After going through the papers meticulously, I finally handed them over to Sebastian, telling him that everything looked perfect. I tried to sound nonchalant about it all but the truth was that I was doing somersaults in my mind at what I had just read. Abbie hadn’t quite finalized the final pay amount to me, only giving me a rough idea at the time. But the amount that I just saw on the paperwork showed that I would be getting twice the amount that I had initially expected. Which meant no more cards getting declined in front of cute men.

“Okay Jane, I think that’s it then. Abbie, who you spoke to on the phone, will come in and take over from here. She’s going to help get you all set up today. Thanks for coming in. Lovely to meet you and I look forward to seeing all the great work that you do for us.” Sebastian said. I could swear I caught him looking quickly at my breasts but I couldn’t be sure. Probably not. But why did I almost wish that he was? I would normally be very upset if I saw somebody looking at my breasts instead of at my face – and yet something about this gave me pleasure.

I smiled at him, still trying desperately to keep my composure. I still couldn’t believe that this was the man that I had been flirting with not so long ago. Worse, this was the man that I had spilled coffee all over and the man that had seen my card get declined. The man that I could barely look at because he was so damn hot. “Thank you Sebastian. I’m looking forward to working here. I already have some great ideas. It’s hard not to have ideas in a place like this.” I hoped that I sounded professional and worthy of the job.

I watched as he picked up the phone, trying not to stare at his perfection and yet at the same time desperate to find something imperfect about him. “Alison, please call Abbie into my office. Thank you.”

We waited in silence until Abbie came in and I breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect of getting out of his office. His office might have been big but I felt the walls closing in on me the longer I sat there. I was glad that I wouldn’t be working alongside him because he was far too much of a distraction. I still couldn’t believe that my new boss was the man that had seen me make such a fool of myself. I knew that if Danielle was in my place something like that never would have happened. Abbie walked in with a slight jump to her step and I felt an immediate liking to her. She was short, slightly plump in all the good ways, and had a smile on her face that was definitely genuine. I felt myself relaxing around her.

“Right, I’ll take over from here Sebastian. Hi Jane, I’m Abbie – lovely to meet you.” She came straight over and shook my hand. It was a firm handshake and I could see that she was used to doing business and to dealing with people. There was nothing nervous about the way she moved. She was confident in a very friendly and easy going way.

“Are you pretending to be the boss now Abbie?” Sebastian asked her with a cocky voice and I wasn’t sure if he was mocking her or teasing her.

“Eat your words Sebastian. One day I’ll be the boss of you.” She laughed, not in the least bit nervous around Sebastian. Perhaps one day I’d be able to be that cool around him too.

“Come on Jane, this way.” She motioned for me to follow her and I nodded awkwardly at Sebastian as I walked out. He grinned at me and again I couldn’t be sure if he was laughing at me or simply being nice. He was definitely a very hard person to read – unlike Abbie who seemed like an open book.

I walked out with Abbie and listened while she talked about the office and where I would be sitting. “I’m so excited to have you here Jane. We were blown away by your proposal and I knew from the moment that I spoke with you that you were going to be the one for this job. And luckily I didn’t have to convince the big man himself – he agreed with me from the start. But listen; don’t worry too much today or even tomorrow. I know how overwhelming first days can be. So I want you to use this time to just get to know the place and the people and I want you to feel comfortable. I always find that I work so much better when I feel comfortable and I know that is not going to happen on day one. Okay, so this is your desk.”

I almost whistled out loud at it. That’s how impressed I was by my new working space. I was used to always getting a small little corner office or cubicle to do my work and this looked like luxury to me. The space was big and fit a desk, a chair, a couch, a book shelf and another little table with ease. I looked around the room and saw four other spaces similar to my own. Most companies would squeeze in at least ten people, if not more, into a space like this. This one only had five. Abbie caught me staring and smiled.

“It’s a nice space isn’t it? I felt the same when I first joined. So, this is the marketing department. There are just five of us, you included, and it’s a great team. Let me introduce you to the others.” And then Abbie stood up on the chair and yelled, “Hey guys, this is Jane. Wave hello!” Two faces popped up and waved. I waved back, slightly embarrassed by this awkward introduction. “We’ll do a proper introduction later on for sure,” Abbie continued, stepping down from the chair, “Over there in the far right corner is Kevin and that over there is Michael. They’re very nice guys. They’re just busy on some deadline now so I’d rather introduce you properly when they’re not so stressed. Maybe we can all go have a drink sometime – I find that to be the best way to get to know people.”

I laughed at that, “I must agree.” Then I looked around and noticed two empty desks, “What about those?” I asked her.

“Oh, well this one is mine. And trust me, I am so happy to have a girl in the office with me now. What a relief. I think I’m starting to talk like a boy these days. My mom mentioned it to me the other day when I started telling some rude joke which I never would have found so funny before. And over there, well that’s the head of the marketing department – our boss. His name is David Ellis. He’s not in right now but you’ll meet him soon enough. I’ll be honest, between you and me, he’s quite a tough one. But if you do your job right you won’t have a problem. He’s a good boss, but not an easy one by all means. I’m just warning you because he can come across a bit scary at first. Just do your job and he’ll warm up to you. I actually like him now but in the beginning I thought he was awful.”

“Thanks for the heads up. It always makes a difference when someone tells you what to expect.” I said. I didn’t mind so much. I’d had plenty of bosses in the past that were the same. Most of the time they ended up being the ones that I got on with the most. They simply didn’t like any sort of inferiority in the work place, but if you proved yourself to them you generally stayed in their good books forever. Proving yourself was always the hard part but a challenge that I was always up to.

Abbie sat down with me and showed me the ropes. I felt comfortable with almost everything that she showed me. It was more a case of just getting the hang of a different system and figuring out how they did things here. But that was the same for any new job and I knew that the important thing was to just get through the first week. By week two you always felt more comfortable and by week three you generally just felt like part of the furniture. Still, the incident with Sebastian had thrown me a bit and I tried not to think about it. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to deal with him much and I assumed I wouldn’t. Often, the owner was the one that you saw the least. David was probably the one that I had to worry about more. He was my boss. I was grateful to have Abbie around – she seemed like someone that I could get on with. She was a different sort of bubbly to how Amy had been and it was easy to spot the difference. In fact, I even thought Danielle would like her – and Danielle abhorred bubbly people. When Abbie left me to do some things on my own I sat back and smiled at my surroundings. The feel of Sebastian’s abs came into my head and I, once again, shoved it as far back into my mind as possible. I was here to do a job. And I was going to do it well!