Chapter Two
“So,” Samson said as he cut into his steak, “What does your roommate do? Besides bust balls? Is she a budding fashion designer like you?”
“No, she’s in architecture.” Lana balanced a small bite of lobster risotto on her fork.
“And she came down here from Parsons, to what? Room with you?”
Lana pinched her lips to the side. “She came down for a job. But you know how things are in Houston. The funding for the project she was hired on evaporated, and so did her job. She’s been living in the drabbest little apartment, I swear. You should see the outfit she goes to work in.”
Samson wondered if the outfit she had been wearing today was any indicator. Truthfully, he hadn’t remembered her at all until she mentioned that Christmas dinner. Now he had images in his mind of a girl wearing her curly blonde hair in pigtails, and pajamas with smiling cartoon sushi on them. There was no possibility that the girl had been dressed like that for Christmas dinner, so he must have seen her in Lana’s room at some point. But the girl he remember was far from the woman who had spoken to him so sharply less than an hour ago. The girl he remembered had been very young, a bit mousy, and seemed to tremble whenever he was near. No wonder he didn’t recognize her.
“Did she lay you out?” Lana asked with a smirk.
“Pardon?” Samson dabbed the sides of his mouth. “No, she did not. We just spoke for a few minutes. I forgot she used to spend time with you at the manor.”
Lana waved her fork around impishly. “You’re looking awfully thoughtful.”
“I am simply...” Samson folded his napkin as he chose his words. “...considering whether she would be a good fit for the company that we just acquired here. You should have her send in her resume.”
“Really? Looking to go another round?”
“I told you, nothing happened.”
“Then April went easy on you.”
Oh, right—her name was April. “Good. I need more people with some guts at Jones & Ramirez.”
“How long will you be staying?”
“As long as it takes to rebuild the infrastructure of the company. They’ve been running it like a buddy firm; not keeping up with paperwork and making handshake deals and the like. But our larger problem is a lack of innovation,” Samson sighed. “Location-wise, it was a good acquisition, but normally when I take over a company, I prefer their work to be more ambitious.”
“You’ll get that. April won an award for her senior project.”
“Excellent. Send her over as soon as you can get her to put on real pants.”
“Oh, wow. Do not say that in front of her!”
“She called me out for getting drunk and bailing on Christmas dinner that one time. I think she can handle it.”
Lana’s eyes lit up in delight.
***
It was over a week before Samson spotted April again, although he had her resume in his hand sooner. April Marie Lucas: Twenty years old, graduated from high school early with an academic scholarship despite working at coffee shop and an art studio for much of the time. Double major at Parsons, interned for a reputable firm during her schooling. Her resume wasn’t exhaustive, but it wasn’t the kind he might throw out of the pile, either. It was a resume that spoke to a lack of opportunities and a fight around every corner to get what she had.
Additionally, he liked what he saw in her senior project. Samson had ordered his secretary to find it for him, and while there were practical limitations that would have made the project a no-go from a business standpoint, he appreciated the creativity it took to transform a regular office building into a work of art. Moreover, every line of that plan had a practical function.
April intended for the building to both welcome workers and clients and draw the best productivity from them. Samson was more of a businessman than a creative, but he could see the potential in the work she had done.
When April entered the building for her interview, security alerted Samson and he opened the live feed on his computer. She was wearing a sharp pencil skirt that matched her suit jacket and a sleek blouse that looked like a print of an abstract painting. Her hair had been straightened and it swung primly around her shoulders. Try as she might, she would never look like a stiff businesswoman; she bore more of a resemblance to a model who had wandered away from her painter.
She never need know that he’d watched her initial interview with his hiring manager, Joan, before having his assistant, Babette, fetch her notes and tell April to wait for him outside of his office.
The interview was interesting. At first there was no glimmer of the feisty girl who had teased him—until Joan tried to ask personal questions.
“I’d prefer to take some time to get more information about your firm here. I know Samson Bennett’s overall conglomerate involves firms including real estate, architecture, and interior design, so basically the sales end and the design end. Where does Jones & Ramirez fall in the scheme of things? And what kind of projects are your top priority right now?”
Samson liked that flicker of temper and how she turned the conversation around to interview Joan about the company. It showed an employee who was mature, who knew what she wanted. As the conversation had progressed, it was clear that Joan didn’t like it quite so much, especially since April kept doing it. Her passive demeanor from before had disappeared, and she had followed each answer with another question or comment.
Samson looked forward to having a bit of a tête-à-tête with her.
His assistant, Babette, tried to pry for his intentions when he gave his orders, but Samson wasn’t about to go over his business practices with his secretary. Babette had always been too curious for her own good, anyway. He skimmed the papers and then went to stand by the window as he waited for April to be brought to him.
“Mr. Bennett? You wanted to see me?”
Samson didn’t turn yet. He let her wait before he even answered. He could practically smell her starting to sweat.
“Have a seat, April.” He let the moment linger before taking a slow stroll around to the side of the desk. “I’ve taken the liberty of looking over your application.”
“And you liked it?”
“It’s a bit sparse, to be honest.”
“Oh.”
Samson half-sat on the desk and leaned toward her. “Tell me more. I want to know who April Lucas really is.”
April’s fingers twisted in her lap. “I really am… looking for a job. Preferably in an architecture firm, which this is. And I really want to be able to work on projects that don’t involve constructing poorly-made pop-up houses and strip malls, which from what I’ve seen of your oeuvre, you don’t do. That’s it. That’s me.”
“Work isn’t all there is to a person, though.”
“It’s what you tend to ask about in a job interview, anyway.”
“Are you originally from Houston?” Samson raised his brows as she instinctively crossed her arms and tensed her jaw.
“No. I just... I thought I had a job here.”
“More than just ‘thought’ if it made you move all the way down here from New York. Where are you from originally? Where did you stay during the summer?”
“I worked during the summer.”
Samson sighed and inched closer. “Where?”
“In a diner. As a bartender.” April shrugged. “You don’t put that kind of work on a professional resume.”
“That’s not…” Samson pinched the bridge of his nose. He walked over to stand in front of her. April’s stormy green eyes widened as she looked up at him.
“Are you looking for someone who can self-start? I can do that. Are you looking for a team player? I can do that, too, provided your team leader knows what he or she is doing. I’ll marry this job, Mr. Bennett,” she paused and the muscle in her jaw twitched. “You just have to tell me what you want from me.”
Samson watched her silently. He took in her heart-shaped face and the furrow in her brow. He listened to the hitch of her breathing. He made her nervous. That was good. But she also intrigued him. So much so that his curiosity might just be winning out over his business sense.
He could simply tell her to go away, that he had no space at the company for her. Lana would probably forgive him, since it had been his idea to interview April in the first place. And still...
“What do you think I want from you?” He looked down at her and crossed his arms. “Do you think I want business buzzwords? Do you think I want someone who will tell me what I want to hear?”
“I think if you want the latter, I probably wouldn’t be your best bet, since I have a knack for ticking my bosses off. But you can’t fault someone who both needs a job and wants one in her field for trying hard to get it.”
Samson shrugged. “I have to admit, enthusiasm can go a long way toward a good job.”
“I have enthusiasm coming out of my ears.”
“What a strange place for it,” Samson drawled.
April grinned. “Lana said this place didn’t have enough innovation. I know the area almost as well as the native Houstonians would, and I might not have a lot of professional experience, but from my internship, I know how to consult on projects that push the boundaries in architecture trends. I’m a good investment, but only if you have the guts to really use me.”
“Use you?” Samson narrowed his eyes slightly.
April flushed a bit. “Your resume tells me that you have plenty of experience putting people to their best use.”
“I do indeed. I’m overburdened with experience.” He smirked, and her eyes fell to her lap. “I have a team that I’m putting together for a new living complex in the Tanglewood area. Houston is one of the top cities for population growth, but there are so many complexes going up and coming down right now that standing out is nearly impossible. We need to do something different. Something that will get attention to this little company I’ve taken over.”
Samson went to the other side of the desk to pick up his files on her project. He could hear her let out an audible breath of relief. “This is the spirit I want. Your plans here aren’t functional, but you’ve grasped the concept and I’ll have seasoned professionals leading the team.”
He handed the papers back to her, and her eyes narrowed as she recognized her work.
“How...?”
“I want to see you here tomorrow morning at eight o’ clock. You’ll be with Don Hutchinson’s team. Joan can walk you through the paperwork today, and we’ll have an ID card for you by tomorrow.”
April shuddered. She full-body shuddered. “I have the job?”
“You have the job. Welcome to Bennett Industries.” Samson rubbed his fingers over his lips, unable to contain his grin. “I trust you’re pleased?”
The tension drained from her, and she hopped up and lunged forward as though she were about to run around the desk and hug him. Instead, she brushed her hands over her skirt.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Bennett.”
Samson nodded. “Good thing you got my attention the other day, isn’t it?”
“Well,” April shrugged her head to the side. “I try to avoid that kind of attention in the office. It... complicates things.”
She leaned over to shake his hand and did so firmly enough to impress him. She was strong despite her size, although his hand engulfed hers, and she was very warm. He suspected the little move with her skirt just now had been a subtle way of wiping the sweat off of her palms.
That was good, too. He got her worked up and made her shudder, and that was just when they were in the same room together. Working together would give him ample opportunity to keep an eye on her, and perhaps, make her shudder for better reasons.