by Kelli Walker
He looked familiar.
For a reason I couldn't put my finger on, it was like I had encountered this man before.
But that wasn’t possible. I would’ve known if Kenneth Weber and I had ever come into contact.
Kenneth
It felt good, sitting in my own CEO chair. Staring out over the expanse of Miami. Looking down at all the people below me. Little dots maneuvering around, unaware of the power and prestige that hung above them. Casual Recreations, Inc. had been slowly tanking for a long time. Out-of-date business practices coupled with products that were never improved upon were the slow bane of this business’s existence. And I was hired to bring it back to the glory days it should’ve always had.
I had a heart for the health and wellness industry. A true passion for it. Other businesses I had helped? That was a quick way to make a buck. I’d swoop in with my knowledge and my money and promise businesses of all shapes and sizes the prestige and honor they’d always dreamt of in exchange for a certain percentage of their business.
Forever.
But my soul would always belong to the health and wellness industry. Not simply for its techniques and its promotion of a healthy lifestyle, but it’s decadence as well. Soothing essential oils infused into lotions that were used in top-of-the-line massages. Pedicure chairs with warming seats scattered across the countries in many top spas around the world. Seaweed wraps and facial masks and several hundred patents ranging from all-natural nail polishes to natural teeth whiteners. I owned all of it.
For a mere thirty million dollars.
It was pocket change for me. Casual Recreations was a sinking ship I knew how to right. The owner was looking for help, but I convinced him to give it up. To sell his controlling portion of his stocks and hand the company over to my care. My critique. I had ideas pouring from my mouth every second of every day. Ways to improve and ways to expand and items we needed to stop producing immediately in favor of others.
And my first line of business was making sure each department had a damn secretary.
The first time I walked into the building, there was no one to greet me. No pretty face with a soft voice to say hello to. The business world was made up of men who wanted to look into a pair of pretty eyes when they walked into the headquarters of any building, and this company didn’t have it. They had white-washed walls, stucco ceilings, and scuffed up tiled floors.
It looked more like a morgue than a place of prominence.
But I was going to change that.
“Casual Recreations, this is Kenneth Weber.”
“You still don’t have a damn secretary?”
“Roman. What the hell are you doing calling me again?” I asked.
“Can’t a man call his friend and ask him what he’s up to?”
“Not when he does it every damn morning, no.”
“Just waiting to see when a secretary of yours will finally pick up your phone. When are you conducting those interviews?”
“Today. I finally got the clearance from H.R. for the funds to hire secretaries for all the major departments in this place.”
“It’s like you stepped back into the twentieth century with that place.”
“More like the nineteenth. I don’t know how they survived this long. I really have to give it to the prior owner.”
“I still can’t believe you’re settling down with a company,” Roman said.
“You make it sound like I’m settling down with a woman,” I said, grinning.
“You’ve flipped businesses ever since I’ve known you, Ken. That’s how you made your damn fortune. You were a swindler who used nothing but his knowledge and a few thousand-”
“Hundred thousand,” I said.
“Your brain and some money, and in exchange you made bank. Why would you give up that gig and attach yourself to a burning totem?”
“Because that isn’t the lifestyle for me any longer. I want to build something and stick with it. And you know how I am with the health and wellness industry.”
“You mean the ‘spa and hot women massaging your back’ industry.”
“Is everything about fucking women to you?” I asked.
“You know, you’re the only guy I know that asks me that question.”
“Because you hang out with assholes, that’s why.”
“You mean that’s the reason you don’t come out for drinks?” he asked.
“No. I don’t come out for drinks because I get up at six every morning to hit the fucking gym. Like you need to be doing. I’ve seen you on the news recently. Your gut’s busting out of your suits.”
“You know you could always come back to Instatech,” he said. “Work alongside me. Be my COO.”
“Thanks, but I’d rather hang myself,” I said.
“Hey, we made a good team back when you were revamping my company. I even kept it under wraps for you like you wanted so you didn’t destroy your brand or whatever the fuck you called it.”
“If I was seen trying to flip a tech company, I would’ve been inundated with work,” I said.
“And that’s a bad thing because…?”
“Because I would’ve have been able to help everyone.”
“Oh yeah. The good guy schtick.”
“It’s only a schtick with you,” I said. “To get laid.”
“And it works like a charm.”
“You really are a snake sometimes,” I said, grinning.
“And you love every second of it. Just because you keep your private life away from your business life doesn’t mean we all do.”
“Well, I appreciate your offer. But this company and all they offer is exactly my type of business. I’m taking this place to new heights. Starting with the new hires and proceeding on with a business trip to Switzerland.”
“Ah, the Alps.”
“I’m not going to ski.”
“Or fuck,” Roman said.
“I’m going to work. I need to get this business out of some of their contracts and renegotiate terms. They’re ancient and none of the contracts they’re operating with are even seen in today’s practices. They’ve been taking advantage of this company long enough.”
“Then you sink your teeth into them and show them there’s a new fat cat in town.”
“Meaning you?” I asked, chuckling.
“You’re a dick, but I love you. Let me know how the interviews go. And hire yourself a damn secretary so you can stop answering your own phone.”
“I still don’t get why me answering my own phone’s a bad thing.”
“You’re a CEO now. You should be inaccessible unless they make an appointment with you. You're important. Act like it. Plus, if you hire someone hot, you can take advantage of some of the perks that come with being the owner of a company.”
“I’m not screwing around with my secretary, Roman. I’ve got more couth than that.”
“Well, you need to get laid. I can’t remember the last time you talked about getting some.”
“Because I don’t talk about it?”
“Fuck me, you’re so boring. Why do we hang out again?”
“Because of my rugged good looks?”
“Ha. Ha. Ha. Seriously. Even if you don’t fuck her, hire a damn secretary. Start acting like a CEO. Get your life in line, man. You’re thirty five years old.”
I laughed as I stuck my hand in my pocket. For all the crassness of Roman, he was a very good friend of mine. And his uncaged mouth could be a good thing at times. Usually, he had terrible advice. But every once in a while, an intelligent thing would come flying out of there and I’d get a glimpse of the man that made his first million by the time he was twenty.
But the clicking of heels down the hallway pulled me from my conversation.
“Gotta go. The interviews are striking up,” I said.
“Go get ‘em, tiger. Hire all the good ones with big tits,” Roman said.
“I’m not-”
“Bye!”
Roman hung up the
phone and I shook my head. I ushered the first woman into the room, but the interview was quickly a bust. Woman after woman came in, and a few men as well. Girls in college looking for a part-time job and stay-at-home men looking for a reason to get away from his wife and kids. There were a few good apples in the bunch. One I had hired on the spot. But I was looking to fill nine positions, and with the applicants at my disposal things weren’t looking too bright.
Until she walked in.
Raven black hair that was piled high on top of her head and piercing green eyes. She was wearing a bright red shirt tucked behind a thin orange belt, and the heels she wore flexed her shapely calves. Her neck was long and her curves were deep. She was exactly the type of woman I didn’t need to hire. Fire glistened in her eyes even though I had to beckon her into my office, coaxing her down the hallway as she looked towards the empty secretarial desk.
Perks of being the owner of a company.
I shook Roman’s voice from my head as her eyes connected with mine. I rose from my desk, slowly towering over her as her head tilted back to keep me in view. The stunned expression on her face was one I got from time to time. Unsuspecting women who knew my name but didn’t know what I looked like. I bit back a grin as her eyes danced around my chest. Heat pooled in my toes as Roman’s voice shot through my mind again.
Well, you need to get laid.
“Sit,” I said.
I ushered her to the chair in front of my desk and she listened nicely. I watched her pull another copy of her resume out and I bit back another grin. How quaint. She’d come prepared, which was more than I could say for most of the interviews that had come before her.
I reached over to my desk and picked hers up before I cleared my throat.
“Do you know what position you’re interviewing for?” I asked.
“Yes?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, sir.”
Sir.
My cock throbbed against my pants and my stare hardened on her face. Her voice was strong. Confident. I liked that. Secretaries in my company would need that to deal with the older men who were being phased out of business. The ones who still had the money but also treated women like they were play things. I didn’t do business that way. Women were respected in the companies I flipped.
They would be respected and paid accordingly in Casual Recreations.
But fuck, the woman in front of me would make it hard for me to keep that ethical code.
“Good,” I said. “Because the woman before you wasn’t all too familiar with the job description.”
I cocked my hip up and leaned against the desk, trying to conceal my aching want for her. If she was qualified for the position, the last thing I needed was to ruin it with my damn hormones. The desk creaked underneath my weight and I made a mental note to order a new one. Fuck only knew how old this damn thing was, and the time had come for the office to be updated anyway.
Then, I watched her eyes twitch.
“Something amusing, Miss…?”
I looked at her resume in my hand, finally peeling my eyes away from her sultry form.
“Miss Graves?” I asked.
“No sir,” she said. “Just waiting for you to conduct your interview.”
“Then let’s get started before I keep you from more important endeavors. Like cracking silent jokes at your interviewer’s expense.”
I stood up from my desk and went to sit back in my leather office chair. A chair that coughed up dust the moment I sat down in it.
Another relic from another time in business that would need to be replaced.
“I see you’re a graduate of the College of Business and Technology.”
“I am,” she said.
“You have many certifications. Cosmetology. Massage therapy. Personal training. Nutrition.”
I peered over her resume at her and swooped my eyes over her body.
“I’m very passionate about this industry, yes,” she said.
“What do you want to do with them?”
“Come again?”
“Your certifications. Most individuals who target secretarial positions list things like how many words they can type per minute and what kind of computer software they’re familiar with. I don’t see any of that on your resume. So I assume a secretarial position isn’t your life’s dream.”
“It isn’t,” she said plainly.
“Then enlighten me as to what is.”
“I want to open my own health and wellness spa someday that’s affordable to the masses.”
“The masses.”
“Yes. I don’t think that anything regarding personal health should be limited to those who can afford it,” she said.
Passion laced her voice when she spoke about it, and I liked that. I’d need someone with passion in this business.
“These secretarial positions aren’t half-assed jobs. I can’t afford to hire someone who views this as a stepping stone from one place to another,” I said.
“I can assure you, Mr. Weber, that isn’t how I see this position.”
“It would be temporary for you, but it’s business for me. Casual Recreations is going through a deconstruction phase, and I’ll need strong employees to undergird the majority of the changes that will happen throughout the year.”
“I understand, and you can count on me for that. I’m not applying for this position simply to find a job until I open my own business. I’m looking for experience on the other side. I’m looking to observe. To learn. To make possible connections that could help me in the long run.”
“You’re looking for an open door into the industry,” I said.
“In any way I can find it, sir. But if you hire me, what you will find out is that I half-ass nothing. To use your own words.”
I clasped my hands in my lap as a grin crept across my cheeks. She was good. Alive. Filled with a fire I needed for this company. But more than that, she convinced me she was telling the truth. That this job wouldn't be something she would take for granted. However, if she wanted an open door-- if she wanted a bird’s eye view of how the health and wellness industry really worked-- there was only one position I could give her that would offer her that.
“I’m hiring for nine positions, and one of those positions includes my own personal secretary. Hence the empty desk you were drawn to earlier,” I said.
“A CEO would need one,” she said.
“When can you start?” I asked.
I watched her blink, and her dark green eyes filled with something akin to excitement.
“If you hired me, I could start as soon as possible,” she said.
“Good. Be here tomorrow at eight in the morning. I’ll have your desk set up for you out there with a new computer and the software you’ll need to access things like my calendar and my address book.”
“Wait, so I got the job?”
My eyes whipped up to her as I placed her resume in my desk drawer.
“Yes,” I said plainly. “There is no dress code, but since you’ll be working directly with me you’ll be expected to present yourself a certain way. Just like I have to. Keep that in mind with your choice of clothing, and I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Thank you so much, Mr. Weber,” she said as she stood. “You won’t regret it. I promise.”
But as she grabbed her things and turned around, my eyes caught the slope of her ass. Two beautiful fistfuls that bled into delectable thighs that made my mouth run dry.
She wouldn’t regret. Oh no.
Me, however?
That was an entirely different story. And I wasn’t sure how it was going to end.
Tiffany
I was stunned. Rooted to my spot, even as I moved about the headquarters. Was I dreaming? Was this real?
Mr. Weber hired me as his personal secretary.
I found my way to the elevator and leaned against the wall. I couldn't believe it. That was the highest-paying secretarial position he was offering. I’d be able to
open my own business within the next two years if I kept to my budget! I strode off the elevator, my heels clicking furiously along the ground.
I had to call my mom.
I had to tell her the good news.
“Tiffany?”
“I got the job!” I exclaimed.
“Honey, that’s amazing,” she said.
“But not just any job. Mom, he made me his secretary,” I said.
“Wait, what?” she asked.
“Yeah. My desk will be on the top floor of Casual Recreations. I will answer directly to the owner and operator of the company, Mom! I’ll sit in on business meetings and accompany him and his colleagues on business trips. I’ll make connections I’d never thought of in my wildest dreams!”
“Oh my gosh, honey. That’s incredible. He offered it to you on the spot?”
“On the spot, Mom. Told me to be in at eight in the morning, sharp.”
“I know we have our differences, but you know I’m proud of you, right?”
“I know, Mom. But you’ll see he’s not a bad guy. He’s a businessman, but he’s a straight-shooter. It’s what I like about Mr. Weber. And now I’m going to be working alongside him. This is incredible. I can’t stop shaking!”
“Your father would be proud of you, too.”
I stood on the sidewalk outside of the building and looked up. All the windows were tinted on the outside. My eyes gazed up to the top floor and I sighed.
“I know he would be,” I said. “I wish he was here to I could tell him.”
“He already knows, Tee. He knows.”
“We should go celebrate,” I said. “My treat. You want to try that new restaurant downtown? I know you were looking at it the last time we went shopping.”
“My back still isn’t feeling well. But you feel free to go out. You deserve it after your win today.”
“You’re still in pain? Did you already take your medicine?”
“I’m always ‘already taking my medicine’. It doesn’t work anymore. You know this.”
“Well, I’ll be able to prove that I pay at least half the bills in the house, so I’ll be able to put you on my insurance.”
