Chapter Twelve

Irene

“Good morning, sunshine!”

“No... where’s my snooze button?” Irene asked with a sleepy voice. “I need to snooze.” She turned onto her other side in her bed, squeezing her eyes shut.

“It’s time to wake up, darling,” Luca entered her room, pulled the comforter away from her, and tried to wake her up. “Wakey, wakey, honey. Today is a big day for you!”

“Go away!” She tried to throw one of her pillows at his face. “Give me five more minutes. Please!”

Half an hour later, Irene was ready to go and took a last look in the mirror.

“You look perfect, don’t doubt yourself,” Luca said as he leaned against the doorframe. “You’ll do great.”

The building housing Hunter Corporation was in the middle of town. It wasn’t a skyscraper but was still a tall building made of glass. Irene parked her car in the underground garage.

After taking her handbag and some papers, including her resume, she locked the door and headed for the elevator. On the ground floor, she asked the receptionist where she had to go.

On the right floor, she strode out of the elevator; she was on time, but she really wanted to keep it that way.

When she walked over to the desk in front of the elevator to ask where to go from there, she was stopped by a man dressed in a suit. He had his hands in his pockets, his jacket unbuttoned.

“Can I help you, miss? You seem lost.” He smiled in a friendly way.

“Well, I have an appointment for an interview for the PA position,” she said. “Downstairs they told me that I have to be on this floor, but I don’t know where to go from here.”

“You are in luck then.” His smile widened. “You have that appointment with me.” He reached out his hand to shake hers. “I am Christian Saunders. You must be Miss Turner.”

She shook his hand and smiled a little nervous smile. “That is right, I am Irene Turner. Nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too. Now follow me.” He smiled again; he seemed very friendly. He started to walk over to an open-plan workspace with a couple of desks with people behind them.

“Would you like to have something to drink while we have a little talk?” He walked into a hallway with a lot of doors to the left and right.

“No, I will be fine, thank you.” She smiled politely.

The hallway they walked into ended in another open space with a desk, empty except for a computer on it, and some cabinets. Behind the desk, there were two doors—one on the left and one on the right.

“This will be your workspace if you get the job.” He pointed at the right door. “That door leads to Mr. Hunter’s office. When he is here, you can find him there.” He walked over to the door on the left and opened it.

“This is my office. Come in, take a seat.”

She walked in and looked around, then she put her bag down and took a seat on one of the chairs that were placed behind the desk.

Mr. Saunders closed the door, walked around the desk, and took his seat in the big leather chair.

“Now, let me get to know you a little more. Your résumé looks promising, but I’d like to know a little bit more. Tell me about you.” He looked at her expectantly with a smile on his face.

When Irene walked out of the elevator to head to her car, her arm hit the arm of a man who was waiting to get into the elevator.

“Excuse me.” She looked over her shoulder to apologize and saw the back of a tall, broad man in a navy blue suit. He didn’t turn around—too occupied with his smartphone, so it seemed. She shrugged and walked on to her old car.

Once behind the wheel, she sighed to let out the nerves that she had bottled up.

The interview had gone much better than she’d expected. Mr. Saunders was a truly kind man; he’d made her feel comfortable. He was extremely interested in her.

She put her phone in its holder on the dashboard and put her key in the ignition. When she started her car, her phone rang. It was Joanna.

“Hey, Joanna,” she said, when she’d answered the call. She put it on speakerphone and put her car into drive.

“Hey, girl, have you finished your interview already?”

“Yes, I’m just driving out of the parking garage.”

“Wait, Ethan is here too. I’ll put you on speaker.” Her friend was quiet for a moment, and she heard some shuffling.

“Hey, Irene,” she heard Ethan say.

“Hi, Ethan,” she greeted him.

“Now, tell us, how did your interview go. Do you have the job?” Joanna asked curiously.

“It went very well, at least, I think so. Mr. Saunders is a truly kind man; he really made me feel at ease at some point.”

“That is a good sign, I suppose,” Joanna said. “Now, did you get the job?”

“I don’t know. He has some more interviews today, but he will let me know by the end of the week.”

“Well, make sure you let me know, okay?” Joanna said. “Do you want to meet up somewhere, have lunch together to celebrate?”

“Sure. It will be one of the last lunches we’ll have together,” she answered. “Let’s meet in an hour at that new bakery where we always wanted to get lunch.”

“Okay, see you then.”

Once she ended the call, she focused on the traffic on the road. If there were no setbacks, she could go by her apartment, quickly change, and make it just in time for lunch with Joanna and Ethan.

She thought about her interview again.

It surprised her a bit that it went so well. Mr. Saunders was so easy to talk to, she almost forgot she was nervous. She hadn’t seen Mr. Hunter, although she’d almost expected him to be there.

Wouldn’t he want to know who would be working for him? Especially because the position involved working closely with him. She was a bit disappointed, actually.

Yesterday, when Ethan said that Zachary Hunter was in town, she’d gotten her hopes up a little that she would meet him. He was actually some kind of star in the business world.

Everyone who knew about him wanted to be him or be close to him. Irene was not like a big fan of his, but it would have been nice to meet him. She was curious why everyone spoke so highly of him.

While she was in thought, she arrived at her apartment. She quickly ran up and changed into something less formal and more comfortable. After a quick look in the mirror, she grabbed her keys and headed out for her car again.

The drive to the bakery where she would meet Joanna and Ethan was quick, and she actually made it on time. After parking her car, she walked inside. She immediately saw her friends and walked over to them.

“Hey, Joanna. Hey, Ethan, nice to see you again.”

They got up and both gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, Irene, it’s nice to see you too,” Ethan said, and they sat down together, Irene on the bench opposite them.

Ethan continued talking. “We already ordered, but you can give your order at the counter. It’s my treat today.” He gave her a wink.

They talked a little while they waited for their orders. It didn’t take long before their orders were put on their table, and they were silent for a while, enjoying their food.

“Ethan, shall we tell her now?” Joanna asked, breaking the silence. She looked at him with a secretive smile on her face.

“Sure,” he nodded. “Go ahead.”

“What do you have to tell me?” Irene asked, her curiosity awakened by seeing their amorous faces. They looked like they were going to spill some tea.

“Well”—Joanna paused almost shyly—“We pledged ourselves to each other last night.” She blushed a little, her cheeks turning a beautiful shade of pink.

“What?”