by Reeni Austin
They both walked to the door. Cara said, “Thank you again,” and reached down to turn the knob at the same time as Victor. When his hand covered hers, she inhaled a gasp in embarrassment, expecting him to move.
But Victor’s eyes caught hers. His hand lingered for a moment before he took it away. “See you Monday.”
He was still looking into her eyes when she opened the door to leave.
* * *
Marcy and Patty bombarded Cara the instant she walked through the door.
Marcy yelped in excitement and took the giant Macy’s bag full of clearance rack clothes from Cara’s arm. “Tell me everything! Tell me everything!”
Patty took her daughter’s wrist and pulled her into the living room. “Yes! Don’t leave out a thing.”
Cara unbuttoned her blazer and kicked off her shoes. “Where’s Isaac?”
“Don’t worry,” Patty said. “I finally got him to take a nap a few minutes ago. He’s fine. Come on. What happened?”
Marcy sat on the couch, dumping the contents of the bag beside her. “Holy cow! The new job must be upscale. Look at these.”
Cara, in a daze, shook her head and took a seat on the opposite side of her new pile of clothes. “No, they were all on sale.”
Patty sat in the recliner, her eyes huge behind her wide-rimmed glasses. “So, out with it. Tell us all about your big day.”
Marcy and Patty both looked at Cara, who was now staring straight ahead at nothing, wondering where to start.
Cara took another moment to think, then put her hand on her chest, over her top button. She let out a sigh of relief. “Oh good. It held. I’m about to bust out of this top. Thank God for safety pins.” She stuck her palms against her eyes, whining. “Oh shit, I think he noticed, too. He thinks I’m too poor to buy clothes. That’s why he gave me a check today.”
“What?” Patty asked. “He gave you money?”
“Yes,” Cara said. “He thinks I’m pathetic. It’s an advance on my paycheck. That’s how I bought all these new clothes today. I barely have any nice clothes in my closet that fit anymore. I could wear anything to Doyle and they didn’t care.”
Marcy picked up a long blue skirt, inspecting it from top to bottom. “But he didn’t know that, did he?”
Patty said, “Yeah, you didn’t tell him you needed money, did you?”
“No.” Cara’s eyes rolled. “He seems to know a lot more about me than he should.” She glared at Patty. “Have you been keeping in touch with him since you met him the other day? Did you tell him Doyle owes me money?”
“Absolutely not, hon,” Patty said. “I think he does his research because he likes you.”
Cara sighed. “No, he doesn’t. I promise. You should’ve seen the way he looked at me today. I’m a charity case to him.” She let out a loud groan. “Would you believe I ripped a huge hole in my pantyhose when I got out of the car? I had to take ‘em off. He kept staring at my legs.” She huffed. “Probably at my varicose veins. I was so embarrassed. But at least I remembered to shave.”
Marcy snickered and shot a funny look at Patty. “Are you hearing what I’m hearing? Sounds to me like he was checking her out.”
Patty nodded. “Yes, I was just thinking the same thing. He was looking at your legs.”
“Ugh,” Cara said. “Why would he do that? I felt like a stuffed sausage in this outfit. I should’ve worn my body shaper to keep everything in place.” In her heart, even with the extra weight, Cara didn’t feel unattractive. She always turned a few approving heads when she went out in public. But she was afraid to get her hopes up about Victor.
“I don’t know why you’re so down on yourself,” Marcy said. “You’re as pretty as ever.”
Cara picked up a blouse from the pile. “I’m not pretty enough to land a guy like Victor. And I’m not sure I’d even want to. He seems like a control freak.”
Patty slapped her own knee as she laughed. “God help the man who ever tries to control you.”
Patty and Marcy shared a long laugh at Cara’s expense.
Determined not to let them get to her, Cara stood up and headed to the stairs. “I don’t care what you guys think. It’s stupid to think a guy like Victor Barboza would ever be interested in someone like me. You should’ve seen that woman he was with at the charity dinner.”
Patty shook her head. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. The guy’s obviously interested. Just let it happen and stop being so you about it.”
Marcy gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. “It’s like a fairy tale come true. Cara, you deserve a fairy tale. Don’t chase him away.”
Cara let out a frustrated growl. “Fairy tales do not come true. You’ve been watching too many movies. Or reading too many of those cheesy romance novels about regular girls getting swept away by the dashing billionaire.” She sighed as she walked upstairs, her voice trailing off. “What a load of crap.”
Chapter Five
It was eleven-thirty on Cara’s first day at Monarch Enterprises, and so far it was uneventful. She had spent most of the morning sitting through employee safety videos that would probably never apply to her. Gary, Victor’s assistant, had given her the grand tour of the building.
But there had been no sign of Victor.
And in a way, Cara was grateful. She’d spent hours on Sunday trying on outfits, determining the ones that were most flattering. After her embarrassing display at the interview, she wanted to prove she was a polished professional. Victor’s absence this morning at least gave her a reprieve from that anxiety.
At the same time, where was he? If she had allowed herself to think he actually liked her—which she strived not to do—she may have been offended that he didn’t make time to see her on her first day. It meant she was right all along. This job was an act of pity, and nothing more.
I told you so, she said to herself.
And for once, she wished she hadn’t been right. Unfortunately, there was a shred of hope within her that allowed her to entertain fantasies of the tall, dark, handsome dream man. A man who was so far out of her league, he wasn’t even in her universe. Surely he spent his weekends chasing young, flighty debutantes who were barely legal. The sort of women who were bred to be trophy wives. That life definitely wasn’t for her. It was Cara and Isaac against the world. Maybe soon she’d have enough money saved to move them into a nice apartment in the city and send him to a good pre-school. That’s all that mattered.
Bored with filling out yet another set of new hire paperwork, Cara went to the break room Gary had shown her earlier. If she didn’t have any real work to do yet, at least she could figure out how to use the space age-looking digital coffee machine.
As she took a small paper cup from the counter, a woman in a blue dress entered the room. She had sandy brown hair and looked to be in her late twenties, about Cara’s age. She gave Cara a smile and said, “I don’t think we’ve met. Are you new here?”
“Yes, I’m new. My name’s Cara Green.”
“Rhonda Flint. Mr. Noonan’s assistant. Nice to meet you.” Rhonda opened the refrigerator door. “So, you the new assistant, here in acquisitions?”
“Um…no?” Cara stopped to consider the question. She knew so little about her new job, she had no idea if Victor’s department was casually referred to as “acquisitions.” “I report to Mr. Barboza. My title is Public Relations Liaison.”
Rhonda abruptly closed the refrigerator door and gave her a wide-eyed glance. “What?”
Oh no. “Is that a bad thing?”
Rhonda’s high heels clopped along the floor as she walked up to Cara. She looked over her shoulder as if someone were eavesdropping. “You might not wanna talk about that too loudly. Barboza doesn’t hire people. The whole company’s under a pretty tight hiring freeze unless it’s urgent.”
“So, what do I tell people if they ask?” Cara chuckled. “I can’t exactly lie and say I’m somewhere else.”
“Hmm. That’s true.” Rhonda’s lips puckered
as she thought about it. “I know. You tell ‘em you’re a consultant, working on a project for Barboza. And if anyone asks about the project, you tell ‘em you can’t talk about it.
“Okay.” Cara was skeptical.
“Gary.” Rhonda simultaneously rolled her eyes and blew her bangs out of her face. “He should’ve warned you.” She smirked. “He’s gay, you know.”
Cara nodded. “Yeah, I got that.” She’d noticed some pictures on Gary’s screen saver that morning of him with another man in a position that was slightly more than friendly. But then she had a thought. “Oh wait, you mean Gary, not Mr. Barboza, right?”
Rhonda tossed her head back, laughing hard. “Yes, Gary. Barboza…hell no.”
Cara didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean?”
Rhonda stopped laughing. “Oh, nothing. Your boss is the most eligible bachelor in the building. Hell, in the whole city. At least he is now. He was engaged for a long time.” Rhonda cleared her throat and changed the subject, her eyes flickering as if she knew she shouldn’t be confiding so much gossip in the new girl. “So anyway, Gary probably should’ve told you to keep your new job a little private around here. We just had lunch last week. Wonder why he didn’t tell me there was a new hire?”
“What’s the big deal? People come and go all the time.”
“That’s not it. People don’t come and go in Barboza’s group. It’s just him and Gary.”
“Is that strange?”
“For this place, yeah. He’s the only partner who doesn’t oversee a whole staff. All we know is, he knows his shit and he brings in a lot of business.” Her eyes were huge. “And we don’t know anything else.”
Cara gasped, thinking about the unsavory owner of Doyle Construction, where she sensed all along that something wasn’t right. “Is he doing something illegal? Please tell me he’s not.”
“Oh no. Nothing like that. He’s a good guy. Keeps to himself.” She shrugged. “And really friendly when you see him around.” Her voice got quiet. “But I hear he’s a playboy.”
Cara’s heart sank. “Really? Is that why he’s single?”
Rhonda’s brow arched and she looked around the room, suddenly feeling the urge to confide a piece of juicy gossip in the new girl. “You can’t repeat this. Hell, you could find it online if you knew where to look. But there’s a rumor his engagement ended because of infidelity. We all think he cheated with a girl who got fired the week before it happened.”
“Oh no!”
“Yes. Of course, it’s just a rumor, but still.” Rhonda sighed. “So, tell me a little about you. New to the area? Married? Kids?”
“I’m from Newark originally but I just moved back home after losing my job in Chicago. This is my first real job in months. Never been married. One kid, Isaac. He’s three.”
Rhonda grinned. “I got a three-year-old, too. A girl, Justine. Also got a five-year-old, Aidan. And I got a no-good cheatin’ ex-husband. The divorce was final last month.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. Could be worse. Could’ve had that third kid we were trying for when I found those pictures on his cell phone. What about you? You got a cheatin’ man, too?”
“No.” Cara nervously straightened the cuff of her sleeve. The situation with Isaac’s dad was a secret she’d decided long ago to take with her to the grave. It was easier to tell everyone she never knew his dad than to tell them the truth. “Isaac was my gift from a one-night stand my last semester in college. Never saw him again. I consider my son to be my graduation present.” She smiled.
“Ah. Well, you’re better off anyway.” Rhonda looked at her watch. “I gotta get back to my desk but I’ll come over for some chitchat later if you like. They give you an office or a cubicle?”
“An office.” Cara swallowed, hard. After this conversation, she was reluctant to mention she’d been given a spacious office with a spectacular view.
“Okay. I’ll come over there and find you later.” Rhonda patted Cara’s shoulder. “Take care. Nice meeting you.”
Cara waited until Rhonda was safely out of the break room before leaving herself. It was good to make a friend at her new job so soon, but with Victor keeping such a low profile, she wasn’t sure it was smart to hang out with one of the office gossips so quickly.
No matter. With her head held high, she left the break room and went back to her office, trying not to obsess about this new information she’d received about her boss. Was he really a playboy? Did he cheat on his fiancee? Is that who he was with the night they met? It would make sense and possibly explain why that lady was so furious about him talking to another woman in front of her.
Cara had to get herself to stop thinking about it. After all, he was just her boss and this was simply her work place. Nothing more. What he did in his personal life was none of her business.
She took a deep breath with the realization that she definitely had a crush on him. And that sucked.
* * *
“Damn it!” Victor was almost angry enough to curse aloud in Spanish today.
If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. A meeting ran too long. Then a traffic jam. An important business associate needed an hour-long phone call to make a simple decision. And now, another traffic jam. He had looked forward to this morning for days, and it seemed like fate was working against him. But he would not be discouraged.
All morning, his thoughts were with Cara. Was she happy in her new job so far? Had Gary made her feel comfortable in the office?
Was there any chance at all that she had been thinking about him the way he was thinking about her?
His interest in Cara had grown immensely since he’d last seen her, made worse by the fact that he’d done some informal detective work…via Facebook. She only had five pictures available for public view and he could’ve probably found a way to see them all, but it made him feel creepy. Successful businessmen don’t cyber stalk, do they? He chuckled to himself. It didn’t matter what others did. He had to find a way to see her and he was grateful for the pictures.
There were, however, no public pictures of Isaac. Victor could still hear his high-pitched voice on the phone, mispronouncing words. So cute. He had never thought of dating a woman who had a child before, but now, he wanted to.
Victor wasn’t much older than Isaac when his own father passed away but some of those early memories stuck with him in tiny fragments. The most vivid memories were of the way he laughed when he and his brothers climbed all over him like they were wrestling. His father always pretended he was losing, and the brothers always reveled in their victory. They had no idea how poor they were; a family of five living in a tiny clay house with no running water and barely enough food to eat. But Victor was grateful for those hard times. He knew they helped mold him into the man he was today.
As he sat in a long line of cars at a busy intersection, he took a moment to analyze his obsession with Cara once again. Perhaps she’d merely come along at a time when he needed someone like her. A real woman. A woman of substance, in every way, her life somehow crashing into his and bringing back memories he’d buried long ago. She was unlike any woman he’d met in a very long time. Hell, maybe ever.
He took out his phone and looked at one of the pictures he’d found online. Wisps of blond hair framed her face so perfectly. God, she’s beautiful. How he wanted to taste those plump lips. Mmm. And peel her out of that dress…
Victor took a deep breath and put his phone away. He couldn’t let himself think about it right now. Soon, he’d see her and welcome her to the office. What if she was still way too rebellious and skeptical of his motives? Shit. She had every reason to be. That was another reason why he absolutely must act professionally around her.
He ignored his urge to buy her flowers to welcome her aboard. It took him approximately five minutes to realize what a stupid, dead giveaway that would be. Damn it, the woman made him think irrationally, and he found that extremely frustrating.
Women were never this much of a challenge to him.
Several minutes passed and he finally entered the parking garage. Quickly, he parked and took the elevator to the top floor. As he stepped out of it, he adjusted his tie and his jacket, then headed around the corner, stopping at Gary’s desk.
“Nice to see you, Mr. Barboza. Long morning?” Gary swiveled in his chair, smiling.
Victor’s head shook. “You don’t wanna know.” He grabbed an unopened letter on the counter in front of Gary’s desk, pausing for a second so he didn’t sound too excited about the question on his mind. Then he stared mindlessly at the envelope and asked, “So, is our new employee having a good first day?”
Gary leaned forward as if listening for a distant sound. “You can ask her yourself if you like. That sounds like her now.”
Victor’s heart raced as he turned his head frantically in the direction of the footsteps and unconsciously adjusted his tie again.
And there she was, the lovely blonde of his fantasies, wearing a pin-striped navy blue suit that looked like it was made to set off her best assets.
Her eyes met his for a split second, then she glanced down at the floor with a slight grin.
Does she have any idea what she does to me?
He stood still, waiting for her to walk up to him, but she shyly stopped a few feet away. She’s a walking contradiction. During their short interview she was all guts. Today, she was timid, but that was good. It gave him the upper hand. Suddenly, he didn’t feel so nervous.
Victor calmly extended his hand. “Ms. Green. Welcome.”
She took one step closer and slowly put her hand around his. “Mr. Barboza. Thank you for having me.”
Her skin’s like velvet…His breath hitched as her fingers lightly grazed the inside of his wrist. Shit, now isn’t the time…
He pulled his hand away and forced himself to make an offer he’d rehearsed for days. Keep it casual. “So, it’s almost lunchtime. Do you have plans?”
