Present day
Reid's POV
Absent-minded I stared through my glass french windows taking in the idyllic view of the city before me. This was one of my favorite scenes. It allowed me to take a deep breath and pause and to just appreciate life in its simplicity. You could learn a lot about someone just by observing their everyday actions.
Through my office window I could see Joe. He worked on Fifth Avenue and he was rarely ever early for work, you could see him bustling along shirt unkempt, his tie askew and hair matted. It was almost comical the way he looked hurrying about. My eyes caught sight of Abby, she worked across from my business place managing her florist shop. She was the opposite of Joe. In fact, she was almost damn near predictable. She opened up her shop at six a.m and started watering the plants around seven ish.
This was my escape from the hectic folds of my own life. And ever so often my mind played a different scenario of how I could have handled things differently almost twenty years ago. It was my fault why my town had been wiped clean. The Alpha would have scolded me had he seen me that day. I better. I should have acted . It was a shame I bore so heavily. I would never forgive myself. I was a disgrace.
There was a timid knock at my door interrupting my train of thoughts. "What?" I almost barked. I hated being disturbed, especially so early in the morning. My secretary, Tasha, timidly poked her head into my larger than life office. The frail girl visibly shook when my eyes landed on hers. No doubt my face was in its usual scrowl. I knew it wouldn't hurt to be nicer to her, but something about her irked me and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. She was good at what she did plus she put up with me so she was tolerated, for now.
My hazel eyes burnt straight into her hesitant brown ones. She licked her lips nervously and looked away from my imposing stare. "Sir," she croaked out before clearing her throat. "The last interviewee just showed up. Should I direct them to the Board Room?"
Annoyed, I gave her a curt nod and the poor girl did all she could to flee from my presence. Not that I blamed her. I knew I could be intimidating.
Great. This was just what I needed. I always found interviews to be boring and a complete drag. But at the same time, the position for Sales Manager needed to be filled. I needed someone who was young, talented and competent. Financially, my company was still doing good, but I knew it could be better.
I stayed in my office for ten more minutes before I ambled over to the Board Room. As suspected, once inside I could see my good friends and business partners already seated with the interviewees. Lyndnn was our Technical Director and Keenan who was our Marketing Manager; I could always count on both of them to have the company's best interest at heart. Afterall they had been there from the start, toiling from the ground up with me. I took my chair at the head of the table and nodded a greeting to both of them.
I glanced at the faces of the eight interviewees that were already seated before me. Each of them looked poised, confident and immaculate. I chuckled to myself. I guess you had to put your best foot forward if you really wanted to be hired, huh?
Keenan looked over to me. "Shall we proceed?" he asked in his attempt at a "serious" voice. I suppose he was going to play the role of the no nonsense interviewer. This I had to see. Keenan was playful by nature.
I gave the go ahead and the meeting began. Lyndnn started up by introducing herself, Keenan and I. She knew how to put anyone at ease and she was always so cheerful. "I'm Lyndnn," she spoke up in a clear voice. "I am the Technical Director here at Got Milk Inc. and also the reason why Keenan still has a job here," she joked.
The room erupted in a series of laughs. I could even feel my own frown switch into a smile. The girl was a natural, she had that effect on everyone. Working with her was a breeze. You were bound to feel welcomed just by being in her presence. I admired her so much for that.
I soon realized that everyone in the room had their eyes on me. My lips moved in a crisp motion when I spoke. "Reid Javernick. CEO. Founder." I hated talking unless I absolutely needed to and right now talking wasn't a necessity. I was a man of very few words.
"Right," Lyndnn said bringing the attention back to her, "our dear Reid is always this hospitable, unfortunately." She made a face at me, then continued, "Anyway, I'm sure the reason you are all here is because we advertised that we were looking for our Sales Manager. Now, Able, tell me what makes you stand out from the rest of the candidates?"
And so the interview went on.
Everyone gave intelligent answers sounding very much like they were reading from Google. They almost sounded robotic in a sense. There was no creativity, nothing that made them stand out. This was why I hated interviews. There was rarely any originality.
We were about an half an hour into the meeting when I caught whiff of an oddly familiar scent. I couldn't quite pinpoint which scene from my life my brain was associating the scent with.
The doors to the Board Room swung open and in walked the most gorgeous girl I had ever seen. She had skin the color of rich dark chocolate, her cupid, full lips were painted in red, a color that was startling beautiful against her complexion. Her hair was swept up in a ponytail that highlighted and accentuated her strong bone structure. And her body? Oh, man. She was as curvy as a coke bottle from the 1915's. Compared to everyone else she was a knock out. A rose in a room full of sunflowers.
"Oh my gosh. I am so sorry." Her words tumbled on top of one another. "Stupid me put the wrong address into the GPS three times!" she wailed, "and I almost hit a poor dog in my rush to get here."
"I'm sorry, love, but the interview has already started. Perhaps some other time?" This was from Lyndnn.
"Stay."
Every single pair of eyes turned and looked in my direction. Damn. Had I really meant to say that outloud? I guess I had because I was now beckoning for the girl to take a seat. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Lyndnn silently stewing in her seat, but whatever the damage was already done.
"What's your name?" I asked surprising myself with how talkative I was being. The girl sat across from me and said her name in a rushed tone. "Sunn Carter."
"Go right ahead and tell us more about yourself," I invited.
♡ Author's Note: So I did re-upload Chapter 20, its nestled between chapters 32 and 33. My sincerest apologies that it was updated in this manner. ♡