CHAPTER 2
Carol
I step inside Mister Dudley’s office and set the stack of papers on the end table before quickly closing the door.
I’ve only been with the firm a week and I want to do everything as perfectly a I can. I know I’m supposed to have all the client’s packages neatly stacked on the corner of Mister Dudley’s desk in the morning before the clients arrive.
This client was a last second referral from across town so I only had ten minutes to prepare everything and get it packaged for delivery so the client could leave with it. It’s almost five and lots of people will be flying tonight for the holidays so the last thing I want to do is be slow.
I walk around the corner from Mister Dudley’s office and there’s Jared. He’s one of the brokers and he’s been putting the full court press on me since the moment I exited the elevator on my first day. I’m not interested in him, not to mention dating a guy from work is far from the ideal situation. But on the bright side learning how to manage this relationship in a professional manner is one of my first challenges of corporate life.
I doubled my course load this last semester which allowed me to graduate early at the end of the fall term. Doing so also gave me less competition in the job search and I was able to quickly land this position writing futures contracts for an agent with direct access to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. When I interviewed I just played up my New Mexico farm girl roots, and they ate it up.
But it was far from an act. I learned a lot about the business side of farming from my dad. And I learned even more about the business side of ranching from my dad’s best friend. Colt McCoy. I would have worked for him for free, and I owe him a debt of gratitude for everything he did for me.
He let me ride the horses anytime I wanted in exchange for keeping the stalls cleaned. Not only that he was generous about paying me. For a high school kid the hourly rate he offered was considerably better than anything else I could have got.
And the best part was he was always a gentleman…a true southern gentleman. Okay, technically we were more in the American West, but still…I wished his manners, politeness, and fairness in dealing with everyone he came across was the norm for men in this country, but unfortunately it’s not these days.
I was warned about the cutthroat, high-stakes world of finance and I was learning about it already.
I was supposed to answer calls for the first month in order to get the hang of things. That lasted all of four days before Mister Dudley’s assistant quit due to all the pressure and I was suddenly promoted into her role. Technically I’m not sure if she quit or was let go because the stories I got were conflicting, but either way she wasn’t here anymore. Today was my first day working with him and I was already starting to see exactly what might have drove the last assistant of his to go crazy.
But I have no time to think about that. This job came with a ninety-day probationary period and I need to be absolutely on my toes at all times these first three months.
“Headed to happy hour after work, Carol?” Jared asks.
“I think I’ll pass this time,” I say, trying to put on a happy face. I don’t want to come across as someone who’s not a team player, but I also don’t want to lead Jared into thinking anything might exist where it doesn’t.
“Come on. Just for one drink.”
“Not today.”
“I thought you weren’t going home for the holidays,” he says.
Doesn’t this guy get the hint? “I’m not, but I have a lot of stuff I need to do,” I say.
“Sure I can’t change your mind?”
I watch as Jared’s line of sight drops from my eyes to about a foot or so lower and I’m suddenly glad I wore a thicker blouse than usual this morning. It’s winter, but for some reason these guys seem to keep the offices a bit on the cool side. The last thing I need are my headlights coming on. When my nipples are popping I swear they are like beacons for every horny guy in a ten-block radius. The thick padding on my bra and the heavy blouse have got me covered this time.
And if Jared’s eyes weren’t enough I feel like Mister Dudley is checking me out from inside his office. He’s no more than five or so feet from me, but through the glass wall he can see me clear as day. The longer I stand here the more I’m starting to feel like I’m the meat in the middle of a man-which. The last thing I want to do is to be ogled over by my co-workers, not to mention whoever Mister Dudley’s meeting with.
“Not tonight,” I say, as I walk past Jared towards my cubicle. I can feel him following just off my shoulder and realize he hasn’t picked up on the hint. At least we’ve cleared the senior agent’s offices and I don’t have to worry about Mister Dudley and his client staring at me anymore. Just one more set of eyes to eliminate.
I walk past my cubicle and head to the ladies room. I go inside and enter the back stall before plopping down on the lid. I start counting backwards from twenty. That should give Jared time to leave. Nobody wants to get caught standing in front of the bathrooms like a weirdo, right?
And speaking of weirdoes what’s up with my life right now? I’ll be the loner weirdo in town all weekend for the holidays all by myself. I’ve never been alone by myself during this time, but I can’t afford to run to New Mexico and back right now. I just hope dad’s okay. It’s the first time he’s been alone since mom passed.
The good thing is at least I know Mister McCoy will be there with him. He’ll probably take him hunting or fishing or something guys like to do. Come to think about it those are the things I like to do.
I look down at my legs and wonder how I wound up in heels and a skirt. I like it and all. I mean I do feel feminine and nice, but I’ll never feel as much at home as I did on Mister McCoy’s ranch saddled up on Rocket’s back. She was an absolute beauty. Big, brown, built and as brave a horse as I’d ever seen.
Too bad I couldn’t spend the holidays in the saddle. Being around horses is so calming for me, although being around Mister McCoy is totally the opposite.
That man’s so white hot he could melt steel. Just one look at him and you instantly feel heat shoot through your veins. I wonder what he’s up to these days? Too bad I may not see him again in quite some time, if ever.