Things Money Can't Buy

Chapter 3

~*~

Monday returned soon enough for the second week at my new job. This particular day wasn't busy until the afternoon, so my work was already finished for the morning. Most of my team was done, too.

My supervisor, Dan, told us that he didn't mind if we went on our phones or did something else as long as we kept our e-mails open in case he found some work for us to do.

Taking full advantage of that, I chose to watch some YouTube videos from BuzzFeed on my computer with my headphones plugged in.

Suddenly, I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I took out my headphones and turned around to see none other than Jason. 

Why was he visiting our department?

"Busy working, I see," he said. His tone of voice was hard to read, so I wasn't sure if he was annoyed or teasing me about it.

To him, I'm sure I looked terrified of being in trouble. "Um, I finished my work. Dan said it was okay," I added. The last few words came out almost like a squeak, so I cleared my throat. 

He chuckled. "Great... then you have time to come help me with something?"

I looked around at my co-workers; they were all doing the same thing as me, either on their phones or watching videos on their computers. Why did he have to single me out? It was probably still because of me being the newest employee at the company.

Since Jason was in charge of the whole company, I didn't dare say no to him. Even though helping him was one of the last things that I wanted to do, I was at work and on company time. "Yeah, I have time."

"Sorry for taking you away from your busy appointment with BuzzFeed," he said jokingly as we walked towards the elevator.

I groaned. Why did he like to embarrass me?

Taking the elevator up to his floor, he directed me into his office. "Have a seat," he said, gesturing to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

He sat behind his large desk with the nameplate identifying him as CEO. Now, being alone with him in his office made me feel anxious. Until this point, our interactions had mostly been low-key and teasing. I hadn't actually been inside of his office yet. When I brought him his coffee the other day, he grabbed it from me right in the doorway. 

However, with him behind his desk and me on the opposite side, it emphasized our power dynamic. He looked so official, so professional, and so clearly in charge.

Was I in trouble?

"Tell me about yourself, Ms. Castle," he said.

I don't know where I expected this conversation to go, but it certainly wasn't there. "Am I being interviewed for this job again? Talk about déjà vu."

He chuckled. "Why do you always seem to have some comment?"

My response was blunt. "Because I know you didn't just take me up here to ask about my hobbies."

He shook his head in disbelief. "You're so skeptical."

"Why am I here?"

He handed me some papers. "If you're so excited to get to work, here you go. I need these to be sorted by date."

Shocked, I sputtered, "What about your assistant?"

He shrugged. "He quit."

The expression on my face mirrored the shock, confusion, and disbelief that I felt from his words. "Wait, what?"