“Dad, stop,” I said, smiling as he chuckled and walked back to his office.
I finally had a moment that afternoon to look over the applications and nothing jumped out at me until I got to Lucas’ résumé. Holy Hell. He was only twenty-five and he had a record that would make someone nearly twice his age look good. Valedictorian, Magna Cum Laude, charity work, academic honors, athletic honors, awards from every job he’d ever had. Jesus. I was beginning to feel inadequate. His references were all from prestigious companies as well, including from our biggest competitor.
It was all . . . too perfect.
Yes, I know how that sounded, but I needed a reason not to hire this guy and other than the sex, this was all I had.
Plus, I knew for a fact that people pad their résumés and I wouldn’t put it past him. Maybe a little call to some of his references would clear that up.
I really didn’t have time to do this, but I was going to do it anyway. I wanted the satisfaction of having a good reason (other than the sex) for saying no to this guy. Because really, he was the best candidate by a long shot.
I was picking up the phone to call the first one when my cell phone started dinging. Damn. I’d completely forgotten about the monthly meeting with the board of directors. Fantastic. I groaned inwardly and was glad I’d worn my absolute highest and shiniest black pumps. They definitely weren’t the kind of shoes you could reasonably run in, or even walk briskly, but I didn’t really care. I was a bitch on heels.
I ducked into the ladies’ room to make sure I looked good, hair smooth, shirt tucked into my gray pinstriped pencil skirt and deodorant still working.
Check, check, check. I took one breath and grabbed my notebook as I headed to the boardroom.
Forty minutes later, I was trying to keep my attention on the meeting while everyone argued about which pens we should order for the company. These ones wrote better but were $.02 cents more expensive than these ones. I swear, they could turn this into a marathon meeting if they wanted to.
They finally settled on the more expensive ones and that was the final item on the agenda. About time. We were dismissed, but I was accosted by Hal Marksman before I could make my escape. Hal was the oldest member of the board, and had the most clout (and the most money). Usually, if he decided something, there would be a quick battle and then everyone else would change his or her minds and vote in his favor. He was also not my biggest fan.
“Miss Clarke?” Just his voice made me want to cringe and roll my eyes. Why was it that I felt like a teenager again when he talked to me? A stupid, ignorant teenager.
“Yes, Mr. Marksman, how are you?” I plastered a sweet smile on my face and pretended to give a damn. Kissing the collective asses of the members of the board is one of the less pleasant parts of my job.
“Doing well, doing well.” He nodded as he said it, but didn’t ask how I was. Jerk. I kept my smile in place and begged him with my mind to make this quick. Everyone else was milling around, fighting over the last of the coffee and pastries.
“I hear that you’re hiring a new secretary.” Obviously. He’d been at Sal’s retirement party.
“I am,” I said and waited for him to get to the damn point. He stroked the front of his shirt, smoothing it over his potbelly.
“Well, I happen to know that there is a young and very eager fellow named Lucas Blaine that has applied and I strongly suggest that you hire him.”
Was he f**king serious? How the hell did he know about Lucas?
WHO WAS THIS LUCAS BLAINE AND WHY WOULDN’T HE LEAVE ME ALONE?
“Oh,” I said, because, hell.
“I’ve heard about him from your father and if I could hire him myself, I would. I’m positively jealous of you.” He chuckled and I laughed as well, using my patented “polite fake laugh.”
“I, um, I’m just a little flummoxed by your interest in him.” Actually, I was a lot flummoxed.
Hal leaned in, as if to share a confidence. Like everyone wasn’t listening.
“We’ve been trying to get him away from . . . the company that shall not be named, for years now. I don’t know why he left them, but we want him, and this is the best way to get him here. Start him out easy and then we can slide him right where we want him. You can put in a good word for him with Walter, and before you know it, we’ll have him on our side, working for us.” God, some of that sounded dirty, and I had to fight the urge to laugh. I’d slid him right where I wanted him on Saturday, but I was pretty sure Hal wasn’t thinking about the same thing.
“This company needs him, Miss Clarke.” Now it was my turn to talk again. “And working with you is the best place.”
“I’ll consider him,” I said, knowing that it was already a done deal. What the board wanted, the board got.
“You need to do what’s best for you, but remember that the needs of the many overpower the needs of the few.” Oh my God. He was using Spock Logic on me and he probably didn’t even know it. I stifled another laugh as a cough and nodded and tried and stop myself from telling him to live long and prosper as he gave me one last hard look before he went to take the Danish that someone has saved for him.
Dad gave me a look and then followed me back to my office.
“What was that about?”
“Oh nothing, he just ‘strongly suggested’ that I hire Lucas as my assistant and by ‘strongly suggested’ I mean he said I had to because the company needs him.” I sat down in my chair in a huff and pinched the bridge of my nose with my hand. This day needed to be over two hours ago.
“Yes, Hal and I had a chat about him, and I have to agree with him. There’s no one else that’s so overqualified. We would be lucky to have him.” Lucas Blaine should have changed his name to Jesus Christ, because everyone seemed to be worshipping him. What I didn’t get was why he wanted this dinky little assistant job, if he was qualified, and he obviously didn’t need money. It just wasn’t adding up.
Dad interrupted my wonderings. “Unless you have any overwhelming reasons not to hire him?” Other than the fact that I’d slept with him?
“None at all,” I said with another smile that made my teeth hurt.
“Good. I’ll be glad to have someone to pick up the slack for you. You’re working too hard again.” Dad always thought I was working too hard because I was still his little princess and I always would be. I also couldn’t say no to him.