Forbidden First Times: A Contemporary Romance Collection

by Sofia T Summers

  I nodded. “I’ve been working in event planning for a few years,” I said. “But I’m sure there’s still so much to learn.”

  Pam nodded again. “Yes,” she said. “There is – but I’m not worried. Your references spoke very highly of you.”

  We sat down at the conference table, facing each other, and I swallowed nervously.

  “So,” Pam continued. “Tell me a little about your past experience.”

  I hesitated for a moment. The truth was, I’d worked so hard over the last five years that I hadn’t had much time to stop and think about what I was doing. It had been less about building a career than simply surviving as a single mom to a little girl and trying to make ends meet, all without letting my baby know just how impoverished we really were.

  It wasn’t the kind of thing I’d have admitted to most interviewers, but Pam seemed ... well, so warm, that I couldn’t resist, and after I gave her an abridged version of events, she was smiling at me.

  “We value honesty and integrity at Empire, Annie, and it sounds like you have a lot of that,” Pam said, speaking slowly as if she were thinking the words over as they emerged from her mouth.

  I smiled at her. “Thank you,” I said. Inside, my heart was beginning to thud just a little faster than usual. Had I made a misstep in mentioning that I was a single mom? I knew it had been a big risk, but it had been so long since I’d interviewed for anything that I’d lost the trick of it.

  I should’ve done more research about interviewing, I thought.

  Pam finished speaking and nodded at me. She took out a leather portfolio case and when she opened the flaps, I saw my resume sitting on top of a small stack of papers. Pam took my resume in her hands and skimmed it briefly.

  “So, in short, this position is just above entry-level,” she said. “And we would normally be looking for someone with a few more years of experience, but I have to tell you – I think that you’d be a great fit. We have a salary band set in place for this role, and I think you’d come in near the top.”

  I nodded. I didn’t want to risk embarrassing myself by saying anything else, but the truth was that money was the least my concerns at the moment. My mom had made it clear that she didn’t want to see me and Lilah moving back out, but I had to have a job – if I didn’t have something to get me out of the house every day, I had a feeling that I’d start growing crazy. Working would put some level or degree of normalcy in my life, and I was determined to make that happen.

  “That sounds good,” I replied.

  As Pam told me a little more about the job – the team I’d be working with, the kinds of projects that Empire took on, the office culture itself, I nodded and listened along. I felt absurdly confident, which was strange for me even though I knew that I had always done an okay job at my old place of employment.

  “Do you have any questions for me?” Pam asked.

  “What would a typical day look like for me here?” I responded.

  Pam laughed and I immediately wondered if I’d made a blunder. But then she smiled at me.

  “I apologize,” she said. “But the thing is, at Empire, there aren’t really any typical days. You’d arrive and get to work on putting together the pieces for any project that would be our top priority at the time. You’d likely spend some time with our clients and depending on who they are, some time arranging for positive public relations news about them.” She chuckled again, looking slightly guilty. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this,” Pam added. “But some of our clients are ... well, troubled probably isn’t the word. But you know. The children of the wealthy are sometimes spoiled from such a young age,” she continued. “And by the time they’re turning fifteen or sixteen, they’ve done a lot of damage to their own reputations. That’s when things like college admissions come into play – we set them up with a pet project or a charity and make sure everyone on the Harvard admissions board knows about it.”

  I nodded, wondering what kind of strange world I’d meandered into. It wasn’t exactly a secret that I’d grown up with plenty of money – all of my parents’, of course – but I’d never really felt comfortable with that. Maybe it was because my parents had worked so hard to keep me sheltered and naïve, or maybe it was just because I wasn’t a diva.

  “Well, either way, it sounds very interesting,” I said honestly. “And challenging, but in a good way.”

  Pam nodded. “You’re diplomatic,” she said. “I like that.” She cleared her throat. “Now, I have to ask – do you have reliable transportation and child-care arrangements.”

  “My mother watches my daughter,” I said hesitantly. “And no, transportation isn’t a problem.”

  Pam looked relieved as she nodded once. “Let’s talk about some of your duties,” she said, rifling through the paperwork. “Or rather, what they would be if you were to get the job.”

  Half an hour later, I was feeling confident and almost breezy as Pam motioned for me to get to my feet. I’d been able to answer every question without stumbling, and we’d had a little back and forth about the company culture overall that made me genuinely curious about what it would look like to work there.

  “I shouldn’t tell you this,” Pam said as she leaned in. “But I think you’re very likely to get the job. We’ve been interviewing for a couple of weeks, and you’re easily the strongest candidate that we’ve had. We have so many positions open right now that we’re trying to fill them all as long as the right person comes along, and if you were to accept our offer, it would be great to on-board everyone at a similar time. And from one single mom to another, I just want to say good job.” She looked slightly embarrassed as we shook hands. “I know how hard it is. Trust me.”

  Pam led me out of the room and down the hall, chattering about the history of the company all the while. I tried to look engaged and interested, which I was ... but my mind was racing and my palms wee more than a little damp. The strangest feeling was growing inside of me, and it didn’t let up, not even after I’d shaken Pam’s hand once again and made my way out to the parking lot.

  If anything, the feeling only got stronger with each passing moment. I drove home, wondering irrationally if anything had happened to my mom or Lilah while I had been gone. But as soon as I let myself in the front door, I saw that everything was normal. Lilah was sitting on the floor with some of my old Beatrix Potter books and stuffed animals, and she barely looked up until I called her name. Then, she launched herself at me and giggled happily as she wrapped her arms around my legs.

  “Mommy, I didn’t miss you,” Lilah declared proudly.

  I snorted before reaching down and ruffling my hand through her messy blonde curls.

  “Well, I missed you. I missed you a lot,” I told her. “How’s my best girl doing?”

  My mother emerged from the dining room. She was wearing an apron and there was a comical smudge of flour on her cheek. When she saw me, she smiled with relief and wiped her hands on the apron.

  “I’m so glad you’re back,” she said. “We had a time, didn’t we, Lilah?”

  Lilah stuck her tongue out and I laughed briefly.

  “What happened?”

  “Oh, nothing,” my mom said, raising her eyebrow at me. “Want to help me take this Bundt cake out of the oven?”

  Lilah’s attention was once again absorbed in Peter Cottontail, and after glancing down at her for a few seconds, I followed my mom into the kitchen.

  “She seems to think that because she’s with me and not at pre-school, she doesn’t have to pay attention,” my mother said, rolling her eyes as she bent down and opened the oven. A delicious, warm smelled the living room and I closed my eyes and smiled – for just a second, it was like being a kid again.

  “I’m sorry,” I said apologetically. “I’ll make sure that she knows she has to listen to you. I didn’t mean to be so long – the interview ran a lot longer than I thought it would.”

  My mom shook her head. “Don’t even worry about it,” she said. “I’
m just so glad that you and Lilah are going to be staying with me.” She ran a hand through her hair, looking tired and almost sad as she did it.

  “I know you miss him,” I said quietly. “I do, too.”

  My mom nodded. “Sometimes things feel almost normal again,” she said. “But then it hits me like, out of nowhere.”

  Not caring about my mom’s floury apron or my own clothes, I pulled her against me into a tight embrace. Mom collapsed against me and I held her in my arms, breathing in the scent of Pond’s cold cream and face powder that would always remind me of being a little kid.

  As we pulled away, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and I reached for it, peering down at the unknown number as it scrolled across my screen.

  “Hang on a sec,” I said to my mom as I swiped open the call. “This is Annie,” I said.

  “Annie, hi, this is Pam, from Empire,” Pam said. She cleared her throat. “I wanted to reach out and make you a verbal offer for the job.”

  Her words took a few moments to sink in but when they did, I had to cover my mouth with my free hand to keep from squealing. Mom gave me a confused look and I shook my head quickly, indicating for her to keep silent.

  “Yes,” I said. “Absolutely! Thank you so much for calling – I thought it would be at least a week or so before I heard anything from you.”

  Pam chuckled. “Let’s just say that I’m friendly with the human resources department and the hiring manager,” she said. “You should expect to get an emailed offer within the next day or so.”

  “When I can I start?” I asked.

  “Yesterday?” Pam asked jokingly and we both laughed. When the sound had faded, she cleared her throat again. “It would be great if we could start you at the beginning of next week.”

  “That’s perfect,” I said. “Thank you again.”

  We hung up and I turned to face my mom.

  “I heard everything,” she said. “Honey, I’m so happy for you! You must have knocked it out of the park when you were in there!”

  “I think I did,” I said. I was smiling so widely that my face hurt.

  “I was going to do a chicken bake for dinner,” Mom said. “But forget that – get Lilah dressed in something nice and let’s go out.”

  I nodded, but in that moment I wasn’t thinking about Lilah. I wasn’t thinking about my mom.

  I wasn’t even thinking about dinner.

  I was thinking about Elliot, and how I had the sudden and irrational urge to text him immediately and tell him about the major victory I’d just scored.

  The week leading up to my start date at Empire passed pretty quickly. I spent a painful afternoon shopping at Nordstrom’s, with Lilah in tow, trying to build a capsule wardrobe for my new job that wouldn’t make me seem hopelessly out of touch with my soon-to-be wealthy clients and their privileged children. Lilah was fussy and more ill-behaved than she’d been in ages, and by the time we got home, I was so wiped out that I fell asleep without eating dinner that night.

  The morning of my first day at Empire, I got up an hour earlier than usual and did my hair, trying to my best to tame my blonde frizz into anything other than a complete mop. After dressing in a loose tunic top and a pair of slacks that felt more like leggings, I slipped my new heels (they were low ones) on and grabbed my bag. Lilah was settled down with a coloring book and I kissed the top of her head before hugging my mom and leaving. Thankfully, traffic was light and it didn’t take me long to reach the massive office building.

  This is a new start for me, I thought as I rode the elevator up and walked into the office. To my surprise, Pam and a group of other people were waiting for me.

  “Annie, I’d like you to meet the rest of your team,” she said as she introduced my new coworkers, one by one. “And then this whole group, well, they’re all new today, too! I thought you guys could take lunch together after we go over some basic policies and get you set up at your stations.”

  I nodded. “That sounds great,” I said.

  “But first, I have kind of a treat for you guys,” Pam said. She smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “I know it sounds a little silly, but I told all of the board members that there’s a group of new hires starting today, and I thought maybe one or two of them could speak to you for a while! They’re all such valued members of Empire, and they have a lot of insight that could really help your careers here!”

  The reactions from the group of new hires were, predictably, not as enthused as Pam had expected but I made a show of smiling widely and nodding.

  “That sounds good,” I told her. “Thanks so much!”

  Pam herded us down the hall and into a large, tiered conference room that put me slightly in mind of a Roman amphitheater.

  “Why don’t you all sit in the back,” she suggested. “And I’ll go get the board!”

  We shuffled collectively up the stairs and fanned out in the back row. My new colleagues were already looking bored and while I had to admit that being “treated” to what was likely to be a dry and stuffy board meeting on my first day wasn’t exactly appealing, I wanted to do well here.

  After all, it was looking like Lilah and I were going to be living with my mom for years at this point, if not permanently.

  The door to the conference room opened and the board members came into the room, clearing their throats and talking amongst themselves. Most of them were older – obviously middle-aged guys in suits and ties and jackets – and balding. Serious-looking guys who were probably even less thrilled about having to speak to the new hires than we were.

  When I saw the last board member come in, my jaw dropped and my heart stopped.

  It was Elliot, and he was staring right at me. Our eyes locked and I felt my skin flame and flush with embarrassed heat. My lungs burned and ached and I sucked in a greedy mouthful of air, remembering to breathe.

  “Are you okay?” I heard a voice hiss from the side. Turning, I saw another new hire in my group – a friendly-looking girl with shiny brown hair and big eyes.

  “Yeah,” I lied, whispering low so that Elliot wouldn’t hear me. “I’m just nervous, that’s all.”

  The girl laughed quietly. “Trust me,” she said. “This is going to be the most boring day of your life. I wouldn’t stress about it,” she added.

  Oh, you don’t know just how wrong you are, I thought, forcing a smile at her and turning my attention back to the front of the room where Elliot stood behind a podium, his eyes fixed intensely on mine.

  21

  Elliot

  I could hardly believe it – Annie was one of the new hires? I wanted to put my face in my hands and groan. How the hell that this happened? The neighboring areas of Boston were huge and vast, so huge that she’d been able to successfully hide from me for years.

  And here she was, right under my fucking nose, at the company where I’d worked to build my career. I was kicking myself for not having suspected as much ahead of time, but it wasn’t like I went out of my way to spend time conversing with HR and chatting about new hires.

  “This is our new group of assistant planners,” Pam, the coordinator of human resources, announced proudly.

  Oh god, and she’s an assistant?! That’s even worse, I thought. The urge to bury my head in the sand was stronger than ever as I realized with a horrible feeling of dread that if anyone were to find out about what had transpired between Annie and myself, it would certainly mean the end of my career and the end of her reputation.

  And we just hooked up, too, I thought, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. What a fucking mess.

  The illicit affair between us had already felt more than a little taboo, but if word ever got out about it, I would be ruined.

  The worst part was, as much as I knew that I shouldn’t be involved with her, I still wanted her and now, I felt it stronger than ever. Her curves weren’t concealed in a loose, drapey top she wore – when I closed my eyes, I could picture the ripe jiggle of her tits, the stiff pink peaks of her nipples, th
e way she’d moan loudly when I took them into my mouth and sucked. She looked different – a little more groomed than usual, wearing more subtle colors, and I could see slight touches of makeup on her face. Strangely, that drove me even more crazy – knowing that my sweet, sexy goddess was inside those professional clothes and trying to act like she wasn’t thirsting for my cock.

  Hot arousal coursed through my veins and I clenched my jaw and forced my eyes away from Annie’s lovely round face.

  “Elliot?” Pam’s smile faltered slightly as she stepped closer to me. “We were schedule to start now,” she said. “The new hires all have orientation in a little while, so I was hoping that—”

  “I’ve got it,” I said smoothly, turning away from her and back to the podium. Of course, as soon as my eyes swept the room and locked with Annie’s again, I knew that I was going to be useless.

  Clearing my throat, I just hoped that I could get through this quickly and in one piece.

  “Welcome to Empire,” I said, surveying the other new hires and trying to keep my gaze from Annie’s loveliness. Compared to her, they were all faceless and plain, like they were wearing identical masks without even realizing it. Some of them echoed back a weak ‘thank you’ and one or two even began clapping, then stopped as a horrified, awkward silence filled the room.

  “This won’t take much of your time,” I said. “I promise, we’ll get you off to filling out those thrilling direct deposit forms soon!” I had expected laughter, even at that stale line, but the room stayed silent and inwardly, I groaned.

  “Right,” I continued. “So. Um. I’m Elliot Pritzker – I’ve been on the board here just a short time, but I hope to make a big impact.” As soon as my words came out of my mouth, I nearly cringed at how stupid I sounded – like a stuffed shirt, like I’d been born with a corporate buzzword dictionary in my head.

  “Anyway, this isn’t about me, but about the company as a whole. Empire has been working to change the lives of millions through philanthropy for years, and I’m sure you’re all going to prove valuable assets to our team.”