Her Secret Santa: A Christmas Protector Romance (Perfect Kisses Book 3) Page 2

  I finally settled on a mixture of red and black. It was eye catching enough without being too ostentatious. That was my thinking anyway and anyway I was so damn sick of rifling through my outfits. I just wanted to get there already and begin my first day of work.

  I was supposed to meet with Tony Caplan first. He was going to welcome me aboard and show me where I would be working and what I would be doing. The previous rounds of the process had included a thorough round of interviews and background checks. I was ecstatic when I found out that I had actually been chosen. Me, of all the people. I couldn’t believe it at all. I was thrilled.

  And everyone else was jealous as shit. Everyone at school tried to make my life a living hell, especially the girls. They all wanted to get close to Tony Caplan and working for a company like that as an intern would open up so many amazing doors in the business world. If I did well, I could even climb from within and go as far as I could see. That was the dream.

  It was enough to make your head explode. And mine was about to blow at any moment. I felt like my brain was swelling and I couldn’t breathe; I was so damn nervous. I had to get a break. I needed to chill out. It was just a job. That was it. Tony had a reputation for being a fun, chill kind of a guy, but he also had a reputation for being a cutthroat businessman who didn’t take shit from anyone. He would absolutely throw me to the wolves if I pissed him off.

  What was I going to do to piss him off, though? That was a crazy line of thinking. I finished getting ready and when I thought I was as pretty looking as I could be without overdoing it, I decided to quit. I felt like I was sweating already from the amount of work I’d put into this. Did I need another shower now? Shit.

  My phone rang just then as I debated this. It was Lizzy Sypes, my best friend. “Hey, what’s up?” Lizzie asked.

  “Hey, I’m in a rush to get to that interview.”

  “Ah, so how’s that going?” she asked not taking the hint.

  “Not very well. I’ve spent the past hour trying to put together the perfect outfit.”

  “Yeah, that is not ideal. You look fine, I’m sure. Stop thinking so much about this.”

  “You know what this means,” I said. “You know what I’m up against. If I don’t do well in this internship, they will give it to someone else and my shot is ruined.”

  “You place way too much emphasis on having a career,” she said. “You need to breathe. It’s just a job. Relax.”

  I sighed. “It isn’t that simple. And yes, I do place a lot of emphasis on it. This is my life.”

  “No, it’s your potential to get rich, but who wants to be rich? You realize if all this works out then you are going to be working like a hundred hours a week for the rest of your life. That’s what it takes to be rich in corporate world. It’s insane.”

  “I guess we all aren’t following the passion over money,” I said.

  “Yep. You said it. I’m happy with my life as it is. I see no reason at all to put all that work and stress myself. There are far greater things to do.”

  “Ok,” I said. “To each their own. Look, this is very important to me. I’m running late. Can I talk to you later?”

  “Yeah, but first you should send me a pic of what you are wearing. I’ll tell you what I think.”

  I sighed. “Ok.” I took a quick picture and I sent it to her.

  She took a moment to evaluate. “Damn, girl. You look fine. You got the cleavage going, and the legs… wow… I have never seen you look so hot. I’ve never switched teams before, but you make me think about it.”

  I blushed and giggled. “Thanks. But do you think it’s too much? You said cleavage. Am I really showing too much cleavage?”

  “No. I think it is just enough to get Caplan all hot and bothered. That is the point, right?”

  “No. It is not the point. The point is to look professional—ah hell. I don’t have time. I have to go. I should have left fifteen minutes ago.”

  “Ok. Love you. Hope you do great.”

  “Thanks.”

  I finished the call and headed out the door to my Chevy Impala. The car was ten years old, had way too many miles on it, and was really going to die at any moment. But I couldn’t bear to give it up. I felt like we’d been through a lot together.

  I started the engine and headed away from my apartment building. The drive to Caplan Industries was about fifteen minutes depending on traffic. And of course, the traffic was far more extreme than usual. I hated living in Los Angeles sometimes. There were far too many cars on the road at any given time. You were always stuck in some sort of traffic jam. Maybe we would eventually all take up walking like New Yorkers. Then we could get rid of the disgusting smog. It was so grimy and nasty looking overhead blocking that beautiful sunshine half the time.

  I turned on the radio hoping a fun song might calm me down, but I was really so nervous that nothing was going to help me at this point. I would be fine once I was there in the meeting with Tony Caplan. Do I call him Tony? Mr. Caplan? What was the etiquette at that company? Fuck.

  I was fiddling with the knob on my Sirius XM trying to find a good station when I remembered I was driving, and I should probably be looking in front of me. I jerked my head up just in time to see a car slamming on his brakes right in front of me. I followed suit and then I felt a light bump on the back of my bumper.

  Shit.

  I’d been hit.

  I parked the car and got out to look. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I saw there was no damage at all to either car. The car behind me was merely resting on my bumper a little bit. It was just a little tap. I smiled and praised the Heavens, but the driver of the other car was not so happy.

  He got out and began screaming at me. He was about six feet four and towered over my five feet seven and he was skinny. I would have said gaunt, even. And pale. So pale it was like he’d never seen the sun before. Well, that was the smog for you… making people paler by the day.

  I tried to focus on what he was saying, uh, screaming at me. “Are you fucking crazy? What the hell? Watch where you are going. Why did you slam on your brakes? Don’t you see what a fly ride this is? Are you going to pay for those kinds of damages? Ah, you are damn lucky! Damn lucky you did not scratch my fucking ride!”

  I felt the anger welling inside of me just then. I was done being nice. The day had already pushed me past the limit and now this jerk was taking it to another level.

  “Shut the fuck up!” I screamed.

  The look on his face was so priceless. He stumbled back a step, surprised by my sudden outburst.

  “Your ride is a piece of shit, just like mine. No damage is done. Now stop riding my ass and pay attention to what’s in front of you. Fuck!”

  I left him standing there and got back into my car. I slammed the door, put it in gear and drove off down the road since the traffic had suddenly started moving again. I was still going to be late to this interview, but I did feel less nervous than I had a few minutes ago. Now, I was just royally pissed off. I would have loved to slap that prick’s mouth shut.

  Surprisingly I arrived at Caplan Industries about fifteen minutes early. After my little issue with that annoying driver, the traffic seemed to thin out a bit and I was able to make up some time. Of course, several traffic laws were broken, but I was in too big of a rush to sweat the small stuff.

  I turned the engine of the car off and sat there staring blankly ahead for a good ten seconds. I tried to control my breathing and push my breath out in a shallow, easy manner while I closed my eyes and prayed that I would somehow make it through this without any problems. Hey, maybe I might even impress the man. Maybe in the few minutes from my car to the elevator and to the top floor waiting area I might actually become a much suaver and more charismatic individual. It would be like some Hollywood movie. I would release my alter ego.

  I snapped back to reality and realized just how sweaty my palms were at the moment. Damn. I was wasting time. Taking a swig from my bottle of water, I slipped out of
the car and closed the door behind me. I pressed the lock button on my key fob with authority and then I marched towards the building and what I felt was probably impending doom. He might dismiss me the moment he laid eyes on me.

  When I made it to the reception area upstairs, an annoyed woman who looked as if she had far too much work and a nicotine addiction that needed satisfaction right now glared up at me. I tried not to pay any special attention and put on my best smile. “Hey,” I said. “I’m Julie Ashby. I have a meeting with Tony Caplan.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Just hold. I’ll let him know you are here.”

  I stood there a moment as she picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Jill. A Julie Ashburne is here to meet with Tony.”

  I didn’t bother to correct her on the name. It didn’t seem to matter. She would probably bite my head off at any moment if I asked the slightest thing of her. Some people hated their life. I prayed that would never be me. If I hated a job, then I would just find something else. And I would actively seek it out as if that was my second job. Most people stayed put and did nothing but bitch about their circumstances. I really hoped I would never find myself following down that road at any point in my life.

  “Ok, they are running a bit behind. Just have a seat,” she said to me after she hung up the phone.

  I didn’t say anything. I sat down in a chair and waited. There was no one else waiting but me. The room was a large one, about the size of a doctor’s office waiting room with rows of chairs all around, but I was the only one there. I wondered how often these chairs were actually full of people, or even a fifth of the way full. How many people had to wait to speak with Tony? I imagined that a lot of people were always pitching him ideas for business or new products, and he had to meet with some of them at some point.

  I waited… and I waited some more. I soon realized I had been waiting for fifteen minutes. It was five minutes past when we were scheduled to have our meeting. Ok…no biggie. The guy was pretty busy. He was probably often behind schedule. That was fine. I didn’t have anywhere else to be today. I was just nervous and excited. And I was still agitated over that shit with that other driver. I had never experienced true road rage before. I felt like I should post it all over my social media or something.

  But no. That would not be right. If I was going to be working with one of the big boys of tech, Caplan Industries, then everything I did publicly was now through a filter, right? I’d read all about this in Forbes or perhaps Redbook…? I wasn’t sure. But it was common knowledge that these days employers scanned their employee’s social media or had someone scan for them and they could use anything that you said they didn’t agree with or that they didn’t feel a representative of their brand should be saying and they would show you the door.

  It was a scary place. It made one’s brain start racking and churning trying to think of every idiotic thing you may have liked or posted or shared, or even commented on. That was crazy and a huge invasion of privacy in my opinion.

  I checked the clock on my phone, but only briefly. I didn’t want to look like I was going to sit there and play around on my phone the whole time, not that the receptionist was paying any attention to me. She was ignoring me completely and working on painting her nails. Occasionally, she would answer the phone. What a bitch.

  It was eight-twenty. Wow. He was really running behind. This was getting a little bit annoying. I’ve always had thin patience. I can’t stand to just wait around somewhere.

  I stretched my legs out in front of me and sighed. I wanted to get up and walk around and observe the place around me. But I didn’t. I stayed put right where I was.

  The time continued to drag on…and on… Soon, it was almost nine o’clock. I got up and decided to ask the receptionist a question. “Hey, can you remind him I’m still here. What’s going on?”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “He knows you’re here. He is busy and will be with you shortly.”

  My patience with this little twit was running thin. “How about you call back again?”

  I glared into her eyes, so she knew I meant business. She sighed and made the call once again. “Jill, Julie Ashburne is still here.”

  “It’s Ashby,” I corrected her.

  She gritted her teeth quickly and then with annoyance in her voice said, “Julie Ashby is still here for that meeting…. ok...” She hung up the phone and looked up at me. “He will be with you shortly. We apologize for the delay.”

  I groaned and sat back down. Was Tony making me wait on purpose? Was this some sort of a test, maybe? Or was he just that arrogant that he thought people would wait around for him until the end of time. Well, I was not any average person. I planned to give him a piece of my mind when I finally did sit down with him.

  I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I would not do any such thing, but I was very annoyed. I needed this job too much to do anything to risk it, and he knew that. It was precisely the reason why he felt justified in making me wait until he was ready for me. He probably did it all the time just on basic fucking principle.

  The time ticked on for another twenty minutes before the receptionist got the phone call. She looked up at me and said, “Tony will see you now. Go on back.”

  I took a deep breath and felt the fear returning. It was real now. It was show time.

  3

  Tony

  I finished the phone call that I’d been on for the past hour and then told Jill to send the girl in. It was a rather busy morning, and I didn’t really want to take the time to do this. Sometimes I wished I didn’t spread myself so thinly that I had to do things like this, but I had to keep up on my appearances. That was part of the brand. And doing these types of involvements with schools and other organizations had always been a great boost for the company, especially when I threw my face on them. So, I would continue to do all this for now.

  The girl entered a few moments later. She seemed shy and timid, which I half expected. But I did not expect her to be so beautiful. I looked up as she walked in and I felt my heart do a double beat. The girl was kind of tall, curvy, wearing a sexy red and black business suit that accentuated her best attributes. It showed just the right amount of cleavage to leave my imagination hungry and wanting to see more. Her legs were slender, but a little thick. They beckoned me to come to them and run my hands over their smooth skin, and then part them so that I could come in between her legs over and over again.

  I felt my cock rising in my pants and I was tempted to adjust myself. But I was still on the other side of my large mahogany desk. This girl’s face was beautiful. She had a sweet smile with the most beautiful eyes. Her cheeks sunk in just enough to create sexy hollows that were highlighted with a subtle bit of makeup. Her eyes sparkled brightly.

  This woman was truly staggering. I found myself almost leering at her as she walked through the door of my office.

  I stood up and walked around the desk to introduce myself. I perched on the edge of the desk and leaned back, letting her come to me. I watched her moving slowly across the floor, her curves bouncing up and down so delicately. I had to fight to keep my gaze from staring at her legs as they moved. Her skirt kept riding up ever so slightly as she walked towards me driving my imagination wild.

  Yes, I wanted her. I knew I wanted her from the moment I laid my eyes on her beauty. It wasn’t just the physical form that drew me in. There was something extra there. She had a way about her that I couldn’t put my finger on, something that drew me in and convinced me that this woman was something, and I better get to know exactly how special she really was.

  “Hello,” I said. “I’m Tony Caplan.”

  I held my hand to her. She stepped forward and shook my hand. Her gaze caught mine and I saw something in her eyes that I wasn’t used to seeing. I saw… aggravation? Was that the right word? That kind of caught me off guard. Most people that I meet for the first-time approach me with a bit of fear and even a little awe, even though that annoys the shit out of me. But rar
ely do I find someone who really is not caught up with who I am and my family legacy.

  “I’m Julie Ashby,” she said.

  Julie sat down in one of the chairs in front of me without being asked and stared straight ahead. I watched her for a moment sitting there. I was a bit perplexed as to the way she was acting, even though she hadn’t really done anything yet that I was taken aback by. It was really just her overall attitude. It was so bizarre to me. And I liked it. This was very different.

  “Great to meet you, Julie,” I said. I looked at her for a few moments, wondering if she was going to start telling me all about herself and how amazing she was and how many wonderful ideas she had going around inside her head to help the company. That was the typical thing I saw in most of the interns we hired and then reality grounded them quickly and they realized that almost everything they’ve been doing in school has not actually prepared them for the real world. This jungle is much more dangerous than it looks.

  “So,” I said. “Would you like to tell me a bit more about yourself?”

  She didn’t answer at first, but then she licked her lips and said, “I was hoping you might apologize for having me wait so long out there. We had a meeting scheduled an hour ago.”

  I was flabbergasted that she would even begin this way, but I was also intrigued. I stared into her eyes a moment and I felt my stare grow a little bit hard as she touched on something that had annoyed me. It was a very slight emotional wound. This was going to be interesting.

  Julie’s face softened suddenly, and she recoiled just a bit. I could see she was nervous, as I expected her to be, but she had that fire inside of her. I loved to see that in someone else, especially a beautiful woman who was capturing my interest more by the second. She was a firecracker.