Stolen:The Billionaire Deception(7)

"Wow, this is really nice," I told Harlan.



"It is one of our nicer offices," he said without any trace of   resentment in his voice. "Mr. Hunter wanted you on the same floor as his   office since the two of you will be working closely. My office is one   floor up. Michael and Charles have their offices on this floor as well.   You'll probably be doing a lot of work with Charles, checking out the   charities and such."



"Harlan, tell me more about this charity department."



"It's really cutting edge," he said. "It was Seth's idea. It took him a   while to convince his father but by the time he presented it to us he   had an entire plan worked up and he already had a list of charities that   were important to the clients that we represent. He's a smart kid,  that  one."         

     



 



"Smart and compassionate, it would seem."



"Yes, both. When his mother died from breast cancer, Seth became very   active on the charitable scene, putting a lot of his own money into   organizations that do cancer research and treatments for women who don't   have medical insurance."



Damn him. It seems that he couldn't stop at being gorgeous and just be   the arrogant ass that I expected him to be. He had to have a heart too. I   was going to have to find a way around mine if I wanted to win this   battle. This wasn't really about Seth anyways …  it was about his father,   the thief.



"Harlan, can I ask you another question?"



"Anything," the congenial older man said. "Whatever I can do to help you."



"Where is the other Mr. Hunter? The real CEO?"



"He has actually handed the reins to his son completely at this point.   We see him around here on rare occasions now. He's taken to spending   much of his time on a golf course. James hasn't made the formal   announcement yet, that will happen at the company's annual ball when all   of the executives and department heads as well as many of the more   lucrative clients are in attendance. Besides, it will give him a chance   to be center stage once again."



"Oh so he won't be coming to any of our meetings or anything like that?"



"Hopefully not," Harlan said with a grimace. "He told Seth that if he   took the CEO spot, he would take a step back and let Seth handle things …as long as nothing got "out of hand," as he put it." I tried not to   smile but the look on his face was really funny. James was obviously not   his favorite person, and Harlan was obviously not good at hiding that   fact.



"Is he not a nice man?" I asked.



"Let me see …  how do I describe James Hunter …  You studied history in college at some point, right?"



"Yes … "



"When you picture his parents you would have to think Attila the Hun   mating with Marie Antoinette …  the offspring would likely be very   attractive on the outside and very, very lethal within." I couldn't help   but laugh a little at that visual. After Harlan left I couldn't get  the  visual of Attila the Hun out of my head. He had raided and killed   entire villages …  wiped out entire armies …  impaled his enemies …  all to   the end that someday he would be held up in history as the fiercest   warrior that ever lived. It was a good analogy. James had almost   destroyed a young girl's future for his own personal gain and he hadn't   seemed to bat an eyelash doing it. He was the enemy, maybe not Seth …   but  Seth was going to have to be my means to that end.



I began familiarizing myself with the office and about a half an hour after Harlan left me, Seth knocked on the door.



"Come in."



"Hey there," he said with a dazzling smile. "How do you like your office?"



"I love it, thank you," I told him honestly.



He had some files in his hands and he said, "I hope you don't mind but I mean to put you to work right away."



"Not at all," I told him. "I much prefer a productive day to an unproductive one."



He sat down in the chair on the other side of my desk and sat the files   down. "What I'm hoping," he said. "Is that you could take a look at   these and write up an informal report describing the pros and cons of   each as you see it. One of the files is a compilation of the research   that the specific departments have already done on the project but I   encourage and even expect you to do your own research on each one so   that you can come to an informed conclusion. They are all either   charities we're looking at becoming involved with or new clients we are   considering putting money into wooing."



"Sure, I can do that," I said with genuine enthusiasm. It sounded right up my alley.



Seth looked like he was going to say something else when he suddenly   leaned across the desk and brushed a piece of hair off my forehead. I   flinched; shocked that he would touch me. He didn't seem fazed by my   reaction at all however. He simply smiled and said, "That curly little   tendril escaped during the meeting earlier. I could hardly concentrate   on anything else."



"Excuse me?"



He stood up and said, "Out of concern for it falling into your eyes of   course." He smiled again like there was some kind of secret between us   and then he left the office, just like that. I sat frozen to the spot,   staring at the door for a long time before I could finally move. Did   that arrogant man think he could blatantly flirt with me like that? He   was flirting …  wasn't he? I wondered if he treated all his female   employees the same way. Then I wondered if it was only my imagination.         

     



 



I looked down at the work in front of me. I realized that researching   each one of these companies and compiling a list of pros and cons was   going to take some time. I forced myself to physically shake off my new   boss's flirtatious behavior and roll up my sleeves, so to speak, and  get  to work.



I worked diligently through the morning. Once I was in the midst of it I   lost all track of time. Seth had been right. The research that was   given to me was nothing more than basic details. I needed a lot more   than that to make an informed decision. I don't think I even looked up   from either my computer or my desk until hours later when there was   another knock on my door.



"Come in." Seth popped his head in the door.



"Have you been working on that non-stop since I left this morning?"



I realized the back of my neck was stiff and I put my hand over it to   massage it as I said, "Yeah, I suppose I have." I stood up then and   stretched and once again realized that my CEO's eyes were on my face and   my body as I did.



He grinned and said, "It's loose again. Is it all curly like that?"



It took me a second to process what he was talking about. The look on my   face must have given away my confusion because he pointed at my   forehead and said, "Your hair. I was wondering if it was all that   curly."



I reached up and self-consciously brushed the loose tendril off my face   and tried to tuck it back into the French braid that ran across the  rest  of my head. Feeling like my face might be as red as my hair I  said,  "Yeah, I'm afraid it is."



"I'd love to see it down sometime," he said. Then before I had a chance   to even think about what I should say to that he said, "What do you say   to coming down to the cafeteria and having lunch with the boss? I can   introduce you to a few more of our valuable employees."



There was that word again …  my boss. I knew he had no way of knowing, he   couldn't possibly, but it was almost like he was taunting me with it. I   knew I had to suck up my emotions though and just go with it, so I  said,  "I'm starved. Lunch sounds great." I grabbed my keys and followed  him  out of the office.



I looked at that first lunch with Seth as part of my orientation. We   didn't talk about anything personal and he did introduce me to a lot of   my colleagues. Afterwards, he had walked me back to my office and very   appropriately told me that he would be out of the office the rest of  the  day and that if I needed anything I could call his assistant, or  Harlan  or any one of the other executives. I went back to work after he  left  and before I knew it, the sun had gone down. As I rushed out of  the  building that evening close to eight p.m., the doorman kindly let  me  know that the building would lock up tight after nine p.m. and one  of  the Hunter's or someone they had designated as "key holders" were  the  only ones who could get inside. I thanked him and made a mental  note to  be out of there before that ever happened.