Chapter 3
PLAYING ALONG
The last thing Nora wanted to do was stop in and see her father at his job. Not when she could risk seeing Ethan again.
But she’d made her bed—nope, she messed one up with Ethan—and she had to own the fact that there was this tiny possibility she’d run into him again.
Her mind hadn’t processed that scenario fully three weeks ago though.
She’d told herself that in a city the size of Boston, the different crowds they ran in, and the life he lived compared to hers, it’d never happen.
Even stopping in to see her father, it wasn’t as if her father was going to parade her around the building as a child to show off.
He’d never praised her much in her life. Sure the hell didn’t show her off.
Which was the only reason she agreed to stop in after her interview.
She was only a block away, and she’d be passing the building Bond Enterprises owned and had their office out of on the top few floors anyway.
“Can I help you?” a woman at the front desk asked when she got off the elevator.
“I’m looking for Norris Jones.”
“Oh. He said he had someone stopping in. Eleanor, correct?”
She kept a tight smile on her face. How many times did she have to tell him she went by Nora? “That’s me, but I go by Nora for short.”
“He’s in a meeting right now. If you want to take a seat in that room over there, it should be done soon.”
Her shoulders dropped. She’d told her father what time her interview was. When it’d be ending too. If he had a meeting, why make her come here when she could have gone home?
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask when, but she doubted this woman would know.
She moved to one of the comfortable seats off to the side, pulled her phone out and prepared to distract herself. She’d give it ten minutes. If he wasn’t out by then, there was no reason to wait.
It wasn’t as if they had plans, and she was hungry. It was past lunch on top of it.
Getting out of her heels was first on her list of things to do. More like wedges. As comfy as they were, she was still adapting to walking more in them than from her car to the building.
When the ten-minute mark rolled around, she was ready to stand when she heard a bunch of voices in the hallway.
“Norris,” the woman shouted. “Don’t go to your office. Your appointment is in the small meeting room.” She could see through the glass, the woman retreat to her desk out of the way.
“Hang on,” her father said. “I want you to meet my daughter.” His voice wasn’t loud enough to carry past the room he came out of, but she’d heard it just fine.
She held back a groan. For years she might have enjoyed her father doing that, but now, now she just wanted to get on with her day.
She stood, looking toward the hallway and not prepared for her father to come out followed by Mitchell Bond, two other men she didn’t know, and finally the man she was rolling around naked with weeks ago.
Mortification crept up her neck.
Of course, Ethan Bond would come out with her father. Because that was just how her life was going lately.
There were several smiles on the men’s faces, but shock on Ethan’s.
His eyes were locked on hers, her face had to be crimson with the way her body was lighting on fire.
Then Ethan smiled. The same cocky one he’d had that night. The same blue eyes that moved over her then were doing it now.
Assessing her looks, and reading her emotions. Please don’t let him know what was really in her mind!
Embarrassment, guilt, regret... and heaven help her, arousal again.
How could it not be? The man was gorgeous.
“Boy, you’ve grown up,” Mitchell Bond said, moving forward. “I don’t think I’ve seen you since you were a child.”
“Had to have been before we moved,” she said. “It’s good to see you again.”
A family picnic that the Bonds held for their higher level staff and family. One on the island.
Her father had felt privileged to get the invitation. Her mother hadn’t wanted to go and it was just one more fight that ensued in the house until her father forced it on them.
“Not sure if you remember my son, Ethan,” Mitchell said.
She took a deep breath, put a brave front on and walked forward. “It’s been a while,” she said, putting her hand out. “Good to see you.”
That smirk again. Arrogant this time. As if he were playing with her. Or just playing along.
That was fine in her eyes.
His palm touched hers, and she held the gasp in at the connection that was just as alive now as it was weeks ago. “Nice to see you too,” Ethan said, his voice washing over her body as it had that night.
She needed to get out of here pronto.
“Eleanor,” her father said. She bit her lip, but her stare was enough. “So sorry. Just a hard habit. My daughter prefers to go by Nora. Nora, this is Mason Rauch, I’m sure you remember him.”
“I do,” she said. Her father had worked with Mason before Bond Enterprises and recruited him. A point of pride her father had and boasted of to everyone who would listen.
“And this is Darin Nadar, CFO.” She moved closer and shook his hand also.
“Nice to put faces with names.” It was the polite thing to say. She hadn’t heard many of these names in years. When she talked to her father it was never about his job, but always about her dismal life that he felt he had to point out all her flaws.
“I’m going to treat my daughter to lunch,” her father said. “She’s new to Boston and looking for a job. I keep telling her to apply here, but she doesn’t want special treatment.”
She closed her eyes. How much more embarrassing could this be?
“What do you do?” Mitchell said.
“I’ve got a degree in communications and marketing. I’ve done everything from market research, digital marketing, public relations, event planning, advertising, social media, presentations. Things like that. I’ve worked for smaller companies where I wore a lot of hats.”
“She’s trying to find her way,” her father said. “She’ll have more opportunities in Boston.”
“Sounds like a perfect fit for you, Ethan.”
That was a woman’s voice. One that was distant and then moved closer. “Blair isn’t wrong,” her father said. “Ethan needs an assistant because my old one that he stole ten years ago is leaving.”
“I asked and she jumped,” Ethan said. “That’s not really stealing.”
Nora remembered this now. How one call she’d had with her father, he complained that it’d take him a long time to find someone else. In her mind, she didn’t know how he held onto anyone if he talked to them the way he did his daughter.
He had to be doing something right to be employed for so long though.
“Norris, I’m going to steal your daughter away for a few minutes and have a chat with her. Ethan is struggling to replace me and what you described is exactly the type of background he needs. We’ll be back.”
She didn’t have a chance to dispute anything as the woman pulled her down another hall and out of reach.
Her father didn’t try to stop it.
No way Ethan would approve this, even if he thought it was a good idea.
And it wasn’t.
If she hadn’t seen him naked, she’d consider it.
Maybe.
Working in the same building with her father would never have been ideal.
She’d always wonder if he’d gotten her the job.
Though she had to admit, he didn’t do much this time other than announce her status.
Her father most likely wouldn’t want her here anyway.
He’d be embarrassed over her work history. He probably thought she lacked incentive and motivation.
She had all those things. She could stick too.
But she changed jobs because, as she said, she worked for small companies and needed to gain experience more than not knowing what she wanted to do.
If she told herself that enough, she might believe it.
Part of the whole, “find yourself and honing those skills to be a bigger, better, more confident you.”
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Nora said when she was in the woman’s office. She’d seen the door they’d passed, which had Ethan’s name on it. Also caught this woman’s name was Blair.
No, not a good idea, but she couldn’t very well say why.
“I’m so sorry. I’m Blair Cummings.” They shook hands. “Do you have another job?”
“I had an interview before I came here. That’s why I’m dressed like this. I’ve had a few others too.”
“And have heard nothing from them back?” Blair asked. “Not to embarrass you at all, but it’s a tough market right now. For every open position there are hundreds of resumes. It’s more about who you know, not really what you know.”
She was learning that. “I thought it’d be different in a big town.”
“It’s almost worse. Everyone wants to work here, so we are selective with our searches and criteria. Confidentiality and professionalism are top of the list.”
“I’m aware,” she said. Her father rarely talked details of his job, but he had boasted those things in the past.
“Which is a plus,” Blair said. “So many don’t understand how the corporate world works.
Not at the level of this position. I was originally looking for someone with more years’ experience than you might have for that reason, but that runs into other areas they could be lacking. Areas you’ve touched on.”
“You only know what I just said in the hall,” she said. “My time in those positions could be limited.”
“They could be and because you just volunteered that says a lot more than what could be on a piece of paper. Could you pull your resume up on your phone?”
“Yes,” she said.
“One plus right there. I’m sorry if I’m strong-arming you, but would you send it to me?” Blair pulled a business card off her desk and walked it over to where they’d been sitting at a table.
She should have argued, but found herself submitting it just the same.
Maybe she’d earn some respect from her father to even get this far in a job search. It could turn into something else other than working for Ethan.
She’d never be working for her father or with him; no one would do that and neither of them would allow it.
Blair picked up her laptop and brought it over, then sat down and glanced at the information in front of her.
The way Blair was grinning filled her with some pride.
“Everything okay?”
“This is perfect. Wonderful. The best I’ve seen to meet just a fraction of what I was hoping for. It’s ticking off a lot of boxes,” Blair said. “First, are you interested in this position?”
Now someone was asking her.
“Yes, she is,” Ethan said. She turned her head to see him standing in the doorway. “Because if Blair is this excited, then there is no way I can take no for an answer.”
Her father was standing next to Ethan, his chest puffed out some, and the little girl who always wanted that acceptance found herself saying, “It doesn’t hurt to interview.”