AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She wasn’t the kind of woman who swooned over every handsome guy, but she still had to force herself to keep walking instead of staring.
Focus. He’s just a mark. Even if Emma weren’t trying to steal this man’s painting, it wouldn’t be appropriate for her to ogle the man who was about to become her boss.
She hoped the fact that her mark was extremely handsome wouldn’t make what she had to do any harder. Hopefully, his good looks were paired with a pretentious and unattractive personality. After all, Aleksander Ariti was attractive on paper, too, and he was a complete jerk in practice.
Please be a jerk. Otherwise, I’m not sure how I’m going to do this.
As Emma stepped back onto the street and into the crisp fall air, though, she couldn’t get those blue eyes out of her mind. Some rebellious part of her hoped that he wasn’t a jerk at all, even though it would mess up all Emma’s plans.
CHAPTER 4
PATRICK
“Patrick.”
Patrick looked up from the contract he was reviewing to see his assistant standing in front of him. He blinked in surprise. He hadn’t noticed Jay enter the room.
“What’s up?”
“Sorry to barge in, but you didn’t seem to hear me knocking or get my message.” Jay smiled apologetically. “It’s time for your welcome speech.”
“My what-now?”
“Your welcome speech,” Jay repeated patiently. “Last week you asked me to set up a welcome speech for you with the next batch of new joiners. I think you wanted to get to know your employees better.”
“Right.” Patrick slowly emerged from the world of finances and contracts he’d been lost in. “That welcome speech.” He rubbed his temple. With a little distance between him and the original idea, taking time off from more important work to greet new joiners seemed like less of a genius plan. Still, he had made a commitment and he wasn’t about to back down. It would be good to get to know his employees a little better. “When does it start?”
“In fifteen minutes.”
“Right.” Patrick stood and stretched. This was going to be interesting, since he didn’t have anything prepared. He’d have to wing it.
Fifteen minutes later, Patrick was standing in front of about twenty unfamiliar faces. He smiled in what he hoped was a friendly and welcoming way.
“My name is Patrick Daniels,” he began. “And I’m the CEO of LWC Capital. I wanted to take a moment to welcome all of you. Our employees are the heart of LWC. Without you, we wouldn’t be the successful company that we are today.”
As he spoke about the company’s origin story and the importance of teamwork — and thanked his lucky stars that he was so good at impromptu speeches — Patrick let his gaze drift over the assembled crowd. There was the usual group of men and women in an array of suits, slacks and skirts. Some of them looked interested to see him, while others appeared more bored than anything.
And then Patrick paused on one particular face. Near the front of the room sat the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. She had dark brown hair in a twist, although a few strands were loose to frame her face. Her eyes were a dark chocolate brown, and she was wearing a dress that highlighted her feminine figure. When their eyes met, she smiled at Patrick, and he had to look away to keep himself from getting distracted and losing his train of thought.
“Finally,” he continued, refocusing all his efforts on his speech. “I hope you know that you have a team to support you. Your new managers are ready to help you get settled, as are your new coworkers. I hope you’ll soon feel like the integral part of LWC Capital that you are.” He smiled and a few people applauded, although Patrick suspected it was more out of politeness and deference to his position as CEO than any real interest in his speech.
“Thank you, Mr. Daniels.” The HR manager who was running the training (Patrick thought her name was Julie something) smiled at him. “Everyone, we’ll take a quick five-minute coffee break and meet back here for the training on our online timesheets.”
The gathered new employees stood slowly and began to mill around. The majority made a break for the table that had been set up with coffee, tea, and some pastries, while a few remained seated. Patrick headed for the door, though he couldn’t help glancing back to see if he could find the dark-haired beauty again. She was nowhere to be seen.
It’s for the best. Even if Patrick found her attractive, which he did, he had well-defined reasons why he didn’t date. A beautiful woman wouldn’t change that. And even if he did want to date, it wouldn’t be at all appropriate to date one of his employees.
Patrick gave his head a little shake to clear it and turned back toward the door. He’d exchanged one smile with the dark-haired beauty and his mind jumped straight to dating. That was unusual, to say the least, as he was rarely distracted by even the prettiest of women. He needed to focus.
“Hi.”
Patrick was so focused on his mental lecture that he was surprised by the soft voice behind him. He turned to see the dark-haired beauty standing beside him. She gave a shy smile, which made her delicate features all the lovelier.
“Hi.” Patrick smiled at her.
“I’m Emma Reynolds.” The woman extended a slender hand, which Patrick took. He was probably imagining the surge of warmth that passed between them when their palms touched. “I just wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself.”
“Nice to meet you, Emma.” Patrick let go of her small hand with some reluctance. “I’m Patrick Daniels.”
