by Ivy Nelson
Elijah tossed the fourth resume of the day into the no pile. Were there no competent people in this town? The interview process had been frustrating to say the least and he was remembering why he usually let HR take care of the initial process.
Next, was a man named Jared. Most of the people applying were women—single women—with little experience and even less knowledge about what he did. They saw a rich bachelor with a pretty face. The ones who didn’t fall into that category just didn’t jive with his work style. Finding the right person was proving to be incredibly difficult. Patrick was right, he was too picky.
A male candidate was rare. Maybe that’s what he needed. And damn it, that made him sound sexist. Elijah shook his head and let out a curse as a knock sounded at his door.
“Come in!” he said a little more forcefully than intended.
The man who came in could hardly be called a man. He couldn’t have been more than twenty, and he was so nervous Elijah thought he could see beads of sweat forming. There was no way this would work. The first time Elijah came to work in a bad mood he would scare the poor boy into oblivion.
But he went through the motions and interviewed the kid with the basic script he’d been using all week. When he got to the last question, he thanked the kid for coming and promised that someone would be in touch. As the door closed behind the candidate, Elijah hurled the folder at the door.
A glance at his calendar told him his next interview was in fifteen minutes. He didn’t bother to look at the resume or even their name. What was the point?
After picking up the strewn contents of the folder he’d thrown, he tossed it in the no pile and poured himself a drink which he quickly swallowed. Unprofessional? Probably. But this was his last interview of the day before he went into meetings for the rest of the day. A drink was acceptable.
Pressing the intercom button on his desk phone, he told the receptionist to send in the next candidate.
Thirty seconds later the door slowly opened, and an angel stepped into the doorframe. Dark brown hair the color of rich wood, striking eyes of almost the same shade, and skin like alabaster. The dark green suit she wore hugged her curves just right. But not as well as the jeans she’d worn when he first laid eyes on her. Christ.
“Holly?” he croaked.
The gorgeous woman stepped all the way into his office.
“Mr. Barrett, thank you for taking the time,” she said as she extended her hand.
Was she really going to pretend they didn’t know each other? Or was he that forgettable?
“Mr. Barrett?”
Elijah cleared his throat. “Sorry. Come in and close the door,” he said when he shook the fog from his mind.
“And please call me Elijah.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you again for the opportunity.” Her voice was authoritative and pleasant. Not at all breathy or timid, or sultry, or any of the other inappropriate tones he’d heard from other candidates.
“Thank you for coming in, Holly.” He said her name pointedly and motioned for her to sit. As she lowered herself into the chair across his desk, Elijah rounded the big piece of furniture and sat in the other visitor chair next to her. Angling it so he faced her, he reached for her folder. If she wanted to pretend they hadn’t met each other before, he could do that.
“Tell me about yourself,” he said as he opened the folder. He didn’t look at it though. Watching her was more interesting.
She flashed him a friendly smile as she smoothed her skirt down her thighs. He’d been between those thighs… Damn it. This would not go well.
“I’m currently the fundraising director for a non-profit committed to help children orphaned as a result of conflict in various African nations. In the past six months alone, we’ve raised close to three million dollars. Ninety-five percent which goes directly to funding the cause.
Elijah lifted an eyebrow. “Impressive.”
That stunning smile was back, and Elijah had to clear his throat again. His dick wanted him to ask her to dinner or bend her over his desk. It was wrong to hire someone he was so attracted to and he knew it.
Holly tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and glanced down at her lap.
“Thank you, Mr. Barrett. I’m passionate about it and when I read that your company has ideologies that align with my charity work, I knew I had to apply for the job.”
“Why do you want to leave your current position?”
“I’ve stagnated. The board has made it clear that I won’t be able to move up and I’m not content to be a smiling face. I studied business marketing and African studies and I have more skills than just asking people for money. I think you can put those skills to use.”
Elijah started to speak, but she held her hand up to stop him. Assertive. He liked that.
“I know. You’re only looking for an assistant, but based on my research, you like to promote internally when you can. I may start as your assistant, but I can guarantee if you keep me on long enough, I won’t stay in that position.”
Elijah leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. “I like your confidence, Holly. But I do need an assistant. So, let’s talk about what you can bring to the table.”
“Of course, Mr. Barrett. I’m well versed in most computer software and I’ve spent the last four years of my life making donor calls, so I’m capable of answering your phones. I understand the ins and outs of keeping schedules and being a gatekeeper. If someone isn’t supposed to get to you, they won’t. The farthest they’ll get is me, and if I’m doing my job correctly, they won’t even get that far.”
Elijah couldn’t tear his eyes away from her to look at the discarded folder. She sounded perfect. But if he were going to hire her, they had to address the elephant in the room. It would also be a good opportunity to try and shake her up a bit.
He leaned back and draped an arm over the back of his chair and said, “I think we have something important to address before we go any further.”
Her face flushed and he knew she definitely remembered him. “What would that be, Mr. Barrett?” she asked with a shaky voice.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you three months ago. One of my facilities burned to the ground and I’ve been wrapped up in an investigation to find out who did it.”
Her red lips parted, and she sucked in a sharp breath.
“That’s terrible. I’m so sorry. I wondered what had become of you.”
“If I were to hire you, how would we handle our attraction?”
“I… It would be…” Holly stammered, and Elijah chuckled.
“Inappropriate?” he suggested.
“In every way, Mr. Barrett.”
“Please, call me Elijah.”
“Fine. Elijah, I do find you attractive, but now I have a question. If you weren’t attracted to me would you be interested in hiring me?”
Elijah grinned. It was a good question and the answer was yes.
“I suppose I should at least look at your resume,” he said with a wink.
Holly flashed him a grin then. “I promise I’m way better than I look on paper.”
“Believe me, Holly, I’m well aware,” he said in a husky voice as he flipped open her file.
“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”
“I think I would rather wait until you’ve made your hiring decisions if that’s OK with you.”
Elijah smiled as he turned his attention to the folder.
He glanced over the basic demographic information and went straight to employment history.
A lump formed in his throat when he saw where she worked. Quickly, he went back to the first page. Holly Sutton, of the Sutton Foundation.
Letting his business mask fall back into place, he glanced back up at her. Had Nicholas sent her? Had she been a plant three months ago? Trying to keep the rage from his voice he asked, “How did you hear about this job, Miss Sutton?” His voice lingered on her last name a little longer than it should have.
Her gorgeous fac
e wrinkled in confusion at the change in his demeanor. “My brother, Patrick.”
Elijah closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.
“I’m terribly sorry, Miss Sutton, but this was a mistake. Thank you for coming in. I apologize on behalf of Patrick for leading you to think I could ever hire you. I’ll have a word with him.”
Holly’s face crumpled and for a moment Elijah felt like a complete asshole. To her credit, she recovered and stood gracefully.
“No apologies needed, Mr. Barrett, I’ll show myself out. Thank you for the time.”
And then she was gone. When the door was closed behind her, Elijah slammed his fist into his desk. “God Damn it,” he shouted into the empty office.
There were no more interviews today, and he was no closer to finding an assistant. And now, he had to call and yell at Patrick. What the fuck had his friend been thinking? And why hadn’t he screened the resumes before he agreed to interviews? Of course, if he had, he wouldn’t have been able to see Holly again. Christ. This was a fucking disaster.
The way her face had crumpled told him she probably wasn’t a plant. But the Sutton Foundation was a vile organization that he suspected of laundering money from blood diamonds and other illegal items. On paper it looked like they were doing a world of good for the people affected by the never-ending wars there, but if Elijah was right, the Sutton Foundation was making things worse by funding those wars. An unstable Africa made it easier for people like Sutton to get his diamonds for cheap.
Holly had seemed so passionate about the cause. Could it be that she was unaware of what was happening under her nose? That didn’t seem possible.
Twice, he picked up his phone to call Patrick, but he was raging on the inside and didn’t know if he could talk to his friend without saying something he would regret. Instead, he called the receptionist and told her to cancel his afternoon meeting. Grabbing his gym bag, he stalked to the company gym and changed clothes. A few miles on the treadmill would help him calm down enough to talk to Patrick. At least he hoped so.
Forty-five minutes later, Elijah was back in his office bathroom stripping out of soggy gym clothes. In the shower, he let the hot water course over his sweaty body. As the rivulets rolled down him, his thoughts drifted to Holly. Not the Holly that sat in his office, but the girl he made come in Hunter’s office at the night club. Instantly, his cock stood at attention.
“Christ,” he swore as he yanked the shower knob to cold and winced as the icy stream hit his chest. But the cold did the trick and he turned the water off and stepped out onto the mat.
Drying off, he dressed again in his suit and walked barefoot into his office. His phone showed two missed calls from Patrick. Holly must have called him.
Pressing call on his number, he held the phone to his ear and leaned against the panoramic window that covered one wall of his office. When Patrick answered, he didn’t bother with hello.
“Your sister? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I guess I should have warned you,” Patrick said. “But I told you I wasn’t sleeping with her,” he continued, trying to lighten the mood.
“Don’t make jokes right now. I’m too fucking pissed. Why would you send someone who works for the God damned Sutton Foundation my way? You know how I feel about your family, Patrick.”
His friend let out a heavy sigh. “I was thinking maybe I could get my little sister fucking out of there. I was thinking you need someone who knows what they’re doing, and my sister would be a good fit.”
“And how do you know she isn’t in cahoots with your dad? How do you really know that, Patrick?”
“I just know. Nicholas has kept her close, but he’s also shielded her from the criminal aspect of what he does. He makes her work for the charity but won’t let her run it because he doesn’t want to sully her. She’s his little girl.”
“Exactly. She’s been under his thumb this whole time. You got out. Holly didn’t. I appreciate you wanting to get her away from him, but this was not the way to do it.”
Patrick sighed again. “You’re right. I’m sorry. But I still think you should give her a shot.”
Elijah shook his head. “I just don’t think that’s a good idea. But I’ll keep her resume. Everyone else I’ve interviewed so far was shit. She was actually pretty good, but it still feels wrong.” Of course, there was also the little matter of his intense attraction to her. If Patrick knew about that or their encounter at the night club, he probably wouldn’t be so keen on him hiring his little sister.
“I’ll see you at the lab in the morning for our walk through.”
Ending the call, Elijah sat down at his computer and pulled up a search engine. When he typed in Holly Sutton, a wealth of results popped up.
Hundreds of photos of the stunning woman filled his screen when he hit the images filter. Charity function after charity function. Some were of her by herself, but in most she had someone on her arm, usually the same man, Grant Sterling.
Without thinking, he started to type the man’s name into the search bar but stopped himself. He was falling down a rabbit hole when he had a business to run. It was time to stick Holly Sutton’s folder in a drawer and forget he’d ever met her. That was easier said than done though.
• • •
Holly stalked through the spacious lobby of the Sutton Foundation, her face red and her heart still pounding. Of all the ways she imagined today to go, this was not one of them. While she wasn’t certain the job was hers, she thought she would get a fair chance. Patrick made it sound like he was good friends with Elijah Barrett, and he would put in a good word for her. Not to mention the whole night club encounter and their insane attraction to each other. It turned out that being Patrick’s sister was a mark against her. She wanted to call her brother but thought better of it. At the moment, her anger was getting the better of her.
What irked her even more was that she couldn’t get Elijah’s piercing dark gaze out of her head. The man had flirted with her, confessed his attraction, and then just dismissed her as if nothing had transpired between them. But something had sparked between them and not just today. Elijah might be capable of forgetting all of that, but Holly wasn’t able to dismiss it quite so easily. No one had ever made her feel that way with just a look. Hell, no one had made her feel that way period. Not even the best sex she’d experienced had affected her like this—night club notwithstanding.
A glance at her still silenced phone told her she had missed a call from Patrick. Had he heard how badly the interview went? Was he calling to scold her? Or maybe he was calling to apologize. Holly let it go to voicemail. She wasn’t ready to talk. A moment later, the phone buzzed in her hand.
Come on Holls answer the phone. I talked to Elijah.
Shit. Maybe they really were friends. When she reached her office door, she sighed and brought the phone to her ear.
“I’m sorry, Holly, I should have warned you that Elijah kind of has an issue with the Sutton Foundation.”
“I thought you would have told him who I was, Patrick. Do you know how humiliated I was? The man asked me to dinner and then the second he finds out I’m your sister, he bolted and ended the interview.”
There was silence on the line before Patrick said, ‘I’m sorry. Did you say he asked you to dinner? I swear I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“For asking me to dinner or for behaving like a jackass when he found out who I was?”
“Both.”
Holly let out a mirthless laugh. Her brother would blow a gasket if he knew what happened three months ago. “So chivalrous. I’m a grown woman, I can handle this.”
“You’re my sister. I send you in for a potential job and he hits on you? Completely uncalled for.”
Holly shrugged as if Patrick could see her. “I thought it was nice. Until he got all weird about where I work. I’m so confused. The Sutton Foundation does a lot of good work in the same areas his company invests in”
Patrick let out a long sigh. “
It’s complicated, sis. I don’t know how to explain it without digging up a lot of old ghosts. Some of them aren’t really mine to dig up. But if you’re really interested in the job, I’ll talk some sense into him.” Patrick’s emphasis on the word job did not go unnoticed. He was not so subtly telling her that she was not allowed to be sexually attracted to Elijah Barrett. Well too bad, and too late.
Holly wasn’t sure if she wanted to work for him, but even after his awful behavior, she heard herself saying, “If you think he’ll listen I do really admire the work his company does and would love to be a part of it.” It wasn’t a lie, but she also had to admit that she didn’t mind the thought of seeing Elijah Barrett again—even if he was rude.
Chapter Five
Elijah glared at Patrick as they stood outside the newly built diamond production lab waiting for the construction foreman to walk them through. He was still mad at him for surprising him with Holly, but he was also angry at himself for not being able to get the gorgeous girl out of his head.
He wanted to call her and invite her to dinner but knew there was a very low chance of her ever talking to him again.
The foreman pulled up in his pickup and climbed out.
“Mr. Barrett, Mr. Sutton. Sorry to keep you waiting, traffic was terrible.”
He dug a wad of keys from his pocket and handed one to each of them before using a third to unlock the door. “We think we got everything just the way you wanted it, and we even managed to get your update requests all fit in. You just have to go through the final city inspection, and you’ll be up and running again.”
That was already on the books for next week.
“Thank you,” Patrick said as they walked through the new facility. “We may be talking to you again soon about building a similar project.”
Elijah rolled his eyes. Patrick had been hounding him to expand their production since before the fire.
“Come on, Elijah, you know we need to expand. The only way we’re going to get more than our current one-point five percent of the market share is to increase our production,” Patrick said when he saw Elijah’s expression.
