Chapter Three 1. Sally

When the beautiful woman left, Sally couldn’t quite explain the sudden sadness that filled her. It was like the light went out of the room. She also had no idea what it meant in the context of her job. Was it an automatic disqualification if one of the interviewers took one look at her and left the room?

Probably, she thought, even more downhearted. She had thought it had been going well till now.

Tyler and Kyra looked alarmed and surprised as well, so she thought that was a better sign then straight up pity. For a moment they appeared to flounder before Tyler turned to her.

“Could you give us a second, Sally?” The two stood without waiting for answer.  She watched in surprise as they moved away from her, whispering in hisses that, try as she might, Sally couldn’t make out. Finally Kyra shot her a short wave before shuffling out of the room to the hallway Sally started in with the other applicants.

Tyler moved his seat around to her side of the desk before sitting down.

“Who was that?” She asked, sitting forward a little. She was glad Tyler didn’t try to act like she was stupid, giving her a warn smile instead.

“That was our infamous leader, Celeste North.”

Celeste North. Well, if that didn’t take the wind out of her sails, she didn’t know what else would. Not only was she one of the owners, but she was married and probably straight. Sally bit back a sigh. She had thought there was something there in the way her eyes had seemed to devour her. It must have been wishful thinking.

“The good news; your hired.”

Sally blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“The position is yours, if you still want it?” Tyler relaxed now that Sally’s mind appeared to implode.  He smirked, obviously getting a kick out of Sally’s gapping mouth and shocked look. She shut her mouth with an audible click.

“But the interview?” She managed, still in disbelief. Was she being pranked right now?

Tyler flapped his hand in a way that would have made her laugh in normal circumstances. “I know my cousin, she’d have my balls if I let you leave right now.”

“What about Kyra? Where did she go?” This only happened in make believe, right?

“You helped her out when she was on the front desk,” he pointed out, “she is ready to name her first born after you.” His head tipped to the side. He looked like one of those German Shepherd puppies on her social media feed and she only just stopped herself from patting his head. “Do you not want the job anymore?”

“Yes,” she yelped, coming rapidly out of her stupor. “I just don’t think I’ve ever had an interview go quite like this before.”

Tyler laughed, patting her hand in what could only be a friendly manner. “You will get use to it. North industries does everything to the beat of it’s own drum. Now, this boring paperwork isn’t going to sign itself.”

***

When the door opened again Sally was halfway through her fourth form. Kyra returned with a smile for her, happily sinking into one of the chairs. Being pregnant appeared to be hard work.

The man who followed her in was from a cheesy romance novel cover, Sally was sure.  He towered over her, and while Tyler also did, his body was lean while this man’s was pure muscle. His dark suit was obviously made for him and clung obscenely to each muscle.

He was like some sort of bronze god with his dark gold hair pulled into a pony tail at the nape of his neck and a slight hint of scruffle across his jaw. She wondered if he must be here for some form of promotional work.

The smile he gave her was panty dropping and if she wasn’t reeling from the attraction to the owner that had rocked her, she’d be all up in this guy’s grill.

Sally was not worried about who she was attracted to. It was one of the few bonuses of living in a major city like Sydney, as long as you weren’t doing anything illegal, the city barely raised an eyebrow.  And she’d never really cared to air her business out there anyway.

The man stepped around the table, dark eyes only on her. He held out a hand for her to shake, which she took without thinking, entirely confused at who this man might be.

“I hear you’re my new Personal Assistant.”

Her eyes felt like they fell out of her skull. This was Hunter North. Her new boss. The husband of the woman she’d just been drooling over. Sally was sure someone had it out for her, how were all the people she now worked under this beautiful?

To make matters worse she watched, terrified, as he bent over her hand and kissed those soft lips to her knuckles. “Welcome to North Industries, Ms Smith.”

Well, if she was dreaming, Sally hoped she never woke up.

“Dude,” Tyler drawled from next to her, sounding both exasperated and amused. “I swear you and Cel are a bloody HR nightmare. I am sitting right here! Don’t pull this shit in front of me!”

Kyra was actually laughing, making Sally’s whole body flush red in embarrassment.  “Don’t go giving him ideas on what to do when you’re not here.”

“You all live to make my job harder,” Tyler huffed.

Hunter chuckled, straightening, but not letting go of Sally’s hand.  She gulped at his cheeky smile. How was she going to survive?

“Hunter North,” he finally introduced himself. “I’m sorry my wife was detained elsewhere. She was looking forward to meeting you.”

He was lying, she realised. It was something she’d always been able to tell, when someone was lying, but more interestingly where in the conversation they were fudging the truth.

What made this statement interesting to her was that he was only bending the truth when it came to where Mrs North had gone. The fact that she was excited to meet her was true. That made the arousal she had managed to squash come back ten fold.

She clenched her thighs together, trying to settle her wayward hormones. Married woman, this was a married woman she was thinking about. A woman who, to all intensive purposes, was going to pay her mighty fine salary. A crush was a good way to get her fired if she wasn’t careful.

Her customer service smile came in handy in soul destroying moments like these.

“I look forward to meeting Mrs North when she has time,” she slipped her hand from his, half returning to the form she had been filling out.  “I will be starting once my weeks’ notice has finished with my current employment.”

“It’s required that you start tomorrow.”

It was a smooth lie, but even without her freaky lie detector powers the startled looks Tyler and Kyra gave him would have tipped Sally off. She gave him a sceptical look.

“It says in the last page I signed I’m entitled to up to two weeks to complete other employment before I start,” she responded tentivly. “I have shifts to complete this week.”

“I will talk with your boss, you will start tomorrow morning.”

Sally had spent a lot of time with people throughout her life who were use to getting their way. Usually to get through to them with little conflict she’d edge around them, they had to think that it was an idea they had themselves to get what you wanted. But just looking at Hunter she knew she wouldn’t be able to get around him on this.

With most people it was arrogant or annoying, but with Hunter it was just how it was going to happen. She had no doubt if she stuck her heel in he’d just ensure she thought it had been her idea by the end of the argument. She didn’t know how she felt about someone turning her own tricks against her, so she just nodded.

“Then I will see you tomorrow at 8am?”

“Please don’t wear heels,” he added, his eyes dragging down her body and making her shiver. His smirk was rakish and Sally found herself wondering all sorts of thing. “We like to get our hands dirty here at North Industries and I’d rather you didn’t hurt your pretty feet.”

“DUDE!” Tyler angry hissed, “HR! Right in the room!”

Hunter just laughed as he left the room, making Sally squirm at the promising sound.

What had she gotten herself into?

***

Author's Note: Two updates in a row! I'm on fire!

If you get a chance please read 'The Beta's Daughter' by Jemima Forrester. It is amazing balls!