Page 8 of The Prices We Pay
For a brief moment, I can feel my chest well with emotion over the sincerity and thoughtfulness of his gesture. To have someone care for me, let alone a person I barely know, feels completely foreign. I force myself to push it down, though. Icannotget emotional over something so small on my first day. Let alone in front of a man who looks like he’s never shed so much as a single tear in his life. I reach out and take the breakfast from his large hands. “I’m actually starving. Thank you. And please, call me Joe. I’ll even accept Josephine. Anything but Ms. Jenkins.”
“Joe, it is.”
The two of us stand in front of the elevator, neither seeming to want to move from our spots.Regardless of how excited I am to start my first day, I don’t urge him on. Instead, I let myself swim in his aura. His calming presence and the scent of spice and vanilla envelop me. A strange look passes over his face before he steps to the side. “Clara had a phone call run a bit long, but she’ll meet you in the first office on your left as soon as she’s done.”
“Right. Thank you.”
“I’ll see you at the meeting this afternoon.”
“Meeting?” I ask in confusion.
“Yes. Luca set up a meeting in the conference room this afternoon so you could meet the COO, and the three of you could go over goals and expectations.”
Oh, sweet Jesus.
Suddenly feeling like I’m sweating, I answer, “Well, I’ll see you this afternoon then.”
He hits the button to reopen the elevator doors. When they do, he steps inside, faces me, and says, “Good luck today, Joe.”
“Thank you, Dante.”
With my bag over my shoulder, latte and breakfast sandwich in hand, I walk down the hall, passinga closed office on my right that reads “Chief Operating Officer” on the door, and head toward the first door on the left. I push open the cracked door with my hip, expecting to find a small generic office, and almost drop the generous breakfast Dante brought me at the sight in front of me.
I probably would have, had I not been wearing my favorite pair of Louboutins.
Walking into what has to be a six-hundred-square-foot office, I immediately notice the entire wall made of windows directly in front of me that allows me to have an uninterrupted view of Central Park right across the street. The wall to my left is adorned with the most gorgeous dark green floral wallpaper I have ever seen, and in front of it sits a black desk with gold legs equipped with a top-of-the-line computer. In front of the desk are two matching black suede chairs. The ceiling and the remaining two walls are painted a dark emerald green. A large white sofa sits on the opposite side of the room near a fully stocked bar cart, and an ornate gold and crystal light fixture,resembling branches adorned with leaves, lights the room from above.
I take a few more steps into the gorgeous space and spin in a few slow circles. Even though it only has small pieces of decor and artwork, it’s like my dream office came to life before my very eyes.
There is no way this is mine.
“Hey, girl!” Clara’s bubbly voice breaks through my haze, and I spin to face her, still clutching all of my belongings in my hands as her short, full frame practically bounces over to me. “So sorry I wasn’t here to greet you! I got held up in a meeting. We’re getting ready to close a deal on a fashion magazine, and the owner decided to be a stickler about some last-minute issues. Men can be so stubborn sometimes, but they’re no match for me. Must be why Mr. Vittori hasn’t kicked me to the curb yet. Anyway!” She inhales a deep breath and continues, “I’m so happy you’re here! Do you love the office?! We had a design team here until the early hours of the morning. We’re still waiting on your nameplate for the door, and I wanted to wait for you to pick outthe rest of the decor, but other than that, it’s mostly done! Do you love it?”
Eyes wide, I look down at her in shock. Both at her excited rambling and the fact that they said they decorated this office for me. “Th—this is really mine?”
“Of course it’s yours! You have no idea how excited all of us are to have you here, especially me. We could use another badass woman on this floor. Plus, I’ll be forever grateful if I don’t have to listen to Mr. Vittori complain about customs forms ever again.”
I laugh at her brazenness. “I’m happy to be here.”
“Good!” She claps her hands together and looks around. “But really, is this okay? I know I don’t know you very well, but between Mr. Vittori, Dante, and me, we thought this fit your vibe. If it doesn’t, though, we can totally start over! You just say the word, babe.”
“No, I love it. It’s truly my dream office. The only thing is, umm… if it wouldn’t be too much of an inconvenience, could we get rid of the alcohol and just replace it with some coffee and snacks? I don’t—I don’t drink.”
Her eyes widen in horror, as if she’s offended me in every way possible. “Oh my gosh, yes! Of course. I’m so sorry! It’s just something we usually include in all the upper-level offices out of habit. I’ll get everything switched out when you meet with Elizabeth from human resources. Don’t you worry about a thing, dear!”
“Thank you, Clara,” I answer gratefully.
“Why don’t you set your bag down, and I’ll take you to Elizabeth’s office? She’s just a few floors down. Bring your breakfast, though. You’re going to need all the energy you can get to get through that personnel packet.”
I laugh and do what she says as I follow my new best friend out of my new dream office.
After five hours of sitting with Elizabeth in human resources doing the most mind-numbing paperwork I could possibly imagine and a cheeseburger the size of my head from down in the cafeteria, I’m on my way to my two o’clock meeting with Luca, Dante, and the COO.
I decided to take the stairs to work off some of that delicious burger since the boardroom we were meeting in is just two floors below mine. Considering Clara and I were the only ones left on our floor, I’m assuming everyone else is already there waiting for me.
I exit the stairwell just as the elevator door opens. Out walks a man about six feet, two inches tall, who looks like he belongs on the cover ofGQ.As if in slow motion, I stand perfectly still and watch as he walks past me. His sandy blonde hair, cut into a low fade with gorgeous waves at the top, is perfectly styled, but he has the lightest amount of stubble covering his sharp jaw. He smiles and waves at an employee who walks in the opposite direction, and the dimples that form on his cheek shoot butterfliesto my stomach… and he wasn’t even looking at me. His bright blue eyes, paired with his radiant smile, quite literally seem to brighten up the entire floor.
Prince Charming is wearing a perfectly pressed pair of light tan trousers that hit just above the ankle, a black linen short-sleeve top that hugs his biceps to perfection and is tucked into his pants, a white pair of trainers, and sunglasses hanging from the open button of his shirt.
