by Alexis Gold
Naomi nodded. “I was indeed.” She raised her eyebrows and sighed deeply, and then gave a more light-hearted smile to Andrea. “Anyway, so I’m going to go do what I always do. I’ll give my best and make sure that the job at Cross is mine.”
Andrea grinned. “You’ll get it. I have so much faith in you!” She leaned a bit further back in the chair and raised one eyebrow at Naomi. “Did you ever hear from Michael again?”
Naomi pressed her lips together and rolled her eyes, sighing in exasperation. “Not really. I mean, he runs super-hot and then he’s completely absent and I’m just supposed to sit here and wait for him to decide he’s interested in me? It’s infuriating. I got so sick of waiting to hear from him all the time that I just stopped being the one to initiate contact and he just drifted off into nothing. I never heard from him again.” She shook her head, thinking of her last semi-romantic fling.
“All that time I wasted waiting for him, thinking about him, caring about him… and he kept saying he cared, he kept saying that he wanted me, he kept teasing me just a little bit more, just enough to keep me coming after him, but then he never did anything. He must not have cared enough. Jerk. I don’t know what in the hell I was thinking, letting him treat me like that.” She reached over to the carafe and poured herself a fresh cup of coffee.
Andrea shook her head and pushed her lips out in disgust. “He might be a good-looking man, but he sure as hell doesn’t have his life together enough to be with you. Maybe he knows it and he’s just hoping that he can convince you to go after him anyway. It must be quite an ego boost for a guy like that to have a woman as amazing as you are coming after him.”
Naomi lifted her brows slightly. “I never thought about it like that, but I guess it makes sense. The good thing is that I’m not going after him anymore. I went after him more than halfway and he wouldn’t meet me even less than halfway, so I walked away from it. I don’t have time for that kind of nonsense. I’m not a game player. Besides, all he said he wanted me for was friends with benefits. I’m worth more than that.”
“A hell of a lot more than that.” Andrea agreed with a dark look. “Well, I’m glad that you walked away from it. You deserve a lot more, and you’ll get a lot more when the right guy figures out what an incredible catch you are.”
Naomi shrugged. “I’m doing alright on my own. I’m not too worried about it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it would be nice to have a guy around here and there. But I’m focused on my own future, on my career, and on making sure that everything I do makes the days to come in my life good days. So, if there’s a guy around, then great, but if not, it’s not going to be the end of the world and it’s not going to be anything I worry about. I’d rather be happy than heartbroken.”
Andrea laughed and nodded. “I know that’s true! You have to be confident in yourself, and you have to be happy.” They both laughed.
“Well, I’m working on it. I just really want to get this job at Cross, and then I feel like I’ll be able to breathe easier and things will go really well.” Naomi slid her dark brown fingers into her black curls and tugged absentmindedly at a strand of her hair.
She’d graduated college and had been hired pretty quickly in the business field. She had been lucky and landed a good job. She was a hard worker and she was promoted quickly because of her ambition and her keen intelligence. The job market had changed and she changed jobs with it; and when she did, she found herself headed down a career path in which she had no real interest.
In an effort to get back on the right track, she began to put her resume out in the business field again to see if she could land her dream job. She wanted a job where she could grow with the company and advance past glass ceilings. She wanted to become an executive before she was thirty. She knew she could reach that goal if she was working with the right company and for the right bosses. Leadership was paramount with goals like she had, and she knew it.
She researched several companies in Manhattan, and when she found out that Cross Corporation was hiring, she sent her information in immediately. She was stunned and far beyond thrilled when they had contacted her for an interview, but from the moment that she hung up the phone from that call, she had been walking on pins and needles, hardly sleeping at night, and she hadn’t felt so nervous since she had applied to the college that she had been dreaming of getting into.
Inviting her best friend Andrea over for coffee had been a two-fold endeavor. She was glad for the chance to visit with her, but more than that, she had needed the moral support of someone who truly believed in her. Since her parents had been killed, she had felt in the depths of her heart as if she had no one but herself. Most of the time she felt confident relying on herself, but on those occasions when her own confidence just wasn’t quite enough, it helped her to know that she had a close friend that she could rely on to boost her up, and Andrea was just that person.
Andrea and Naomi talked about other things; Andrea was a newlywed who was still enjoying the golden glow of blissful love, and Naomi was focused with laser beam intensity on her career. They visited a long while before Andrea finally stood to leave, hugging Naomi tightly.
“Now, you call me the minute you know about that job with Cross and let me know how it all worked out, okay? Stop worrying about it; you just go in there with a positive attitude, you do the interview, and then you let it all go and just trust that whatever is supposed to happen, will happen. Okay?” Andrea said as she released her from their hug and set her hand on the door before walking out.
“I will,” Naomi said with a wide grin as her cheeks warmed slightly and she looked down, her long black eyelashes closing her light blue eyes. She had gotten her eyes from her father, but her dark skin and curves had come from her mother. “Thank you so much for everything, Andrea, I really appreciate it.”
Andrea nodded and headed out of the door as Naomi closed it behind her. As soon as the lock clicked shut, she closed her eyes and leaned her back against the door. She hadn’t intended to talk about her parents. She almost never spoke of them to anyone ever, and bringing them up on the spur of the moment as she had with Andrea, had been more painful than she had shown her friend. Their tragic accident weighed heavy in Naomi’s heart, and she knew that it always would. Her father and mother were her life, her rock, and losing them had devastated her. The only reason that she hadn’t given in to the grief of it all was because she felt so strongly that she owed them everything. No matter what, she couldn’t let them down.
Nothing could get in the way of her success and her achievement in reaching her goals. She was working as hard as she was not only for herself but also for both of them, to thank them for all they had sacrificed, and to make the most of the precious gifts they had given her.
She drew a deep breath and felt the heartache seeping out of her eyes. Knowing that rest was the best thing for her, she went to her bed and laid down in it, curling her long legs up to her stomach as she hugged a pillow. She took her mind back to happier days when she was growing up; moments she had treasured with her parents, and times that she would always hold onto.
*
Telephones rang, an elevator dinged as the doors slid open, fluorescent lights hummed almost indistinctly overhead, computer keys tapped intermittently throughout the room, and the dull murmur of quiet conversations filled the air of the large working area in the high rise office building. None of it was being heard in the silent room that was just down the hall and behind a large wooden door that was closed. It was a luxurious office that bespoke the wealth and prosperity of both the company and the man who owned the company.
It was spacious and well lit, with thick dark carpeting, large windows on two sides and wood cabinets and shelves lining one wall. There was a private bathroom, a hidden bar, and a casual seating area, as well as a desk and chairs. That office was silent at that moment because the two men who were in it were both looking at paperwork. One of the men had black hair that was silvered at his temples. He had delicat
e traces of time etched onto his face in the form of fine lines that crinkled often around his green eyes, and deeper wrinkles in the skin around his mouth. His green eyes were looking through his reading glasses at the pages laid out on his dark mahogany desk.
He was the owner of this company. The younger man sitting studiously before him was also his; he was his grown son. The younger man closely resembled his father, Phillip Cross. He too had dark black hair, though no silver had yet begun to show itself in it, and he had the same sharp green eyes; like emeralds, deep and mysterious. They both shared the same squared jaw and full lower lip, high strong cheekbones and dark brows that furrowed when they were thinking intently or concentrating as they both were at that moment.
Phillip was still in very good shape physically; he worked out regularly and it showed. His son Jonathon could have been chiseled from a statue. Jonathon was solidly built: muscular, trim, and tall. He thought he was serious looking, but it was the opinion of most everyone else that his confidence and sternness was arrogance rather than confidence and practicality.
Jonathon’s eyes skimmed swiftly over the paperwork that his father had given him and in less time than his father had spent looking at it, he set it back on the old man’s desk and leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers lightly on the cushioned leather that covered it.
Phillip, well accustomed with his son’s impatience, paid him no attention whatsoever and instead, continued to read through the paperwork at his own pace. When he was finished, the only sound in the room that could be heard was the tapping of Jonathon’s fingers on the chair. His father looked up at him as he set the papers down and slowly slid his reading glasses off of his face. Phillip rested his wrist against his chin and contemplated his son for a moment before speaking.
“Well, Jonathon, what do you think?” he asked, his eyes keen and piercing on his son’s expression.
Jonathon sat up and brought both of his hands to the desktop where he picked up the first page on top of the stack and lifted it slightly before dropping it back down like it was hot. “I think it’s ridiculous. I think I just wasted ten minutes of my life that I am never going to get back again, and I think you should have seen that before I did, and before you asked me to look at this with you.”
His father didn’t blink or move, he just watched him for a long moment before bringing his hands down to his lap and sitting back in his chair, his gaze unwavering. “Why do you think that?”
Jonathon sighed in frustration and leaned back in his own chair; closely mimicking his father, though he did not realize he had done it. “If I wanted to buy a tech company that wasn’t making any real headway in the market, I could find no end of them. This one isn’t providing us with anything that we don’t already have. It isn’t offering us any new technology that we could use or that might have any real effect in the market or the world, and they have a terrible track record. I can’t believe you even brought me in here to look at this, if you want the truth.”
Phillip chuckled lightly and nodded. “I thought you’d say that.” He leaned forward and pushed himself away from his desk, and then stood up and set his glasses down on the paperwork he had been reading. Jonathon watched him closely.
Phillip walked around the edge of his desk and headed to the corner of the room where he opened the cabinet that held a wet bar. He reached for a glass and then looked over his should. “Would you like a scotch?”
“No, thank you.” Jonathon replied, looking at the clock on the wall and frowning that it was only ten in the morning.
The older man poured himself a shot of the amber liquid and took a sip before turning around to look at his son again. “You have this character flaw, I’m afraid,” he said thoughtfully, looking into the alcohol swirling in his glass before he began walking back to his desk.
“What was that?” Jonathon blinked in surprise, watching his father walk back to the large leather seat behind the desk.
His father looked up at him as he sat down. “Well, to be honest, you have several flaws, but two in particular that are hindering your perspective at the moment.”
Jonathon’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What might those be?” he asked in a droll tone as he crossed his legs.
He took a sip of his drink and set the glass down on the table. “Well, to begin with, you’re impatient. More importantly, you are looking at what is on the surface of this company, like you have done with so many other things in your life; friends, school, women, and unfortunately, business.
You only glance at what’s on the outside and you rarely take a look at what’s on the inside. You miss the important things that are just beneath the surface and in doing that, you miss out on a better outcome than you can imagine.”
The younger man sighed and ran his hand over his forehead. He closed his eyes for a moment and pressed his lips together before drawing in a deep breath and then looking at his father again.
“Alright, what have I missed? “ he asked in a short tone. His father looked at him pointedly.
“You miss a great many things a great deal of the time, but this time, you’ve managed to overlook the fact that this particular company has just hired Sergei Baxter as their Director of Innovation. I can’t even think of another company who has a position as a Director of Innovation, to begin with.” Phillip watched his son expectantly.
Jonathon shrugged. “So? What is it about position that should catch my attention?”
His father closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head before looking back at him and placed his hands on the desk while he leaned forward toward his son. “It’s a different business model, to begin with, which means that this isn’t your standard tech company. They are making headway in directions that other companies aren’t yet considering. More than that, however, is the fact that Sergei is heading that particular department.”
Jonathon shook his head while looking expectantly at his father. “Why does that matter?”
Phillip sighed and watched his son before speaking. “That matters because Sergei is the inventor of the email system that is tied into the most popular search engine on the Internet in the world today. He is innovation incarnate. I can’t believe they got him, but they did, and he’s contracted with them for the next five years. He’s going to take this company through the roof, and they want us on board with them in a controlling capacity.”
The old man leaned forward even further. “This is how people become billionaires in less than a decade.” He jammed his fingertip down on the papers in front of him as his eyes stayed locked on Jonathon. “If you knew just a little more, if you dug a little deeper, if you looked past the obvious on the outside, you would see that this innocuous looking little company is going to be one of the biggest investment opportunities of your entire life.”
Jonathon leaned forward, his eyes just as focused on his father’s as his father’s were on his. “We’re already billionaires.” He said simply.
Phillip eyes narrowed into slits. “Any business-savvy mind would never say something like that. We are buying this company, and that’s the final word on it.” He leaned back and folded his fingers into a pyramid before his chin.
“I wanted you to see the possible opportunities of this company before I did anything with it. I wanted to know how you would look at it, how you would react, and what you would do with it, if the decision were in your hands.
I wanted to know how deeply you would look and what you would value. You’ve shown me, and I must say, I’m disappointed in what you’ve given me. It’s not what I had hoped to see.” He sighed and reached his arm out to the phone on his desk.
Pressing a button, Phillip spoke in a quiet tone. “Margaret, could you please come in?” he asked politely.
“Right away, Sir,” came a woman’s voice over the speaker. A moment later, the door of the office opened, and neither man looked away from each other or up at her at first, until she reached Phillip’s desk.
“Yes, Sir?” she asked helpfu
lly as she closed her fingers in front of her. They both looked up at her then. She was older; in her fifties, slightly rounded and mostly conservative. Her gray brown hair was pulled up into a bun at the back of her head, her dress hung down below her knees, and her shoes were sensible, at best.
“I’ll need copies of this file made for all of the board members for tomorrow’s meeting, please.” He gave her a pleasant smile as he closed the file in front of him and handed it to her.
She nodded and just as she was about to turn away, Jonathon stopped her. “Margaret, make me another copy, please and put all of these on a flash drive for me, then run it over to my office and leave it on my desk with a label on it.”
“Certainly.” Margaret didn’t hesitate, and she took the file from him and then walked out, closing the door softly behind her.
Phillip frowned at Jonathon. “Why don’t you have your secretary do that? Margaret is busy taking care of things for me; she can’t be running around doing work for you as well.”
Jonathon turned to look at his father with a sigh. “I don’t happen to have an administrative assistant at the moment.” He knew that the subject of this conversation was going to go in a sour direction.
Phillip frowned and leveled his gaze at his son. “Why not? Have you lost another one?”
Jonathon pursed his lips. “She isn’t lost. She quit.”
His father leaned forward. “Why did she quit, Jonathon?”
Following a loud and deep sigh, Jonathon answered him but avoided his piercing eyes. “She wanted more from me than I am interested in.”
Phillip’s face grew pink and his dark brow furrowed over his sharp green eyes. “What are you doing screwing around with another secretary? You can’t do that!”
Jonathon sat up rigidly and lifted his chin in defiance. “Look, it just happened, okay? She came onto me and I took her up on what she wanted, that was it! She wanted to be more involved and I said no, so she left!”
