AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1
(Anastasia)
I took the job at Worthington Enterprises because it seemed like lucrative move. I could save up money to open my own catering business and before I turned thirty, I would be a business owner. But I ended up getting oh, so much more. More than I could have ever hoped for, more than I had ever imagined possible.
My boss, Ross Worthington, owned ten small businesses. He also owned a large retail business. He ran them all from his headquarters in Massachusetts. He was looking for someone creative to head the advertising department, and I just happened to have the right credentials.
Moving from Kansas as soon as I graduated college, I was new to the area and had been working at a local restaurant for a few months so I wouldn’t dip into my savings account to pay rent and utilities and the like. I liked the job at the restaurant, but minimum wage was not cutting it, I needed better pay, if I ever intended to open my own business. World Cuisine Catering. It has a nice ring to it, I think.
Anyway, I went through several rounds of meetings and interviews before I met Ross. When I first laid eyes on him, my heart kicked into overdrive. He was the sort of suited, New England sexy that just demands attention wherever he goes. His short-cropped black hair and sapphire blue eyes that seemed to pierce right through me, was enough to garner my lusty desires. Add to that the confident swagger, the five-o’clock shadow, wide shoulders and narrow hips, and you have a volatile mixture.
I felt like a blathering fool during our first meeting, which he assured me was only a preliminary meeting so that we could just get to know each other a bit.
For the next interview I sat in his office in my best fancy office skirt and blouse suit, wishing I had worn my low-heeled black shoes instead of my slightly worn burnt-sienna flats that matched the accent colors in my skirt. He would be there any minute to conduct the formal interview. Just him and me. He told me at the informal meeting that the next interview would end with his hiring me, or thanking me for my time and interest, which meant I was not hired.
I had to impress him. But how do you impress a self-made billionaire? I was so nervous and nearly jumped out of my skin at every little noise.
Then Ross Worthington opened the door and walked in with a roguish grin on his face and a devilish twinkle in his eyes. My nerves didn’t calm down, they died, right there on the spot. Frozen. That’s how I sat, staring at him for several seconds as he approached me with his hand out, expecting a handshake.
Timidly, I shook his hand. His grip was firm and warm, the touch of his skin sending little tingles through my body and tightening my stomach. I collected myself and smiled back at him as he sat across the desk from me.
He was not the first gorgeous man I had ever met, but he was the first that I had thought, I want him, about. In high school, all the boys were immature jerks and I was not interested. I focused on my grades. In college, I had a few flings, but nothing more. I was centered on my future career as owner and operator of World Cuisine Catering. That left no time for boyfriends. It was not something that I ever thought much about—missing out on the dates and the sex never really bothered me.
Ross finished looking over the papers in his hand and laid them aside, turning that piercing gaze back to me. The interview consisted of only a few questions about my past experience, which was not much. I was honest with him even though I was tempted to embellish. I had taken the full course in advertising as a backup plan, just in case my dreams of the catering business flopped. My grades in those advertising and marketing classes were, as with all my other grades, superior. Many people could label me as many things, but never as a slacker. I had worked with a small company through college that needed help with their advertising and marketing department, and I gave the names and numbers as references on the Worthington Enterprise application.
“Miss Penland, it seems to me that you are right for the position here at Worthington Enterprises. You do understand that as head of the department, you will be working long hours and you will be the overseer for all adverts and marketing mock-ups for all my companies, correct?” Ross gave me a smile and nod.
Clearing my throat, wanting to jump up and squeal because he had more or less just hired me, I took a deep breath. My smile was uncontrollable. “Yes, sir. Long hours and a heavy workload never hurt me before. I would welcome the opportunity to work here, sir.”
He laughed. “Okay, okay. You can stop being so formal and stop responding like an applicant. You can call me Ross, everybody does, except my mother but she doesn’t work here, so we won’t get into that.” He chuckled again and shook my hand. “You, Anastasia Penland, are now, officially, the head of my main advertising and marketing department.”
I stood, my knees trembled. “Thank you, sir, uhm, I mean, Ross.” His name rolled off my tongue nicely. I liked the name Ross; strong, simple, sexy.
He opened the door and ushered me out first. “You do realize that if something goes wrong in any of the departments, it’s your head on the chop-block.”
That unnerved me. “I understand but what if it’s something someone else screws up, not me? Will I still be held accountable?” I had never been a boss before, never had people working under my supervision, and I knew nothing of these new people I had yet to meet.
“Well, that’s a different matter. If you’re not the one who makes the mistake, then no.” He touched my arm to stop me in mid-stride and opened a door on his right. “Here’s your department. Let’s meet your staff.” He moved aside, holding the door and I brushed by him, feeling the warmth of his body so close to mine. “I would still hold you responsible for fixing the problem, though.”
Nodding, I stepped into the room, electricity buzzing down my right side from his closeness.
“Here’s your staff.” He motioned to include all six cubicles in the large room. “There are six wonderful, creative, talented, and very argumentative people here.”
“Only six?” I couldn’t stop the question. I just blurted it out, shocked that there were only six people in charge of all marketing for eleven companies.
“Only six. I like to keep things simple, Miss Penland. Each of them will report directly to you, and you will report directly to me. See? Simple.” He led me through the center of the room to another glass-fronted office and opened that door, also. “This is your office. Take today to set it up however you want it. Make a list of any equipment and furniture you will need, and I’ll have it delivered in a few days.”
Stepping into the office, my office, I felt like I had just made it. It was perfect. It was also very large, in my opinion. “You mean, I’m on the clock as of right now?”
Winking, he offered, “Unless you have more pressing appointments to see to, yes.”
“Oh, no. Right now is fine. I just wasn’t prepared for…” I waved my hand around the office and chuckled nervously.
“What? To get the job?” He wagged a finger back and forth, clucking his tongue. “Now, that’s not a winning attitude, Miss Penland. Confidence is key in this world. Always be confident.” He let his eyes slide over my body and I could feel it moving along, like hands caressing me.
“Yes, sir. Confidence.” I nodded curtly, hoping my face wasn’t red.
“Ross. Always Ross.” He backed out of the office and shut the door.
