THE INTERVIEW

CLAIRE’S POV

I could already feel the effects of my infidelity seconds after I woke up the next day.

Guilt consumed me like a wild fire consumed everything in its way. I knew it was silly of me to feel guilty about sleeping with another man when Liam broke up with me, but it was reasonable to feel that way. We had just broken up the night before and I was still hung up on him. For all I knew he was regretting his actions and planned on calling me first thing in the morning but I was too busy experiencing a new level of climax that may or may not have been discovered yet.

Heat crept up my cheeks as I remembered my encounter with the handsome stranger.

“Shake that thought away,” I said to myself. “It was a mistake and nothing like that will ever happen again.”

“Room service!” I frowned when I heard the announcement coming from the other side of the door. I hadn’t ordered anything yet so it surprised me to hear that.

My curiosity was satisfied when I opened the door and saw Aliana and Elizabeth both staring back at me with goofy grins on their faces.

“Pay up,” Elizabeth said and stretched out her palm. Aliana sighed and placed a crumpled note in her palm then marched into my room.

“So,” Aliana said in a sing-song voice. “How was the handsome stranger from last night?”

“Obviously he was terrible seeing that she is back here before the crack of dawn,” Liz answered for me. I checked the time on my bedside clock. It was a little past 8. My interview was by 10.

“Uh, so that aphrodisiac was useless then?”

I was almost distracted by the thought of correcting them about the stranger being terrible last night but the mention of ‘aphrodisiac’ by Aliana made me alert.

“What did you just say?”

“Way to go Aliana,” Liz said dryly. She laid on my bed and stretched like a cat then moved on to find the best position for her to be in.

“Okay, don’t get mad…”

“I’m already mad.”

“We knew you weren’t going to loosen up and have fun like we wanted, so we slipped something in your drink.”

“Five times,” Liz added. “From the moment we walked into the bar, every apple cider you drank had that little friend of ours inside.” She was so proud with the way she beamed and proclaimed spiking my drink.

“We had no idea when it was going to kick in and how much you needed to take for it to be effective so we just kept adding it. I guess it worked seeing that you followed him home, but he wasn’t any good, was he?” she said and squeezed her face in distaste. “Poor you. You probably had to finish the job yourself since you had all that pent-up desire in you.”

“I…you guys…why…” I tried saying something, anything at all, but words have not been invented to properly describe my anger in that moment. I did what I did best when I just couldn’t handle Aliana and Elizabeth – I walked away. I went straight to the bathroom, cleaned up and walked right out, got dressed and went for my interview. Being stuck in that hotel room with them would have ruined my day and put me in a mood I didn’t want to be in so I left early. I’d deal with them when I got back.

It was easy to locate the office and I was glad I got there in time even though I knew I wasn’t going to pass the interview.

“Hold the door please,” a voice cried out as the elevator doors began to close. I stopped it right in time for the person to slide in. In that moment, as I stared at the person who was with me in that enclosed space, it dawned on me how much the universe hated me and was out to get me.

“Look who we have here.” His voice sent a shiver down my spine and my body immediately reacted to it. The memory of what we did last night came to my mind and I found myself yearning for that feeling one more time.

Maybe the aphrodisiac hasn’t work off yet.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, looking terrified at him. This was not supposed to happen. I was supposed to go for this interview, flunk it and go back to Portland without ever seeing that man again. Him being in the same elevator as me on the day of my interview was not supposed to happen.

“I almost thought I imagined you when I woke up and didn’t see you on my bed beside me. But, then again, who could have thought up the kind of night we had?” His low, sexy voice had me going weak in the knees. The animal in me wanted to jump him, but the girl that was sane and still very much in love with Liam set me on the right path and I controlled myself.

The way he looked at me then like he was ready to go another round right there and then made my mouth go dry. Damn, this man was handsome!

“I’m sorry, but I have to stop you right there.” He cocked his head to the side, amusement and curiosity painting his face as he looked at me with a lopsided grin.

“Last night was amazing, I wouldn’t lie about that, but you’re supposed to be a fun mistake, a distant memory if I may, and running into you today was not part of my plan. Running into you ever was not part of my plan.

“You see, I have an interview right now in this office and I have no intention of passing it…”

“Why not? I believe you’re right for the job, whatever position you decide to be in.” The suggestive smile that followed that statement got my juice flowing, but I was pissed at him for saying that when I was trying to persuade him to stay away from me and pretend I didn’t exist.

“Look, sir, whatever happened between us is over. I just want you to do me one last favor.”

“Does it involve making you scream?” I ignored him and went on.

“Please stay away from me while I’m here. If by some cosmic chance you end up seeing me again while I’m in this building, do not approach me. Pretend like I don’t exist.”

The elevator chimed open and I stepped out before he had the chance to make any more sexual innuendos.

The interview room was all the way on the 32nd floor of Aegis Dynamics, the weapons industry where I was applying for the position of the public relations specialist. I had no interest whatsoever in convincing people that my clients were making weapons that were good and not bad. Being the pacifist that I was, the idea of weapons existing in the first place made my skin crawl. No way was I going to advocate for their production.

“Miss Moore?” the lady with a pixie cut and a bland pantsuit called to me. “The boss will see you now. This way please.”

It did surprise me that the interview wasn’t going to be held in the interview room, but I brushed the thought away. It was going to be difficult to downplay my competence so I focused my attention on thinking of ways to seem less qualified to them.

The office that I entered was larger, almost the size of my whole apartment back home. My breath caught in my throat when I saw the gigantic fish tank that was propped up against the wall behind the desk.

“Thank you, Debby, you may go now.” A chill ran down my spine as my ears picked up the sound of his voice and recognized it. Slowly, I turned around just to come face to face with the same man from the elevator. The same man from last night.

“If I didn’t know otherwise, I’d say you were following me, Miss Moore. Tell me, was the sex that good?” He smiled so cheekily, it made him look sexy as hell. That irritated and excited me at the same time. I made a mental note to really smack Liz and Aliana for giving me a drug that had taken away my ability to control to myself.

“The hell are you doing here?” I asked in an angry whisper, though, something told me that I already knew the answer to that but I refused to accept it.

“You may not believe me, but I followed you here. Have a seat, Claire.” He gestured to the sofa beside me while he took a seat on the sofa beside the one he asked me to sit in.

“I took one look at you at the club last night and decided ‘yeah, she could totally bend that way.’” He was laughing now, while he watched me turn scarlet. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy to joke about every little thing when I was with him last night. Then again, he didn’t exactly have the chance to speak while he was…

“You’re the owner of this company.” It was more of a statement that a question. He nodded and leaned forward to take a better look at me. His hand reached up to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear and his fingers grazed my cheek in the process. It felt like a million volts of electricity coursing through my whole body.

“You really are prettier in the day time. My word, he is an idiot.” He said that last statement to himself, but I heard it.

“What the hell is going on here?” I asked him. this whole situation was bizarre to me. The surprises from this morning alone were enough to last me a life time, but I had a feeling they were not done coming.

“I’ll be honest with you, Claire. I’m not the owner of this company. I’m part of the owners, you see, but I don’t want to be part of the owners, or at the very least, I don’t want someone to be part owner with me.”

I had no idea what he was saying and why he was telling me all this. I came for a job interview, but instead I was reuniting with the man I intended on having a one-night-stand with who may or may not be a psycho.

“That’s where you come in.” He pulled out a file from one of the drawers attached to the center table and opened it for me to see. Then he dropped a pen on top of the papers and moved it towards me.

“You should know that you have not been called in here for a job interview.”

“I don’t understand. I applied for the position of PR Specialist and I was called in for that interview today.”

He tapped the paper and his voice got all serious then. “You have been called in, not for your amazing PR skills, or the mad and insane ways you can make a man scream – although that part is a bonus considering what your actual position will be.”

He was starting to scare me. I took a quick glance at the door to see how accessible it was from where I was sitting. I could totally make a run for it if he started talking weird shit.

“This is a marriage interview, Claire Moore.” If I wasn’t entirely focused on him when he said that part, I would have thought my ears were playing tricks on me. The dead-serious expression he had on was enough confirmation for what I heard, but I still couldn’t believe it.

“What?” I asked dumbly. My mind was reeling with all sorts of thoughts, but one was prominent: Run!

“I want you to be my bride, Claire,” he responded, louder this time. “I want you to marry me.”