Chapter Four
Artimus
When Monday arrived, I found myself feeling giddy for the first time since high school.
Julia would be coming in any minute, and my heart was pounding, my palms sweating, and I found it kind of hard to breathe. I wasn’t feeling like my usual calm and cool self at all.
I’d left my office door open so that she could come right in. I wanted to welcome her to WOLF with open arms.
Adjusting my tie, I opted to take it off instead of continually tugging at it, as it felt tight around my neck. I’d dressed in a dark blue suit, and my pale pink button-down accented it well, but the pale blue tie was just too much. So I did what I usually did, pulled off the tie and undid the top two buttons of my shirt.
Feeling more like myself, I went to look out the window. The people looked like busy little ants as they moved about below. A New York street could hold my attention for a long time, with all the hustle and bustle that went on down there. Not that I had hours to just stand there and look, but I was pretty sure if I did have that kind of time, I would stand there all day.
“Hello, Mr. Wolfe.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to gather myself. Her soft, sultry voice had already affected me. Opening my eyes, I turned to greet her with a smile on my face. “Hi there, Julia. You’re about fifteen minutes earlier than I’d expected you.”
She came into my office. Her long, dark, silky hair had been pulled back into one long, low ponytail. Her bangs fringed along her brow, accentuating her big dark eyes, the lashes naturally thick and heavy. Her lips were full and stained red, her high cheekbones accented with a bit of red blush, too.
Her navy blue suit matched mine perfectly. I had to comment on it. “Look at us. We match.”
Her palm ran over her light pink shirt. “Right down to the dress shirt too. How funny. People will be thinking we planned this.” She laughed lightly, the sound musical, the tones tickling my ears.
“I bet they will,” I agreed, then led her to her office. “First things first. Let me show you your office.” Pushing open the door that adjoined our offices, I let her walk in first to her new space.
“Wow. I can’t believe this.” She went to the bank of floor-to-ceiling windows that gave her a wonderful view of the New York skyline. “This is gorgeous.” Spinning back to look at the rest of the office, she took in the matching sofas, made from Italian leather in a soft cream color. The stainless steel mini fridge, the set of shelves made from the same redwood material that her desk was made out of. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, you can tell me if you like it or not.” I laughed afterward. It was obvious that she loved it. She was in awe of the place. “Those doors over there go to your private bathroom and a closet.”
“I’ve got my own bathroom and closet too?” She clapped her hands and put them under her chin. “This office is bigger than my entire apartment.”
“Well, you can’t live here,” I joked with her. “But you’ll probably be spending more time here than at home anyway. I want you to have all the comforts of home while you’re here.”
I took a seat in one of the chairs that had been placed on the other side of her desk, watching her as she walked around, running her hands over everything. “This offers me much more comfort than anything I have at home.”
“And what’s that situation, Julia? Do you live alone or have roommates?” I watched her as she moved about with a grace not many had, especially not women as young as she. Her application had said she was only twenty-one. I’d never seen someone so young who had so much poise.
Her eyes landed on mine as she answered my question, “I’ve got one roomie named Bethey. She and I are best friends, too. We met in college. She majored in journalism and works for a writer who works for The New Yorker. How about you?” The nerves I’d noticed during the interview were nowhere to be seen now that she had the job. I found that confounding, as well as remarkable.
“I have several homes—one in the Hamptons, one on 5th Avenue, and a few more vacation homes that are scattered about the United States.” Thinking about how she came from Atlanta, I wondered about her family. “Did any of your family members move to New York when you did?”
Julia came up to the desk, taking a seat in the comfy chair behind it. “This is nice. So comfortable.” She looked me in the eyes again as she went on, “No one came with me to New York. I came here alone. I’m the youngest of four children. Three older brothers made it pretty hard to get into trouble when I was growing up.” She smiled endearingly as she said it, showing there was no bitterness there. “They’re all married now, with families of their own. Only our parents live in Atlanta now. We’ve all made lives in other states, but we all go back home each Christmas. Other than that, we don’t see each other much.”
“Do you miss them?” I asked her as I ran my hand over my leg, wishing I could just reach out and touch her soft skin.
“Of course.” She laughed. “I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t. Mom and I talk once a week, so that helps me. The thing is, they didn’t raise us to stay in the place we were all born. Our parents helped us achieve our dreams and supported each one of us on our journeys so far. How about your family? What are they like?”
I didn’t like to talk about my family situation, or lack thereof. But she’d been so open with me that it would’ve been rude not to share things with her too. “Two years ago, my parents died in a plane crash. I’m the oldest of four—three younger sisters. I’ve got aunts and uncles still, but we weren’t that close to them.”
She looked at me with an empathetic expression as she asked, “And why’s that?”
“My mother came from a wealthy family.” I hadn’t ever told a soul about this part of my life. Funny how it didn’t feel so hard to talk to her about it—and without her having to pry it out of me. “She was an only child and she inherited everything her parents had, which was a hell of a lot. My father came from a large family, which was anything but wealthy. It took his six brothers and sisters no time at all to burn their bridges with my parents as they asked for financial help nearly every single day for years.”
She nodded. “So sad.”
I nodded in agreement. “Yes, it was. And it was even sadder when my parents cut them all off. Every single one of them turned away from our family, calling us all selfish monsters—even me, after their funeral. It wasn’t ten minutes after my parents were lowered into their graves that I was asked for the first hundred thousand dollars. Rushing my sisters to get into the car so they wouldn’t be bothered, I didn’t make it to the car before three more of my aunts and uncles asked for over a million more from us.” I stopped myself, unsure why I was telling this virtual stranger so much about myself.
Her chocolate eyes took me in; I swore I could feel arms come around me, as if holding me in a gentle embrace. “That had to have hurt. It’s a shame how people can be, isn’t it?”
“It is.” I looked away, breaking the unsettling connection that I’d felt between us as our eyes had locked.
I hadn’t even heard her get up and move in behind me, so her hand on my shoulder surprised me. “Best to leave them where they are then. You’re better off without them in your life. So, how about you show me around the station so I don’t get lost?”
My head went light at her soft touch. And when she pulled her hand away, I felt lost for a second.
This is not good!
Shaking my head to clear it, I got up. “Yeah, let me show you around.”
The walking would help, I hoped. I hadn’t been ready for my reaction to her. I’d been preparing myself for the attraction I felt for her, but the connection was unexpected.
We walked out of her office, and I pulled her keycard out of my pocket. “Here, you’ll need this to get into your office. Keep it with you at all times. But if you do forget it, then you can ask Brady to let you in. He’s got the master, and he can help you out if you need it. But he gets snippy about having to do it, so we all try not to bring that out in him.”
“Good to know. I don’t want to make him get snippy with me.” She smiled, and it took my breath away.
God, how am I going to do this?
I pointed down the hallway. “Those offices belong to our news anchors. Let’s go down to the main floor and make our way up, and I’ll show you everything in between. It might take you a little while to get your bearings, but the great thing is that most of the time you’ll have me to guide you. We’ll be working very closely so you won’t be leaving my side much, especially at first.”
“That’s a relief.” She reached out and pushed the elevator button, as she was closest to it. “I’d hate to get lost in this huge place and have to call for help.”
The ride to the next floor, where other people joined us on the elevator, was a bit awkward. For me it was, anyway. Julia looked right at home already. We got our first comment on our matching outfits from Joe from maintenance. “So, did you find your long-lost twin, boss?”
“Ha ha, Joe.” I took the chance to introduce the two. “Julia, this is Joe. If you find a mess or accidentally make one, you’ll call him.”
She reached out, and the two shook hands. “Nice to meet you, Joe. I’ll try not to make any messes I can’t clean up myself.”
Joe took his job very seriously. “Miss, I don’t want you to go getting your nice clothes messed up by trying to clean a thing. My extension is 411, and I want you to call me and let me handle the messes around here. No matter how small they are. You hear me?”
“I hear you, Joe. Let you handle that. Not a problem, sir.” I liked the way she used the term ‘sir’ with the older man. Respect for others always went a long way in my book. Just one more thing I liked about my new assistant.
I had this odd feeling that the things I’d like about her would just keep stacking up. Most people would’ve been overjoyed that they’d found such a great assistant. But I was both thrilled and not thrilled by my increasing respect for my employee.
Julia had already managed to take hold of me in a way no one ever had. But it was the rules that I had come up with myself that made it impossible to ever act on the feelings that I knew would continue to grow. I could already feel them blossoming into a lovely flower—a flower that had thorns all up and down its pretty little stem. I just had to keep myself from touching the flower, or else I knew I’d get cut, leaving me bleeding and hurting.