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  “No, but… I do have the job?”

  “Yes.”

  He stared at me from his desk. I looked back at him, still unsure of what to think or say. There was something else between us. I had sex with him a few days earlier and now he was my boss. I couldn’t just ignore it.

  “Rafael—”

  “Alice, you’re qualified for this job, right?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “That’s why I hired you. That’s the only reason I hired you. You’re here to do a job and help Barnett Industries succeed and grow.”

  I nodded to him.

  “This is a business move. People might question my decisions. Don’t make them question this one. If you have no more business to discuss with me, then there’s nothing else for us to speak about. Agreed?”

  “…Right. Of course. I… I understand completely.”

  I nodded again then stood up from my chair. Even though we both knew what was obvious, I couldn’t say it out loud. He was right. Whatever happened between us was nothing more than two people looking for a good time. I couldn’t let how attracted I was to him physically stop me from doing my job to the best of my ability.

  I turned my back to him and quickly left his office. As soon as I stepped outside, I sighed a deep breath. I got the job. I never imagined that I would be working for a man I had a one-night stand with just a few days ago but that didn’t matter. I couldn’t think any longer about the fling we had.

  Chapter 8

  I tried to relax when I got back to my apartment but I couldn’t. It felt like I was floating on air. I was too excited. My family was almost as excited as I was when I told them what happened. They had no clue what Barnett Industries was, so I didn’t bother explaining how big of a company it was. I told Danica that I got the job and she insisted on celebrating. I might have been tempted to take her up on the offer but I already had a meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning. As hard as I worked in college, I knew that this was only the beginning.

  If that weren’t enough, I had several files sent to me just like Rafael promised me. I sorted through everything and wondered if he actually expected me to get through all of it before the meeting tomorrow morning. There were profiles on so many different business. There were varying financial forecasts for every different way we could go. Despite the amount of money the company was worth, they couldn’t just invest this money in anything. There wasn’t enough to go around. This is why there was a board. This is why Rafael couldn’t make these decisions unilaterally. There was too much money at stake. There were too many lives that could be changed with a simple yes or no. And besides all of the businesses, there were people behind them. I learned about all of the men running the other companies. Rafael had several files sent to me that dealt with all of their personalities and tendencies. It was too much for me to absorb. For a split-second, I wondered if I was in over my head.

  I spent the rest of the night in front of my computer, studying everything he had sent to me. I couldn’t stay up forever though. I needed a good night’s sleep as much as I needed to soak up all of this information.

  I had trouble sleeping that night. I still had no idea what to expect. As I laid there in bed, my anxiety got the best of me. But it wasn’t just the work. I started thinking about Rafael himself. I had no clue that he was a man worth billions when I first met him. I almost felt embarrassed that he’d picked me out of all of the candidates he could have. I had just as many questions about him as I did about my new job.

  He said he picked me because of my qualifications. But was that really the case? Was he really telling me the truth? The questions danced around inside of my head and I eventually drifted off to sleep.

  * * *

  I woke-up bright and early the next morning. I did my hair and put on my makeup. I didn’t have much to wear. I contemplated wearing the exact same outfit I wore twice already to the building but decided on something even more plain.

  The building was crowded with so many different people. It all felt surreal. To think that I was fresh out of college and now among so many people responsible for so much money was unbelievable. And I was working with the man who was right at the top.

  I went to Estelle’s office on the 88th floor. When I expressed my confusion to her, she chuckled at me then congratulated me. I felt embarrassed because of how lost I was but she explained that I wasn’t the only one. I headed one floor up toward the boardroom. There wasn’t much room for confusion. There were several smaller offices to the side but a set of double doors right at the center of the floor was my obvious destination.

  There were two men standing next to the entrance. They looked young and nothing like the board members I was told about. They seemed similar. Everything from their height to the way they styled their hair to their suit was the same. One of them had hair that was darker than the other and the only other way I could tell them apart initially was their suits.

  I walked up to one of them. His hair was jet black and his suit was a dark navy blue. He turned and looked at me with a smile.

  “Hi,” he said. “You’re not a member of the board of directors, are you?”

  “No,” I laughed. “I… I was about to ask you the same thing.”

  “Oh. I see you were selected to be an intern to. My name’s Wesley.”

  “Alice.”

  “Nice to meet you, Alice. This here is Travis. He was hired yesterday.”

  The brown-haired man nodded to me with a smile. Travis had these deep green eyes that made his face look even younger. I wondered if he even needed to shave this morning. His skin was smooth like a child’s without a single blemish on it.

  “So, what’s going on?” I asked Wesley.

  “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I think they’re just going over some preliminary reports. We were told to wait outside. We’re all early for the scheduled appointment anyway, so they can’t yell at us about that.”

  “Yeah…”

  I exhaled a sigh of relief. Knowing that I wasn’t alone eased some of the tension that I was feeling. There was something waiting for us behind those closed doors. Now it was just a matter of figuring it out.

  As I stood there and waited for the time to pass, I looked at Wesley. While Travis was calm, his arms crossed behind his back and holding his briefcase, Wesley seemed to be pacing back and forth in place. I could see the stress rushing through his body. He reached his thumb up to his mouth and started biting his nails.

  “Are you all right?” I asked him.

  “What?” he said, looking up. “Y-yeah, I’m fine.”

  “It’s just the first day,” I told him. “They picked you for a reason. There’s no need to get stressed out over it.”

  “Y-yeah, I know. I’m just… I just really want to get started. I’ve worked really hard to get here and I don’t want to screw up.”

  “You won’t. If anybody does, it’ll probably be me.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “Well, we’re going to find out pretty soon, aren’t we?”

  The three of us began to chuckle, Wesley more nervous than Travis and me. Before our nerves could get the best of us, the doors opened. It was Rafael himself who opened the doors. He looked magnanimous as he stood there in his suit. It was especially noticeable standing next to two newcomers like Travis and Wesley.

  Rafael looked at all of us. His stared lingered on me for just a moment before he smiled and held his arms out.

  “Ah, the new hires,” he said with some excitement in his voice. “The people that are going to change the face of this company for the better. It’s a new day, everybody! Don’t be shy. Come in and make yourself comfortable. The board won’t bite.”

  Rafael held his arms out and graciously welcomed us into the boardroom. When I stepped inside, I finally saw what the others were talking about. The large table was surrounded by a dozen men. They were all old men, the wrinkles on their faces from a combination of stress, hard work and all of the y
ears that passed by. They all seemed to be frowning as they looked at us. Despite Rafael’s positive demeanor, it didn’t seem to have rubbed off on the rest of the men we were going to work with.

  “Take a seat!” Rafael said to us. “Right over here. There’s a spot over here for all of you.”

  There was a small table off to the side for the three of us to sit. I could feel the eyes of every single board member upon me as I made my way to my seat.

  “Why don’t we start with some introductions?” Rafael said, his enthusiasm unwavering. “Who wants to start?”

  “Travis Johnson.”

  “Wesley… Wesley Brooks.”

  The two men waved sheepishly to the less than enthusiastic audience. Then they all turned and looked at me. Rafael stared at me and even he was no longer smiling.

  “A-Alice Pratt,” I said.

  I tried to ignore the fact that I was the only woman in the room but it was too glaring. Everybody was staring at me. Even Wesley and Travis were looking at me. I looked down at the table and waited for Rafael to begin my first day on the job.

  “It will be light work for you all today,” he said. “While your offices are being prepared, you can observe what happens exactly in our meetings. I assure you that nothing should go over your heads. That’s as long as your resumes were accurate and you bothered to look over the information that was sent to you. Here’s the agenda…”

  Rafael worked his way back to the front of the room. I felt relieved when they finally turned their attention away from me. Rafael explained an important business meeting scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. He talked about the company they were dealing with. He explained that he planned on buying them out. Barnett Industries had more than enough money to acquire them but now it was just a matter of convincing them to take our lowest offer. I took down several notes as everybody in the room spoke their opinions. Thankfully, I studied enough last night so that I knew what he was talking about.

  As I watched Rafael stand at one end of the room and listen to everybody’s opinion, I couldn’t help but be captivated by him. Even if I didn’t know that he was a billionaire, he had enough charisma to fake it. He smiled his perfect white teeth when it was appropriate and shot down any inappropriate suggestions without being too condescending. He paced back and forth in front of the room with an enthusiasm that was infectious. I found myself paying attention to him not only because I wanted the information but because I wanted to hear everything he had to say.

  Several hours passed and Rafael raised his hands to put everybody at ease.

  “All right, everybody,” he announced. “Let’s take a break for lunch.”

  The doors opened and a number of men and women in uniforms walked into the room. Some of them began setting a table up on the side while others began working their way around the main table. They took down every man’s order for lunch.

  “So, how are you doing so far?” Wesley asked me.

  “I’m doing fine,” I sighed. “It’s a lot of information but I seem to be getting most of it.”

  “You’re doing better than I am.”

  “Don’t worry. I don’t think they’re expecting much out of us in tomorrow’s meeting.”

  One of the perks of working in the boardroom was the free lunch. It was a relief to not have to worry about working for the moment. I sat at the desk next to Wesley and Travis and the three of us enjoyed our temporary reprieve. While the other board members sat in the same place with their lunches, I noticed that Rafael sat by himself in the corner. He was eating just the same as everybody else but he was also on his computer. It looked like he was focused on his work more than he was taking a break. I wasn’t in any position to walk up and question him though.

  After lunch, the meeting continued with more discussion of the company we were trying to acquire. Rafael continued to emphasize the importance of the meeting tomorrow. We went over all of the different options. At the end of our discussion, I had taken more notes than I had after several years of sitting around in lecture halls.

  I stood up from my seat and stretched myself out. I marveled at the way the older men didn’t look any worse for wear. They shuffled out of the boardroom and headed toward their offices. As I made my way out of the room with Travis and Wesley, Rafael stopped me.

  “Alice, may I speak with you for a moment?”

  “Of course.”

  He pulled me off to the side of the boardroom. The door closed behind me and the two of us were alone. He took a seat on the table and smiled at me with his arms crossed. Even though his demeanor was relaxed, I still didn’t feel completely comfortable around him.

  A few nights ago he was fucking you up against a wall. Now he’s sitting in front of you and you can barely look at him…

  “Are you all right, Alice?”

  “Of course, Mr. Barnett. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I said call me Rafael. And I’m asking just to make sure that you’re not overwhelmed by anything.”

  “I’m fine, sir. And I think Wesley is more overwhelmed than I am.”

  “I wasn’t talking about the information for tomorrow’s meeting.”

  “…Then what are you talking about?”

  “Alice, you’re the only female in the room. Do you know the last time we had a female on the board of directors?”

  “No.”

  “Never. But if you manage to live up to your expectations, you’ll be the first.”

  “I…”

  “No pressure, Alice.”

  He winked at me then started to chuckle. He stood up from the table then placed his arm upon my shoulder.

  “But I didn’t hire you just because you’re a woman. I said that before and I’m saying it again. I want to make it perfectly clear to you. You were hired because you were better than any of the other candidates.”

  “I know. Thank you.”

  “Alice…”

  “Yes?”

  He stared at me. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking. He suddenly began to laugh then lowered his hand from my shoulder.

  “It’s nothing,” he sighed. “Head down to your office and see if you can brush up on everything we just talked about. Remember. No pressure.”

  He winked at me then escorted me out of the boardroom. We stood next to one another as we waited for separate elevators. I didn’t say another word to him. I only nodded to him and headed down to my office while he headed back up to his.

  Chapter 9

  The name of the company was Corve Tech. They were a small start-up company that managed to find success thanks to their founder, Jason David. Jason was a young man in his mid-twenties. After graduating from university, he used all of the resources he had from his part-time job to mess around with some of the ideas floating around in his head. Now his company was worth more than anybody could estimate because of all of the fresh and innovative inventions he was able to create.

  I learned all about Jason and Corve Tech after spending several ours alone in my new office. It was nice to have a new workplace, even if the work was more intense than anything I’d ever studied while I was in school. When I got home, I gleaned even more information about him online. Combined with all of the notes I received from Rafael and the rest of the board members, I knew more about the company we had a scheduled meeting with than anybody would about a person they’d never met before.

  The plan was to buyout Jason David. Because he was a small start-up, there was still potential for growth. Rafael emphasized getting a hold of the company before it grew even larger. Now the trick was trying to convince Jason David to sell his company. This was the growth Rafael was talking about. This was another step toward expanding his business and finding more success for Barnett industries.

  * * *

  Our meeting with Jason David was scheduled for that afternoon. I showed-up to work that morning after what was surprisingly a good night’s rest. I knew that they weren’t expecting much out of me. I wondered if I would even have any say at al
l. But if Rafael or any of the board members needed my input, I would be able to give them more insight.

  I sat there in the boardroom. It was a glaring fact that I was the only woman in the room. And my youth reeked of someone who didn’t have the experience of dealing with men responsible for billions of dollars. Two fellow interns alongside me wasn’t enough to deter how anxious I felt about the pending meeting.

  “All right,” Rafael said as he took his place at the front of the room. “Jason David is scheduled to speak with us soon. We’ve read all of the estimates on what most financial experts put Corve Tech at. We’ve had our own people analyze it and we’re well aware of the forecasts. It’s clear that it has a bright future. But only if it can maintain this kind of success. Our maximum offer to Jason will be three billion. No more. If he wants anything more, then we’ll just have to convince him to come down.”

  I didn’t say a single word. I was tense the entire time. Rafael continued to discuss everything with the board members and I found myself captivated by everything. At least, that’s what I was trying to tell myself. My nerves were beginning to get the best of me. There was so much money at stake here and to think that I might be witnessing such a major acquisition on my second day on the job was unbelievable.

  Rafael took his place at the front of the room after receiving a phone call. We all turned our attention to the large monitor that was on one side of the room.

  “All right, we’re ready to receive him,” Rafael said to the person on the other line.

  The screen turned on. Sitting there was a man who couldn’t be a few years older than I was. His brown hair was long and unkempt, tied back into a ponytail. His face was free from any blemishes and hair, as if he was still a teenager. He had a baby face. His cheeks were round with dimples that made it look like he had a smile on his face at all times. As he sat there and looked back at everybody in the boardroom, Rafael greeted him warmly.