Callum's POV
I hate this place. This position. This family. My thoughts are interrupted by a clicking sound.The door knob turns and she comes into view. I don't like her. But there's just something about her that disturbs me.
"You're late." I say to her without raising my voice. She doesn't flinch. She just stands there in one position. She's calculating. One point.
"I was giving the receptionist my details." She says in a calm tone not being bothered by my voice. Most people would've been on their knees begging. I open her file like I haven't already gone through it like five thousand times.
"Isabel." Her name sounds too familiar on my tongue. Too innocent. I've had many female assistants but something about her is different and….off.
She walks in further into my office. Her heels make a confident sound as they click clack in the hard tiles. She stops at a respectable distance but stands like she belongs here. Two points. Her eyes meet mine.
"I didn't schedule a meeting." For the first time she sounds somewhat confused.
"No, you didn't." I replied. Then close her file.
"But you walked into my office." I take a long pause without breaking eye contact. "Because I asked you to. Think of it as an impromptu meeting. Mess up and you get out. Impress me and well we'll see.
She still doesn't flinch. I try to notice a break in her eyes but nothing. She's void of emotions as if she's constantly calculating. She doesn't try to back out either. Three points.
"I usually don't allow inexperienced people in my office. They tend to irritate me. But I'll allow you."
That sank because there was a shift of emotions in her eyes. But it wasn't fear it was….disgust? She quickly masked herself again as if what I said didn't land.
"I'm not inexperienced. I've just never been more than a personal assistant."
Standing up for herself. Fiesty. Three points. Nobody usually makes it past three let's see.
"I didn't give you permission to speak." I try to challenge her.
"I didn't know I was to ask for permission." Four points. Wow. I'm excited for her. She still never flinched.
She's quite defensive too. Which shocks me. Most of my assistants were either gullible fucks or just stupid.
"Next time ask. I don't care whatever it is, you must ask."
"Noted."
"You're applying for executive assistant?"
"Yes."
"Do you know how it works?"
"Yes."
"But you have no experience."
"This could be my first."
That makes me pause. Already confident about a job she doesn't have. Where did Theodore find her?
I gesture towards the seat opposite me on the board table. Keeping as much distance as I can today.
"Sit." I say to her. She doesn't move yet, she looks like she's calculating again or no she just wants to move when she feels like. After two long seconds she does.
I can't help but notice how she adjusts her perfect skirts before seating to avoid any creases or exposure. My last female executive assistant wore a fucking mini skirt. And that's not even the worst of it.
"Do you know how to perform the role?" I ask her looking at absolutely nothing on my ipad.
"Yes." She replies.
I look up at her. "Explain it."
She takes in a deep breath silently. " I'm going to be your right hand man. I'll be managing operations. Reminding you of daily meetings. Managing your schedules and making sure time is never wasted." She replied. I'm stunned. But I can't let her see that.
"No." I say trying to challenge her again.
"No?" She asks, confused.
"The role of an executive assistant is just one simple word."
I take a long dramatic pause before speaking again.
"Control."
"Control." She says hesitantly.
Most people think control is dominance but it isn't. It's more efficient. How efficient a person can make things be. But I don't tell her all that she'd figure it out.
"Can you handle control?"
"Yes." She says with her head held high.
"Most of my assistants say this but within one week they lose their job."
"I won't lose mine."
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
Her confidence blows me away. It takes a lot for me not to react and I can smell her all the way from where I am sitting. She tilts her head to the side a bit as if studying me and when I narrow my gaze she looks away as if she'd been caught doing something bad.
I slide her file over to her and almost tell her she's hired when I remember a challenging question I want to ask.
"Do you want this job?" I say half holding my breath hoping she'd say yes.
"No." She closes her mouth to think of what to say next and then opens it again. "But I need it."
"So you do know that want and need are not the same."
"Yes I do."
"You also know your time and energy is no longer yours. It now belongs to me. If I call you leave whatever the fuck you are doing and answer me, you understand that?"
"Yes I do." She says without looking exhausted. Great. Five points.
"You're hired."
She mutters "great" sarcastically under her breath but whispers a thanks just enough for me to hear.
She starts to leave but I clear my throat only because I want to see her face one last time.
"You start Monday. Don't be late, else you're fired."
"I understand." She adds a little sway in her hips when she walks out. Her round ass looks like it wants to burst free from that pencil skirt. What is wrong with you today Callum? You're losing your mind over regular ass.
But that's the thing….its not in any way regular.
Her smell still lingers in my office that's when I realized I'm about to be so fucked over.