Lunch

Knowing that Lucien was going to pick me up in the morning I had been unable to sleep. I did more tossing and turning than anything else. When my alarm sounded I hated myself, I was not a morning person. It had taken everything in me to get dressed.

Choosing what to wear had been a whole issue. What did you wear when you had no idea where you would be going. Lucien had claimed to know the perfect job for me, no interview, no nothing. I had gathered it would be with him but I had never asked him what exactly he did for a living.

After way too much thought I had chosen to wear a pair of black skinny jeans, a maroon sleeveless shirt, and a pair of sandals. I did a quick job going for a natural look with my makeup and did a simple braid for my hair. I just hoped I wasn’t too casual.

Hearing a truck coming down the driveway I sighed taking one last look at my reflection. “Well here goes nothing, ” I said to myself.

Lucien was walking up the steps as I walked outside shutting and locking the door behind me. “I had no idea what to wear. Do you think this will be ok?”

Lucien’s green eyes looked me up and down sending goosebumps up my body, “I don’t care what you wear, but yes you look fine.”

Cutting my eyes at him I decided not to comment back and walked with him to his truck. When we were both seated he leaned back looking over at me, “seriously Sam, you’ll be in the office most of the day so you can wear whatever you want to.”

I looked up at him, “ok Lucien, you have to tell me more.”

He looked over at me laughing as he reached out for his thermos and took a drink. “I didn’t really tell you anything did I?” When I shook my head he shook his head, “I’m sorry Sam, I had a lot on my mind last night. You will be working in my office basically answering the phone, taking messages, and I will teach you how to do my paperwork.”

My eyes grew big and I swallowed the knot that had suddenly developed in my throat. Lucien glanced over at me, “I work Monday through Friday. You can work every day or take a day off during the week if you want but Friday will be a must.”

I shook my head looking over at him, ” Lucien, I didn’t think you...”

He cut me off, “don’t think. I have been doing everything myself, you will actually be doing me a huge favor.”

Lucien’s phone began ringing and I watched as he pulled it out of his cup holders answering with a simple “yeah.” He sighed, “no I haven’t heard from him since last night. I sent Cage out.”

Turning my head to look out the window I tried to give him some privacy even though I would have loved to know what was going on. We had made it into town and he was pulling up in front of a brick building that had Blackwood Construction on it. Lucien leaned back as he put the truck in park. “I usually get here earlier but we try to have the office open 9-4 to accept deliveries.” I nodded wondering what I was getting into.

Walking into the office I was worried about what I would find but it was clean and organized. A boy who looked like he was no older than 15 poked his head up from the desk. He leaned back, “ugh it’s about time. I’m tired of sitting behind this desk all day.” Standing up he looked at me pointing at the char. “You can have it but if you need me all you have to do is yell.”

Lucien rolled his eyes glancing over at me, “Jax here has been helping me in the office if that’s what you call sitting around drinking up all the soda. He will be outside checking deliveries but he can help you with anything in here.” I nodded watching Jax salute us before walking out the door. Lucien shook his head, “he is a handful but he will keep you entertained.”

“I’m sure he will,” I said laughing seeing him peeking in through the window.

Lucien led me down a hall pointing out the kitchen area, bathroom, and storage rooms before leading me to his office. He had a huge oak desk that was covered in papers. I could almost picture him sitting there deep in thought. Turning he looked down at me, “so are you sure you want a job?”

I nodded up at him, “yeah. Are you sure you have room for me?”

Lucien nodded at me sitting on the corner of his desk, “yes the girl who used to work for me had a baby a couple of months ago and decided she wanted to stay at home, like I said earlier you’re helping me out.”

Nodding my head I bit my bottom lip, “so will you be here?”

He shook his head standing back up straight, “yes some but most of the time I will be out on a job.” He glanced down at his watch, “I actually need to leave now.” Standing up he walked toward the door, “Let’s head up front and I will get you started.”

By the time Lucien left I had a head full of information and was ready to get started. The guys outside handled all the deliveries in and out so all I really had to do was invoice them in. My other duties were simple, answer the phone, taken messages, and keep up with the times sheets printing out checks on Fridays.

Lucien had given me free rein to decorate and rearrange things as I liked but besides personalizing my desk some I was fine with the way things were. The job wasn’t much different from the one I had been laid off from, sure I had a few more duties but this job wasn’t awful. It had an added bonus of being close to Lucien.

I had just stepped out from the kitchen after grabbing a drink when I paused seeing an older man sitting in front of my desk. As he looked up I noticed he looked a lot like Lucien, just an older version with grey streaks in his hair and a beard. “You must be Samantha.”

I nodded my head at him sitting down. “Yes, sir I am.”

He nodded, “I’m Paul, Lucien’s father. I knew your Aunt Violet quite well, I’m sorry for your loss.”

I nodded thinking that my real loss was not knowing her as everyone around me seemed to. “Do you work here too?”

Paul laughed, “I come around time to time to keep an eye on my boys but Lucien has been over the company for a while now.” I nodded wondering if Lucien had brothers what they must look like.

Paul excused himself going back outside to talk to the guys. As he walked out Jax made his way back in. “So where you from?”

I sat back looking up at him, “just another no-name town.”

He plopped down in the chair Paul just vacated, “it’s too hot out there.”

I shook my head laughing at him, “so that’s Lucien’s dad huh? Does any other family work here?”

Jax shrugged, “yeah some, all of us are close though.” He stopped talking for a minute as if he was choosing his words with care, “his brother Damien works here too but he won’t come here if Lucien is here.”

I opened my mouth to ask why when Lucien walked in through the front door. “Jax leave her alone.”

Jax rolled his eyes at me making me grin before he stood up and walked to the back. “I thought I would take you to lunch for your first day on the job.”

I nodded, “well isn’t that sweet of you.”

He smirked, “maybe, or maybe I’m just hungry.”

As I rolled my eyes at him he walked to his office coming back with a set of keys, “here keep these so you can open and close when you leave. Jax will take care of the side door.”

I nodded standing up and following behind him to his truck. By the time I managed to get the new keys on my ring we were stopped in front of a small restaurant. The middle of town reminded me of old movies where all the buildings were in the same strip making a perfect square block with the courthouse in the middle.

Walking in I could instantly feel eyes on us. I immediately looked down a little surprised when Lucien grabbed my hand and led me to a corner booth. “You’re new and you’re with me, people are curious.”

I shook my head looking at the people still staring in our direction, “well they can mind their business.”

He laughed at me looking up as a young red-headed waitress walked to our table. She clearly had her attention focused on Lucien angling her body toward him before she asked, “what can I get you today Mr. Blackwood.”

Lucien looked up at her, “sweet tea and a...” he looked up at me.

“Sweet tea is fine.”

The girl turned toward me and I suddenly felt as if I was being judged. Turning back toward Lucien she pulled out a notepad. “You ready to order or do you need a minute.”

Lucien looked up at me, “give us a minute, thank you.”

As I watched her walk away Lucien kicked me under the table. I looked over at him raising my eyebrow, “what?”

“Don’t let these people get to you.”

I nodded at him as I opened my own menu. “That girl didn’t bother me.”

He looked at me as if he didn’t believe me so I looked back down at my menu. Glancing up ever so often I couldn’t help but wonder why he had to be so hot. I’d never really been into the muscle clad guys, mainly because most of them were straight assholes but Lucien seemed to be different.

The waitress came back delivering our tea and asking if we were ready to order. Lucien looked up at me so I nodded. The food was better than I had expected from a small restaurant. It was honest to goodness home-cooked food.

While I mostly picked at my food too busy taking in my surroundings Lucien ate everything on his plate. “You didn’t leave just to take me to lunch did you?”

My words caused him to look up and smile, “well I am working just down the road and you don’t have your car so it’s the least I could do. Besides I was hungry.”

I laughed nodding at him taking a sip of my tea, “so what are you working on?”

Lucien sat back pushing his plate away from him, “well I have a couple of different jobs going on but the one I was on today was at the new park they are building.”

Taking another sip of my tea I looked up at Lucien, “so your dad stopped in today.”

Lucien cut his eyes at me, “I’m sure he did. He has pretty much retired but still likes to come and be nosey.”

“He said he comes in from time to time to check on his boys. Was he just speaking of ya’ll in general or do you have any other family members that work there?”

Lucien looked at me for a minute and I almost thought he was going to ignore the question. “My mother died when I was young, I really can’t remember her.” I instantly felt horrible for bringing up the subject. He continued on, “I have a brother. I’m sure you will see him some. I try to not be around when he is there, we don’t exactly see eye to eye.”

I looked down, “I’m sorry I asked, I didn’t know.”

Lucien reached out and grabbed my hand, “you would have found out sooner or later, small town and all. Violet was my mother figure, she worked at the office herself when she was younger.”

Lucien took another sip of his tea before he held out his hand, “let me see your phone.” I frowned at him but handed it over. He held it up, “unlock it for me.” I arched my brow but did what he asked watching as he went to my dialer and called a number. His phone started vibrating on the table beside us and he ended the call and handed me back my phone, “now you have my number and I have yours.”

I rolled my eyes laughing at him, “you could have asked.”

He shrugged, “that was much easier.” I made a face at him and he nodded his head at me, “come on let’s get out of here. We’ve given the townsfolk enough to gossip about today.”

As we walked to the counter I couldn’t help but notice the people staring at us again. Was it really just the small town or was there something else? Lucien grabbed my shoulder and we walked out to his truck. As I climbed in I turned to him, “can I ask you a weird question?”

He leaned back looking over at me, “I know what you want to ask and all I can tell you is that people would stare at me if you were with me or not. My family while well respected in this area has lots of, let’s say rumors about them. I looked at him confused but he put the truck in reverse ending the conversation. I decided to just drop it. I knew first hand what it was like to live in a small town and have all eyes focused on you.

Lucien dropped me off at the office promising to be back around 5. I had to kick Jax out of my chair when I came back in and he groaned complaining that I hadn’t brought him back any leftovers. Shaking my head I had a feeling he would indeed keep me entertained. I had already decided I needed to get my desk and files in some sort of order that I understood so I got to work forgetting my earlier worries.