and I don’t know why she’s so damn scared, but I’m intrigued. I tell myself that it has nothing to do with those doe eyes. That it can’t be the body beneath those ill-fitting clothes.
“You can be my assistant. My secretary doesn’t have the time. I need someone available twenty-four seven. Can you do that?”
She licks her lips, her eyes widening and I swear to all that is holy, I have never wanted a woman’s lips wrapped around my cock more than I do in this exact moment. Clearing my throat, this time I do shift in my seat as I wait for her answer.
“Anything, Mr. Astor.”
I snort. Anything is such a broad word. I’ve never dipped my pen into the company ink, but I’m wondering how long I’ll be able to steer clear of her. She’s younger than my daughter, but somehow, she doesn’t seem it. She seems different. At least that’s what I tell myself to sound less like a pervert considering my cock is aching just at the sight of her.
“Be here tomorrow, eight in the morning. Go down to HR, on the third floor, they’ll set you up.”
She stands and thanks me about five times before she turns around and hurries toward the door. I call out her name before she slips through.
“I want you in this office at eight sharp. If you’re a minute late, you’re fired.”
She gulps, her eyes widening, and fuck, but I want to see her look at me like that when I’m buried deep inside her sweet little body.
“Yes, sir.”
Fuck.
Yes.
Chapter Three
TENNESSEE
I practically sprint from Mr. Astor’s office and toward the elevator. Extending my finger, I touch the number three that takes me down to the third floor. Only as the elevator doors close, do I allow myself to smile.
As soon as they’re shut completely, I let out a squeal and spin in a circle shaking my hips from side to side.
I got it.
I got a job.
It’s not the intern job that I applied for, but I don’t even care. All that matters is that I have a job, in this building, for this company. I have a chance, a foot in the door, and that’s all I need to prove to myself and to Mr. Astor that I can do this. That I can be this woman that I’ve been dreaming of becoming.
Human Resources is almost as daunting as meeting with Mr. Astor, but when I’m told that Holden can start in the childcare Monday morning just like me, I breathe a sigh of relief. Also, the fee is so nominal that I have to blink twice at the price.
“This can’t be right,” I question.
She smiles, the first smile she’s given me since I walked through her office door. “It is. Mr. Astor is a fantastic family man, he has always made it clear that being near your children is important. I think that if he could have childcare be completely free, he would.”
“Wow,” I breathe.
My mother has only ever mentioned his wife a few times, that they were friends from pageant days. I got the impression that their friendship was surface level, even years ago. They had very different paths in life, my mother being a struggling single parent and Susan being a socialite.
Once pageant life was over, once they were married and had families of their own, living in different states, they just separated ways. At least that’s what I’ve always assumed, anyway.
But hearing this about Mr. Astor, I am in awe. What a wonderful man. I knew from my research into Astor Investments that it was a great company, with outstanding benefits, but I didn’t realize all that it entailed.
“Mr. Astor has just emailed me, your starting wage will be salary since you’ll be on call. Weekends and nights will not be included in that salary and will automatically be double-time if he is to need your assistance. You’ll get all of the standard benefits, plus two weeks of paid vacation a year and a week off between Christmas and New Year’s paid.”
I shake my head, lifting my hand to my throat, I squeeze to keep from screaming out in surprise and elation.
“Your base salary is sixty thousand dollars a year.”
I can’t hold it in. I gasp loudly, then I squeal. She lifts her eyes from her computer, her eyes widening before a smile tugs on her lips.
“Mr. Astor is very generous,” she informs me. “More generous with you than I have ever seen, but he is indeed