Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“Absolutely, of course.” I nodded my head so much I felt like a bobblehead doll. I kept the corners of my smile pinned high, but the glow of receiving the offer dimmed slightly at his words. It wasn’t what he said so much as how he said it, like he didn’t have high hopes I’d be able to do it. Which was intimidating, but also infuriating because I knew I could.
I wrapped my hand around the strap of my purse so that I didn’t start twisting my fingers together the way I always did when I was nervous. “I’ll let you get back to work,” I said, glad that I’d learned how to disguise the wobble of nerves that showed up in my voice years ago.
“Great,” Dominic said blandly. “I guess I’ll see you around the office.”
He nodded past me at Mrs. Flannigan who said, “I’ll walk you down to HR, Ms. Sinclair.”
With that clear dismissal in the air, I felt the weight of Dominic’s attention lift off my shoulders. He returned to his seat, his silver-gray eyes going back to whatever was on his monitor. I couldn’t help looking back at him one last time before I followed Mrs. Flannigan out. How on earth had a man like this helped raise a man like Jake? They were as different as summer and winter, as sunshine and icicles. As if he’d heard my thoughts, Dominic flicked a look in my direction. Our eyes met, and it was like the icicle I’d compared him to went right through me. Cold but strangely thrilling. I couldn’t look away until the door swung shut between us and ended the long, strange moment.
“Are you all right, Ms. Sinclair?” Dominic’s executive assistant asked, studying me with a frown. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I tried to laugh. “Oh, no. It’s just been a long day.”
“Interviews are stressful,” she said sympathetically.
I didn’t disagree, but I was starting to get the feeling that the interview was going to be the least of my problems. Now that I’d gotten the job, how on earth was I going to get used to being in this intimidatingly cold man’s presence day in and day out? How was I going to prove myself if I froze up every time he looked at me?
Come on, Selena, you’ve worked with men like him before, I tried to convince myself as Ms. Flannigan led me to the HR office to start my onboarding process. It was true that I’d worked with many men who were as rich as Dominic, as powerful, as dismissive of a woman who looked like she could still be in undergrad. I’d learned the tricks–how to keep my fingers from twisting and my voice from shaking and my chin up. But I didn’t know if that would be enough here.
I filled out the HR paperwork in something of a daze. It didn’t feel quite real that I had actually done it–I’d moved back to LA and gotten a job at the most prestigious wealth management company in town. It was what I dreamed about during those long, cold New York winters, and it still felt more like a dream than real life. The only thing that assured me I was awake was the chill of apprehension coiled around my sternum. That definitely hadn’t been part of the dream.
I felt better when I walked out of the building which was, I decided, like the cement and steel version of its owner. Tall, cold, and intimidating. Its windows stared out at the city with the same steely, opaque gaze Dominic White had turned on me. The air conditioning running through the vents was as cold as the blood in his veins. It wasn’t that the building was like a man, more like the man was like a building. Not quite human.
Not that I said any of this to Jake when I called him.
“This is amazing,” he practically shouted. “I’m so happy for you, Selena. I knew you’d nail it.”
His pure, unadulterated enthusiasm was a shot of adrenaline. It was amazing. For the first time since I walked into Dominic’s office, I felt a trickle of joy. It only increased when I got home to Christi. I didn’t even have to tell her I’d gotten the job because she could read it on my face. We danced around the living room until the person below banged on the underside of our feet and yelled, “Cut that shit out!”
Then we fell onto the couch, laughing about how ridiculous and shitty this apartment was.
“Okay,” Christi said, breathing hard. She pushed her hair out of her face and grinned at me. “Tell me everything.”
I told her all about the final interview–how confident I’d felt, how great everyone had seemed, how nice the building was. I didn’t tell her about any of my reservations regarding the actual work–she didn’t need to know I was potentially having a quarterlife crisis. I wasn’t going to tell her about Dominic White, either, but then she asked, “So what is Jake’s uncle like?”