow, Mia kept her smile in place. “I am very trusting, which is sometimes seen as gullible,” she admitted. “I do have a bit of a problem with distractions from time to time, though it’s nothing I can’t work through.” She looked Veronica in the eyes and knew there was no way she was getting this job. Mia blew out a long breath. “But… as you mentioned, I’ve never done secretarial work before. I can type fast and accurately. I’m very friendly on the phone, and I’m willing to learn.”
“I take it you’d finished answering my question about your weaknesses before that last part.”
Veronica looked annoyed that Mia had strayed from her initial question. “Yes, ma’am. I apologize.”
“Uh huh,” the woman said, still scowling. Her eyes flickered down the resume again, but then she looked back at Mia, seeming to study her. “If you were to get the position, when could you start?”
“Right away,” Mia said with a confident nod. “I just moved here, so I don’t have a job yet—”
Veronica didn’t care. “And you understand that the salary is base plus bonuses you may earn for taking on additional tasks and for performance that Mr. Whitaker deems above and beyond?”
“Yes, Ms. Smithers,” she said with a nod. The salary, even with no bonuses, was enough for her to pay her rent, as well as her other bills, and still put some money back each month.
Ms. Smithers cleared her throat and picked up the telephone next to her elbow. She punched the top number and waited a second. Mia wasn’t sure what to do. It seemed odd she’d be calling someone in the middle of her interview.
Though she couldn’t make out what was being said, it was clear a male’s voice was speaking on the other end of the phone. It was a deep tenor, raspy, gravelly. Mia crossed her legs and tried not to twist her long black hair around her finger.
“Yes. Thank you,” Veronica said and hung up the phone. “You may go.”
Mia was shocked at such a quick dismissal. Granted, she’d seen the other women coming and going so quickly, she’d been shocked Veronica had kept her this long.
“Please, Ms. Smithers, if you give me a chance—”
“You. May. Go!”
“Yes, ma’am.” Realizing there was nothing else she could do, Mia gathered her bag and tucked her portfolio under her arm, half wishing she could ask for her resume back so she wouldn’t have to waste another dime getting a new one for her next interview. Clearly, this one would wither away in that immense stack of papers for a few days before it died a horrible death in the shredder. “Thank you for your time.”
Veronica only nodded, and Mia got up, headed back the way she came. The only problem was, she had no idea how she got there. Since Veronica had not followed her out, she didn’t know which direction to turn. She went down a hall, thinking maybe it was that way, but that ended up at a dead end. She turned back around and went the other direction, thinking she’d just ask someone when she ran right into a solid wall of muscle.
“Are you lost?”
Mia looked up into bright blue eyes, and all the breath left her lungs as she stammered for an answer. If she wasn’t lost before, she was now.
“Can I help you?” Mia knew she was staring, that the man with the gorgeous blue eyes was speaking to her, that she’d looked up after the collision but hadn’t backed away, so the foot or so between them was due to him retreating while she still hadn’t found her voice or her ability to move. “Are you lost?” “Uh… yeah,” she finally managed, snapping out of it. She took a giant step backward and ran her hand through her hair. It happened to be the hand her purse was swung over, so when she did that, it swung back and forth violently before falling off of her shoulder. She caught it on her wrist momentarily, but then it fell to the floor. “Dang it!” “Let me get that for you,” he said, stooping to get it, but by then, Mia had already gone to retrieve it herself. She hit her head on his shoulder hard. “Oh, God. Are you okay?” Wincing, Mia rubbed her head. How strong was this man that hitting her head on his shoulder was like ramming
Walking into his brother’s office, Beau Whitaker waited for Sam to get off of the phone before he said anything at all. When Sam finally hung up and looked up at him, Beau wasn’t even sure where to begin. He wanted to seem nonchalant, but the girl he’d met in the hallway—Mia—was so beautiful, so intriguing, he wanted to make sure Sam was aware that Beau wouldn’t mind it if he hired her as his new secretary. In fact, if he had any say in it at all, Mia already had the job. “What’s up, little brother?” Sam asked, making a note on a sticky before attaching it to a file and moving it across his desk. “Need something?” Beau snickered. He didn’t come into Sam’s office often, unless he needed something. There was usually no need to. Sam handled new accounts; Beau handled existing accounts. If they ever needed to meet, their offices had an adjoining conference room where they could discuss whatever they needed to. The view out the floor to ceiling windows o
Mia had her Chromebook open on her lap as she looked through job postings. After the disaster a few hours ago, it was clear to her that she couldn’t let up on the job hunt. The Chromebook was old and didn’t stay connected to the Wi-Fi she was “borrowing” from her neighbor very well, but it was better than looking through the newspaper, which she also did on a regular basis.She was just contemplating contacting a used car dealership, wondering if she could ever really sell cars, when her cell phone rang.Picking it up, she studied the number. It wasn’t familiar to her, and there was no name to let her know who it might be, but she had to answer anyway. It could be one of the other places she’d recently applied to. “Hello?”“May I speak to Mia Eaton, please?”The voice sounded vaguely familiar. It was a middle-aged woman. “This is she.”“Hello, Ms. Eaton. This is Veronica Smithy from Whitaker and Whitaker.”A lump immediately formed in Mia’s throat as she considered she might’ve actual
Mia decided to treat herself to some Chinese takeout since she’d gotten the job and could theoretically afford it. Eating out was something she rarely did since she was on a tight budget, but under the circumstances, a little fun couldn’t hurt, could it? When the doorbell rang, she assumed it was the delivery guy with her orange chicken, but when she pulled open the door, she saw a courier standing there. “Hey. You Mia Eaton?” “Yeah….” He shoved a thick manila envelope her direction and then a clipboard. “Sign here.” Pulling her eyes away from the agitated expression on his face, she scrawled her name across the line, wondering what it was about life in general that had this guy so put out. “Thanks,” she said clipping his pen back on. “Yep.” He turned and headed back toward the stairs, leaving Mia wishing she could do something to make him have a better day. It was too bad that some people were never happy when there was so m
The mirror didn’t lie. Mia checked the length of her skirt one more time and made sure the seam was where it was supposed to be. She’d bought a full-length mirror when she’d gone shopping on Saturday to make sure she fit the specifications of her contract. She was wearing a black pencil-skirt that hit just above her knee, but with the slit in the back significantly higher, she felt slightly exposed. It wasn’t obscene by any means, nothing like that woman had worn to the interview, but it wasn’t something Mia would usually wear. She also had on a white button-down shirt. The top three buttons were undone, as her contracted said they must be, which meant one could see her lacy white bra at certain angles. She wasn’t sure what to think about that. Would everyone think she was some sort of slut? Her heels weren’t that high, but they were strappy, black, sexy and shiny. Her earrings were simple, as also mandated, and she had her hair up in a bun—but not a severe on
Mia followed Veronica through the maze, trying her best to keep track of the twists and turns this time so that she didn’t get lost on her way back to her assigned area. Eventually, they reached a door with a touchpad next to it where she would enter a code. “This is your office. Your code has already been created for you. I’ll show you how to change it some other time, but for now, it’s 8236.” Veronica punched it in, and the door beeped, glowed green, and she was able to turn the knob. Mia followed her into a decent reception area. She was surprised she’d have so much room. There was a desk with a bookshelf behind it, as well as a few chairs sitting across the room against the wall. The view out the window was spectacular. A few plants and some nice paintings and other décor decorated the area. “You’ll be able to change any of this if you want to.” Veronica gestured at the paintings and other decorations. “It’s lovely,” Mia replied, taking it all i
Mr. Whitaker was the sort of man who commanded the room without saying a word. Sitting behind his desk, his face freshly shaven, his dark hair perfectly styled, he seemed to fill up every space in the large room without opening his mouth, taking all of the oxygen away from Mia as she stared at him from the entryway.She’d remembered to knock—that was something. He couldn’t be angry at her for that. So why was he staring at her with such a narrowed gaze? Mia cleared her throat and said, “You wanted to see me, sure? I’m Mia. The new secretary.” She wasn’t even sure if he had had a say in hiring her. She hoped he had. It would be odd if he didn’t even know he had a new secretary.Sam leaned back in his chair and yanked on his royal blue tie, though it didn’t seem to loosen any. “I know who you are, Mia. Come here, please.”Mia came over, not sure what she should do when she got there. Two chairs sat on the side of the table closer to where she was standing, but he hadn’t mentioned sittin
The new secretary was hot. There was no question about that. Sam sat behind his desk, breathing in the lingering scent of her perfume. When she’d bent over to pick up that pencil off of the floor, he’d envisioned all sorts of things he’d like to do to her, things a person shouldn’t be thinking about at work—unless that person had it written into the contract that the secretary had signed that said it was all acceptable.Mia wasn’t the kind of girl he would’ve normally hired. When Veronica had asked him to check in on the interview, he’d noted she was beautiful, but she’d been so unprofessionally put together at that interview, he’d told Veronica she was a pass.Until Beau came in and insisted he hire her. It was the best choice his brother had made in a long time. Sam did his best to concentrate one work, but he kept thinking about Mia, about how her bottom curved when she bent over, the way the slit in her skirt showed just a hint of what she was hiding beneath that blac