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CHAPTER 1
“Jane? Do you have a moment?”
Jane looked up from her computer screen, her heart dropping into her stomach at the somber look on Maria’s face. Maria was the office's human resources administrator, and Jane cast a guilty look at the half-eaten sandwich on her desk. She had stolen it from the tray of sandwiches delivered to the office for the executive’s meeting. Dismay rippled through her. She was going to get fired over a damn sandwich.
“Jane? Can we speak in my office?” Maria prompted.
“Of course.” Jane dropped her napkin over her sandwich in a futile attempt to hide the evidence of her thievery before following Maria to her office.
Maria closed the door and sank into the chair behind her desk. She rubbed delicately at her temples as Jane perched nervously on the edge of the chair in front of Maria’s desk. Maria stared quietly at her for a moment.
“I’m sorry!” Jane blurted out as she twisted a hank of her light brown hair between her fingers. “I’m so sorry. Please don’t fire me. I shouldn’t have taken the sandwich, I know that, but I forgot my lunch, and I skipped breakfast, and I…”
She trailed off as Maria gave her a puzzled look.
“I’m so sorry,” she repeated, “I’ll pay for the sandwich.”
Maria’s brow furrowed, and she glanced at Jane’s hands as if she half-expected to see a sandwich in them. “What are you talking about, Jane?”
Shit! She should never have opened her big mouth.
“Uh, I took a sandwich from the lunch tray delivered today for the executive’s meeting,” Jane said as her pale skin turned bright red. “I thought that’s what you wanted to speak to me about.”
Maria shook her head. “No. I wanted to speak with you about the position you applied for.”
“Mr. Dawson’s personal assistant?” Jane said. “It was posted internally, so I thought I was allowed to apply.”
“It is, and you are,” Maria replied. “I’m just curious why you want to leave the finance department.”
Jane cleared her throat. It probably wasn’t a great idea to tell Maria that she applied for the position only for the pay raise. “Well, I thought I would try something different.”
“You’ve only been here three months,” Maria said. “You’re doing well in the finance department, and neither Kyla nor Mark have any complaints with you.”
“Oh, well, I like working with finance. I just feel better suited to admin work,” Jane said.
“You don’t have any admin work on your resume,” Maria pointed out.
“No, but I didn’t have any finance experience either, and I picked up my current job duties very quickly.”
She wondered if Maria could hear the desperation in her voice.
“That’s true, but being Mr. Dawson’s assistant is a little more demanding than inputting numbers into a spreadsheet,” Maria said. “It’s not always strictly work-related either. Mr. Dawson is a very busy man, and there is an expectation that you will assist him with picking up dry cleaning, ordering his lunch and bringing him coffee.”
“I don’t have a problem with that,” Jane said.
“Are you certain?” Maria said.
“Yes.”
“Have you ever met Mr. Dawson?”
“I’ve seen him at the staff meetings,” Jane replied.
“Have you spoken with him?”
“No, he doesn’t usually come down to the finance department.”
Maria sighed. “Jane, can I be honest with you?”
