My instincts are all telling me to flee. I don’t really want this job. There are other jobs in this city and other cities.
Christopher Morton is bad, bad news.
But I’m transfixed somewhat. Like a bug drawn to a flame, I can sense his raw, magnetic power. He exudes pungent, primal sex – the sex of cavemen and hunters and Highlanders riding on the coastline.
Now, I am not one to be drawn to bad boys. My parents are strictly religious and they brought me up to revere the institution of marriage and to preserve my virginity until then. I know. It’s archaic in this day and age. But I’m from a small town in the Bible belt, and I went to an all-girls’ Catholic school. Everyone thought like this, or at least pretended to think like this.
“Well,” Christopher Morton says, “I take it you’re not a corporate spy. So what are you doing here?” He doesn’t take his eyes off me as he walks to his desk. He moves like a predator.
“I-I’m here to apply for the job as the new PA,” I say, trying to suppress my rising panic.
“Really?” He glances at an open diary. “She didn’t pen it in. Figures. Then again, she didn’t slot anything else for me either. So sit.” He gestures to one of the chairs in front of the desk.
I’m going to get my interview? Butterflies do kamikaze runs in my stomach.
It’s just a job interview, Elizabeth Tyrell, I tell myself, trying to swallow the multiple lumps in my throat. How are you ever going to work for somebody like this? If you can’t even walk through a CEO’s office without wobbling like jelly, then you’ve got no business being in the corporate sector.
I seat myself in the swivel chair before his desk. I’m wearing a long-sleeved blouse and pencil skirt. Very officious. Very demure. I lay my portfolio on the desk before me. I daren’t look into his eyes. They are too intense. Too terrifying.
Besides, I don’t quite trust myself.
“So tell me about yourself,” he says as he folds his hands on the desk.
He has fine large hands, I notice. I can well imagine those hands stroking a woman’s body. Not mine. But another woman’s.
I clear my throat and launch into my well-rehearsed spiel. Come on, Beth, you can do it.
“My name is Elizabeth Tyrell, and I’ve just graduated from TMU in business administration. These are my qualifications.”
I nervously pass him my portfolio. He takes it and puts it down, unopened. His unflinching gaze still hasn’t left me.
I continue, my voice wavering slightly, “I have had no experience, but I’m a fast learner and I’m willing to work very hard and for very long hours . . . if someone would give me the chance.”#p#分页标题#e#
Someone, I said. Not ‘you’.
“Where are you from, Ms. Tyrell? Your accent places you South. No, let me guess. Alabama?”
I’m astonished. “Yes.”
“Small town?” He leans back, as if he’s enjoying this interview. His chair creaks with a mild protest.
“It’s called Little York,” I admit bashfully. “Population 5000. It’s really small. You wouldn’t have heard of it.” Most people haven’t.
“And yet you went to college in a town where . . . I’m guessing here, so correct me if I’m wrong . . . most teenagers are content to marry their high school sweethearts at nineteen?”
“Yes.”
“I admire that,” he says. “Bucking the trend. That’s what my grandfather used to say. He came to America with nothing but the clothes on his back from a town in which everyone did what their fathers and grandfathers did before them – coalmining.”
I nod. I’m still wary of him, but I find myself relaxing a bit.
“And you came all the way here . . . to Chicago.”
“It’s my first job interview.”
Briefly, I tell him about Lyla in Accounting and the way she gave me the heads up on this job, even before it was advertised widely.
“Do you know what this job entails, Ms. Tyrell?”
Is it me, or has his voice taken a significant edge? I remember the redhead storming out of here like a woman scorned at the altar.
No, I’m not quite sure what this job entails. I thought I had it all figured out, but now I’m not so sure.
Bravely, I say, “I’m your first point of contact with everyone outside. I will maintain and file your data, arrange your travel and accommodation, take minutes, screen your telephone calls, produce documents for you and do your background research. I’ll organize your meetings and liaise with internal and external customers on your behalf. And I’ll get you coffee.”