Her CEO - Flora Ferrari Page 0,5
spot line of questions loading in my mind like machine gun rounds that replaces my own growing nervousness.
My own agitation as I consider how this is all too good to be true.
What if she doesn’t go for older men? What if she has a boyfriend, or worse?
Fuck.
She opens her mouth to answer, but I interrupt her.
“Boyfriend? Husband… Partner?” I ask, hearing the strain in my own voice, relieved when she shakes her head.
“Ummm… I don’t think so,” she says, blushing and looking down.
“What does that mean?” I ask her cuttingly, feeling a stab in my chest at the thought she couldn’t see herself with anybody, as if she doesn't deserve to be treated like the goddess that she is.
She looks up startled, and I can tell she’s wondering if this is the actual interview still.
She tilts her head, her mouth open but she’s not sure.
“Don’t you think anyone could be interested in you? Head over heels for you, even at first sight?” I ask her, hearing my voice wavering with emotion now.
She flushes a deeper red and looks down again, and I lean forward, making her look up suddenly.
“I need people who believe in something, Alyson. If you’re to work under me, I need you to look up and forward, not down,” I tell her firmly and I can see it’s too much for her.
Too soon.
Her lower lip starts to tremble after she sighs and she looks away, back towards the elevator.
Don’t even think about it.
“It’s not always that easy,” she says, sucking down her emotion and meeting my steely gaze. “Not everyone can just muster self-confidence… belief… It’s…”
I know what she wants to say, but she stops herself.
“Easy for me?” I ask her, reading her thoughts.
“I guess in some ways it is, now. But when I first started here, I was the mail boy everybody made fun of because I stuttered when I got nervous, which was every time I opened my mouth,” I tell her.
It’s the first time I’ve told anybody that, and I feel lighter in myself for saying so.
“Really?” she asks, smiling. But it’s not a poking fun smile, it’s an understanding smile, which I return.
“Really,” I say, and lean back a little, eager to learn more about Alyson, as well as just look at her. Something I can tell already I could do all day long.
“Tell me why you want to work here,” I ask her again after a few moments, eager to hear her ‘why’ for being here.
She sits up a little straighter and looks me dead in the eye.
“To make all the crap I put up with in college worth it. For you it was stuttering, for me it’s my size and my shyness.”
She stops, looking as though she thinks she’s blown it already, but aside from my mind being made up the moment I saw her, I want to know what she has to say.
I urge her to continue with a slight movement of my hand, but she’s lost momentum. Her shyness and embarrassment take over again.
“Take a minute and think about it,” I tell her, opening up my laptop and tapping out a memo to everybody in Human Resources about my latest visit, with separate memos to Sloane and the receptionist, Cynthia.
Almost totally absorbed, I have half my attention on Alyson and the other on my emails when she finally pipes in.
“Truth?” she asks me softly, and I answer her, looking up.
“Always,” I tell her. “No matter how silly or strange you think it might sound.”
“I want to work here because of...you,” she says, and I feel my heart, and my crotch swell.
The faint growl that escapes me is contained somewhat by the beaming smile on my face as I lean back again, admiring my latest acquisition.
Chapter Five
Alyson
“Does that mean I’ve got the job?” I hear myself asking, my voice trembling with excitement.
Eric’s smile broadens, and he shows his perfect set of gleaming teeth as he nods his head, holding out his huge hand.
“I don’t know exactly what position it is I have for you, perhaps several,” he muses. “But I’m not letting you out of my sights, Alyson Bennet. You’ve got the job!”
I screech with delight, squealing out loud as I forget myself completely, and ignoring his hand, I trot around to his side of the desk and hurl myself at him, hugging him around his huge neck and shoulders.
The sensation of his hands on my hips, gripping me tight changes my excitement from a new employee to the other,