CHAPTER ONE

Jojo stood in front of the building complex that was McGrath real estate housing and construction', feeling more nervous than she had the first time she was here.

Somehow she had felt more calm during that interview than she did now on her first day of the job she just landed.

Well she did land it with the help of her father's friend who had promised to put a word in for her a few places.

This happened to be it.

And though her resumée wasn't all that enticing, she had been called for the interview here at the beginning of last week and by Wednesday, her employment later was sitting in her mail in a pristine white envelope.

She fixed her clothe one last time  before stepping into the building through it's large revolving door.

As expected, and as she saw the last time she was here, the floor was busy as everyone went about the business.

If anyone noticed her nervous self standing around awkwardly, they didn't let on.

She walked over to the rather unsmiling brunette whose desk tag read, 'Mandy Shores, receptionist'.

She had to wait until Mandy perfected her lipstick and made a double smack of her lips before she finally got her attention.

"Good morning." She squeezed out from her suddenly too tight throat while trying to sound cheerful.

Deep breath, relax.

"I'm Jocelyne Collen, I was here last week for an interview and "I've got a letter in my bag that says I've been offered the position."

She flashed a nervous smile for effect but it wasn't returned.

"Yeah, Marcy mentioned that you'd be coming in today. You are not exactly what I expected though but I guess you'd do."

Jojo raised a brow at that that went unnoticed.

"You just take that elevator over there to the fifth floor. Third office on your right, you should have yourself someone to assist you."

With that, she turned her attention to something else.

Jojo wondered at that and that earlier statement about not being what she'd expected.

What had she expected by the way?

And why would she have expectations on a mere Personal Assistant.

She gave up thinking about it and focused more on while she was here.

The corner elevator, right!

The elevator was full before she got to it but afraid to piss anybody off by being late on her first day, she stepped into it like that.

She stood pressed between a middle aged man with a round belly who wore a very strong cologne that threatened to choke her and an obnoxious lady who kept pressing her into the mans side.

That aggravated her morning but she wasn't letting anything kill her spirit and ruin her fist day at a job that can finally pay the bills and take good care of mama, Riley and herself.

When the elevator finally dinged and opened on the fifth floor, she  got out and while holding her head high, she followed the direction she was given trying to find the right office.

It wasn't a difficult task thanks to the direction from Mandy the receptionist. 

Unlike the ground floor she'd been on earlier, this floor was less noisy and not messy at all.

No obnoxiously loud people, workers that couldn't care less and the rest that just don't give a fuck.

Everyone stayed put in their offices in contrast to what she saw on the first floor.

No wonder the place was squeaky clean.

She hoped she worked somewhere more like this.

She rapped at the door and the voice that asked her to come in was a gentle as it was soft.

That was a very good sign.

And that gave her a little  confidence boost as she simultaneously puffed out a breath and pushed the door open.

The woman that sat behind the desk in a plush looking chair looked about forty odd years old and very pretty to boot.

She was gazing a little at the temples and even though her rim  wire glasses gave her a mean look, the gentle welcoming smile she wore countered that.

She spoke before Jojo could as she came around her table.

"Oh dear, you must be Jocelyne. Your file came in a few days ago, I was expecting you. You are early and that's a good sign." She rambled on.

"Glad to see that you actually do look better in person than you did in your picture."

She feigned a look that made Jojo relax and offer a smile of her own.

"Now that's it." The woman continued,

"You will need this vibe and spirit if you are going to be assisting big bad but ohh..... so sexy wolf up there."

Jojo raised a confused brow.

The woman made a conspiratory point with her small index finger to indicate the floors above.

"He likes to guzzle up his little Red Riding hoods of PAs."

The woman laughed at her scared expression.

Her laughter was soft too just like everything else about her and Jojo would have noticed too if she wasn't already to worried about this boss whom she was already scare of.

How she wished she worked for Marcy.

"Hey, that wasn't to scare you. Maybe he thinks you can handle it seeing as he personally asked

She raised a questioning brow at her. 

"No." She replied almost immediately.

The woman smiled.

"I'm Marcy Williams by the way, personnel manager here and though we won't be seeing much of eachother, I just thought you should know that I think you can handle this. Welcome too the family, Jocie. It's okay if I call you that right?"

"Of course." Jojo rushed to say, an overly sweet  smile stretching her lips. 

Marcy led Jojo out of her office back to the elevator.

"You take this up to the last floor up. He's in his office now and will get you started. I'll ring his office now and let him know you are on your way."

Marcy gave her a reassuring smile and a gentle shove that let her know that someone got her back. Even if it was someone she'd just met a few minutes ago.

She stood in the elevator and kept smiling back at Marcy, in a bid to disguise her nervousness, until the door closed and shut Marcy's face out.

She felt her heart racing.

So many 'what ifs' were running through her mind as the fear of the unknown wrapped around her in a thick cloud.

It was at times like this that she missed him the most.

Her Jordan.

Her bestfriend. Her first crush. Her first love, even if he never knew that.

She wished he was standing here beside her with his reassuring mega watt smile, telling her she can do it.

She missed him.

Probably still feels something for him.

But ten years, she knew, was a long time to miss someone. A long time to wait too.

She sighed and shook that line of thought off.

Not remembering him and those special times they'd had hurts less. If only she could teach her heart and her hard head that.

The elevator dinged open at last.

The first thing she noticed was the eerie silence up here.

If she wasn't told, she wouldn't even suspect any living thing was up here not to mention a full grown human.

It housed only one office, she noticed.

And if she thought that other floor was clean, then this one definitely gave the phrase 'squeaky clean' a whole new meaning

Up here looked very different from everywhere else she'd been in this building.

She couldn't tell if the air was just as freezing or it was her nervous self thinking that.

She rubbed her bare thin arms for a little warmth before she braved it and moved to the wide sliding door.

It must be motion sensitive she thought as the door slid open to grant her passage.

Wait, scratch that, she thought.

The man has a fucking secretary.

Two humans were up here and it was as quiet as a grave yard.

The young lady whom she'd  assumed was the secretary was paying so much attention to the big glass door behind her that she barely registered Jojo's presence.

Her desk tag, fancy with golden engravings Jojo supposed were her names read, Lisa Monroe.

"Hi" Jojo pushed out with an inviting smile.

The girl, startled, turned to look at her like she'd just appeared from no where.

When she recovered from that, she didn't bother to reply Jojo as her face relaxed into an 'I don't care either way' kind of expression.

Jojo didn't think the look was welcoming and she thought it sucked already if the only other living being up here already decided she didn't like her.

Not with a boss like the one she'd heard about.

Since the lady, who was probably around her own age, wasn't taking her already offered olive branch, she resorted to sticking to the formalities and telling Lisa her reason for being here.

"Yeah the boss mentioned that. He's asked for you like what, three times this morning." Lisa dropped in a 'duh' tone.

Jojo's heart skipped beats as she thought, oh my God, not on the first day!!

"Your office is in there," she indicated the big smoky glass door behind her, clearly ignoring Jojo's discomfort from her earlier comment.

Lisa continued.

"since you'll be his little PA, your table is set just at the corner of his office. The closer the better so you can start taking the fires from now on. Good luck with your burns. I'll just ring him now to tell him you are here."

She waited as Lisa placed a call, hesitated like she wasn't getting any response but then eased a bit and spoke for a while into the receiver.

"You know, from the way he was bulldozing about your arrival, you really are just not what I expected." Lisa said after the call.

Her ears perked at that.

This was the second time she was getting that this morning.

She didn't know how to take it, so she said nothing again.

Lisa gave her a look she couldn't decipher.

"He didn't say anything and that's usually a 'no don't do that!" but seeing as he's personally asked for you three times,"

She pushed a pad towards Jojo and asked her to scan her palm print.

A few minutes later, her phone dinged and she told Jojo to press the gold button by the door and then scan her palm print again, on the door this time to make it open.

"I bet he'll just love this interruption." Lisa snickered, and Jojo knew then that the other woman was going to make working here very nightmarish for her.

She thought about bailing, running as far as was possible from here, but the mental image of her mother's long finished prescriptions that needed immediate refill and little Riley waiting up for good news and the promise of better meals wouldn't let her legs move away.

So she put on her big girl panties and moved closer to the big door that separates her from her new boss who every have explained to be as big and scary as they come.

She heard Lisa scoff at her hesitation and that spurred get to place her palm on the glass of the door.

She watched as the green light scared her palm and most of her basic informations popped.

Whatever waited for her being this door, good, bad or ugly, harsh, borderline difficult and unbearable, she Was going to take it standing strong for the two people she loved most.

And for the one person she missed most, who had believed in her

She thought as the doors slid open.

It wasn't the magnificent office that had her attention when she finally went in, it was the super angry man behind the polished table in a lush swivel chair.

No wonder Marcy had said, "big bad and oh..... so sexy wolf."

She wasn't wrong.

When he raised his head and those forest green orbs locked on hers, she felt it.

There was just something about those eyes.

Just how do you add fiery sexual attraction to your supposed very hard, new boss to the list of your problems?