Oh, Keep Your Shirt On - Michelle Pennington Page 0,20
alone, she continued. “A position came open at my company that I need to fill quickly, and my gut tells me you’ll be perfect for it.”
Okay, so maybe I have a wild imagination, but I’d never had a job thrown at me like this, so some pretty wild ideas of what it might be flew through my mind. Still, she looked like a professional, reasonably normal person, and after the night I’d just had, I’d even be willing to entertain something crazy if it meant getting out of here. “What kind of position?”
“Executive assistant. I know you can’t talk openly here, but I’d like to discuss it further with you. Will you be going on break soon, by any chance?”
“I can take one soon. But this is a little…strange. What makes you think I’d be good at it? You’ve only ever seen me once before.”
“You strike me as the kind of woman who knows how to manage difficult people and keep things organized. And if I’m being real, you’re completely intimidating, which is exactly what I need right now.”
My eyebrows rose. The intimidating part was no surprise. I even leaned into the natural severity of my resting expression here at the restaurant. But how did she guess the rest of it from our brief interactions? “Who would I need to intimidate?”
“A bunch of man-crazy women flocking around a very attractive male business consultant. Which makes me wonder…do you by chance have a boyfriend?”
Why did Damien pop into my head when she asked that? Surely it was just because our mothers thought we were dating and not because I wished we really were.
“No. I’m single.”
She frowned, obviously disappointed about that. “Do you think you could spend all day around a charming, intelligent, beautiful man and not fall for him?”
The irony of how much I was struggling with exactly that situation made me smile. But I hadn’t crumbled at Damien’s feet yet, and I doubted any man would give me as much trouble with it as he did. “Well, I have plenty of experience in that department. No problem there.”
Her head tilted sideways as she watched me with blatant curiosity. “I’ll wait outside in my car till you can come talk to me. How does that sound?”
The door opened behind her as another couple came in. I’d need to greet them. “Fine. Luckily we aren’t that busy on Tuesday nights.” Well, we were busy for a Tuesday night, but it was nothing compared to a weekend.
“What’s your name, by the way?” she asked.
It amused me that she’d offered me a job without even asking that. “Krista Bennett.”
She nodded and stepped away so that I could go back to work. But since I was massively intrigued, as soon as I got that couple settled, I grabbed Julie again and asked her to take over for me while I took a break. With the thought of such a good job waiting, I had to find out more. Like, now.
I guess the woman was watching for me because almost as soon as I walked out the front door, she popped out of her car. She smiled and let out a big breath which fogged up in the freezing cold air. I’d completely forgotten to get my coat.
“Come get in and stay warm while we chat.”
Yes, it was dark, and yes, she was practically a stranger. This was also, quite possibly, the strangest thing that had ever happened to me. But this woman just seemed to radiate sincerity, and it was impossible not to trust her. So I got into her car.
I turned to her and frowned. “I know you wrote your name down for me when you gave me your number, but I don’t remember it.”
“Tessa Young. I’m the Human Resources Director for a specialty lingerie and swimwear company called Booms and Nibbles.”
“Wow. That’s quite a name.”
She chuckled. “I know. I’ll tell you the whole story behind it if you agree to come on board with us. I think you’ll love our company’s philosophy on providing functional, beautiful products for women who aren’t able to find their sizes or much selection in other brands. It’s truly a great place to work.”
And then she reached to the back seat to grab a purple folder and took a piece of paper out of it. “Here is our pay offer, along with a full description of our benefits, vacation days, holidays, and personal days.”
I glanced at it and was unable to repress a soft gasp. It was three