“You do have a plan. Still, I want to stop at your house on the way. Pick up something special to wear tonight and a change of clothes.”
His eyes blazed white-hot fire with the amount of lust searing me. “Done.”
“Any special requests?” I taunted.
“Black. Lace.”
“Naughty.” I grinned, knowing exactly what I was going to wear.
Jonah tugged at his collar and adjusted his crotch before the elevator opened.
Tonight, was going to be epic. I just knew it.
A+ Construction headquarters were set up in an older part of town about twenty minutes from Oak Park. The front was made of horizontal windows with painted green slats surrounded by brick and beige-colored concrete. I had expected some type of rugged, rusted out warehouse, but was pleasantly surprised at how the front of the building was a bit contemporary with a touch of downhome Midwestern charm.
Jonah opened the door for me and placed a hand to my lower back as I entered.
The front had a crescent-shaped wall that separated the large reception desk from the waiting area. A set of six seats and a coffee table were on one side of the room. In the other corner was a pretty table with a pristine white orchid sitting on top, a gilded brass rectangular mirror hanging on the wall above it. Behind the reception desk I could see glass partitioned offices.
Luca was standing over the desk holding a file folder and discussing something with a heavily pregnant Asian woman. I lifted my hand and gave a jaunty wave. Luca smiled, finished his conversation, and left the woman’s office. He walked the short hallway to the door that separated reception from where the bulk of their offices were.
“Hey, I uh, didn’t expect to see the two of you so soon. Everything okay?”
Jonah tightened his hold on my hand. “Here to see Dad. He mentioned to Simone he’d show her around the company. If everyone feels she’s a good fit, I’d like to see about him hiring her earlier, prior to her finishing her last class. Maybe in a part-time capacity. This would allow her the time to study and secure her degree, while giving Lisa time to train her on the position in advance.”
Luca blinked slowly and didn’t say anything for what seemed to me like a long time. My nerves were ramped up to the max and I had to keep myself from spewing all my thoughts a hundred miles an hour into the weighted silence.
“To be honest, Dad did tell me about the idea of Simone working here and I wasn’t sure you’d be okay with that. Considering our history.”
“Maybe this was a bad idea.” Jonah grumbled and made to turn to the entrance, but I locked my other arm around his and held on.
“I’m very interested in working with you and Marco. I’ve had a ton of experience in customer service, and I filled in at Tracks any time the business manager was sick or on vacation. I’m a super-fast learner, intelligent, and you will not find a harder worker. And I’m looking for a position that I can stay with long term. Something that will support the future I want.”
Jonah looped his arm over my shoulders. “Hope some of what you want in the future has me in it, baby.”
I grinned and elbowed him in the ribs.
Jonah chuckled. “Ouch. Sorry. Okay, okay.”
“Well, you’ve come to the right place. Dad was taken with you. You have been all he’s talked about for the last couple days. Why don’t you come on back and I’ll introduce you to Lisa and the rest of the office team? Most of the men are out on jobs.”
“Do they clock in here?”
He shook his head. “No. The office isn’t open until eight. Our team starts when they step foot on the job usually around six-thirty or seven in the morning depending on the weather and what the job site entails. We trust them to do their job and follow their foreman’s lead. We have five foremen. Each person has a team of four to five under him or her. We have one female foreman and two female construction workers.”
“That’s cool.”
“Women can do most anything a man can, but we focus on our team’s strengths. The female foreman we have is more talented in the design intricacies of a job. We send her in to work her magic. Then her team will either do the job or we’ll pass it off to one of the other teams. It all