Neanderthal Seeks Human(28)

The lack of information available left me feeling pensive and unprepared for the interview. If they asked me why I was interested in the position I didn’t feel I could answer the question as I didn’t know anything about the company, other than that they provided security for the Fairbanks building and club Outrageous and the position apparently paid twice my previous annual salary.

Oh, and they hired supermodel security guards ala Quinn Sullivan.

Cypher Systems was located on the top floor of the Fairbanks building. The instructions given to me by Olivia indicated that I should check in with security on the lobby level and that I would be escorted to their offices.

It seemed one needed quite a lot of escorting experience in order to be a security guard for Cypher Systems.

My escort’s name tag defined him as “Dan” and he was shorter than me, especially as I was wearing sky blue silk stilettos. He appeared to be my age or a few years older, stocky, and thick necked with swirling tattoos just visible beneath the blue collar of his uniform. Dan gave me a plain once over as he walked me to an elevator and placed his palm against a glass screen. The screen retracted to reveal keypad. Dan then punched in a series of numbers and he said-

“You’re very big.”

I gave him a cursory smile, “Yes. I ate all my vegetables as a child.” This was my standard response when someone remarked on my size. For some reason it always irked me when people felt it necessary to draw attention to my height as though I wasn’t aware of my larger than average stature. I once responded: “Yes, and you’re very small.” but that didn’t go over very well, even though in that situation it was true.

Dan chuckled at my canned response and waved me in the elevator. I realized I’d never noticed this lift before. When we walked in I further noticed there was only one destination button. Dan was quiet the rest of the ride even though his eyes continued to move over me in unhidden appraisal and the corner of his mouth curved in a friendly, lopsided smile. I was also silent and had to half-yawn in order to pop my ears as we traveled upward.

The elevators opened to an impressive view of the city behind an all glass reception desk. The light was almost blinding; I swallowed nervously and smoothed my free hand down the hips of my beige tailored jacket and skirt as I stepped on to the landing. My other hand gripped the letter sized portfolio at my side which contained copies of my resume and letters of recommendation from college professors.

Dan didn’t leave the elevator but rather spoke from behind me, “Keira at the reception desk will take care of you.”

I turned to thank him but the doors had already closed. Straightening, I walked to the glass desk and paused before it. The woman, who I presumed to be Keira, was on a phone call.

She lifted her brown eyes to mine, raised a single finger, and said into her headset, “Just one moment, let me track him down for you.” then pressed a series of buttons on a very high-tech looking phone. The first thing I noticed about Keira was that her black hair was in such a tight bun it looked painful. It seemed to pull at the corners of her eyes and mouth, giving her the appearance of a perpetually smiling cat.

She turned a Cheshire grin on me and said, “May I assist you?”

“Uh, yes. I have an appointment with Carlos Davies.”

“Oh? An appointment? And what is your name?”

I swallowed again, my mouth was very dry, “I’m Janie Morris. I’m here for an interview.”

Keira moved her attention to an impressively large monitor on her desk and nodded, “Yes, here you are. Today is your first day- right?”

I opened my mouth and a small squeak came out before I said, “No, no- I’m just here for an interview.”

She moved her attention back to me, confusion clouding her angular features, “But, didn’t Mr. Sullivan recruit you?”

“I wasn’t- Qui- I mean, Mr. Sullivan arranged for the interview, yes-”

I was interrupted by a new voice. “Ah- you must be Janie Morris.”

I turned to my left at the words and tried to smile warmly at the approaching man but was struck momentarily speechless. With my heels on he was exactly my height and he was the definition of, what my friend Ashley liked to call, a brown sugar hottie. His dark chocolate eyes were framed with long, black lashes, his skin was warm olive, and he had a slow, easy smile bracketed by dimples. He wore a grey suit, white shirt, and silver tie.

“Yes, I’m Janie.” I half croaked as I extended my hand. He enclosed my hand in both of his and gave it a firm, professional shake.

“I’m Carlos. I’m so glad you could start on such short notice. Come with me, I’ll get you settled in.”