She felt her stomach sink and her courage waver slightly as she walked toward him. He looked up, and she almost stopped in her tracks. Something in his blue-gray eyes and fine features made everything in her nearly lock up. It was as if she had known him from a dream, or a dream of a dream, from long before, though they had never met. He seemed immediately familiar to her, and it took all of her presence of mind to focus on the moment at hand.
She smiled, and he stood up, his squared jaw seeming to clench and unclench for a second, his cool eyes riveted to her. She saw his gaze drift over her form once, but then he looked back into her eyes, and he didn’t look away again.
He was beautiful; there was no other word for it. His features seemingly chiseled from marble, his eyes like a stormy sea, his mouth curved, and his lips full. His nose straight and narrow. Everything about his face was evenly set; he looked almost too perfect. His shoulders were broad, and though he wore a custom-tailored suit, there was no hiding his toned and muscular physique beneath it.
He might as well have just stepped out of a Greek God fashion magazine. His skin was fair but tanned, and he looked the picture of health. She swallowed lightly and reminded herself that she was hoping he would be her boss.
Chapter2
Kyle hadn’t known what to expect of her when she walked in, but it certainly wasn’t the elegant and sensual woman who was coming toward him. He rose from his chair and watched her walking. She was poised and confident, graceful and strong. Not unlike a wild cat approaching something that it was curious about. He allowed himself a brief moment to glance at her body, his eyes quickly tracing her curves and lines, before he looked back up into her face and reached his hand out to her.
“Good morning. I’m Kyle Drake. Thank you for coming in,” he spoke clearly and evenly.
She smiled, and warmth seemed to spread from her face like the morning sun outside—so bright and comforting. As she leaned forward slightly to shake his hand, he caught the subtle scent of her perfume, and it stole his thoughts away for a second to something like summer, flowers, sweetness, and softness. He wanted to breathe more of it in, but he withdrew his hand from hers and indicated that she should sit in the chair before his desk.
“Thank you for interviewing me. I’m glad to get this chance to meet you and talk with you.” She looked to him as if she might be there interviewing him as well, and he smiled a little, pleased at her obvious confidence.
“I see that you’ve been working for the firm for five years. How do you like it here?” he asked, not bothering to look at his notes or her file. He already knew quite well what it said.
“I love it here. This was my dream job straight out of college, and I was lucky enough to get it. I’ve never wanted to work anywhere else, and now I’m hoping that I’ll be able to work for you. It would be the best part of my time at this firm.” She smiled again, and he noticed her teeth were even and white, complementing her milk chocolate and golden honey skin tones.
“Why do you want to work for me?” he asked, pushing a little to see what she’d say.
There was no hesitation. “I am a dedicated woman; I work hard, and when I commit myself to anything, I commit all that I am to it. You’re a winner. You’re one of the best attorneys this firm has ever brought in, and I want my hard work to count toward something successful. I know that if I were working as your associate, I’d be a strong asset to you, and you would be a solid investment for my time and efforts.”
He drew in a long slow breath and nodded. “Good. I like that you know a bit about me already, and I like that you’re so focused.” He touched his hand to the file before him without looking down at it. “Your records speak for themselves; your tremendous successes in college, and your dedication and hard work here.” He was quiet for a moment as he studied her face and her eyes.
“I see in here that you have a family. Would you tell me about it, please?” he asked, his gaze locked on her.
She hadn’t expected him to bring up her family, and she wasn’t sure what it would have to do with her job, but she was willing to answer his query. “I have two children. Twins. A boy and a girl. They’ll be a year old in three months. I also have a sister and a grandmother here in Manhattan.”
He lifted his hand and touched his fingertip to the front of his chin in a thoughtful way. “Do you think that your children, being so young, will cause you to need excessive time out of the office?”
She shook her head. “No, I have a good babysitter, and if it becomes necessary, I have my sister and grandmother to rely on if I need help.”
Kyle listened quietly and lowered his hand so that it rested at the edge of the arm of his chair. “What about a husband or a partner? Is there some kind of father figure who could help you while you work long hours, now and then?”
His eyes were deep and intent on her, and she felt her heart pick up its pace. “No, there’s no one but me.” She felt hot blood begin to course through every vein even faster, and she wondered what it was that was making her react the way she was. “It’s not a problem, though. I chose to become a mother on my own, and I’ve handled it just fine on my own this whole time. It’s never been a problem for me here at the firm.” She hoped that he couldn’t sense her confidence wavering.
She glanced from his silvery blue eyes to his mouth and felt her heart begin to race even more. He was distractingly good looking. She raised her eyes to his again and saw him watching her.
“I see that in your file here. Your children are mentioned, but there has never been a problem with your attendance or your work. That’s admirable.” He studied her closely and tilted his head slightly to one side. “This is a personal question, and you don’t have to answer it, but I’m curious… what made you decide to have children on your own while you were beginning to build a career?
“That’s a considerable commitment to two different things that could conceivably pull you in opposite directions.” He was fascinated with her, and he was quickly discovering that the more he got to know about her, the more he realized he didn’t know nearly as much about her as he thought he did, and it made him hungry for more information.
She lifted her chin and met his gaze. “I knew I could do it. I can do anything that I set my mind and heart to, and I knew what I wanted. I wanted a family, and it was clear to me that creating a traditional family wasn’t going to be possible in the time frame that I wanted to start a family, so I did it on my own, and I’ve worked hard to make it a success. I balance my personal life with my children and my commitment to my career evenly, and it’s working well.”
The corner of his mouth turned up in a smile, and his eyes seemed to spark with a light behind them that left her mystified. Her stomach tightened as her skin began to warm beneath his steady gaze. “Good. I’m really glad to hear that,” he returned simply.
“What are your goals here at his firm?” he asked, feeling as if he could spend the whole morning peeling layers upon layers of information out of her and still want to dig deeper for more.
“I’m here long-term. I don’t want to be anywhere else. I want to be an associate, then a junior partner, and if I work hard and the managing partner sees me as an asset, then I’d like to be a senior partner someday. I’m willing to stay here and work for it. It’s what I want more than anything,” she stated honestly.
“Except a family…” he added as he raised one brow.
She gave him a nod. “I have both now, and I will keep both well-balanced.”
He leaned forward then and peered intently at her. “And what if you meet someone and fall in love and decide that you want to have a traditional family in addition to everything you’ve got so carefully balanced now? What then? You won’t have time for the job, the children, and the love interest. That would throw off one of the other plates you’re spinning, and my guess would be that the job would be the first to suffer that imbalance.”
Curiosity was pulling hard at him as he waited for her to answer. He had to know
what she would say; how she would react and handle the problem scenario he put before her. He wasn’t wrong about it, and they both knew it.
“I don’t have time for anything more than the job and the kids right now. It’s what I have, and it’s all I want. I’m not interested in changing my situation,” she answered unwaveringly. “I’ve outlined my priorities for you. They aren’t going to change. I know what I want, and I go after it. I wanted the babies and I got them. I wanted this job at this firm, and I have it.
“I don’t need anything else except to work for you and show you why you can’t do your best here without me.” She left it at that and watched as he smiled slowly, looking as if he had been trying to resist smiling at her and could no longer hold it back.
“Well, then, I guess I’d better hire you. I have to do my best, and I can see that you’re right. There’s probably no chance that I could do it without you.” He stood up and held his hand out to her. “Congratulations, Aleisha, you’re my new associate. I’ll have your office set up beside mine today, and you’ll start tomorrow.”
Aleisha rose from her chair and placed her hand in his, giving his a solid shake. “Thank you, Mr. Drake. You’ll be glad you did this.”
“Please, call me Kyle,” he added with a wider smile. “And I think I’m already glad I did. Good luck.”
She grinned back at him and turned to leave, trying to breathe in slowly and deeply as she walked out of his office, not wanting to give away any tell-tale bounce in her step or squeal of delight. She closed his office door behind her and caught Grace’s eye when the older woman looked up over the top of her glasses at her expectantly.
Chapter3
“I got the job!” Aleisha bubbled. Grace grinned.
“I thought you would. Congratulations! You can get your office set up right there beside his today.”
Aleisha thanked her again and went toward the elevators, excitement nearly pouring out of her. Five minutes later, when she was sitting at her desk in the pit alongside all of the other no-name attorneys in the belly of the law firm beast, she picked up her phone and, with trembling fingers, she dialed her sister’s phone number.
It rang twice, and Rainy answered in a rush. “Well? How did it go? Did you get it?”
“I got the job.” Aleisha answered in a quiet and blissful voice.
Her sister screamed as loud and joyously as she wished that she could at that moment. “That’s the best! Aleisha, I knew you were going to get it! I knew it! No one works as hard as you do, and you’ve earned this, honey! You earned it!! One of these days you’re going to have your name up on that wall right along with all those other big shot attorneys!”
Aleisha rolled her eyes a little. “Hey, let’s not get too far ahead here, I’m going up, but I need to take it a step at a time.”
“So, what’s your boss like? The new guy… is he nice? Is he going to be good to you?” Rainy asked in z tumble of questions.
With a sigh, Aleisha let her shoulders droop a little. “He is nice, and I think he’s going to be professional and hard working. A lot like me. But… there is one thing. He’s really good looking. I just hope it’s not a distraction for me.”
“Oh hush, that won’t be a distraction. Consider it a perk, and yourself lucky!” Rainy laughed at her. “I’m so proud of you, sis. Now, grandma wants me to ask you over for dinner tomorrow night. Can you come?”
“I’ll be there. Thanks!” Aleisha grinned again and they said goodbye. She hung up the phone and looked around at her desk, wondering where to start packing it all up to take it upstairs to her new office, and her bright new future.
Chapter4
The very next day, Aleisha had taken all of the contents of her desk in the pen and brought them up to her new office. Her new space had a big window on one wall that overlooked the city. She had a shared wall with Kyle Drake, and the other wall was shared with another associate who worked as an assistant to Richard Peterson. The front of her office was a solid wall with a wooden door that opened up to a wide office space where Grace sat at her desk.
Aleisha was still setting things up when Grace came in with a purple and white orchid and a big smile on her kind face. “Welcome to the team,” she said, handing the orchid to Aleisha.
“Thank you so much! This is lovely!” Aleisha smiled as she took it and placed it on a shelf not too far from the window. “It’s just what this office needs.”
“I think you’ll be just what this office needs,” Grace replied with a wink. “Congratulations. It’s a big accomplishment to make it to this floor.”
“I am lucky, and I know it,” Aleisha said with a happy sigh. “I’ve worked really hard to get where I am, and I knew that someday it would pay off, but being here is still really surreal. I’m going to jump right into it, though. I want to show Kyle and all the partners that I was definitely the right person for this job and that they made the right choice.”
Grace gave her a nod. “I can see that you’ll do that. I’m glad that you’ll be working on Kyle’s team with me. We’re going to be a group that wins. I have no doubt.” She looked at the box that was sitting on a chair, waiting to be fully emptied. “Well, I’d better let you get back to it. I’ll see you soon. Let me know if you need anything.”
“I will, and thank you so much. I’m looking forward to working with you.” Aleisha smiled as the other woman walked out of her office, and then she turned her attention back to the task at hand –unpacking her box of personal items and setting up for her new position.
She had just finished up and was sitting down at her computer to get it personalized when there was a knock at her open door. She looked up to see Kyle pausing there before he walked in. He was wearing a tailored navy blue suit with a button-up vest and a light blue satin tie. He looked as if he had just lifted himself off of the cover of a gentleman’s magazine and come to life. He could barely be more impeccably dressed or gorgeous looking.
She smiled at him and lifted her chin. “Good morning.”
“Are you all settled in?” he asked as he approached her desk with an armload of files.
She gave him a nod and held her hands out. “Unpacked and ready to work. What can I get started on?”
He set the whole stack of files, at least twenty of them, on her desk. “I want you to go through these to begin with and close all of them. Each of them has some small bit of work that has to be finished up — forms that need to be signed or mailed, and various trivial tasks to review before they’re closed. They’re just waiting to be completed. Finish them up, close the cases, and file them.”
Kyle watched her, and she gave him an extra thousand-watt smile to reassure him. “I’ll get right on it.”
He was just turning to go when he stopped short and looked down at a picture frame on the corner of her desk. Reaching his hand down slowly, he closed his fingers around the edge of it gently and lifted it, staring at the photograph set into it.
She watched him in surprise as he gazed silently for a long moment. He looked as if the rest of the world had suddenly fallen away from him and nothing existed except what he was looking at. She wondered if he was as intently focused on all the things he turned his attention to. She thought of her interview and how his gaze had pierced into her during the time she had spent sitting in front of him, as if he was looking right through her mind and soul.
“Are these your children?” he asked quietly.
“Yes,” she grinned, looking at the photograph adoringly. “I have twins. That’s Harry, and that’s his sister Hailey.”
“How old are they?” he asked, his eyes not leaving the photograph.
“They’re nine months now. They’re a handful, but I love them completely, and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.” She laughed a little, thinking of them.
“What are they like?” he asked curiously. “Are their personalities beginning to show at all?”
“Definitely,” she answered. “Their personalities have been prevalent almost
since birth. Harry is a little bit of a scamp; he’s curious and strong willed, determined and a little stubborn. He always tries to do everything for himself as much as he can. He’s really independent. Hailey is so sweet. She has the biggest heart in the world. She’s such a good baby. She’s really generous and loving, very affectionate, and well behaved. They’re both really happy and healthy. I’m so lucky, and I know it.”
He listened to her in silence as he took in the image, keeping his eyes steady on it, and finally he set it down with a slight frown. “You are lucky.” Aleisha noticed a shadow cross Kyle’s face as his eyes seemed to darken and his mouth closed in a tight line. He turned away from her.
“Get to work on those files immediately,” he spoke almost gruffly as he stalked suddenly from her office and slammed the door behind him.
Somewhat startled, she jumped and drew in a sharp breath, but blinked her surprise away and turned to the huge stack of files on her desk, happy to get started on them. With a swift glance toward the photograph of her babies, she felt a surge of pride and accomplishment, and she knew that every single thing she was doing was a step in the right direction toward making a beautiful life for her and for her two little ones.
The Billionaire's Twin Fever (MANHATTAN BACHELORS Book 1) Page 2
