Chapter Three

Excitement threatened to swallow me whole as I approached the towering Kendrick Corporations building. I seriously regretted my decision to walk the distance from our apartment to my new workplace because, although it did help calm some of my nerves like I had hoped it would, it also resulted in me looking and feeling rather flustered as I waltzed through the double glass doors.

A brief flash of gelled, black hair caught my eye as I walked purposefully to the elevator, and a grin came over my face at the comforting sight of a familiar face. Shane, Nicholas's bodyguard and the only person I knew other than the Greek god himself, smiled at me as we joined two other bored-looking businessmen in the elevator.

Thankful for something to distract myself with, we started a casual conversation about the weekend's events, and for a brief amount of time, our bland small talk shut out the nervous thoughts which were raging in my head.

It was seriously much too early on a Monday morning to be seeing Nicholas Kendrick's gorgeous face, I thought to myself as Shane and I went our separate ways.

Just as I was about to have a panic attack trying to figure out where the hell the staff lounge was, as I recalled that bringing Mr. Kendrick his morning coffee was one of the first requirements of the job, a woman with a trimmed blonde bob emerged from around the corner. She gasped loudly, a hand flying to her mouth when she realized who I was.

"Oh my God, Ophelia!"

I smiled politely at the woman who I recognized to be the receptionist I met last week, as she raced towards me at full speed. I ignored the noticeable change in her attitude now that she knew I was her colleague, rather than just another desperate interviewee, and smiled rather warmly at her.

"You got the job? Oh my God, what position did you get?" she squealed excitedly, and I realized, due to our close proximity, that she was much more prettier than I remembered. Actually, come to think of it, I didn't think I had seen anyone even vaguely unattractive within this building.

"Oh, I'm Mr. Kendrick's assistant."

Her face dropped before morphing into a look of pure astonishment. She shook her head, looking bewildered. "Wow, I'm surprised they let him hire a woman."

I stared at her. What?

She registered my distress, gasping loudly. "Oh, no. I just meant that the management usually doesn't hire women to work with him. You know, because of his age and his looks and everything. Like, when I applied for that job, and let's be honest when every other person here applied for that job, they said that we wouldn't work effectively if we were distracted by him."

Now it was my turn to shake my head in bewilderment. That didn't sound like a particularly professional observation.

"Oh, I have to run, but I'll see you at lunch, okay? Meet me at the staff lounge during lunch!"

Sarah didn't even give me a chance to reply, but just as she started down the corridor again, I called out to her.

"Sarah, sorry, but could you tell me where the staff lounge is?"

She turned back immediately, sending me another dazzling smile. "It's three doors down that way. Oh, and black with two sugars."

She winked, and I smiled to show my thanks as I turned around and headed in the direction she had pointed to.

Finally, after having made the correct coffee and grabbed a cheese croissant for good luck, I began to make my way to Nicholas's office. Heart beating wildly, I glanced at the clock, that thankfully read a time much earlier than when I was supposed to be in, and knocked on his door with my elbow.

"Come in," he called out.

I pushed the door open with the back of my arm and made my way into his lavish office for the second time in my life. My breathing hitched when I saw that today he was clothed in a tight, dark gray suit and a black tie.

Will I ever get used to this?

We exchanged polite smiles as I set the coffee and croissant down in front of him. His eyes showed confusion when we locked eyes.

"Black with two sugars?"

I nodded, and he looked at me, dumbfounded.

"I got my own. I didn't think you'd know yet," he said simply, and l couldn't help but grin widely as his lips turned up in a smile.

"Good start, Miss Morgan."

Unable to stop smiling, I turned to make my way out of his office and into my smaller one, which I believed was just next door, when he stopped me by speaking again.

"Did you have breakfast?" I heard him ask simply, and I didn't react to his random question.

Deciding to answer honestly, I turned back to him and smiled. "Um, no. I didn't have the time."

His eyes darkened, but I was not given enough time to register this before he spoke again. "Here, take this."

He gestured to the small plate with the croissant, and I was just about to turn it down politely when I thought, why bother? I was kind of hungry, thanks to my early morning trek.

Thanking him gracefully, I hurriedly took the plate, and left his office with pink tinting my cheeks. At exactly 8 AM, I settled into the small swivel chair in the center of my office, which was just as lavish as Mr. Kendrick's, but obviously much less small in size and with no wall-sized window taking up an entire side.

I noticed a small stack of manuscripts sitting on the translucent desk before me, and I grabbed and examined them carefully, realizing that I learned how to summarize these in a class in college.

Well, thank God for that.

I realized halfway through typing them up that there was actually a connecting door between mine and Nicholas's office, and I told myself to keep that in mind to make life easier later on.

A few hours went by with nothing particularly eventful occurring. It seemed that Mr. Kendrick had underestimated my skills slightly because these fifteen manuscripts seemed to be all of the work scheduled for me to do before lunch.

I decided- after buzzing out the final man due to a business meeting with the boss before lunch- to go and hand them in.

"Come in," he called out after I knocked.

I decided to try the mysterious connecting door and pushed through it to find myself standing at the very furthest end of his office. He glanced up briefly from his laptop but didn't look fazed when I set the finished papers down on his desk.

"Thank you. Did you enjoy the croissant?"

I stifled my look of surprise. Why was he so intent on being my parent? Just being my boss would be satisfactory

"Yes, I did. It was lovely."

He looked up briefly at my tone, but I sent him a dazzling smile before he could comment on it. Then, before I could brace myself, he leaned forward and his hand went for his chin, once again finding his bottom lip and tracing it distractedly.

"Did you read over the job description?" he asked.

I nodded limply, unable to stop staring at his alluring pink lips. He didn't speak again, and instead, I simply watched as he pinched his lip between his thumb and index finger, tugging slightly.

"Is everything alright with the work times?" he asked.

Again, I nodded, feeling very conscious of the time on the clock and the time that his next meeting was scheduled to hold.

Let me leave before I leap at you and you end up being unable to attend your next meeting! I thought, staring at him hungrily.

"Does leaving a little after 6 PM give you enough time to grab dinner?"

I failed at not flinching at this sudden change of topic. Why was he so obsessed with making sure I ate?

"Um, yes?" I said this more as a question, and now it was his turn to nod silently. "Why do you care so much about whether or not I've eaten?" I asked.

My mouth seemed to be working without my brain today, and I had already blurted out what I was thinking before I could stop myself. His one hand halted its typing for a second before he replied casually.

"I care about my employees' wellbeing, Ophelia," he replied.

Biting my lip, I willed myself to shut up whilst I could, but that reply hardly satisfied my curiosity.

"Is that all?" I asked. "If you think I'm too skinny or something, I can assure you that I eat more than enough." I realized I said that a little harshly but it was too late now; I couldn't take back my words.

Once again, his hand froze to hover over his keyboard. "No, that's not it at all, and don't you dare think that either." His tone was brash, and I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was infuriated.

I shrank under his deadly glare. "O... okay. Is there anything else you'd like me to do?" I politely asked, trying to salvage the situation.

"As a matter of fact, yes." He grabbed a large stack of paper from beside his laptop and slammed it down in front of me with astounding force. "I want you to compile these contracts. I need them this evening."

My mouth fell open. "Um... I'm sorry, I'm not sure..."

His eyes burned with fury, and he stared at me as if challenging me to finish my sentence.

"Oh-okay then," I muttered as I hoisted the stack of paper into the crook of my elbow.

Realizing that he wasn't going to say anything else, I hastily left his office with my tail between my legs.

Collapsing into my chair, I frantically went over our conversation in my head. At what point did I offend him enough for that to be an acceptable reaction?

Sighing, I decided to head down to lunch before tackling the contracts, knowing fully well that pissing him off further by skipping a meal would most likely not have been the smartest course of action.