The Shadows of His Heart

Chapter One

Aurora looked at the clock nervously for the hundredth time this morning. 'Still have thirty more minutes before I need to leave...' She thought, glancing down absentmindedly at her new business attire and recollecting the events that had unfolded in the previous months.

Having recently graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in Business, she moved from her small hometown in North Carolina to the big city of New York, hoping to have better chances of starting a career in the "city that never sleeps."

With the money that she had been saving since high school, she rented a small apartment on the west side of the heart of the city and immediately began searching for open positions in the nearest businesses. Unsure of whether or not she would be accepted, she took every chance she got to apply for a job, desperate for a way to earn money to pay her bills. Virtually all her savings had been spent on her new apartment and the necessities required to get her started in her new life.

After being interviewed for many jobs and being politely (and also quite impolitely, at times) declined due to lack of experience in an office setting, she was finally hired by a man named Leo Holloway who just so happened to be the boss of the Trinome Headquarters, which was an immensely successful electronics company.

She had been instantaneously attracted to this confident, mysterious man -- and simultaneously bewildered that she was offered the position as his personal assistant after being turned away multiple times by other companies. Jubilant, she happily accepted the opportunity and went out to scrape together what money she had to buy a few new business outfits.

Now, on the first day of her new job, hyperactive butterflies thrummed at the walls of her stomach. Aurora was restless -- she had set her alarm for 5, even though she didn't have to come in until 8, just to be safe. She had then proceeded to get ready in record time; breakfast had been eaten, she had bathed, gotten dressed, packed her purse, and made some coffee for the drive.

Her mind wandered to her new boss, Mr. Holloway. He was sinfully attractive, intelligent, independent, successful... you name it. Everything she wanted in a man, he was, and she knew it before she even had the chance to get to know him.

But, knowing that she was depending on this job to help her with her new life, she pushed those thoughts away and locked them up in the recesses of her mind. Or... so she thought.

Sighing aloud, Aurora decided to leave even earlier than she had planned. She grabbed her coffee and scooped up her purse, hurrying out the door to her car.

She twisted the key into her car door and opened it with a soft creak. The old blue Ford revved to life as she settled into the worn cloth seat. The vehicle had lasted her all through high school and college; it had been dependable and a great first car. But it was getting older each day, and she knew that the time would soon come for her to start looking for a new one.

Aurora took a sip of her piping hot coffee and unintentionally singed her taste buds, wincing and quickly putting the caffeinated beverage back into the cup holder.

"God, that hurt..." She muttered.

Shifting the car into reverse, she backed out into the busy street the first chance she got, hurriedly changing gears and driving in the direction of her new job. As soon as she pulled into the parking deck of the towering building, she felt the ever-present butterflies do gymnastics in her abdomen.

'What if I mess everything up today...? Or what if I ask too many questions...? Or what if Mr. Holloway thinks I'm too inexperienced and fires me...?' She suddenly shook her head, taking a long, deep breath before murmuring to herself to steady her frazzled nerves. "I'm going to be confident and do my best. I'm going to keep this job... and I'm not going to let Mr. Holloway's devilishly good looks distract me..." The end of her sentence trailed off unconvincingly into the breeze.

Gulping softly, Aurora raised her chin and made her way into the unimaginably large lobby of the Trinome Headquarters.