“And why is that?”
“There are prettier girls out there.”
I studied her. She was lacking confidence, that was true. But maybe if she agreed to this, I could help her see what she couldn’t. I could ask Chloe to take her shopping and show her how to dress up for this role. I had no doubt that she could look the part.
Regardless, I didn’t like playing that lack of confidence game outright, so I decided to dance around it lightly. “That could be said.”
She slumped a little at my words but didn’t fight me.
I continued, “But you might be surprised at how attractive you really are.”
Her head shot up and her eyes found mine, holding me with intensity. “You think I’m attractive?”
I began to play with the condensation on the glass. I collected the beads of dew on my finger and trailed up gathering a drop. I ran my finger back down and continued the pattern. When I looked at her, her eyes were heavily lidded, and she was trained on my finger moving up and down.
I brought my hand to my lap as a different kind of tension entered the air. “I would be lying if I said you didn’t have a certain allure to you. I noticed you right away when you came in for the interview, regardless of what you were wearing.”
“Oh.” A blush crawled into her cheeks, and she looked away.
I smiled and licked my lips. “Is there anything else you would like to know?”
“I can’t think of anything at the moment.”
“What is your decision, then. Will you with for me?”
She fidgeted briefly, but then nodded. “Yes.”
Relief swam over me. “Very well. I would like you to get started as soon as possible. Starting this week after your background check clears, I’ll have Patricia forward you some paperwork, and then I’ll draw up a formal contract to forward to the email you provided. You’ll need to sign it in front of a notary, and I’ll need the physical copy with the seal on it. Is that within your capabilities?”
“Yes, I believe I can figure out how to get that done.”
I glanced at my watch. I had a meeting soon and we needed to wrap this up. “Good. I have a corporate Christmas party on the 23rd. You’ll need to have an appropriate ensemble and we’ll need to iron out any of the formal etiquette that you are not yet aware of. Your compensation will begin the day you submit all of your paperwork, if that helps to motivate you.”
AVERY
I couldn’t believe this was happening. I still needed to know one thing, but I was totally on board with whatever Mr. Crawford was telling me.
“And when would you like me to move in? I have finals next week and I’ll need time to pack my things.”
“As soon as I have all of your paperwork. The sooner the better. You’ll need to try to find a way to make it with around finals.”
Anxiety bloomed in my chest. “I will try my best.”
“Very well.” Mr. Crawford moved to stand and held out a hand to help me up. “I expect an honest effort to turn in paperwork as soon as possible. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
He looked down at me and gave a quick smile before indicating the door. “Good. Now, I have a meeting I have to attend. Patricia will be in contact with you this afternoon. Hopefully we can arrange for you to be at the house starting on Monday.”
It was obvious that he was the boss in all things. Now that I’ve agreed, he had no problems assuming that control over me as well. I shoved down my annoyance as the strife for self-preservation prevailed. I opened up my phone and looked over my calendar. Monday would work, but I had two finals on that day.
“I can try to make that work. I have finals until the evening, but I can probably move my stuff over.”
He nodded. “Please do. Oh, one more thing.” He walked over to his desk and pulled out a smartphone. It looked like it was brand new. “This is your new company phone. My numbers and Patricia’s numbers are already programmed in it. I would prefer if you leave this phone strictly for work.”
I accepted the device from him and pocketed it. He walked me to the door and opened it.
“Avery,” his hand gently took mine and pulled me back over to him. He looked down at me, his eyes slightly hooded and the space between us beginning to grow hot. “Can I trust you with this information?”
I swallowed and my fingers twitched, bringing awareness to the fact that he still held them in his. “Yes.”
“Good girl. Now get going. We’ll talk soon.”
I walked through the door. ‘Good girl’ resounded in my head. As soon as he had said it, there was something in me that felt like it came alive. I looked back at him and there was something else in his eyes, but he quickly nodded with a small smile and closed the door as if nothing had happened. As if his words hadn’t affected him in the same way they affected me.