Chapter 7
7
ELLA
T here are a few ways I thought that my first morning at Lane Enterprises would go. Running into a member of the family the company was named after, before I even set foot into he building, was not something that I had at the top of the list or even on the list at all. And if I did think about the possibility of running to a member of the Lane family, Bennett Lane was not who I thought it would be.
He’s not only gorgeous, he sex on a damn stick.
He’s sex on a stick and here I and gawking at him as if he were butt naked in front of me.
It’s at that thought that I snap out of the weird stupor he put me in.
“I’m sorry.” I stutter out, but feeling completely confused about what I’m apologizing for.
Bennett, or does he go by Mr. Lane? smirks down at me, turning to face me head one and possibly come even closer to me than he already was. I may be imagining the last part, but he definitely feels closer to me than he did a second ago.
His height takes me a bit by surprise. He has to be over six foot something, because I’m five six and wearing a small heel and I still have to look up at him.
“What exactly are you apologizing for?”
That’s the same question that I’m asking myself.
I try to come up with an answer before I make a bigger idiot out of myself, but it seems like I’m failing.
Way to go Ella.
“Sorry,” I say again, but I find myself quickly shaking my head because why am I apologizing again? I take a second or two to formulate an answer and this time I’m actually able to speak a full sentence and figure out what I was apologizing for. “I was saying sorry for the jumping and if my yelp came out a little too loud. You startled me a bit when you spoke.”
The way this man looks at me in this instant has me wishing for a black hole to open and suck me through or peel off all of my clothes. I can’t quite figure out which one.
“So what you are saying is that I should be the one apologizing.” The smirk that this man is wearing is effecting me in ways that it shouldn’t.
I may know this man name, and who his family is, but apart from that, Bennett Lane is a complete stranger. Sure he is a handsome stranger, but still a stranger nonetheless so he his little, hot smirk, shouldn’t have me wanting to cross my legs to keep a certain part of me from throbbing.
I don’t realize that I’m taking way too long to answer the man’s comment before he continues, throwing me off with his next few words.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have approached you without any warning.”
I can’t help but to give him a confused look.
Is he apologizing because he really means it and he is truly sorry for startling me or is he just apologizing to keep this whole bit going?
Who knows, the tone of his voice isn’t giving anything away, but that doesn’t even matter. What matters is the fact that having this man’s attention on me has be feeling like a blush is creeping up my neck and covering my face. There is no reason I should be blushing right now.
I try to shake off my embarrassment before I continue, my voice barely audible. “Don’t worry about it. I was being a little weird. The majority of people don’t talk to themselves, let alone try and convince themself to walk into a building. It’s my first day today and the nerves decided to hit hard the second I walked up.”
I don’t know why this was a good time to start rambling. I’m just killing it with the good impressions with this guy.
Speaking of which, he just continues to look down at me, his facial expression doesn’t even shift. You would think I would get at least a smile when I told him it was may first day.
Is he always like this?
Bennett continues to look down at me for a few more seconds before he speaks again. This time taking me by surprise again, but this time for a whole different reason.
“Which department are you working in?” he asks, sliding his hands into his pant pockets, all the while taking a step back.
“Um.” I scramble to grab my phone out of the only acceptable for the office tote that we had in the apartment and look for the answer to his question. It takes me a full minute to pull up the email that Linda had sent me yesterday with all the instructions for today. You would think with how many times I read through the email, I would have it memorized by now. “It doesn’t say,” I finally tell him as I read through the email for what feels like the hundredth time since I got it. “I was just told to come here, head up to the eighth floor and report to Linda.”
I look back at Bennett and give him a small smile and surprisingly I get one back. A really small smile, but I’m taking it as a win.
“What’s the position?” He asks with curiosity in his voice.
“Oh, I’m just coming on as an assistant. Nothing important.”
For some reason, the smile of his starts to disappear as the seconds go by, making me think that this guy doesn’t think that assistants are important either.
But he doesn’t come out right and say that. He just takes another second to look me up and down, almost like he assessing me with those blue, almost green eyes of his.
Not being able to take the scrutiny, I look away from him, because I can already feel his judgment of me passing through his expressing, No need to experience it first hand.
Instead of looking up at his face, I take in what he in wearing.
A designer suit that fits his body beautifully. It probably costs more than my rent and it’s probably one of a few hundred that were made specifically for the man wearing it. It’s almost like a glove, that was molded specifically for his body. The expensive fabric stretches over his build perfectly.
“Can I give you a piece of advice?” he asks me, taking me out of my exploration of his suit covered form.
Without second thought, completely embarrassed about my perusing of him, I look back up at his face.
“Yes. Absolutely.”
I should have told him no.
He’s probably going to tell me that working for a company like Lane Enterprises is going to destroy me. That I should probably reconsider and go look for a job somewhere else.
“Don’t sell yourself short. It doesn’t matter if you’re working here as a security guard, a mail recipient, an executive or an assistant. Your job is important. You are important.”
It takes me a second to register what he says and when I do I’m at a lost for words. Again.
Here is someone who is a millionaire, or something greater than that, who is someone important, especially when I look behind him and see what look to be not one, but two security guards standing close by, ready to ponce in case they need to, standing outside, in the middle of the morning, telling me not to sell myself short. He probably has other important things that he was has to go do, but here he is.
It takes me a second to collect my thought process before I’m able to respond. “Do you say that to everyone or just the individuals that you find outside the building, trying to talk up the courage to walk inside.”
That makes him laugh and oh my god does it do something to my insides.
This is not the time to get butterflies, Ella. Or for blushing. Or holding your thighs tighter. Control yourself.
“I try to say that to everyone.”
“Gee and here I thought I was special.”
That earns me another laugh, but this one is a bit more throaty and a lot fuller than the last one and again, it does something to me.
Great. My first day on the job and I already have a crush on someone who may not be my boss but my boss’s boss and who I’m possibly going to see every day.
“You’re definitely something.” The words come out of his mouth and it takes both of us by surprise.
I try to ignore the words all together, but it becomes a little difficult when the fact that hearing those words just heightens whatever I’m feeling even more.
But nonetheless, I push the words out of my mind and whatever I’m feeling down and act like I didn’t hear what he said and just give him a small smile. “I should head in,” I say waving toward the front door of the building. “My work day is about to start and I can’t be late”
“How about I help with the nerves a bit and walk you up to where Linda is? Wouldn’t want you to chicken out in the elevator.”
This guy is full of surprises, isn’t he?
If I was him, I would have concluded that I was weird and let me walk into the building alone to never speak to me again.
“Why would you do that?” I find the question leaving my mouth without much thought, ignoring the elevator comment.
He gives me a shrug, his hands never leaving his pant pockets. “Because I want to and it saves you from getting lost and me from the meeting I’m supposed to be attending.”
No bullshit answer.
I should say no, that I can find my own way. Especially since I’m sure that meeting he has to attend is important. I mean, he is a Lane after all, I’m sure all the meetings that he attends are important
Yet, I still find myself giving him a nod. “Okay. Lead the way but if I’m late, I will be sure to tell Linda it was your fault.”
He waves toward the entrance of the building, the smirk from earlier still very present. It doesn’t go unnoticed that when he moves, the security guards behind him move too. Interesting.
“You won’t be late, but if you are, have Linda call whoever you are reporting to and tell them it was my fault.”
His fault. There a cockiness to his voice that I like a little too much.
I don’t respond. Instead, I keep quiet and try not to get overwhelmed with everything that is going on as we walk into the building.
There is so many people roaming around as they head to wherever they need to go to start their days. Everyone looks like they are dressed to the nines and so well put together and in an expensive way. For a second it makes me self-conscious about my thrifted outfit.
That self-consciousness continues when everyone within a few feet of me turns to look at me as they walk by.
Do I have something on my face?
It’s not until we reach the security section of the lobby that I realize that people aren’t looking over at me, they are looking at who is walking me up to the eighth floor.
“Good morning gentlemen,” the butterfly causing Bennett says to the security team that is checking everyone’s bags and ID cards. “This is a new Lane employee.” He waves in my direction. “She most likely doesn’t have her credentials just yet, so you can put it down that I’m vouching for her.”
One of the security guys nods and starts typing something on his tablet before turning to look at me. “Can I get a name, miss?”
“Ella Vincent. Or Elizabeth Vincent, if you want my full name.”
When I say my name, it doesn’t go unnoticed that Bennett tenses up ever so slightly. I probably imagined it since he composes himself just as quickly.
My attention goes back to the security guy who gives me a nod and waves us through without searching my bag or even having us walk through the metal detectors.
Apparently when you are Bennett Lane or walking in with him, you get special treatment or something.
Another thing that I notice is that the deeper that we get into the building, the more rigid Mr. Lane gets.
He didn’t smile much outside, but at the very least he didn’t have what looks like a permanent scowl on his face. It’s like this place sucks the life out of him. Though, he does hide the scowl when people greet him or throw a nod his way.
“Do you like working here?” I ask, keeping me the real question I want to ask away from mouth. What he does he do here? The website had no mention of him working here, neither did one of the thousands of articles that have been written about him. They mentioned that he ran another company named Titan, but no mention of working at his family’s company. Which added to my surprised when he approached me down stairs.
A weird look passes across his face but only for a second before it disappears and it’s replaced by a look of indifference.
“Sure.”
Sure? That’s the most shit answer if I’ve heard one.
“That what someone on their first day should be hearing.” I mutter out sarcastically as an elevator dings open and I get into the steel cart.
Bennett follows behind me and presses the button for floor eight before turning to me and facing me head on.
“Do I like what I do? Without a doubt. Do I like who I’m doing it for? Depends on the day.”
Still not reassuring.
“So what you are saying is that there is a slight chance that I’m going to hate whoever’s assistant I will become.”
“I can reassure you, that the person you are going to work for may be an asshole at times but he will try to make sure you actually like coming into work. They aren’t someone that wants to bring this company down.” The look in his eyes when he says those words causes a shiver to roll down my body.
I’m about to question his comment, about to ask him how does he know who I’m working for, but the elevator dings as it comes to a stop on the eighth floor, causing my question to go out the window when I’m realize that I’m second away from reporting for my first day at work.
Things just got a lot more real.
As I walk off the elevator, I half expected for Bennett to stay in the elevator and go on his merry way, surly that meeting that he is late for is important, but again he surprises me and walks off, waving for me to follow him away from the elevator and through the eight floor.
He doesn’t turn to look at me or talk to me the whole time he guides me past desks and people or even when we reach a glass door that displays Linda’s name on it.
“Linda, I have your new hire.”
Linda, who is a beautiful woman that might be in her fifties, looks up at the sound of his voice. By the way that her eyes bulge I would say that she is very surprised to see him standing in the door way to her office.
“Bennett,” she says, taking control of her facial expression and giving the guy a smile. “Out of all the people I expected to see this morning, you are were not one of them.”
“Is that your way of telling me that I need to visit more?” Bennett says to Linda with the same easiness in voice he had when were downstairs.
“No, because you visiting me means more work,” Linda tells him, getting up from her desk and walking over to where we are. When she is about a two feet away from us, she holds out a hand to me. “You must be Elizabeth. It’s nice to meet you, I’m Linda, the one that has been talking to you through email.”
I shake her hand without hesitation and give her smile. “It’s nice to meet you too. You can call me Ella.”
She gives me a curt nod. “Ella it is.”
I get a smile back and for a few seconds we stand in awkward silence. Me looking at her. Her looking at me and then both of us looking over at Bennett.
Linda is the one to break the silence. “I’m sure you have other important things to do today.”
The smile she wears is looks sweet but her words feel like they are anything but.
I turn to look over at Bennett and notice that his face is back to being stoic.
“Unfortunately. If there is is anything you need from me, let me know.” he answers her before turning his attention back to me and looking me in the for the first time since the elevator. “Have a good first day, Miss. Vincent.”
Just like a few minutes ago, his words affect me. They shouldn’t, but they do.
It’s as if the way his voice speaks to my body and no matter how gruff he sounds, it’s like a song that is just fine tuned to everything flowing in me.
I don’t notice that my eyes stay with Bennett as he makes his way out of Linda’s office and down the hall, until Linda clears her throat and grabs back my attention.
She gives me a small smile before nodding me deeper into her office.
“Do you know Bennett personally?” Linda asks once Bennett is out of sight and she waves for me to take a seat in one of the chair in front of desk.
I follow orders and give her a shake of my head. “I met him downstairs only a few minutes ago. He’s” What is the best way to describe my interaction with Bennett? “Interesting.”
The word doesn’t seem like enough, but I can’t have Linda knowing that I have a crush on the man after only spending no less than ten minutes with him.
“Interesting is one way to describe him.” She mutters as she takes a seat. When she looks back to me, her eyebrows are bunched up. “So you don’t know him whatsoever?”
“No, ma’am.”
“He just decided to walk you up here for no reason?”
Her questioning is making me uncomfortable. So much so that I can’t help but to shift in my seat.
“Is that out of character for him?”
Linda is silent for a few seconds before she says anything.
“Yes. Yes, it is.” She says and then pauses for a few seconds before she says something that shocks me more than anything that has happened this morning.
“More so when he was the one that hired you.”
What the actual fuck? He hired me? Me ? I’m sure that even though this is a low status position, there had to be hundreds of applications. So out of all of those applications, he chose me ?
So many questions roam through my mind as Linda gives me a crash course on all my employment forms, that I don’t even pay attention to what she is saying.
As I sit here, listening to her speak, I can’t help but wonder who is Bennett Lane really is and why did he deem me so special?