Chapter 2

Sam-

Mr. Stranger took the seat at the front of the table. Running his hand through his hair, he spoke “everyone take a seat, I’d like to get started sometime before lunch.” He checked his watch and rolled his eyes. This guy is going to be really fun to deal with. 

Everyone started taking their seats and the meeting got underway.

After an hour and a half, I started spacing out. I was more exhausted from the gym than I thought and before I knew it ‘BAM’ a hand hit the table next to my seat. I looked up and there was Mr. Stranger.

“Can you refrain from daydreaming on my time Kerns?” His snarky tone was deep and shook something inside of me.

I looked around to notice we were one of the few people left at the meeting and I started gathering my paperwork and putting it away.

“My apologies,” I said as I stood. This stranger towered over me and was almost twice my size wide-wise. He was in my book a giant. 

“Don’t let it happen again.” He started walking away so I mumbled my grief under my breath and headed to my office. Why can’t I focus anymore these last two days? It’s like my mind keeps being dragged off to nowhere land.  

I heard a knock on my door and when it opened Bradley walked in. “Well, I’d say you really let that new boss see your efforts, my friend.”

I shot him a sideways glance “Maybe I’m just playing coy sir, maybe I was paying attention.”

“You sure? What’s the boss’s name then?”  Bradley shot me his know it all glare. I tried to remember anything from the meeting, but it was blank.

 “Okay, okay, you caught me. I was spacing again.” I put some papers from the meeting away in folders as I spoke.  What is the mystery man’s name, and why is he so familiar?  

“His name is Caleb.” Brad’s voice bounced me back to earth.

“Caleb huh?” I rolled the name around my head. Nothing came to mind; I don’t know anyone named Caleb, so why do I somehow know him?

“Am I interrupting something?” Oh, that voice, the deep baritone of it shook me again. I turned around to see none other than Caleb himself standing by brad in my doorway.

Brad took that as his hint to get back to his desk leaving me to deal with the glory drip himself.

“You aren’t interrupting, what can I help you with?” my cheeks started to warm up as Caleb started walking across the room to my desk. I felt like a high school outcast getting the football stars attention.

“I need you to file these notes from the meeting since you decided to go space-ranging instead of paying attention.” His snarky tone told me I was in trouble.

“I already filed the notes here,” I said as I reached for a folder from my filing cabinet. “you can look them over if you would like and let me know if I missed anything but I’m sure I covered it all.” I stuck my hand out with the folder to redeem myself. “I can get started on a hard copy for your records as well.”

His stare hardened as I had just challenged him on his own grounds. He looked me over from head to toe in an attempt to size me up. I felt the heat wherever his eyes landed.  Was he checking me out?

“I need copies of all your paperwork on my desk by the end of the day, I need to be caught up to speed on everything. Is that understood?” he glared at me and I stared back in an attempt to make it look like I wasn’t going to fold anytime he looked at me like that. “understood boss,” I spat back at him.

I heard a growl deep in his throat, I was starting to get on his nerves. “It’s Caleb, Kerns, do not call me boss.” He spits out through gritted teeth.

“Okay Caleb, I’ll get right on it.” God this man was starting to piss me off. Can we get at least one reasonable soul to be our boss? Would that be too much to ask for?

Caleb walked off and I sat down to get started typing out all the notes for the last two meetings. Who does this guy think he is? Being demanding will not get you anywhere with me. I looked at the clock on my desk, two hours till my day was over and I couldn’t be happier to leave this stupid place.

The tip tap of the keys under my fingers led me to go into almost a trance-like state. Before I knew it I was finishing up on the twelve papers, front to back, worth of notes.  I looked up and realized I had only a few minutes to print and send the notes to Caleb. I hurried up and gathered everything I needed into a folder and headed to the CEO’s office.

All the women in the office stared at me when I knocked on his door. First, knock no answer, second knock no answer, third knock no answer. I slid the folder under his door and turned around to walk off. Then the door opened to a very sweaty Caleb. His hair was a disaster, not the same as it was when he was in my office. His shirt was untidy and no longer ticked in as it had been, and his pants looked like he rolled around in the dirt. There were small pieces of what looked like animal hair on his clothes.

“I… uhh... I put the folder under your door.” I squeaked.

“Come in, I have a couple of questions for you.” He ran his hand through his hair and turned to go to his desk.

On my way in I leaned down to pick the folder up from the floor, when I stood up, he was staring at me with a spaced-off look.  I walked over and placed the folder on his desk and sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. There was a chill coming in from an open window. I stood up and shut the window in an attempt to keep papers from flying all over his office.

I then returned to my seat and let him finish reading over the papers he received.

“You take all the notes at the meetings?” his voice snapped me back to earth. “yes, I do,” I replied in my snobby thank you very much tone. This made him look from the papers to me, the heat of that gaze throwing me off balance again. “I don’t like your tone, Kerns.” His gaze went back to the paperwork in front of him.

“I don’t like your attitude,” I snapped back. “you could be more thankful that I spent my afternoon making sure to get you on track.”

A small chuckle came from deep within him. “Alright kerns, I suppose ill read these over and contact you tomorrow.”

“My name is Sam, not Kerns and I thought you had some questions for me?” I was starting to get mad at his games.

“Not at the moment, I’ve figured them out with what I’ve read so far.” His eyes shot up to me again. What the hell, why was he being so odd?

“so be it,” I said as I stood up and grabbed my things.  I walked out and headed to my office one last time to double-check I put everything in order and gathered my keys to walk out.

It was starting to warm up outside and I was very happy about it. Summer was my favorite time. Everything was so green and beautiful. I was almost in my car when I could hear some rustling coming from the trees by the building. There was a small forest by our building, and it covered a few miles at least. On the other side of the forest was my quiet little house. The home I was so ready to be back to.

On my way back my phone rang. It was Lily.

“Today sucked,” I answered, “this new guy has an ego complex, and let’s hope he's not going to be like the last.”

Lily laughed; her laugh was so comforting she had one of those soft laughs that made anything better. “Well guess what?!” she exclaimed into the phone. Her energy bounced out in vibrations through my earpiece.

“What?” I exhaustedly replied.

“Liam and his brother are coming over for dinner!” oh god that’s not good. I’m in a bad mood from work and I haven’t even made it home yet. I checked the clock in my car, and it was half past five.

“What time is dinner?” I was hoping I’d have plenty of time to get decent.

“I told them to be here around 7.” That gives me a solid hour and a half to get ready so I should be fine. “Fine, I’ll be there soon.” I hung up the phone.

A few minutes later I pulled up in front of our little two-bedroom house. It had a charming grey and white finish with a small white fence around the yard. Lily had planted or hung up flowers around the whole property, so it looked like something right out of a magazine, but it was our home.

 I walked up the front steps and opened the door. The house was quiet so Lily must be at the store getting the supplies we needed for dinner. I went into my room and grabbed my favorite black shirt with some blue ripped jeans, a new pair of socks, and some undergarments and headed to the bathroom. After a nice shower, I hopped out and got dressed, and listened for any signs of Lily. I could hear pots and pans clanging around so she must be starting dinner already. I grabbed my blow-dryer and some makeup and got started on making myself look more human.

After what felt like forever, I was ready. I checked my watch and saw it was ten after seven. I headed to the kitchen to see if our guests arrived.

“You look nice!” Lily exclaimed as soon as I walked in. she ran over and hugged me.

She was wearing a sundress that had a bunch of roses all over it. It came to just above her knees. Her red hair flowed around her face almost insinuating her facial features. She had blue-green eyes and freckles all over that were summed up with almost amazingly straight teeth. She was very beautiful in the way that I was jealous of her.

“I see we haven’t received any guests yet,” I giggle to her when she headed back to the stove to stir whatever it was, she had in pots.

“Liam said they were almost here. He had to drag his brother out because he wanted to stay home.” She looked over her shoulder at the door.

“Guess that makes two of us.” I laughed, then I heard the knock at the door. I looked at Lily and she jumped for joy and took off to the door. I found my normal spot on the kitchen island and checked my phone. I could hear Liam’s deep voice and Lily’s giggles. They started getting closer to the kitchen. I turned around just in time for Lily and then Liam to clear the hall.

I froze. My heart fell to my knees and I felt anger fill my veins because the oh-so-hot brother that I was expecting turned out to be nothing more than Caleb himself.