Free Claimed by the Billionaire: Seduction #1 by Danielle Jamesen Page B

grateful for Cathy looking out for me and
trying to get me such a great position but I wished it had been something more
in my element…or dare say, closer to the bottom?
    The crowd petered out
slowly. Cathy’s friend, Janine, was doing the interviews. She spent roughly 30
minutes with each girl and each girl left, confidently strolling out and
smiling at the waiting girls as though she knew none of them would get hired.
By the time I was called, I had worked myself up into a frenzied mess, trying
to tell myself that this didn’t matter. I’d get it over with and then tell
Cathy to please keep her eyes open for something that wasn’t so out of my
reach.
    I walked into the
office of Mr. Gable. It was the size of my new apartment, I noted, with a
sleek, massive desk in the middle, windows all along the back that over looked
the city, and what looked to be like a living room on one side with a large,
flat screen TV. On the other side was a kitchen. It was as though he lived
here! I saw another room near the back and could only imagine what was in there
too — a bedroom? Janine walked over to the living room and sat down on the
leather couch, a clip board in front of her, her Mylar red nails shining from
the sun coming in. Her black hair was pulled up in a tight bun, making her
features look severe. Janine started talking in a clipped, matter of fact voice
about what the company did, which I already knew, and what Mr. Gable was
looking for.
    “I organized all his
meetings,” She was saying, “I went through all his e-mails, replied to the ones
that weren’t important, sent him the ones that would. I handled all his calls,
relaying the important ones to him. You are a filter. You make sure nothing
that does not need to get to him gets to him. You take care of any media phone
calls and requests. You organize any events he has to go to. You are the point
person. No one gets to Mr. Gable without you authorizing it.”
    I nodded and said,
“Okay.” My voice sounded flat and lifeless.
    Janine paused, as if
noting that it sounded so, eyed me and kept going, “This is an important
position, Mrs. Warden.”
    I nodded again, “Yes, it
sounds so.”
    Janine looked at me again,
“Do you have any questions?”
    “No…I don’t think so.”
    Janine stood up, “That
will be all I think.”
    That will be all? It
could not be all! I hadn’t even been in here for five minutes! I thought of
walking past the girls after everyone else had been in here for at least thirty
minutes and felt desperate.
    “I, uhm —“I started,
fumbling.
    “Janine, is that any
way to cut off an interview with someone as interesting as Mrs. Warden? She and
her family were the kings of real estate.” A voice said suddenly.
    Janine and I both
turned our heads as a man came out of the room in the back. I recognized him
from Google — it was Mr. Gable himself. He was wearing a tailored suit that fit
him perfectly, his handsome features looking a bit sleepy, his tie undone and
his brown hair a little messy. He did not look as professional as I had seen on
the internet but my stomach swooped a little bit. He was even more handsome in
person.
    “Mr. Gable?” Janine
said, questioning.
    He walked over to them and
held his hand out to me, “You don’t recognize her? Her family owed every house
and building in this city.”
    As if on auto-play, I
shook his hand firmly and said to him, “Use to, Mr. Gable. Not so much
anymore.”
    He smiled, his perfect
white teeth almost blinding me, “Your father sold me my first house over ten
years ago.”
    I was surprised,
“Truly?” I said.
    “Truly. I will never
forget it.”
    “I don’t want to be
hired because my father sold you a house ten years ago. I don’t want to be
hired out of pity.”
    I knew I had surprised
Janine, who looked as though she had been slapped, and Mr. Gable, who now had a
bemused expression on his face, but I had surprised myself too. I had been out
right rude at this point but